I’m finding that it takes a strong stomach to blog about lawyers’ ethics transgressions. Even though I’m careful and try to do the right thing with every action I take, I often feel as if I’m just a breathe away from tipping over to the other side. Maybe it would start with a small act
Ideas & Tips
Going Solo Right After Law School
One of our readers writes:
I graduated law school last year and am finishing
up another graduate degree…and am
taking the bar this summer. For law students with
little “real world” legal training (some law
clerking), any advice on going solo out of law school?
I read on your site about attorneys getting $40/hr
court…
A Sanction That’s Deserved
As many of my readers know, I often find that the sanctions meted out by bar disciplinary committees to be either redundant or heavy-handed, such as punishing an attorney where he’s already been ordered to pay monetary sanctions by the court or sactioning an attorney for failing to apologize for an overly harsh criticism of…
Ever Have A Case That Wouldn’t End? It’s Not Your Fault…
Imagine the joy of Maureen Graves, an Orange County attorney who works alone out of her garage when she learned this news. (Fresno Bee, 1/17/05). Seven years ago, Graves took a case on behalf of special education student Robert Moser for no fee because she thought it would
be easily won or settled. She was…
How A Little Lawsuit Now Threatens A Lawyer’s Career – and How to Avoid this Mess
This article, He’s Sure He’s Right But He’s All Alone (1/9/05) describes the epic of Mark Adams, who finds himself on the brink of losing his law license all because of a case that he filed on behalf of a client back in 2001. How he went from one situation to the other reflects much…
Stop Whining, Start Asking
David Giacalone has this post on how law firm associates ought to start taking responsibility for their long hours rather than expecting the “powers-that-be” to do it for them. David offers this qutoe by MCI counsel Anastasia Kellfrom a recent article in Washington Lawyer (Jan. 2005) (the D.C. Bar magazine) on The Tyranny of the…
Make Sure Your Expert Shows Up – Or Face Malpractice
If you’re handling cases that require expert testimony, you may want to videotape expert testimony in advance or face possible malpractice if your expert fails to show. That’s a lesson that the attorney in this article, Rare Suit Against Expert Witness Highlights Pitfall of Not Showing Up (NJLJ 12/23/04) almost learned the hard way. In…
More on the Flex Time Option
Arnie Herz of Legal Sanity (a great blog, by the way, if you’re looking for more satisfaction as a lawyer) has a post about flex time options for attorneys and a link to this
article from the Wisconsin Bar Journal. I’ve always been a proponent of flexible schedules, particularly for attorneys with young children or…
Are You Committing Any of These Ethics Violations?
This article, High Court [of Kentucky] Disciplines Lawyers, AP, 12/17/04 reports on five recently sanctioned Kentucky attorneys but it also gives a pretty good overview of the types of violations that attorneys might be taken to task for. One attorney was temporarily suspended, pending initiation of a disciplinary action for misappopriating funds from clients…
Wanted: Spanish Speaking Lawyers. Will Train.
Here’s an interesting idea: The Iowa Bar Association Wants Lawyers to Speak Spanish AP (December 8, 2004). The bar would have the state’s lawyers take Spanish lessons to help the state’s fast-growing Hispanic population. Wonder if this might qualify as CLE?