Fixing Law Schools

I recently read an interesting article on how legal education needs to change to be more useful to the graduating law students.  The article posits that law schools must "Prepar[e] student … for a lifetime of successful, ethical and personally rewarding practice." That's a tall order. See the article here:

http://chronicle.com/article/Theres-More-to-the-Law-Than/129493/

Criticism aside, I do agree that law schools need to be re-engineered. The following except taken from the article concerns stepping away from the Ivory Tower to  a more inclusive (and IMO relevant) way to view legal work:

It is necessity, not fashion, that causes lawyers to pay attention to the work of anthropologists, economists, historians, political scientists, psychologists, and sociologists. We look to those disciplines because their insights are useful—even indispensable—in understanding and solving legal problems in our complex and rapidly changing world.

NYCLA Tweeters Unite!

I am impressed by the tech savvy NYCLA members--33% of you use Twitter in your business development. I bet that is higher than the national average for lawyers, in fact, an ABA article from 2009, remarked that "Only 6 percent of lawyers in private practice and 4 percent of in-house lawyers use Twitter."  Who knew that NYCLA was on the cutting edge?

Rounding out the poll results 46%  of pollsters did not use Twitter; 13% use it, but not for business development; and a mere 6% never heard of it or thought it was a waste of time.

 

To see the ABA article, click here:

http://www.americanbar.org/publications/young_lawyer_home/young_lawyer_archive/yld_tyl_dec09_digital.html

"Remember, you are always a member of the Bar when you are at a bar"

I do hate cute, but I had to take that quote and showcase it in the title to this post. It was taken from  this article: http://www.fromthesidebar.com/attorney-client-privilege/cocktail-party-chatter/.

However, beyond the cheezy quote, the article provides useful guidance on what to say and what not to say in the heat of the summer social season--from refraining from legal advice to protecting confidentiality.

Strengthening the Judicial System

I came across a recent article / interview of Ted Olson and David Boies concerning the work that they are doing with the ABA to combat the crisis in the judicial system resulting from underfunding.  I thought many in our NYCLA community would be interested:  http://ipwatchdog.com/2011/05/30/exclusive-interview-ted-olson-david-boies/id=17498/

What if your firm was a private equity portfolio company?

I enjoyed reading Arthur Ciampi's article in the Law Journal about the provocative law suit filed by Jacoby & Meyers to permit non-lawyer ownership of law firm partners.  View the full article here:
http://www.law.com/jsp/nylj/PubArticleNY.jsp?id=1202495332432 

What do you think? I will give you the chance to vote on it in a future poll.  For now vote on the precursor poll to the left. 

What would you tell someone you know who is considering law school?

For those of you who want additional thoughts concerning the same topic as our latest poll, "if I could do it all over again ..." Karen Sloan has written an article in the latest edition of the National Law Journal, "Going to law school? Proceed with caution" that is worth a read. You can find the full article here: http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNLJ.jsp?id=1202436271998

The Recession still Looms for Lawyers

According to the majority of poll takers in our latest poll, the recession is not over--fifty percent of respondents have lost their job and remain unemployed. An additional 33% of respondents have somewhat recovered: they have found employment, but their new job is not as good as their last job.

Unfortunately, the poll demonstrates, to a certain extent (at least in the NY legal market), many people have not recovered from the recession. The Am Law Daily confirms that the law profession continues to be financially rattled in a recent article entitled "Legal Sector Loses 5,800 Jobs in October" see the link below for the entire article.

http://amlawdaily.typepad.com/amlawdaily/2009/11/legal-sector-loses-5800-jobs-in-october.html

More on the Red Flags Rule

The Law Journal has recently picked up on this very important issue. See Daniel Wise's article "FTC Rule on Identity Theft Draws Strong Criticism From Bar Groups" from July 01, 2009. He writes "The New York State Bar Association Monday became the latest bar group to protest new Federal Trade Commission rules requiring lawyers to become involved in preventing identity theft . . . . The state bar's objections follow those submitted last week by the American Bar Association and the New York County Lawyers' Association.


The article also mentions our blog (thanks, Daniel): "The New York County Lawyers' has set up a platform on its Web site . . . where its more than 10,000 lawyers [as well as other members of the legal community] can vote on whether they support or oppose the FTC rule." So, step up and vote, we want to hear from more of our 10,000 NYCLA members and from other members of the legal community who happen to be surfing the site.

My Least Favorite Topic: Layoffs

Below are links to two compelling articles that discuss very different aspects of the effects of the waves of lay-offs that we have been experiencing in our industry.



The first discusses lawyers (mostly young lawyers) who are "adrift" and "lost." In "Laid-off Lawyer's Find Themselves Adrift" from the National Law Journal, Leigh Jones highlights young, high-achievers who lost self esteem, hope, and direction after being laid-off at: http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNLJ.jsp?id=1202428827679. The article ends in optimism and I hope anyone affected by these lay-offs is able to pull up their socks and find something new and better. NYCLA and other local bar associations are making special efforts to assist people who are laid-off. Those are the first places I would look into; they provide great resources.



