An abundance of guidance
Diane Karpman is correct that some fine distinctions can exist for judicial standards
of conduct, but her (September) column creates a misimpression that the
rules are a trap for the “well intentioned.” Judges have an
abundance of guidance and cautionary examples available to them in
commentary to the Code of Judicial Ethics, in orientation classes on ethics and in other
references provided to them, such as Rothman’s extensive Handbook on
Judicial Conduct. While no set of references can cover every situation,
the overriding principle for judges is to do nothing in their professional or
personal lives that would cause a loss of public confidence in their
objectivity.
In
my experience, it was the judges who hadn’t read the Code and its
commentary who got into difficulties.
Dennis
Coupe
Granite
Bay
Change MCLE
reporting rules
Each group is
given THREE years to complete the 25 hours of MCLE. However, one can
indicate this completion only within 60 days of the deadline.
This seems
absurd, and most likely serves only some in-house administrative
function. Now many of us must keep a tickler file to make sure we go
online sometime in December/January to log in and update our MCLE
completion. Please, fix this since it makes no sense, and is just one
additional aggravation among so many for us small practitioners.
A. C. Lutz
Macdoel
• Editor’s
note: The State Bar is working to increase the efficiency of its online MCLE
compliance reporting system.
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