Concerned that law school students aren't learning the nuts
and bolts of lawyering, the State Bar has assembled a group to study whether
practical skills training should become a condition of practicing law in
California. The new Task Force on Admissions Regulation Reform will examine what training might be required.
Lawyers should follow the same ethical rules whether
advertising themselves in a phone book or on Facebook. That’s the gist of a proposed
ethics opinion by the State Bar Standing Committee on Professional Responsibility
and Conduct (COPRAC) which states that an attorney’s postings on Facebook or other
social media are bound by the same rules as those governing more traditional
forms of advertising.
As interim leader of the State Bar’s prosecution unit, Jayne
Kim helped to wipe out a persistent backlog of attorney misconduct cases in a
matter of months. In late May, she officially became the agency's newest chief
trial counsel.
More than 30 aspiring public interest lawyers are getting
some help pursuing their dreams thanks to law firms and the California Bar
Foundation. In May, California Bar Foundation and sponsor law firms gave
Public Interest Scholarships totaling more than $100,000 to 21 top law students
to help them pay for tuition and other expenses.
Just over 42 percent of the would-be lawyers who took the
February bar exam passed, the Committee of Bar Examiners announced last month. If the 1,849 successful test-takers satisfy other requirements for
admission, they will join the bar, pushing the number of California lawyers
past the 238,000 mark.
Lawyers rely on precedent to conform their conduct to accepted norms. California State Bar Court opinions contain a treasure trove of information about the pitfalls that have befallen other lawyers. Ethics Byte columnist Diane Karpman writes in favor of greater online access.
The San Mateo County Bar Association’s unique program
for providing lawyers for low-income criminal defendants has won a national
award from the American Bar Association.