The Bigger They Are, The Bigger the Ethics Breaches?

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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A Client’s Role in Case Strategy

Yesterday’s 8-0 decision by the United States Supreme Court in Florida v. Nixon found that an attorney’s concession of guilt in a capital case does not give rise to a constitutional ineffective assistance of counsel claim even when the client has not expressly consented to the attorney’s strategy.  The Court’s decision reversed the lower court…

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Ring Around the Jury?

Randy Cohen’s Ethics Column addresses the question of whether an unmarried lawyer should wear a wedding band to impress a jury.  The lawyer’s colleagues advised that he would have better appeal with a wedding band.  So the lawyer wondered whether this was deceiptful – or a simple cosmetic measure no different from wearing glasses to…

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Free Marketing Seminar

I don’t know much about this teleconference seminar  scheduled for tomorrow except for the fact that it’s free and geared for solo and small firm lawyers.  I’m planning on calling in and will post on what I’ve learned.  If you do go to sign up, please indicate that you learned about the conference from MyShingle.…

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Happy 2nd Birthday to MyShingle!

On December 10, 2004, MyShingle turned two.  Of course, for now you’ll have to take my word for it since I still can’t access my archives to prove it (right now, the old system is being tested and will hopefully be ready for prime time by the end of next week).  Thanks to all of…

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A Lawyer Calls for Civility

Many of us lawyers grouse about the lack of civility in the legal profession; this article, Maryland Lawyer Makes A Case for Civility reports on Rockville, Maryland attorney Steven Seltzer who’s actually trying to do something about it.  In addition to calling lawyers’ on their incivility (for example, Seltzer once wrote a letter to a…

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Solos and Pro Bono

This article, Solo and Small Firm Attorneys Lack Time for Pro Bono, NYLJ (12/13/04) reports on some of the obstacles that solo and small firms face in meeting the recommended 20 hours/year of pro bono.  The article lists the four top reasons lawyers gave for not participating in pro bono programs:  the demand of time…

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