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Ed. Note: Welcome to our daily feature Trivia Question of the Day!

Of the 20 federal officials that have been impeached in the U.S., how many were removed from office?

Hint: And no, none of the folks that were removed were president.

See the answer on the next page.

Some good news, at least here in California, amid all the heartache and turmoil across the country: the July aka October California bar exam results are out, and the passage rate is the highest in 12 years at 60.7%. Given all the distractions, the remote exam, claims of “cheating” made against almost a third of the test takers (and what’s happening with that?) bar examinees showed that they could succeed under pressure and stress, useful skills for when a response to an ex parte is due at the end of the day, along with several other pleadings. That happens more often than one would like to think.

The State Bar is also looking at provisional licensing for law school graduates back to 2015. There are several options for the trustees to consider, but the good news is that the bar is listening to the recommendations by the Provisional Licensure Working Group that has, in turn, listened to law school deans and others who have urged the widening of the group eligible for provisional licensing.

We lawyers have a bad enough rap as it is … the perception is that we screw the little guys while raking in the big bucks from corporate clients. While that may be true in some ways, the rap that lawyers participating, inciting, encouraging, egging on (get the picture?) have gotten from the Capitol chaos of last week is well deserved and doesn’t go far enough. Anyone familiar with Edward Munch’s famous painting “The Scream”? I think probably a lot of people feel exactly that way right now.

Updates about what happened at the Capitol last week continue to be shocking: Molotov cocktails, caches of weapons, pipe bombs, hardly evidence of any intent for a peaceful protest. Even if there wasn’t a single lawyer in the mob that stormed the Capitol, there is the concept of “aiding and abetting.” Five are dead, including one Capitol police officer who was killed by a fire extinguisher blow to the head delivered by one of the so-called patriots. Just how does that homicidal act fit into the framework of “law and order?” Not in my book nor in anyone else’s book who has any shred of decency, of integrity, of humanity. That horrifying murder by an alleged “patriot” didn’t need to happen. Any acceptance of responsibility? What do you think? Don’t wrap yourselves in the flag on this one. The federal death penalty still exists, and this death may justify its use.

Lawyers involved? Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, Rudy Giuliani, (aka “America’s Mayor” almost 20 years ago) Lin Wood, the Republican Attorneys General Association, whose executive director has had the good grace to resign.

The list goes on and on, and don’t forget John Eastman, a tenured law professor at Chapman University in Orange County, standing by Rudy Giuliani’s side as he exhorted the crowd, which then turned into a mob. Eastman has decided to retire from Chapman, effective immediately.    

The backpedaling of some of those in D.C. reminds me of the famous line about Ginger Rogers (Google her). She was Fred Astaire’s (Google him) dancing partner in many movies of the 1930s. She followed his lead, but she was the one dancing backward in high heels. That image fits today’s news. Backpedaling aka dancing backward seems to be the exercise du jour.

I am disgusted with all of them and all the other lawyers who thought that this purported banana republic coup was a good idea, and I am ashamed that they are just as able to practice as I am. Do the Rules of Professional Conduct have any meaning at all?

While I have friends, who have been “Trumpers,” and we never discuss politics for that reason, (and yes, I still want to regard them as friends since I am hopeful that they will eventually realize that their support was misplaced, at best), I hope that they think storming the Capitol was not a good idea, even for die-hard conservatives. Patriotism seems to have different definitions these days.

A lack of evidence that the election was stolen has not stopped them. Again, another law school lesson not learned. Did these lawyers take evidence, a required course in law school? Do they understand the concept of facts to lay a “foundation”? Obviously not, but courts throughout the country did, even those appointed by Trump, who believed that those appointees owed him loyalty. This country is not a Mafia-run fiefdom. We pledge allegiance to the country, not to the president. Remember that, Bill Barr.

The words of the attorney, Joseph Welch, who represented the Army in the Army-McCarthy hearing in 1954 ring as true now as they did then, and for those who have blank looks, read your American history. It’s time. Welch asked the red-baiting venomous, reputation-destroying bullying Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy, who claimed that Communists were in the Army (remember these were the days of the Red Scare), “Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?” Watch the entire three-and-a-half-minute video. It’s instructive. Parallels to today? What do you think?

Let’s hope that we can get through the next week in something that passes for civility and respect for democracy and our nation as a republic. We are all exhausted, but we can’t let our guard down for one minute. The specter of domestic terrorism requires constant vigilance. We must do no less. I hope for a peaceful transition of power, the way the Founders intended.

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Jill Switzer has been an active member of the State Bar of California for over 40 years. She remembers practicing law in a kinder, gentler time. She’s had a diverse legal career, including stints as a deputy district attorney, a solo practice, and several senior in-house gigs. She now mediates full-time, which gives her the opportunity to see dinosaurs, millennials, and those in-between interact — it’s not always civil. You can reach her by email at oldladylawyer@gmail.com.

