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Ethics & Malpractice Issues

Who you calling unethical, Warren Boroson? Please stop picking on solo lawyers!

May 8, 2012 by Carolyn Elefant

In an era of  lawyer bashing,NJ Columnist Warren Boroson’s piece Why Every Middle Class Family Needs a Lawyer  could have been an important educational reminder why lawyers still matter.  And while in truth, Boroson’s article makes that case, Boroson does a far greater disservice by advising readers to “avoid solo practitioners” when hiring lawyers. Boroson’s [...]

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Advice on Giving Legal Advice

February 23, 2012 by Carolyn Elefant

When does educational marketing cross the line into legal advice? In an era of increased consumer hunger for information online and the rise of crowdsourced advice sites, understanding what types of communications constitute legal advice is a critical matter — and one which Brian Tannebaum addresses at My Law License. Brian’s post has also generated [...]

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Third Verse, Same as the First – Outsourcing Marketing = Outsourcing Ethics

February 8, 2012 by Carolyn Elefant

Eric Turkewitz said it first, years ago, and still, no one’s listening. Most recently, a fairly new South Carolina attorney disobeyed the legal profession’s equivalent of the law of gravity, outsourcing marketing = outsourcing ethics. And just as ignoring the gravity or pretending that it doesn’t exist will send anyone but a fantasy character tumbling, [...]

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If Consumers Want to Know Where Their Tomatoes Are Grown, Don’t They Have A Right To Know Where Their Lawyer Is Located?

December 7, 2011 by Carolyn Elefant

Yesterday, while shopping in WholeFoods (a reward to myself after a particularly grueling week consisting largely of take-out), I noticed several prominently displayed signs touting local produce. Though the Whole Foods stores in my area have carried local produce for some time, what made this display particularly interesting is that the sign disclosed both the [...]

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First Amendment Challenge to Restriction on Lawyer’s Blog Likely to Flounder – And Bring Other Blogs Down With It

October 10, 2011 by Carolyn Elefant

As the saying goes, bad facts make bad law. And there’s going to be some very bad law for lawyer blogs indeed if Virginia small firm lawyer Horace Hunter loses his First Amendment challenge to the Virginia Bar’s attempt to require the firm to include certain disclaimers on its blog. Don’t get me wrong – [...]

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MyShingle’s Proposed Revisions to Ethics 20/20 Model Rules on Admissions and Model Rule 5.5

October 5, 2011 by Carolyn Elefant

Though I started with the best of intentions to track the activities of the ABA Commission on Ethics 2020, I’ve been having some trouble keeping up with the Commission’s relentless pace. This month brings another barrage of proposals on Outsourcing, Client Confidentiality and Technology and Technology and Lawyer Marketing, and Attorney Admissions. I’ve already provided [...]

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A Solo Fought the Law and the Solo Won! NY Jud. Code 470 Found Unconstitutional!

September 8, 2011 by Carolyn Elefant

The wheels of justice grind slowly, but exceedingly fine. Nearly four years have passed since New-York barred, New Jersey residing attorney Ekaterina Schoenefeld refused to play scofflaw and ignore a valid law requiring only non-resident lawyers to maintain an in-state office  simply because she personally believed it to be outdated or unjust. Instead, Schoenefeld did [...]

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Ethics Rules May Be Stupid, But Rules Are Rules

August 13, 2011 by Carolyn Elefant

Update (8/13/2011, 10 am -  Please read through the comments and my responses in the Comment Section. I plan to update this post but for now, I will respond in the comment section.  For convenience, I have uploaded the NY Rules of Professional Conduct here – NYRulesofProfessionalConduct4109-6 which I will reference in my comments] Also, [...]

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The North Carolina Bar’s Double Standard for Data and Dollars

June 20, 2011 by Carolyn Elefant

Two months ago, North Carolina released Proposed Formal Ethics Opinion 6 , Subscribing to Software as a Service (SaaS) While Fulfilling the Duties of Confidentiality and Preservation of Client Property. As others, including my Social Media for Lawyers co-author Nicole Black, NC Bar LPM Advisor Eric Mazzone, e-lawyering pioneer Richard Granat and North Carolina virtual [...]

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ABA report: No New Rules Needed for Law Firm Rankings

June 15, 2011 by Carolyn Elefant

The following is a guest post by Roy Ginsburg When U.S. News & World Report decided to rank law schools, this ranking – for better or worse — fundamentally changed the law school admissions process. So when U.S. News announced that it would join forces with Best Lawyers to publish rankings of lawyers, that announcement [...]

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