The California State Bar has been investigating the potential division of regulation and representation functions over the past five years. The Governance in the Public Interest Task Force concluded in 2017, launching a five-year strategic plan to “successfully transition to the ‘new State Bar’ — an agency focused exclusively on public protection through regulating the…
The U.S. Supreme Court sent back a case challenging a nearly 30-year-old precedent allowing mandatory bar membership. The case took aim at the county’s first mandatory bar, North Dakota’s, which required membership in the state’s bar association as a condition to practice law as early as 1921, according to the American Bar Association. Although the state…
The Indiana Lawyer has released an article tackling one of the legal sector’s most contentious issues – Rule of Professional Conduct 8.2(a), which governs lawyers’ speech about judges. Lawyers, it seems, don’t want to address the topic for fear of being perceived as speaking critically of the judiciary, while judges seemingly don’t want to discuss situations…
The American Bar Association’s International Law Section is hosting The New Engine of Growth: Investment and Technology Conference in Seoul, Korea. This conference will address hot topics and recent developments on Investment and Technology. The presentations will be relevant to practitioners who work in a global environment and to those who want to enhance their cross-border…
Regulators are poised to consider radical rule changes that could decisively open the way to allowing non-lawyers into the legal profession of the US’s most populous state. The State Bar of California voted earlier this month to accept a report from legal academic Professor William D. Henderson calling for structural reforms to the way the…
SUMMARY The New York City Bar Association’s E-Discovery Working Group issued a report examining the challenges of conducting discovery when the scope of discovery exceeds US borders. The Committee lays out the most common circumstances in which cross-border discovery would occur, including issues of personal jurisdiction over foreign parties as well as cases of US subsidiaries of…
For decades, the discussion about access to justice has primarily focused on the ability of low–income individuals to obtain free representation by lawyers. Lawyer representation is the “gold star” of the legal profession and advocates of legal services for the poor have fought difficult battles to ensure the most disadvantaged in our country have access…
The Great Recession has caused many new attorneys to question their decisions to go to law school. The highly publicized decline in employment opportunities for lawyers has called into question the value of obtaining a law degree. The tightening of the economy has diminished the availability of entry-level jobs for law graduates across employment sectors….
The requirement that American Bar Association-approved law schools require applicants to submit a standardised law school admissions test as part of their application could soon become optional. The Standards Review Committee of the Council of the American Bar Association’s Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar advanced a proposal to eliminate the requirement…
The American Bar Association Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility has issued Formal Opinion 480 explaining the limitations the Model Rules of Professional Conduct place on lawyers who blog or engage in other social commentary related to a representation. Under Model Rule 1.6(a) a lawyer has a duty of confidentiality. Supporting language to the model rule, known…
