My Shingle

December 2004

Anonymous Lawyer Revealed

December 27, 2004 by Carolyn Elefant

This story’s been heavily covered all around the blawg world: the unmasking of the formerly anonymous Anonymous Lawyer as Harvard Law Third Year Jeremy Blachman. You can learn all of the details from this New York Times article, Revealing the Soul of a Soulless Lawyer. Though Blachman never thought his hoax would last longer than [...]

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What’s Common to Car Dealers, Ad Men and Lawyers?

December 27, 2004 by Carolyn Elefant

Car dealers, advertisers and lawyers. Results of a recent survey present these professions as the most unethical and dishonest as perceived by respondents and reported in this article, No Respect, Asbury Park Press (12/27/04). By contrast, more than 70 percent of Americans gave nurses, grade school teachers, pharmacists and military officers high ethical marks.

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Look Who’s Talking – It Ain’t a Biglaw Associate!

December 27, 2004 by Carolyn Elefant

This article, Young Lawyer Builds Her Practice One New Gig at a Time (NYLJ – 12/22/04) reports on the budding TV commentator career of new solo Harjot “Ginny” Walia of San Francisco firm Puri and Walia. A chance meeting with a Fox News Channel Producer at the local courthouse lead to about a dozen appearances [...]

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Make Sure Your Expert Shows Up – Or Face Malpractice

December 27, 2004 by Carolyn Elefant

If you’re handling cases that require expert testimony, you may want to videotape expert testimony in advance or face possible malpractice if your expert fails to show. That’s a lesson that the attorney in this article, Rare Suit Against Expert Witness Highlights Pitfall of Not Showing Up (NJLJ 12/23/04) almost learned the hard way. In [...]

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Just Do It!

December 19, 2004 by Carolyn Elefant

If you’re dreaming of a solo practice, get busy making it happen! That’s the crux of my latest Small Firm Business column entitled Make 2005 the Year You Start Your Firm. (by the way, my last two pieces have been heavily edited. Not sure whether I like the changes or not – so let me [...]

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Can You Make Money from Handling Workers’ Comp?

December 19, 2004 by Carolyn Elefant

This article, Few Lawyers Take on Workers’ Comp Cases, Patrick Springer, The Forum (12/19/04) reports on the difficulty that North Dakota workers are having in finding affordable representation for workers comp cases. According to the article, in 1995, the state amended the works comp system to provide that workers’ attorneys are paid only if they [...]

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More on the Flex Time Option

December 19, 2004 by Carolyn Elefant

Arnie Herz of Legal Sanity (a great blog, by the way, if you’re looking for more satisfaction as a lawyer) has a post about flex time options for attorneys and a link to this article from the Wisconsin Bar Journal. I’ve always been a proponent of flexible schedules, particularly for attorneys with young children or [...]

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Are You Committing Any of These Ethics Violations?

December 19, 2004 by Carolyn Elefant

This article, High Court [of Kentucky] Disciplines Lawyers, AP, 12/17/04 reports on five recently sanctioned Kentucky attorneys but it also gives a pretty good overview of the types of violations that attorneys might be taken to task for. One attorney was temporarily suspended, pending initiation of a disciplinary action for misappopriating funds from clients unless [...]

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The Secret to Successful Blogging Can Make A Firm Successful Too

December 19, 2004 by Carolyn Elefant

Robert Ambrogi of Legal Line offers this post on how to succeed at blogging that he in turn learned from Howard Owens, director of new media at the Ventura County Star: There are two lessons I take away from blogs. First, find your niche and serve it and serve it well. Second, frequent updates. That [...]

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The Bigger They Are, The Bigger the Ethics Breaches?

December 19, 2004 by Carolyn Elefant

Via Ernie the Attorney, we’ve learned of this news item, Alleged Embezzler Helps Feds Find Cash, Martha Carr, Times Picayune (12/15/04) that follows up on the arrest of former big firm partner Jame Perdigao for embezzling as much as $20 million from his law firm. According to the article, Perdigao’s agreement to help investigators recover [...]

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