Information Filled Under 'LPO Models' Category
"[T]he prosecutor said she did not want a juror who worked in the legal profession" Monday, August 2nd, 2010
After striking two African-American potential jurors, a prosecutor justified her decision as to one by noting that the stricken juror was a legal assistant. The California Court of Appeal was satisfied and so the prosecutor survived the Batson challenge.
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"[T]he prosecutor said she did not want a juror who worked in the legal profession"
As usual, Bill Henderson blends hard data and sound insights, this time to post at Empirical Legal Studies and Legal Profession Blog about some of the absurdities of the US News& World Report rankings. For grist, Bill uses a recent article from the San Jose Mercury News about Stanford and its dean, Larry Kramer. (One small quibble: When Bill says ” Like Kramer, I am trying to make Indiana Law #1 in the nation
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Bill Henderson on US News rankings and what Stanford would have to do to be No. 1
Via Tax Prof Blog , the ABA comments on the effects of the USN&WR rankings (and, as best I can tell, throws up its hands in quiet resignation at the inevitability that those rankings will continue to reign). The ABA committee is particularly concerned that the rankings drive up the cost of law school, decrease the availability of need-based financial aid, and reduce diversity. In this article , the authors — Ralph Clifford, Thomas Field, and Jon Cavicci — suggest that the PTO excludes too many computer science types whose expertise is sorely needed
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Who gets to enter the profession?
In Eng v. Cummings, McClorey, Davis & Acho, the Eighth Circuit expressed its unhappiness over a referral fee arrangement between a Michigan firm that didn't learn and follow Missouri's rules and a Missouri firm whose conduct was inconsistent with the legal position they later asserted
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Eighth Circuit unhappy with two sets of lawyers feuding over referral fee
Kenneth Feinberg has announced that he intends to disclose how much he is being paid by BP to administer its $20 billion compensation fund. The announcement appears to be in response to various questions concerning Mr.
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Kenneth Feinberg to Disclose His Compensation
Article here . (h/t: Legal Theory Blog ) Abstract: In an aggregate settlement, usually of a mass tort claim, a defendant agrees to pay a specific dollar amount to be divided up by the lawyer among her multiple clients which may number in the hundreds and even thousands
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Lester Brickman, "Anatomy of an Aggregate Settlement: The Triumph of Temptation Over Ethics"
News here . It seems that the Board of Governors did not adopt the mandatory reporting rule. But the vast majority of the new, ABA-based rules were adopted, and I hope that the Supreme Court of California will soon give its approval of the new rules.
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California’s rules revision leaps forward; Board approves most new rules, calls for public comment on seven rules
Indiana University Maurer School of Law Dean Lauren Robel announced today that an entrepreneur with close family ties to Indiana University has endowed a Chair in Legal Ethics at the school in honor of a lawyer through whom he came to understand and appreciate the benefit of “trusted counsel.”
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Indiana – Bloomington announces endowed chair in legal ethics
From ALM, ” Courts differ about retroactive effect of [Padilla v. Kentucky]. ” The majority opinion predicted that there would ultimately be no flood of collateral litigation, but I assume that everyone knew that, at least initially, there would be plenty of incarcerated prisoners who believed that they had not been adequately counseled on the collateral effects of guilty pleas on their immigration status.
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Legal Ethics items (July 28, 2010)
Sam Adam, Jr., the attorney for Rod Blagojevich had a heated argument with the trial judge about whether Adam could argue in closing that the witnesses not called by the prosecution would have supported Blagojevich's defense. The judge threatened Adam with contempt if he violated the court's ruling that the defense could not argue about the “witnesses not called.” Today the judge smoothed any ruffled feathers by emphasizing that the judge never used the word “jail” during the hearing. ”Jail” was the word that Adam used.
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Blagojevich closing argument has begun
Holland and Knight survives a DQ motion in the USDC for the S.D. Fla. because, ”1 ) Defendants fail to meet their burden of establishing that an attorney-client relationship existed; 2) Defendants fail to offer any proof in support of their Motion; and 3) Defendants waived their right to seek disqualification
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Legal Ethics Roundup (July 27, 2010)
A Missouri public defender's office has refused to take in new cases . (h/t: ABA Journal) We have seen so many stories like this in the past year, but with state and federal budgets being so tight it's not clear what progress can be made.
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Legal ethics roundup (July 25, 2010)
Article here from J.
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J. Herbie DiFonzo, "A Vision for Collaborative Practice: The Final Report of the Hofstra Collaborative Law Conference"
I recently caught some grief for reporting about a Hollywood news item. But this item is legit.
