Nov 7 2009

12:20 am

White House Recognizes Lawyers as National Pro Bono Week Concludes

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Posted with permission of Barbara Power of the ABA

     CHICAGO, Nov. 3, 2009 – The first American Bar Association National Pro Bono Celebration week exceeded expectations and received regognition from the White House. In a letter dated Oct. 30, 2009, President Barack Obama noted, “Pro bono lawyers work tirelessly to break down barriers to opportunity and justice, volunteering countless hours to provide critical legal services to our most vulnerable citizens.”

     At final count, the ABA Pro Bono Celebration week, Oct. 25 – 31, saw nearly 600 events across the country, with activities in nearly every state.

     Planning for the celebration began in early 2008, when Mark Schickman, chair of the National Pro Bono Celebration Week and former chair of the ABA Standing Committee on Pro Bono and Public Service, began sharing his vision for a time to recognize the volunteer legal work that lawyers contribute for the benefit of their communities.

     “We are gratified that President Obama recognized the work done by lawyers to help our society’s most vulnerable members.  We are also pleased by the response from the legal community,” said Schickman. “Throughout the country, law firms hosted events to recruit more lawyers to take on pro bono projects, state and local bar associations offered legal clinics, and law schools presented discussions on such topics as domestic violence and bankruptcy.”

     The legal profession in the United States is among the very few that calls on its members to make a difference in their communities through pro bono work, with the majority of this country’s lawyers reporting spending an average of 40 hours each year providing free legal work for people of limited means.

     “The success of this year’s inaugural celebration has provided an outstanding platform as we plan for future celebrations,” said A. Michael Pratt, chair of the ABA Standing Committee on Pro Bono and Public Service. “This celebration helps to elevate the work of our committee and to advance the level of pro bono work performed by lawyers all over the country.  We thank Mark Schickman for his vision and leadership.”

     With nearly 400,000 members, the American Bar Association is the largest voluntary professional membership organization in the world.  As the national voice of the legal profession, the ABA works to improve the administration of justice, promotes programs that assist lawyers and judges in their work, accredits law schools, provides continuing legal education, and works to build public understanding around the world of the importance of the rule of law.

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Nov 7 2009

12:11 am

Using Social Media – the 8th Habit of Highly Effective People

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With permission by Alin Wagner-Lahmy on September 30, 2009

     “I don’t have time for social media chatter “ is a claim often heard by many people, including lawyers  “I don’t want to know what you had for breakfast, or that you took your dog out for a walk.” The perception of the information overload social media creates is fundamentally a misconception of social media.

     Socialnomics, by Erik Qualman, in which he provides a few examples of the way social media can be used to help information management and overload. Taking the numerous examples Erik gives in his book, let’s translate this to the legal world: While Lawyer A is spending a lot of time networking via Rolodex (telephone) and email between meetings, setting face to face meetings scheduled over weeks and months, attending seasonal events in person, waiting for annual associations meetings to catch up with association members, Lawyer B is building deeper and quicker network on a daily basis with larger amount of people: he is walking to a meeting and connects with another lawyer who contacted lawyer B through his blog or twitter or Facebook or Connected, after reading his post and responding to it; in the elevator he checks out the status of a member of same association to learn he was promoted and send him congrats message via the site’s inmail; while he is waiting in line at the supermarket he replies a question a colleague asked on a shared group and by that enhances his reputation as an expert in his practice area. Relationship building is faster, deeper and wider. It does not replace face to face, but gives it a huge boost and accelerates the relationship to where they would be in 2 years from now had they been built using ‘offline’ tools only.

     Social media looks like it is overloading us with information when in fact it provides us the tools to manage our time and make progress more quickly and efficiently.

     I was once told if the Rolodex system works for you – stick with it, but if online networking can do the same for you in third of the time, you may want to reconsider.

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Nov 5 2009

10:29 pm

Amendments to the Misdemeanor and Infraction Rules, Effective October 1, 2009

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     Misdemeanor Rule 14 allows for disposition of certain misdemeanor citations by written plea of guilty and provides that in those instances the amount of the fine and court costs to be assessed for the offense shall be the bail bond amount provided in Rule 13. In order to accommodate a recent $12 increase in the amount that goes to the victim’s compensation fund, the bail bond amounts in Rule 13 have been raised by $12 with regard to all offenses that qualify for disposition under Rule 14. The limits set out in Rule 14 for these “payable misdemeanors” have also been raised by $12. Other bail bond amounts that were close to the limits of Rule 14 have been raised by small amounts so that they remain outside the provisions of Rule 14 as to disposition. Please note that not all bond amounts have changed, as persons charged with offenses that fall outside of Rule 14 will appear in court where the court can impose court costs upon a conviction.  In addition, Misdemeanor Rule 15 and Infraction Rule 13 have been amended to reflect that the use of a credit card or debit card is not dependent upon authorization by the Administrative Director of the Courts or the Administrative District Judge but rather upon whether the county is set up to accept such payments.  All of these amendments are effective October 1, 2009.  The order and attached bail bond schedule can be found onthe Idaho Supreme Court website at: http://www.isc.idaho.gov/rulesamd.htm

