Supreme Court Seeking State Bar Board Candidates
The California Supreme Court is accepting applications for its first-ever appointment to the State Bar Board of Trustees. The deadline
to apply is June 1. The appointee will take office at the State Bar Annual
Meeting in October 2012.
Applicants must be active members of the bar and
have their principal place of business in California. The term of the
appointment is for three years, with the possibility of a three-year extension.
The Supreme Court plans to appoint five people to
the board as a result of legislation (SB 163) to change the composition of the
board and shrink its size from 23 to 19 members.
The court’s Committee on the Application and
Evaluation of Nominees Committee (AENC) – which reviews applicants for the
State Bar Court – will provide the court with recommendations and ratings.
COPRAC Statewide Ethics Symposium May 19
The State Bar of California’s
Committee on Professional Responsibility (COPRAC) is presenting its 16th Annual
Statewide Ethics Symposium, scheduled for Saturday, May 19, at UC
Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco. The 2012 theme is “The
Evolution of Ethics in an Electronic Age” and the planned topics include:
Implied consent, and communications through social media, under the No Contact
Rule; Electronic communications and social networking; Ethical and practical
implications created by multi-firm concurrent representation of a single
client; and Maintaining confidences and competence in the area of
electronically stored information (ESI) and eDiscovery. The event is approved
for six hours of MCLE credit in legal ethics offered by COPRAC. Program details
and registration information are available here.
Save the Dates: June 7-8, 2012 Pathways to Justice Conference
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Moreno |
Presented by the
State Bar of California’s Office of Legal Services, the Legal Aid Association
of California and the Equal Access Project of the Administrative Office of the
Courts, the 2012 Pathways to Justice Conference is designed to provide a rich
and comprehensive concentration of training sessions involving legal services,
pro bono and court-based work. The keynote speaker is former California Supreme
Court Justice Carlos R. Moreno.
The conference
at UC Hastings College of the Law features 40 training sessions, including six optional program tracks in
cultural competency, family law, organizational development, public benefits, small
claims and consumer law and technology. Attendees can earn 11.5 hours in MCLE
credit in the areas of legal ethics, elimination of bias in the legal profession
and detection/prevention of substance abuse.
Through May 15, the discounted
registration rate for attendees from nonprofit, court-based and government
entities is $175.
Visit the Pathways to Justice web site for more
detailed information and to register online.
Nominations
Being Sought for the 2012 Benjamin Aranda III Access to Justice Award:
Nomination Deadline May 31, 2012.
The California Commission on Access to
Justice is seeking nominations of California judges for the 2012 Benjamin
Aranda III Access to Justice Award. The deadline for nominations is
Thursday, May 31, 2012. The award will be presented by the Chief Justice
in the fall.
The Aranda Access to Justice Award
recognizes one California trial judge, appellate court justice, or commissioner
for efforts to improve access to the judicial system through a long-term
commitment to equal access to the courts, and for personal work in improving
access for low- and moderate-income Californians. The nomination form and
additional information are available online.
Past recipients of the Aranda Award
include:
2011 Hon. Maria P. Rivera
2011 William C. Vickery, Special Aranda Award
2010 Hon. Laurie D. Zelon
2009 Hon. Gordon Baranco
2008 Hon. Francisco Firmat
2007 Hon. Kathleen E. O’Leary
2006 Hon. Donna M. Petre
2005 Hon. Aviva Bobb
2004 Hon. Earl Johnson, Jr.
2003 Hon. Kenneth M. Kawaichi
2002 Hon. Donna J. Hitchens
2001 Hon. Charles Campbell
2000 Hon. Veronica S. McBeth
1999 Hon. Judith McConnell
Please feel free to contact Frank Monti, Frank.Monti@calbar.ca.gov or
415-238-2141, if you have any questions or need further information.
Positions Available for the 2013
Commission on Judicial Nominees Evaluation
The State Bar of California is accepting
applications from California lawyers, former members of the judiciary and
members of the public interested in volunteering to serve on the 2013
Commission on Judicial Nominees Evaluation (JNE). Commission members must have
the skills, background and experience to assess candidates for California
judicial appointments in a thorough, objective and professional manner. Lawyer
applicants must be in active practice, and it is preferred that they have been
in practice for at least 10 years. The application deadline is Friday, June 1,
2012.
For full details about the commission
and the time commitments, please visit online or contact the
State Bar’s appointments office at (415) 538-2370.