The second article, from the ABA Journal, entitled "Layoff ‘Herd Mentality’ Ignores Greater Savings of Pay Cuts, Prof Says" discusses how firms may have other options to stabilize their finances instead of lay-offs, but are not exploring those and instead are opting for what everyone else is doing. Hopefully, firms are not finding that lay-offs are easy fix of their balance because it has become an acceptable consequence of the recession. Read the complete article at:http://www.abajournal.com/news/layoff_herd_mentality_ignores_greater_savings_of_pay_cuts_prof_says/

Cutting the Cost of Discovery with Off-Site Document Review

Our readers are not comfortable with the idea of off-site discovery, even though it is sanctioned by the ABA. An overwhelming majority of voters discourage the use of off-site reviewers -- 91%! This group voted against outsourcing for various reasons: most, 50% voted to "discourage it" because they did not trust the accuracy of off-shore reviewers; the other 41% voted to "discourage it" because they have confidentiality, document security concerns.

The remaining 9% of those surveyed said "encourage it" because it is a great way to save money on costly discovery.

I was surprised by the high number of people that voted against this (inevitable?) phenomenon. I am one of the believers that the practice of law is changing; we will have to wait and see if off-shore, off-site and other cost-efficient ways to alleviate discovery burdens (and beyond) become more prevalent in the days to come.

What's Your Plan B?

This article was published a while ago, but it is worth a read. If you haven't read it yet or have, but haven't given it much thought. Take a look at it again, it is still just the beginning of the year. Do you feel secure enough that you will make it to end of 2009 without a Plan B?



http://amlawdaily.typepad.com/amlawdaily/2009/01/welcome-to-the-future-time-for-plan-b-in-2009.html

We Can't Get Enough Talk About Billables

Click on the link below to read what the ABA has to say about the hottest topic the profession--alternatives to billables. http://www.abanet.org/media/youraba/200812/article03.html

Bye Bye Billables, reprise

Even the New York Times weighs in on the dialogue concerning the death of billables in Billable Hours Giving Ground at Law Firms By Jonathan D. Glatner, which you can find here: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/30/business/30hours.html?emc=eta1

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

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.

Will billables go bye bye?

I am sure many of you read Jonathan D. Glatners article in the New York Times on November 12, 2008, entitled "Law Firms Feel Strain of Layoffs and Cutbacks": http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/12/business/12law.html?emc=eta1

The most compelling passage to me had to do with the demise of the billable hour, which is a buzzing topic in the legal press of late:

"A survey of about 600 corporate executives by Acritas, a London-based research firm, found that 32 percent expected billing practices to change over the next two years.
'Rather than having hourly rates, we are increasingly negotiating flat fees or fixed fees, or success fees,' which include a premium based on predetermined conditions, said Ivan K. Fong, chief legal officer and secretary at Cardinal Health in Dublin, Ohio, and chairman of the Association of Corporate Counsel. Some law firms have resisted those changes, he continued, but may find they have to accept clients’ wishes.'"

So do you think the billables will die? and how soon from now . . . .

An optimist's look into the future

I have been following Paul Lippe's columns entitled "Welcome to the Future" in AmLaw:

I’m an optimist. I believe the post-boom world will recapture the best qualities of the legal profession, the reasons we went to law school and became lawyers in the first place. I predict that over the next few years there will be positive change for those prepared to embrace and promote it.

I am an optimist too. Or am I just a jaded, post-optimist? This short quote is all I have left in my electronic notes and I don't recall what is the "positive change" he forebodes lawyers to "embrace." Any suggestions, whether or not you have read the article, are welcome. Or if you want to share what you think are "the best qualities of the legal profession" or even why you "went to law school" I would love to know.

When what you deserve and your sense of entitlement don't match

Most of you have probably already seen this article from the law journal, but it is worth a late posting by me, even if for nothing more than to emphasize that greed often accompanies unprofessionalism and is plain ugly.
http://www.law.com/jsp/nylj/PubArticleNY.jsp?id=1202424738820

Professional Responsibility --- everyone's doin' it

Even those at the top of the integrity ladder need to check the righteousness of their rungs now and then, just look at the DOJ.

Attorney General Mukasey told the ABA House of Delegates on August 12 that "Professionalism is alive and well at the Justice Department today." (Did I detect an emphasis on the word today?) He was heartily applauded.

AG Mukasey was referring to Office of Inspector General and Office of Professional Responsibility joint reports that investigated DOJ hiring practices in and before 2007. The investigations demonstrated and the AG acknowledged that improper political considerations had been used in hiring immigration judges, AUSA hirings and prestigious legal internship programs, among a few other positions.

AG Mukasey then took the professional responsibility helm and let everyone know that much has changes including, inter alia, new hiring procedures and mandatory training. Now things have been righted and the AG assured the audience that "Politics must play no role either in the hiring of career employees or in the investigation and prosecution of cases." [more applause]

You can find a video of the speech at http://www.abavideonews.org/