As I blogged about previously, earlier in the month the Virginia Bar charged attorney Richmond Attorney Horace Hunter with misconduct due to his Richmond Criminal Defense News blog (PDF here).[1] The attorney in question has now been found guilty of violating the Virginia ethics rules regarding advertising. Don’t fear for Hunter, his penalty was a public admonition and he was told take…
Electronic Discovery. These two words have to power to make the hair stand up on just about every attorney’s neck. Let me tell you a story that was told to me by Dan Libby, a digital evidence expert who is featured on our website. Dan delivered a great presentation a few years ago on e-discovery and computer forensics for a local law…
Advertising has been a vexing problem for the legal profession for years now. Before legal advertising was deemed legal with the 1977 Supreme Court decision in Bates v. Arizona, the fear was that advertising would erode notions of professionalism. And since advertising become legal for attorneys, we have had to suffer though the late night ‘Larry Parker got me $2.1 million’ commercials.…
New Jersey recently instituted mandatory continuing legal education (MCLE). New Jersey attorneys now must complete 24 CLE units every two years, including 4 hours of legal ethics.[1] Under current standards, twelve units may be completed online. However, there are two main exceptions that would allow New Jersey attorneys to complete all 24 units with approved online CLE.[2] First, attorneys who do not…
Every morning I wake up and check the headlines on Law.com and the Law Technology News. It seems everyday brings more headlines on the use of social media and other electronic evidence at trial. Whether it’s prosecutors trying to ‘friend’ potential jurors or attorneys turning to social media for evidence to use at trial, the Internet holds massive amounts of information. The…
Guest post by Gretchen Shipley With fewer resources than ever before, school district administrators are overwhelmed with trying to keep up with and respond to on-line misconduct by students and teachers. In an era of sexting, cyberbullying, and Facebook, school administrators walk a fine line in trying to provide a safe school environment and at the same time, trying not to infringe…