Being inexperienced can contribute to getting into disciplinary trouble, but it can also be a mitigating factor in a bar disciplinary case. That’s the message of a recent opinion of the Oklahoma Supreme Court, which imposed a six month suspension from state practice as reciprocal discipline on a lawyer who had already been suspended from
New Jersey says “no” to Avvo, other on-line legal service platforms
Just last month, we wrote about a North Carolina draft proposal that would ease the way via its ethics rules for Avvo and other on-line legal services to operate there. Now, after a joint opinion from three New Jersey Supreme Court committees, the Garden State has turned thumbs down on such law platforms, citing issues
Virtual law offices OK’d, but unauthorized practice issues linger
Practicing law out of a “virtual law office” (“VLO”), without being tied to the overhead expense of a brick-and-mortar facility, is increasingly attractive to lawyers in many stages of their careers: junior lawyers hanging out their shingles in a tough market; senior lawyers who want to keep practicing, but in a flexible format; and mid-career
No shield for investigation interviews, district court holds in D.C. transit authority case
Whether you are in-house or outside counsel, your clients want the attorney-client privilege and/or work-product shield to apply to materials created as part of an internal corporate investigation. But the applicability of these doctrines is very fact-specific, and difficult facts can doom that desired outcome. That was the conclusion of the Washington, D.C. district court
Bring third-party funders out of “the shadows,” U.S. Chamber asks federal rules committee
Litigation funding is in the news again, with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce spearheading a request to amend the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure to require initial disclosure of all third-party agreements for compensation that are “contingent on, and sourced from, any proceeds of the civil action, by settlement, judgment or otherwise.”
The Chamber joined
LinkedIn profile helps draw bar discipline in two states for lawyer who wasn’t licensed
I love LinkedIn, but here’s a potential hazard — what you say there can and will be used against you if you’re engaged in the unauthorized practice of law.
A Colorado lawyer found that out the hard way: he was suspended in Pennsylvania for a year, and got the same discipline in Colorado,
Join ‘em if you can’t beat ‘em? NC considers ethics rule changes to aid Avvo-like services
Avvo Legal Services has been meeting with North Carolina bar regulators, resulting in a draft proposal that would amend several legal ethics rules and make it easier for Avvo to operate in the Tar Heel State, according to Prof. Alberto Bernabe, a Chicago law professor who has seen some of the relevant documents, and
Virginia simplifies and modernizes lawyer advertising rules; who’s next?
Based on a perceived need to “simplify and modernize” lawyer advertising rules, the Commonwealth of Virginia’s supreme court has adopted a new set of regulations that will make it easier for lawyers there to market their services. The slimmed-down rule, effective July 1, will consist of a single provision that bars false or misleading
One potato, two potato; hot potato brings DQ in Mississippi federal case
Even though a Mississippi lawyer’s conflict of interest lasted only one day, that was enough for a U.S. magistrate judge to disqualify him from representing a client adverse to Allstate Insurance Co. on a coverage claim, in a ruling issued last week. Sending a termination letter to the insurer the day after accepting the new
Tech innovation must shape legal practice, ABA Futures Comm’n chair says
What is the future of legal services in the U.S.? How should the enormous unmet need for services — to the middle class and to the poor — be met? Judy Perry Martinez, the Chair of the ABA Commission on the Future of Legal Services, was in Cleveland last week, and discussed the