Sad Day -- Unprofessionalism Extreme

Very unfortunate story last month in the Law Journal by Vesselin Mitev entitled "Attorney Charged With Stealing Millions From Guardian Accounts"

You can view the article here:http://www.law.com/jsp/nylj/PubArticleNY.jsp?id=1202427822798

Are we moving to a flat-fee system?

Our latest survey results correspond to the latest trends concerning the way we lawyers charge our clients. Forty-six percent of those surveyed bill clients in ways other than the billable hour. Other lawyers who charge some flat, contingent or success fees comprise another 5% of those surveyed. But hourly billables are not dead for our survey-takes. Thirty-four percent of those surveyed are still charging an hourly billable rate 100% of the time.

News you can use

"Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye and the four presiding Appellate Division justices have formally adopted a new set of attorney ethics rules that proponents say brings New York lawyers in line with their counterparts in most of the rest of the country.

The Rules of Professional Conduct align ethics standards in form and numbering sequence with the American Bar Association's Model Rules of Professional Conduct. That change will make it easier for New York attorneys to reference ethics rules and advisory and legal opinions nationwide when researching issues, supporters of the new rules say."

To read more, look for: Joel Stashenko's December 17, 2008 article entitled "New Lawyer Conduct Rules Adopted; Standards Aligned With ABA Model" in the New York Law Journal.

A definition of professionalism

I came across another interesting quote in my horribly organized electronic notes that I would like to share; it may be attributed to Lippe the AmLaw optimist or it may have come from an earlier commenter:

Although duties to their clients in particular matters are paramount, lawyers must throughout their careers remain conscious of and committed to the goal of improving the profession and the system of justice. This commitment includes taking personal and professional measures to increase the availability of legal services and abet even-handed and efficient application and administration of the legal system for all segments of society.

Food for thought; if you have any comments or know the source, let me know.

Job (in)security

When surveyed whether they feared that they may lose their job during the recession, our readers responded somewhat anxious with 50% of our lawyer-voters worried that they may lose their jobs in this recession economy.  But, that percentage is probably much lower than the national average (if anyone knows those numbers, I would love to know), 49% of you are feeling pretty confident in the stability of your positions--I call that keeping a stiff upper  lip. And of course, there will always be a small percentage of error for those who head is in the clouds and continue to ask the question: what recession?