Year: 2023

Categories : For New Attorneys For the Record Law PracticeTags :

Raising the Limited Jurisdictional Limit: What Could this Mean for Consumers?

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Raising the Limited Jurisdictional Limit: What Could this Mean for Consumers?

By Stephanie Pengilley

Currently in California state court the jurisdictional limit for a limited civil case is $25,000 or less. As some of you may know, in a limited jurisdiction case discovery and other pre-trial tools are limited. For example, only one deposition is allowed. Courts presiding over limited actions have no authority to award a judgment in excess of $25,000. (Ytuarte v. Superior Court (2005) 129 Cal. App. 4th 266). Read More

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Message from NLD Community Outreach Co-Chair

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Message from NLD Community Outreach Co-Chair

By Dani Glazer Signaigo

Dear NLD members,

I’m excited to be writing this message as a co-chair of the NLD Community Outreach subcommittee of the New Lawyer Division (NLD) Executive Committee, with Claudia Salinas. If you’re not familiar, the Community Outreach team coordinates pro bono and volunteer events for new lawyers and law students across San Diego County. Read More

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Tips from the Bench: Hon. Blaine Bowman

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Tips from the Bench: Hon. Blaine Bowman

By Matthew M. Spolsky, Esq.
Clark Hill, LLP

On the fourth floor of San Diego Superior Court’s North County Division is department N-31 of which Judge Blaine Bowman presides. Judge Bowman operates a “stress free trial department” as much as possible. He is supportive of all lawyers who come to his court, but he especially enjoys helping new lawyers appearing in his department. If you’re in trial before Judge Bowman and have a question, asking for help is not something he frowns upon.   Read More

Categories : Legal EthicsTags :

Civility Comes Full Circle

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By David C. Carr

Once upon a time in the 19th Century, a man named David Dudley Field had some time on his hands. As a lawyer, this man was naturally inclined to write a code, a popular activity at the time. Large parts of this Code, the Field Code, became the law in a few states, including California, which had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that Field’s brother, Stephen Field, was the fifth justice of the California Supreme Court. Read More

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Message From the Co-Editor-in-Chief

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Message From the Co-Editor-in-Chief

By Matthew Spolsky

As Co-Editor-in-Chief of the New Lawyer Division (“NLD”) monthly newsletter, For the Record, I wanted to thank each of our readers for their continued support. I also want to thank the NLD members who have contributed their time and effort this year toward writing informative articles for the benefit of new lawyers. In the current For the Record you will find an NLD Member Spotlight article featuring Regina (Calvario) Dryjanski by Lillian Glenister, an NLD Event Recap by Elijah Gaglio, and Ethical Considerations When Using an Online Referral Service by Alara Chilton. Read More

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Ethical Considerations When Using an Online Referral Service

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Ethical Considerations When Using an Online Referral Service

By Alara Chilton

As a personal injury lawyer who is only licensed to practice in California, you take great pride in using the latest technology as part of your firm’s day-to-day operations. Effectively incorporating technology into your practice enables you to better serve your clients and bottom line. Recently, you saw a social media ad for an online networking service named “Referral Law, P.C.” (RL[1]) that promises: (1) a national network of lawyers to refer cases and, (2) it will handle the process of collecting referral fees for its members. Read More

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NLD Member Spotlight: Regina (Calvario) Dryjanski

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NLD Member Spotlight: Regina (Calvario) Dryjanski

By Lillian Glenister, Esq.
Judicial Law Clerk at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California

“One of my favorite parts of doing my job is knowing that I am on the right side — the side that protects the rights of vulnerable people,” says Regina (Calvario) Dryjanski, Esq. Read More

Categories : Legal EthicsTags : 1 Comment

Can the State Bar be held accountable for failure to discipline a lawyer?

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By Deborah Wolfe

One of the many facets of serving on the SDCBA’s Legal Ethics Committee (“LEC”) (in addition to penning articles for “Ethics in Brief “and “For the Record”) includes providing MCLE seminars for other lawyers focusing on legal ethics requirements. I frequently observe on such occasions the panicked looks on attendees’ faces when something I’ve said makes them fearful about possibly having missed a conflict of interest situation, or providing a client with appropriate disclosures within ethical boundaries. The purpose of the seminars is not to scare practitioners into compliance, but merely to remind them of the high standards lawyers are expected to meet. Lawyers’ ethics require us to put our clients’ interests ahead of our own; no other profession requires such an extreme level of duty to one’s clients. To the point, Business & Professions Code section 6068(e) requires lawyers to maintain the confidences of our clients at “every peril” to ourselves. I have always interpreted this section to mean that even faced with a loaded gun, I should take a bullet rather than betray any client confidence or secret. Despite its antiquated language, subsequent case law and State Bar decisions have held this section to convey that in addition to confidences and secrets, it requires lawyers to maintain the highest level of fiduciary duty and undivided loyalty to their clients. Read More