A Sanction That’s Deserved

As many of my readers know, I often find that the sanctions meted out by bar disciplinary committees to be either redundant or heavy-handed, such as punishing an attorney where he’s already been ordered to pay monetary sanctions by the court or sactioning an attorney for failing to apologize for an overly harsh criticism of…

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A Law Firm That’s Out of This World (at least, its fees are)

As lawyers, we all want our work to be regarded as “out of this world” – but just not in this way.   According to this article, South Gate Chases Legal Firms, LA Times (1/23/05),  a Los Angeles Superior Court judge, ruling that the law firm of Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton had overcharged its municipal…

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How Much Can You Rely on What Your Client Tells You?

Even if you don’t practice criminal law, you should be interested in the U.S. Supreme Court’s eventual ruling in Rompilla v. Beard concerning ineffective assistance of counsel which was argued before the Court yesterday. (for details, see Justices Debate Lawyer Diligence in Capital Case, Tony Mauro, Washington Legal Times (1/19/05)).  As with Florida v. Nixon,…

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Westlaw is Free in Some Places – But Why Not Everywhere?

AJ Levy of http://www.outoftheboxlawyering.com lists a bunch of libraries in several states (AK, MN, NV, NJ, NY, OH, TX and WA) where you can access Westlaw for free.  I was happy to learn about this resource though clearly, it’s cheaper for me to sign up for Westlaw on a per-search basis than to travel to…

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A2J Project

This article, Internet Attorney:  More Than Pro Se, New Factor Network (1/17/05) reports on the Chicago-Ken College of Law’s Access to Justice (A2J) program that includes a sophisticated computer system for pro se litigants to file complaints and pleadings.  But it also includes other toosl such as a “Logic Learner” that teaches litigants how to…

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