Some law firms or solos searching for efficiency and ways to trim overhead have considered arrangements with a “professional employer organization,” or PEO. A PEO, which some states permit by statute, is a separate company to which an organization allocates some or all of its human resources functions. The PEO sometimes acts as a co-employer
LinkedIn job references are not “consumer reports,” magistrate holds
LinkedIn has achieved remarkable market penetration among lawyers. Ninety-five percent of ABA members report that they have profiles. (Preceding link requires LEXIS subscription.) Many law firms turn to LinkedIn’s premium offering, “Reference Search,” to help them vet job candidates by finding references — others who have worked with candidates at their former firms. But
“Appearance of impropriety” is now dead in Kentucky
Although almost every U.S. jurisdiction now has some version of the ABA’s Model Rules of Professional Conduct, some of us who have been around awhile remember the old Disciplinary Rules, which governed lawyer conduct under the former Model Code of Professional Responsibility. (Or maybe you remember the Disciplinary Rules because you practice in a state
Privilege for deposition break conferences?
It’s a scenario that all trial lawyers are familiar with. Your client is testifying at deposition. She gets a little confused and her testimony reflects it. After a line of questioning concludes, you request a break, leave the room with your client and confer. When the deposition resumes, your client changes her testimony, perhaps significantly.
Florida lawyers face disciplinary charges after representing “Bubba the Love Sponge Clem”
Sometimes our lessons come in more bizarre ways than others. As reported by Law360 last week (subscription required), three Florida lawyers were charged by disciplinary authorities over a January 2013 incident involving the firm’s paralegal. The three lawyers were defending defamation claims against their client, who was a local radio talk show host known as