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Nov 5 2009

10:23 pm

2009 ABA Annual Meeting Report: All of us Need to Educate Public

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Larry Hunter – Idaho State ABA House of Delegates

     The annual meeting returned to Chicago, the headquarters of the ABA and, of course, the home of President Obama. Besides the traditional welcome from the governor and mayor of the host state and city, President Obama sent his greetings via a taped presentation in which he acknowledged the role of the ABA in promoting the rule of law. It was the first greeting from a sitting president in many years. 

     Besides President Obama, recently retired associate Justice Souter addressed the assembled guests at the opening ceremonies.  Justice Souter directed his remarks to the dearth of secondary instruction in the American public school system on the American governmental system – civics. Many, if not most, public school systems have dropped civics instruction at the high school level – including the school districts of Idaho. This had led to a distressing lack of knowledge and seeming disinterest in the American populace about how and why our system works. Checks and balances may as well be what you do to your car tires rather than the interaction of the three branches of government. 

     Indeed, many people forget the role that an independent judiciary plays in that system of checks and balances.  Periodically, the role of the justice system hits the news, such as during Justice Sotomayor’s confirmation hearings. However, even that brief illumination of the courts often demonstrates the lack of understandingof the court’s role – even from members of the Senate who confirm the appointment of federal judges.  Amongst the general populace, surveys reveal that more Americans can name a judge on American Idol than a justice of the Supreme Court. The ABA has recently emphasized the need for each of us, as attorneys and officers of the court, to try to work for increased civic education – preferably in the high school, but at least through adult education opportunities, such as the Citizen Law Academy that we have in Idaho. 

     For the first time in a number of years, Idaho’s delegation was without Allyn Dingel’s presence. Not only we Idahoans, but many others in the House of Delegates, expressed their sadness at Allyn’s untimely passing. He will be missed at many levels. 

     At the end of the session, Tim Hopkins of Idaho Falls became a member of the Board of Governors. Without going into great detail about the ABA’s governance, suffice it to say that Idaho has a right to a seat on the Board of Governors only once every 12 years. Tim will have a positive and significant influence in that body for the next three years. The Idaho delegation in the House of Delegates attending this meeting was Larry Hunter, the new state delegate, and Craig Meadows, who served as the state bar delegate. Tim joined us and is an ex officio member of the House as a member of the Board of Governors. Eugene Thomas is a lifetime member of the House as a former chair of the House and president of the ABA. Four is about as many as we can hope for unless someone rises through the ranks of a section to become a section delegate or a woman or minority delegate at large. 

     With regard to the other offices of the organization, Carolyn Lamm of Washington D.C. became the new president of the organization with Stephen Zack of Miami as president-elect and Bill Robinson of Kentucky as president-elect designee. There will be further elections at the February meeting for chairman of the House of Delegates and secretary and treasurer of the organization. 

     With regard to the substantive measures considered by the House, there were several considered, but none that evoked the debate as did the screening amendment to the Rules of Professional Conduct.  There was difference of opinion between the Litigation Section and the Family Law Section on a recommendation regarding the representation of children in abuse and neglect scenarios. After multiple emails supporting one or the other, the resolution was withdrawn to see if a consensus could be reached. We will see it again in October. 

     Contrary to some reports, the House did not endorse same sex marriage. But it did pass a resolution recommending that couples whose same sex union was legally sanctioned by the state they lived in be eligible for federal benefits as a married couple. It remains to be seen whether a resolution to recognize same sex marriage will be considered by the House. 

     There were additional resolutions, 43 in all, which dealt with everything from patent law to paralegals. A summary of actions taken is available on the ABA website. As a whimsical conclusion to this report, it should be reported that the Senior Lawyers Division withdrew its resolution changing the name of the group to the Elder Law and Experienced Lawyers Division. Apparently, practicality won out over political correctness.

About the Author

     Larry Hunter serves as the Idaho State Delegate to the American Bar Association House of Delegates. He is a partner with Moffatt, Thomas, Barrett, Rock and Fields in Boise. His practice includes general and commercial litigation, administrative law, and alternative dispute resolution. He is a past president of the Idaho State Bar. He received his J.D. from Northwestern University School of Law. He has an A.B. from Harvard University (cum laude). Contact information for Larry is: (208) 345-2000, or lch@moffatt.com.

     Reprinted with permission from The Advocate, official publication of the Idaho State Bar, vol. 52, issue 10, page 44, October, 2009.

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