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. Legal ethics

Back to the Future … of Legal Services

So, yesterday was Back to the Future day.  And that was fun.  But today I want to go back to the future of legal services… as a topic for discussion. I’m on record as being a fan of The Law for Lawyers Today blog, but the way they close out a recent piece exploring whether […]

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. Legal ethics

The purpose of lawyer regulation? Events in Colorado and Florida present starkly contrasting perspectives

When people talk about the future of legal ethics in the United States, it is always helpful to engage them in a dialogue about what purpose they think the regulation of lawyers is meant to serve.  If you and the other person do not agree on what the purposes to be served are supposed to […]

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. Legal ethics

Kickstarter worked for the potato salad guy, but it is more like a nonstarter for fledgling lawyers.

It was about two years ago when a man from Ohio put up a Kickstarter to raise $10 to make potato salad and ended up receiving tens of thousands of dollars in donations.  I’m sure there were many people who were familiar with this concept before then, but for me that was the first I’d […]

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. Legal ethics

A rose may be a rose but UPL does not always mean the same thing as UPL.

So, you likely have read about or stumbled into something on the web about the remarks offered by the founder of Avvo at the ABA Meeting.  If you somehow missed having that hit your radar screen at all, you can read about it (and snippets of the remarks of the other folks who gave similar […]

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. Legal ethics

APRL Advertising Revision Proposal and the NOBC Meeting

I had the opportunity last Friday to attend the joint APRL/NOBC program put on during the National Organization of Bar Counsel meeting in Chicago (which also happens at the same time as APRL’s annual meeting, which happens to run at the same time as the ABA Annual Meeting).  The joint program focused on APRL’s white […]

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. Legal ethics

Plaintiffs’ personal injury firm is to investment banker as . . . ?

A major issue that has dogged the legal profession in the past, and looks likely to dog it again in the near future (if you don’t happen to think it already does), is the debate over the restriction imposed under the ethics rules that prevents non-lawyers from having any ownership stake in a law firm. […]

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. Legal ethics

A verein-teresting thought experiment? Part 2

So, if you missed Part 1 you can get up to speed here.  Now I indicated I’d get the underlying documents (plural) this weekend and finish this little thought experiment today, but I don’t actually practice in the International Trade Commission (shocking to hear I bet) so beyond getting to the order of disqualification itself, […]

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. Legal ethics

A verein-teresting thought experiment? Part 1.

In preparation for a panel presentation coming up at the end of this month, I have been delving back into the complicated and contradictory world of disqualification rulings from around the country.  While the lay of the land is highly inconsistent to a large degree, there are some common themes that can be teased out […]

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. Legal ethics

Hopefully this will be the first step in streamlining the regulation of lawyer advertising

I commend to your reading a very well done, thorough, and I think (hope) persuasive report from the Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers regarding the subject of lawyer advertising.  Although none of us were on the Lawyer Advertising Committee that put this together, several of us on the committee are members of APRL.   You can […]

Categories
. Legal ethics

Not all bar associations are created equal

One interesting difference among jurisdictions in the U.S. as to the regulation of lawyers involves whether a particular state has an unified bar association structure or not.  A state like North Carolina operates under such a structure.  Every lawyer that obtains a license to practice in North Carolina is a member of the state bar […]