L.A./Orange County Legal Aid group
seeking applicants
The State Bar of California is seeking
applications from attorneys interested in serving on the board of directors for
Legal Aid Society of Orange County and Community Legal Services in Southeast
Los Angeles County (LASOC/CLS).
Although the nonprofit organization
provides legal assistance to low-income people in both counties, for this
vacancy applicants who practice in Orange County are preferred. Deadline for
applications is Nov. 1.
The board meets 10 to 12 times a year to
make policy decisions governing the program’s operations. Eligible applicants
must be State Bar members, support the purposes of the Legal Services
Corporation Act, have an interest in and knowledge of the delivery of quality
legal services to the poor and have a sincere commitment to the program’s
mission to provide quality legal services and to empower the poor to identify
and defeat the causes and effects of poverty within their community.
Interested attorneys should submit a
letter and a resume outlining work experience, community activity and
educational background. Please include attorney bar number. The materials
should be sent to Kimberly
Warmsley, State Bar of California, 180 Howard Street, San Francisco, CA
94105-1639. For questions, contact Warmsley at (415) 538-2176 or kimberly.warmsley@calbar.ca.gov.
Diversity awards to be presented
Charlene Usher of Chino, Sedgwick LLP,
Bay Area Lawyers for Individual Freedom (BALIF) and the UCLA Law Fellows
Program are among this year’s recipients of the State Bar’s diversity awards.
The Diversity and Education Pipeline Awards will be presented at the Annual
Meeting Oct. 13 by the Council on Access and Fairness.
Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye will
give remarks and the program will feature a special tribute in memory of
attorney John Payton (1946-2012), California native and premier civil rights
attorney, for his significant contributions in the areas of affirmative action
in education and protection of voting rights.
To attend the reception, please RSVP to awardsreception@calbar.ca.gov.
Help JNE move to
paperless evaluations
The State Bar commission that evaluates
the governor’s candidates for appointed judgeships is seeking the help of
attorneys to solicit information electronically.
For more than 20 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. Over the past 18 months, the commission has
experimented with the use of email to gather comments, but has encountered one
barrier: the spam filter. While most of JNE’s emails reach their intended
recipients, a significant number 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 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 web site 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, and
it will save the State Bar tens of thousands of dollars a year in copying,
stationery and postage costs.
Updated 2012 bar
rules book now available for 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.
The new 2012 edition of the e‑Reader
version of the rule book can be purchased at Amazon.com for $6.99, a
significant discount from 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. 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.