Malpractice Insurance for the New Lawyer

Jay Foonberg candidly speaks to the (new) or seasoned lawyer, and beseeches all of us to accept two facts about malpractice insurance.

He writes:

Accept Two Basic Facts:

1. You are responsible for malpractice, even if you did someone “a favor,” and did not charge or collect a fee;

2. At some time during your career, you will be sued for malpractice.

Whether you want to call it “errors and omissions” or malpractice” or “professional negligence,” it is the insurance that protects you, your clients, and third parties when you get sued.

Foonberg wrote the juicy new lawyer’s “Bible,” How to Start & Build a Law Practice. His book is available in the Cooley Bookstore, or online at the ABA webstore.

Don't sue for lost pants

Justice served, finally.

The Lost pants Judge lost his job. Now, isn't THAT a surprise.

Read the story in the Washington Post.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/30/AR2007103002058_pf.html

What a relief . . . the system actually works . . . Phew!

We can all let out our breath, finally.

HAPPY HALLOWE'EN

Thanks to FreeFoto.com

Quote from Law Professors Blog

"It's none of their business that you have to learn how to write. Let them think you were born that way. "

- Ernest Hemingway

http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/legalwriting/

Hat tip to Legal Writing Law Professors Blog

The Whistleblower’s Effort Brings Satisfaction

This story brought a smile to my face. Smug.

Detroit Council OKs $8 Million Settlement to Whistleblowers

October 23, 2007
Detroit Free Press
By ZACHARY GORCHOW

The Detroit City Council this morning approved the payment of $8 million in settlement of a whistleblower lawsuit filed by two former Detroit police officers.

The council approved the payment to former Deputy Chief Gary Brown and former officer Harold Nelthrope. The settlement stems[from] a lawsuit the men won against the City of Detroit and Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.

A Wayne County jury last month determined that Kilpatrick retaliated against the two former cops for alleging and investigating wrongdoing by members of the mayor’s inner circle.

It awarded a $6.5-million judgment, which the mayor vowed to appeal. Interest and legal costs brought the total to about $8.5 million, but under the settlement, Brown and Nelthrope will get $8 million.

Former bodyguard Walt Harris, whose lawsuit is pending, would receive $400,000.

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071023/NEWS01/71023028/0/NEWS01

Of course, it feels good to see the little guy get his just rewards.

My faith in the system remains solid.

The Best Advice

Write your brief in a way that helps the Judge understand your client’s story.

A while back, I posted a blog entry to help my students set the stage for the Judge.

Today, I refer my students back to that posting.

http://hugginsandhugginslaw.blogspot.com/2007_01_01_archive.html

Perhaps my advice might "stick" this time.

Write your brief to make the Judge understand your client’s story

A while back, I wrote an entry to help my students set the stage for the Judge.

Today, I refer my students back to that posting.

As you read the entry for today, ask yourself: how many times could I have improved my writing?

The answer might be surprising.

Students of “Privacy Concerns: This One’s for You

The Dutch society screams: "Get ready to give up your privacy."

"Big Brother" restaurant opens to study diners

By Emma Thomasson
Mon Oct 15, 2007 10:54am EDT
From Reuters

WAGENINGEN, Netherlands (Reuters) - Does service with a scowl put you off at lunch? Will you eat more greens if you are surrounded by plants? Does romantic, pink lighting encourage you to linger over your fruit salad?

A new research center -- dubbed the "restaurant of the future" -- at the Dutch university ofWageningen hopes to help answer these questions and more by tracking diners with dozens of unobtrusive cameras and monitoring their eating habits.

"We want to find out what influences people: colors, taste, personnel. We try to focus on one stimulus, like light," said Rene Koster, head of the Center for Innovative Consumer Studies, as overhead bulbs switched through green, red, orange and blue.

This story brings a whole new twist to “Big Brother” is watching you.

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSL1023033620071015

Small Firms -- Even Solos -- Celebrate! Finally!

Could this be the beginning of a new trend?
And could this new trend be one that might possibly bring the Solo Practitioner or the Small Firm onto an equal footing with BigLaw?

For the answer, and an interesting read, please read this article from the November 2007 Litigation News Online Issue Preview; published by the American Bar Association Section of Litigation.

Bigger Isn’t Always Better When It Comes to Outside Counsel

By Ruth E. Piller, Litigation News Associate Editor

Corporate legal clients once again seem to be developing an affinity for small law firms—notwithstanding the merger mania of recent years and the perception that large corporations want only to hire megafirms.

With increasing frequency, the chief legal officers of leading corporations are now retaining small law firms and even solo practitioners.

“I do believe that we are seeing an increase in inside counsel using smaller, boutique firms,” says Horace W. Jordan Jr., Lake Forest, IL, cochair of the Section of Litigation’s Corporate Counsel Committee. Jordan, who is general counsel for an equipment leasing company, believes that two dynamics are responsible for this change: “the billable hour and a feeling that the smaller firm might have more flexibility in both arranging billings and understanding the client and its business.”

My eyes are open, and of course I eagerly await the benefit to our small firm.

Too bad for folks who want to join Big Law ... but ... .

A law degree isn't necessarily a license to print money these days, so says Amir Efrati in his Wall Street Journal article, which appeared on Page A1 in the September 24, 2007 edition.

Hard Case: Job Market Wanes for U.S. Lawyers;Growth of Legal Sector Lags Broader Economy; Law Schools Proliferate

For graduates of elite law schools, prospects have never been better. Big law firms this year boosted their starting salaries to as high as $160,000. But the majority of law-school graduates are suffering from a supply-and-demand imbalance that's suppressing pay and job growth. The result: Graduates who don't score at the top of their class are struggling to find well-paying jobs to make payments on law-school debts that can exceed $100,000. Some are taking temporary contract work, reviewing documents for as little as $20 an hour, without benefits. And many are blaming their law schools for failing to warn them about the dark side of the job market.

Click here to read the article.

Too bad for folks who want to join Big Law.

Good News for ambitious solo-self-starters.

I disagree. A new law degree isn't necessarily a license to print money these days.

But if you are fortunate to have a few spectacle of dust on the degree . . . it could be a very different story.

http://online.wsj.com/article_email/article_print/SB119040786780835602-lMyQjAxMDE3OTIwODQyMDg3Wj.html

Hat tip and thank you to Gary Roehm, JD, who emailed this story to me.

Students of Property Law: What do you think?

Is Woodstock for Sale?

Yes, according to this article published Aug 8, 2007, in the Washington Times:

Woodstock's swan song

August 8, 2007

By Jennifer Harper

For sale: Rustic property with mountain view, $8 million.

Old hippies, take note. Another Woodstock icon is about to drift off into history — or commercial development, anyway. Max Yasgur's farm is up for sale in Bethel, N.Y., less than two miles from the original site of the 1969 music festival, which has since mutated from legend to lucrative brand name.

Click here to read the entire article.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070808/NATION/108080087/1001

Some things just break my heart ….