By David C. Carr
As of November 1, 2018, California lawyers are subject to a new rule on safekeeping the property of clients and others: Rule 1.15. The new rule differs from the prior rules in effect since 1928 in three significant areas: (1) advanced fees (2) flat fees and (3) holding funds for persons who are not clients.
By Charles H. Dick
Most civil disputes will be resolved before trial,1 and mediation has become one of the most important phases of every lawsuit. Even so, the informality of mediation induces many less-experienced litigators to take a casual attitude toward the process. Too often, lawyers approach mediation as if it were the easiest phase of a lawsuit; this is serious mistake. If pleadings, discovery and motion practice warrant hours of planning, thought and effort, why treat mediation any differently?
Suppose you have a client who is dedicated to making litigation as difficult as possible for plaintiff through every conceivable procedural device whether proper or not; and who instructs you to not only increase the expense of litigation for plaintiff but also to delay, delay, delay?
By Adriana Linares
Most of us enjoy our social media accounts as a way to keep an eye on family, friends, hobbies, and passions. For many of us, they are also an important business asset.
Your former client, Julius, has been badly injured in a car accident and needs a lawyer. Since personal injury law is not your practice area, you contemplate where to refer Julius. As you open your mail, you note the interest on your student loans is greatly increasing your debt obligations. You ask yourself – what if I collected a referral fee?
A recent State Bar Court discipline opinion underscores that we, lawyers, should take a court’s order seriously — very seriously — at our peril. The facts of the case drive the point.
Loosening up, if not entirely removing “office shackles,” interests many lawyers — and never has it been easier thanks to many modern technology tools, apps and services. Here, we recap our presentation during the Second Annual SDCBA Law + Tech Summit.
By Edward McIntyre
A recent State Bar Court discipline opinion underscores that we, lawyers, should take a court’s order seriously — very seriously — at our peril.[1] The facts of the case drive the point.
By Lilys McCoy
I recently started using a fountain pen. Why, you may ask? Two reasons: First, I felt I needed to do a digital detox and returning to longhand seemed like a good way to start. Second, my writing hand, previously hardened by years of cursive script on legal pads, spiral notebooks and paper calendars, had become weak, and fountain pens are apparently easier on the muscles (that bit of wisdom was spot on, in case you wondered). I was almost surprised to see that the descendant of the quill is still being sold and supported, but it is . . . and in many different forms and by many different manufacturers.
As I contemplated my digital detox, I also considered the hard reality that I could never really, truly unplug. Absent a decision to live completely off the grid, I must accept some connectivity in my life. And, as an attorney, I must not only accept the networked life, I must embrace it. Our ethical duties require us to do so. Notably, the American Bar Association amended ABA Model Rule 1.1 in 2012 to include technological competence: “To maintain the requisite knowledge and skill, a lawyer should keep abreast of changes in the law and its practice including the benefits and risks associated with technology . . .” See, 2012 Amendment to ABA Model Rule 1.1 Competence, Comment 6, Maintaining Competence as referenced in SDCBA Legal Ethics Opinion 2012-1.
The San Diego County Bar Association, long a leader in the legal ethics space, decided in 2017 to lead in the legal technology space as well. In 2018 we hired one of the first Bar Association Member Technology Officers in the nation — the incomparable Adriana Linares — and launched expert law+tech education. This edition of San Diego Lawyer is dedicated, in part, to helping members become more technologically savvy. But technical competence must not be at the expense of other competencies. And, while indispensable and unavoidable, technology should be in service of what we do as lawyers, not the essence of what we do.
It’s #TechTuesday! Today we are sharing another video tip in our new series titled “Tech Tip in a Tenth“. These are short, targeted, and practical videos approximately 6 minutes in length, because, as Technology Committee Member, David Majchrzak said, “Who can’t spare a point one!?”