Bar
rules are now available in an e-Reader
To facilitate a lawyer’s ability 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.
For a limited time, the e‑Reader
version of the rule book can be purchased at Amazon.com for $5.99, a quarter of
the price of the hardcopy book. 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 an
Internet or 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 411
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.
New legal ethics
and technology resource page is online
The general Ethics Information page at the
State Bar website has added a new area dedicated to Ethics and
Technology ― a collection of resources that address professional responsibility
issues raised by the use of Internet websites, email, chat rooms and other
technologies. The resources include advisory ethics opinions, articles
and MCLE programs.
Most of the resources are internal links
to other pages on the bar’s website and some are external links to local or
specialty bar associations. The new page is organized both by the type of
resource (ethics opinion, article, etc.) and by subject matter (law firm
websites, electronic files, social networking, etc.).
The new service focuses on providing
basic legal research leads on how the rules apply to new technologies rather
than specific law office systems, hardware or software options. For the latter,
the resources of the State Bar’s Law Practice
Management & Technology Section can be considered.
Register a law
corporation
Law corporations are required to
register with both the California Secretary of State and the State Bar of California
under Corporations Code §13404. Registration requirements are set forth in
Business & Professions Code §§6160 and 6161.
Rules and application materials are
available on the State Bar website. Information required to register a law
corporation includes:
- Proof of registration with the
Secretary of State;
- Submission of bylaws and a sample
share certificate containing the appropriate restrictions on share
ownership;
- A completed application that
reports all the attorneys who are associated with the corporation;
- Submission of the Guarantee for
Claims in the appropriate amount; and
- A Declaration of Compliance with
Rule 1-400.
Limited Liability Partnerships providing
legal services are also required to register with the State Bar. If not
registered, attorneys should be particularly aware of California Corporations
Code § 16306(f), which specifically removes the protection from liability for
claims based upon legal work.
Prior to registering with the Secretary
of State, it is advisable to check with the State Bar to ensure that the entity
name complies with rules and has not already been registered. Additional
information is available at the Law Corporations
page, LLP page, or the Law Office
Management page. Assistance is available at LLP@calbar.ca.gov.
Create a
surrogacy agreement
An “Agreement to Close Law Practice in
the Future” is available on the State Bar website for attorneys who want
to plan for the possibility they will not be able to continue to work. The sample agreement, available to
all lawyers, spells out the responsibilities of the primary attorney and his or
her successor in the case of death or incapacity.
If a lawyer designates a successor using
the new sample contract, the designated surrogate goes to court for appointment
as the practice administrator who can take control and dispose of the practice.
A lengthy list of duties is part of the contract and includes the ability to
open mail, become a signatory on bank accounts, notify clients and transfer
files, pay bills and handle funds, and accept the original attorney’s clients
and cases. The practice administrator also will have the power to sell the
practice.
Feeling
stressed? The Lawyer Assistance Program can help
Attorneys struggling to cope with the
stress of a challenging economic environment or a difficult employment
situation are invited to contact the Lawyer
Assistance Program (LAP), which now offers new support programs in addition to its traditional
help with substance abuse and depression. Support is offered for issues like
stress, relationship and personal problems, grief and anxiety.
Support LAP is designed for attorneys
who might wish to participate in a weekly group with other lawyers and would
like the support of a mental health professional (group facilitator) or a
trained peer counselor who is familiar with attorneys’ particular challenges.
The LAP also offers an Orientation &
Assessment (O&A) to any attorney who wants professional assistance to cope
with personal problems, work problems, substance abuse or other mental health
issues. The O&A provides a confidential assessment completed by one of
the LAP clinicians located throughout the state. Referrals to outside resources
and an opportunity to participate in a LAP group for a short period of time
also are provided. There is no fee for this service.
Interested attorneys should call 877 LAP
4 HELP (877-527-4435) or contact LAP@calbar.ca.gov. All calls are
confidential.
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. For every transaction made
through the end of the year, Hertz will donate 1 percent of proceeds towards
its goal of 40,000 free weekend rentals for American troops. 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, AD&D, Auto, Home and Business Office
Plans.
Opt out of lists
Attorneys who wish to remove their names
from lists the State Bar provides to qualified outside entities may do so by
logging on to My State Bar
Profile.
Go to “Account Information” and select “Update my mailing preferences (opt
out).”
Members also may email their opt-out
request to memrec@calbar.ca.gov. Include your
bar number.