If you have the chance to have a case in the East County Courthouse you may hear the legend of Judge Herbert Exarhos. Judge Exarhos rides his motorcycle to work every day and has been a pillar of the East County Courthouse since 1993. He loves serving the community and does not see retirement in his future.
Could lawyers have greater exposure to legal malpractice claims as the baby boom generation, the largest proportion of the U.S. population, starts to age? Unfortunately, the risk of Alzheimer’s and other dementias increases when an individual is age 65 and older. In 2020, the number of people living with Alzheimer’s in the U.S. was 5.8 million. This number is projected to increase to 13.8 million in 2050. This suggests that attorneys will likely encounter more situations in the future in which they need to assess whether clients have legal capacity to create estate plans and enter into legal transactions.
Whether newly admitted or highly experienced, working in a small firm or a large firm, or practicing in litigation or transactional law — an attorney in a law firm is likely to become involved in the handling of an existing matter for a firm client at some point. In the process of becoming familiar with the history of the file, the newly added attorney may find they are acting as a Monday morning quarterback, which may include questioning the positions and actions of others involved in the litigation, including the opposing party, other counsel, the Court — or perhaps another attorney within their own firm. When concerns arise regarding this latter category, attorneys must remain mindful of their professional obligations and the ethical limitations pertaining to client disclosures and conflicts of interest.
Alison Adelman, Esq., juggles many priorities as a practicing attorney and a new mother. Adelman is an attorney at the San Diego office of Ogletree Deakins. Her practice primarily focuses on employment defense cases, including harassment, discrimination, and retaliation claims. She appreciates the delicacy and complexity of her cases.
Happy New Year NLD Members!
Stephanie Pengilley here, NLD’s Chair for the 2023 year. I am excited for what this year holds and the events that are to come. Last year, NLD coordinated several engaging events and received the SDCBA’s Section Recognition and Achievement certificate for Variety of Activities. As Chair, I hope to continue NLD’s accomplishments of putting on intriguing and thoughtful events.
Dear Members,
I am fortunate to have served as Chair of the New Lawyer Division’s Executive Committee. Thank you for the opportunity and your support this past year.
If you are a litigator, you have likely been in court and heard another lawyer enter her appearance by stating her name, followed by the phrase “specially appearing.” Or, perhaps you have received a telephone call from another lawyer who requests you “specially appear” at a hearing for a client you have never met. Such appearances are not uncommon in California Superior Court in both civil and criminal matters.
It has been my privilege and honor to produce For The Record as your editor-in-chief these past two years. This publication is uniquely founded on being created by new lawyers for new lawyers. Together, we have created more than 150 articles over the past two years tailored specifically to the needs, likes, and interests of our community. If you missed any past editions, you can visit our full archive.
Is a bumblebee a fish? This question, explored in a recent California ruling, exemplifies the importance of deciphering linguistics in interpreting the law. On this topic, the Appellate Practice Section of the San Diego County Bar Association hosted a Web CLE course on October 28, 2022, entitled: “Corpus Linguistics as a Tool for Appellate Advocacy.” The featured presenters were Tammy Gales, Associate Professor of Comparative Literature, Languages, and Linguistics at Hofstra University, and James Heilpern, Esq., Senior Fellow of Law & Corpus Linguistics at Brigham Young University Law School. The course focused on historic and ongoing issues with the traditional approach to linguistics in the law and how the use of corpus linguistics — the study of language through “corpora” or large bodies of data showing how words are used in a real-life context — provides judges and lawyers useful tools for statutory interpretation and appellate argument that more efficiently achieves the goal of having uniformity between the legal and textual meaning of language.
After 10 years as a federal prosecutor, Lara Worm pivoted from law and co-founded Bivouac Ciderworks, a hard cider taproom and restaurant in North Park.