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Legal ethics, ex parte hearings, and the duty of candor to the court (Mel Gibson’s saga)
A fashion model's malpractice claim against Boies Schiller has been reinstated. She alleges that the firm had an undisclosed and unconsented conflict between representing her and representing some classes. (h/t: New York Attorney Malpractice Blog ) .
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and a couple more (July 21, 2010)
At the Mass Tort Litigation Blog, Professor Byron Stier raises some interesting ethics-related concerns about Kenneth Feinberg 's administration of the $20 billion BP compensation fund, given that Mr. Feinberg's own compensation from BP is confidential. (See this New York Times story in which Mr. Feinberg declines to reveal how much he is being compensated.) I'm not entirely clear which ethics code would apply in this instance
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The Ethics of Administering the BP Compensation Fund
Here’s A Bank Just Waiting To be Looted… Legally CLICKBANK Demand A Piece Of The Annual BILLION Dollar Pie Use This BIG GUN Tweetomatic Profiteer How To make Money On The Net Consolidation in the insurance BPO services provider landscape is expected in more than one direction. The larger BPO vendors are aggressively buying out smaller, niche providers to gain scale, clients and expertise in the insurance domain.
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Study Shows Consolidation in the Insurance Outsourcing Vendor Landscape Set to Accelerate
When filing a lawsuit for specific performance for the sale of a home or other real property contract, buyers often employ the standard legal tactic of contemporaneously recording a notice of lis pendens (lis pendens is Latin for “pending litigation”) with the County Recorder’s Office.
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The Pending Real Estate Litigation Standard in Arizona
In this NYT article , Ken Feinberg, who will head up the BP claims funds process, and Prof. Richard Nagareda (Vanderbilt) talk about the inevitability of fraudulent claims and how to manage that. Nagarada says, “The vast majority of lawyers involved are people of integrity, but that doesn’t describe all of the legal profession.”
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legal ethics odds and ends (June 20, 2010)
At South Carolina Criminal Defense Blog is this post about a judge who ordered a criminal defense lawyer to apologize to a police officer for a cross-examination that ” impugned the officer's integrity .” On the face of it, this sounds absurd, but it would be worth reading the transcript. I will see if I can find it
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legal ethics happenings (June 19, 2010)
[edited] In the comments to the post on Justice Scalia's recent description of legal ethics, Brad, Patrick O'Donnell and others have touched on the degree to which legal ” ethics” is or is not a useful term. I thought I'd offer a shorthand argument on why “legal ethics” is still a useful term.
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Is legal "ethics" still a useful term?
Point of Law carries this post suggesting that expanded aiding and abetting liability may be added in conference to the financial reform bill, even though the provision to reverse Stoneridge wasn't passed in either the House or the Senate. As we've discussed, that provision would significantly alter the risk profile of law firms representing publicly held companies. UPDATE: Point of Law is reporting that the conferees have killed the expanded liability theory
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Stoneridge lives again?
As long as we've been discussing the mix of politics and legal appointments, do I recall correctly that Lani Guinier's nomination for Assistant Attorney General was scuttled in 1993 in part because of her suggestion that cumulative voting could be used to remedy persistent under-representation of certain demographic groups?
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Vindication of Lani Guinier?
Justice Scalia, in dissent , on the topic we hold most dear. Scalia is a master of the back-handed swipe , but what do you think? Is legal ethics the most subjective of law school subjects
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" . . . least analytically rigorous and hence most subjective of law-school subjects, legal ethics."
It's a classic legal ethics scenario: someone is wrongfully convicted of a crime, and the lawyer for the real culprit has to decide whether to disclose the client's confidential confession. Most states' ethics rules do not permit such a disclosure, but there are a couple of notable exceptions (Massachusetts and Alaska). The scenario is not just a great one for class discussion. It has come up on in real cases several times in the last couple of years (see here , here , and here ), and it has now arisen again in Rhode Island .
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Revealing a Client’s Confidences to Help the Wrongfully Convicted
Today at 9:00 am, the Ninth Circuit will hear John Yoo's appeal from denial of his motion to dismiss the civil liability suit brought by Jose Padilla. (We have discussed that suit previously , and my prediction was that the suit will eventually fail on causation.) At the very same time, in the very same building, Judge Jay Bybee will be sitting on a different Ninth Circuit panel.
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Strange Coincidence: Yoo and Bybee at Ninth Circuit today
Previously I linked to a post on the ethics of a lawyer’s response to post-conviction arguments that she provided ineffective assistance of counsel, by Bobby Frederick at South Carolina Criminal Defense Blog . In the comments, Tigran Eldred pointed us to this article: David M. Siegel , My Reputation or Your Liberty (or Your Life): The Ethical Obligations of Criminal Defense Counsel in Postconviction Proceedings , 23 J
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More on the ethics of trial lawyers and post-conviction relief