Register for the
Solo and Small Firm Summit
The State Bar of California will hold its annual Solo and Small
Firm Summit June 16 to 18 in Newport Beach.
Billed as “not your ordinary weekend CLE program!” the summit
offers solo and small firm practitioners and office staff an opportunity to
network and develop workable strategies to manage their offices, build a client
referral network and stay on top of key developments in various areas of law.
For more information or to register, visit the event web page at www.calbar.org/solosummit.
Watch the Board of Trustees via webcast
The State Bar Board of Trustees has begun live webcasting of its
meetings.
“This technology will provide State Bar members and the public
with greater access to our board meetings,” Executive Director Elizabeth
Rindskopf Parker said.
Webcasts are used by the California Legislature, the Judicial
Council and most recently by the California Supreme Court. “We’re delighted to
be adopting the best practices already identified by our oversight bodies in
the judicial and legislative branches,” Parker said.
The webcasts can be accessed through links posted
on the Board of Trustees meeting page.
Apply for a legal aid grant
The State Bar’s Legal Services Trust Fund Program has opened
grant applications to nonprofit organizations that provide free civil legal
services to low-income Californians. Applications for IOLTA/EAF funding for
2017 are now available online.
The deadline to file is July 1, 2016.
Organizations that are not currently recipients should review application guidelines
and the California Business and Professions Code 6210-6228 before filing an
application. For questions, contact the Legal Services Trust Fund Program at
415-538-2252 or trustfundprogram@calbar.ca.gov.
Register for California Women Lawyers event
California Women Lawyers is hosting a reception in Los
Angeles on June 10 for the Hon. Holly J. Fujie, recipient of the 2016
Joan Dempsey Klein Distinguished Jurist Award. Those who want to attend the reception
have until Friday June 3 to register. You can register online on the
group’s website.
For questions contact the group at 916-930-9020 or info@cwl.org.
Have your voice heard in evaluating judges
The State Bar commission that
evaluates the governor’s candidates for judgeships is seeking the help of
attorneys to solicit information electronically.
For more than 30 years, the
Commission on Judicial Nominees Evaluation, commonly known as the JNE (“Jenny”)
Commission, has gathered information about candidates by mailing paper comment
forms to attorneys. During the past few years, the commission has been using
email to gather comments, but continues to encounter one barrier: the spam
filter. Most of JNE’s emails reach their intended recipients. However, some are
blocked.
Attorneys can solve this
problem by authorizing the spam filters serving their email address listed with
the State Bar to accept the following email address: jneccf@calbar.ca.gov. Those who work in legal
offices, public agencies and the court system can help by asking their IT
specialists to authorize the JNE email address for all spam filters serving
office computers.
The electronic comment forms
are identical to the written forms. A hyperlink in the email takes the
commenter to a website where a form identical to the written comment form can
be completed electronically. The electronic comments are maintained
confidentially, with access only by investigating commissioners and staff. The
use of email appears to result in response rates at least as high as the use of
written forms. It has proven to be a cost-effective and efficient method of
transmitting time-sensitive, confidential data.
Questions and comments about
the process can be directed to jneccf@calbar.ca.gov.
Updated 2015 bar rules book available for e-reader
To make it easier for lawyers
to readily identify and address legal ethics issues, the State Bar has
published an e-reader version of the Rules of Professional Conduct and the
State Bar Act. The e-reader version of the rule book is compatible with the
Kindle Reader App, a free e-reader application available for iPads, iPhones,
Blackberry phones, Android phones, MacBooks and PC laptops. The book also works
on all versions of Amazon.com’s Kindle.
The 2015 edition of the e-Reader version of the rule book is now available on Amazon.com for $6.99, a significant
discount from the price of the print version. It offers several useful features
including a search function, bookmarking, highlighting and annotating. In
addition, once downloaded to a tablet, smart phone or other compatible device,
the book can be accessed at any time, even without the Internet or a cellular
data signal.
The bar’s rule book has been
published for more than 65 years. The 30-page edition published in 1949 has
grown to more than 400 hard copy pages. In addition to the rules and State Bar
Act, the book includes other related authorities such as selected Rules of
Court, code sections, the Federal Mortgage Assistance Relief Services Rule, the
State Bar Pro Bono Resolution, the Lawyer Referral Service rules, MCLE rules
and more.
Leverage the law through a State Bar section membership
Join other leading attorneys and legal professionals who are passionate about their
practices. Each State Bar section provides its members with valuable tools
including e-newsletters, publications and more. Highly regarded as a premier
provider of legal education, the 16 sections deliver specialized training and
practical programs including symposiums, one-day seminars and multi-day
conferences, online seminars, self-study curricula as well as updates on trends
and changes in the law. Visit our online catalog, which
contains more than 1,000 individual seminars.
Sections can also figure heavily when initiating or advocating
legislation and regulations. Plus, most of the sections participate in major
public education efforts and community service activities, such as consumer
radio shows and booklets that explain legal rights. Your minimal annual
membership helps to fund all these essential programs and services. What’s
more, your membership is a tax-deductible investment.
Membership benefits from CalBar Connect
State Bar members can save up
to 25 percent every time they rent with Hertz, a participant in CalBar Connect,
the State Bar’s member services and benefits initiative. Visit the Hertz page for details.
CalBar Connect, which provides
discounts to all State Bar members, also offers a variety of insurance plans
including professional liability
insurance, workers’ compensation
insurance, group and individual
disability plans, life insurance, accidental death and dismemberment (AD&D), auto, home and business office plans.
Subscribe to the Daily
News Digest
In between monthly
issues of the Bar Journal, you can keep up with the major legal news of the day
by visiting the new Daily News Digest on the Bar Journal’s home page. The State
Bar’s Office of Communications scours the day’s news and culls top headlines of
interest to legal professionals. You may also subscribe by visiting the Daily News Digest web
page.
Follow
us on Twitter, LinkedIn
Stay informed by
following @StateBarCA on Twitter and the State
Bar of California page on LinkedIn. We’ll give you a heads up about important
regulatory information and let you know about other happenings at the State Bar
or within the legal community. If you’re seeking information relevant to your
particular practice area, the State Bar’s voluntary sections and the California
Young Lawyers Association also have a presence on social media through
Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube.
Opt out of sharing certain
information
As of Jan. 1, 2016, the
State Bar of California is subject to the California Public Records Act (CPRA).
For more information regarding the impact of CPRA on the bar’s obligation to
release member information, please log on to My
State Bar Profile. Go to “account information” and select “update my mailing
preferences (opt out).”