It was one of those situations that lawyers dread. In late March, Max Gerald “Jerry” Garcia got a call from a
receptionist at his firm that two angry clients were there to see him and
remembers thinking, “not again.”
In a profession
notoriously racked by burnout, nonagenarians Victor Kaplan and David S. Smith
still enjoy their work despite the vast changes undergone by the legal
profession in seven decades. Kaplan, admitted to the State Bar of California in 1938, and Smith, admitted in 1943, recently talked to the California Bar Journal about how the practice of law has shifted, including less civility and more reliance on technology.
Their individual goals may vary, but all three candidates
vying to be the State Bar’s next president agree that the organization has made
great strides in the past year and say they are committed to keeping that
momentum going.
Over protests from the legal community, the governor signed
a 2012-13 spending plan in June that slashes $544 million from the judicial
branch budget.
Started more than 10 years ago, the
State Bar’s Lawyer Assistance Program is known for being a resource for lawyers
with mental health or substance abuse problems. Now, the program is planning to
broaden its focus to include another population in need: lawyers showing signs
of dementia.
Recent signs suggest that the discipline pendulum (which
shifts every decade or two) is about to radically switch once again. On Thursday,
June 21, in an unprecedented move, the Supreme Court of California, which by
law has the last word in attorney discipline, referred 24
(yes, twenty-four) cases back to the State Bar Court.
The Orange County Bar Association (OCBA) and its
charitable fund were honored as the Public Law Center’s 2012 Community Partner
of the Year.