Eight years ago, a realtor named Eric Malley decided to launch a fund that would buy hundreds of luxury Manhattan residences on the cheap and, before selling them off to an institutional investor, would lease them to corporate tenants. He named this the MG Capital Management Residential Fund III and raised $23 million from about 60 investors for it. This both seems an incredibly small amount of money with which to buy hundreds of high-end New York City apartments, and is a far cry from Malley’s $525 million target. But it certainly seemed successful enough to convince him to launch a sequel, Fund IV, which sought a more modest $250 million from a more modest group of investors, and raised $35 million.

Well, this is a shock! The Washington Post reports that Trump has finally turned on his trusty attorney Rudy Giuliani and plans to stiff him on the fee to boot.

Trump has instructed aides not to pay Giuliani’s legal fees, two officials said, and has demanded that he personally approve any reimbursements for the expenses Giuliani incurred while traveling on the president’s behalf to challenge election results in key states. They said Trump has privately expressed concern with some of Giuliani’s moves and did not appreciate a demand from Giuliani for $20,000 a day in fees for his work attempting to overturn the election.

It’s a lot to take in, but it appears that the guy who was sued hundred of times for non-payment, including by his own lawyers in Virginia, Florida, New Jersey, and New York, isn’t going to pony up.

The New York Times, which first broke the news that Giuliani had demanded $20,000 per day from the Trump campaign for whatever it was that he was doing for the president, confirms that Rudy is persona non grata at the White House, with officials blocking his calls.

“President Trump is very busy working from early in the morning until late in the evening. He makes many calls and has many meetings. He’ll get back to you, never,” they say. Allegedly.

Perhaps, after more than five dozen losses in court, the president has come to the belated realization that the madcap legal scheme mounted by his longtime friend left something to be desired. Apparently the “Elite Strike Force” strategy of Four Seasons Total Landscaping + “Normal Scrutiny” + Hugo Chávez + “Oh my God, Rudy is leaking!” was unequal to the challenge of overturning an election.

But Rudy may yet get his fee, since Trump’s second impeachment trial looms on the horizon and the line of lawyers vying to defend the soon-to-be-ex-president isn’t exactly wrapped around Pennsylvania Avenue. Fearful for their reputations, white shoe firms were backing away even before last week’s Capitol Riot. Jay Sekulow, Pat Cipollone, and Jane Raskin represented Trump in the last impeachment, but NPR says they’re out for this round. Ditto for Pam Bondi, Eric Herschmann, Pat Philbin and Marc Kasowitz. Even Alan Dershowitz plans to be busy washing his hair, although he told Bloomberg that Trump’s got an airtight First Amendment defense.

According to Bloomberg, “Trump has also made it harder for himself by suggesting Rudy Giuliani should be involved, but the controversial former New York mayor is unlikely to be on the president’s defense team, an administration official said. Giuliani is seen by lawyers as a toxic force and his conduct at the rally preceding the Capitol raid could be examined during an impeachment trial.”

But at the end of the day, who else is there to call when you need someone to light himself on fire defending the indefensible? You can only get so far with Jim Jordan and Elise Stefanik. So saddle up, Mister Mayor. Your spotlight awaits!

Trump is isolated and angry at aides for failing to defend him as he is impeached again [WaPo]
Trump Struggles to Find Lawyers as Impeachment Trial Nears [Bloomberg]

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Elizabeth Dye lives in Baltimore where she writes about law and politics.

Effective January 1, 2021, New Jersey attorneys must complete 5 Ethics credits (up from the 4 previously needed), 2 of which must be Diversity, Inclusion, and Elimination of Bias (DIEB). The total number of credits needed to meet the full CLE requirement is still 24. This change affects all attorneys due December 31, 2021 and later.

Diversity, Inclusion, and Elimination of Bias programs address diversity and inclusion in the legal system of all persons regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disabilities. Possible topics may include ways to create diversity programs in law firms, transformational leadership, ways to identify and eliminate unconscious bias, and culturally competent lawyering. 

New Jersey attorneys can still complete their full requirement through Lawline’s catalog of over 1,400 New Jersey accredited courses, including over 20 DIEB courses. 

For questions about this permanent rule change, you can contact Supreme Court Clerk Heather Joy Baker at SupremeCT.mbx@njcourts.gov. 

Related Content:

1. CLE Alert: New Jersey Supreme Court Waives In-Person CLE Requirements Until Further Notice
2. What New Jersey Attorneys Are Watching Now
3. Eliminating Bias: Inclusive Leadership in the Legal Profession

This is something she told me when I started law school. Whenever you take notes — whether it’s in class, or at a hearing, or in any arena that you might be taking notes — always read them back after that event has ended, whether it’s the class, or the meeting, or the hearing, or the oral argument. By just taking those extra five minutes to read the notes right there in the moment you will cement those notes and the succinct nature of what you boiled down from what may have been a 45-minute oral argument or a 90-minute class, and that will go into your brain and you will retain it much better than if you just write the notes and forget them and revisit them a week, or two weeks, or a month later. That sounds really silly, but I will say the classes I did that in, I always performed better than the classes where I didn’t do that. It’s a practice that I’ve taken to heart now in my life as a practicing attorney. That’s one real skill that everyone can say they learned from a Supreme Court justice.

No matter what stage of law you’re at, you should not forget the other important things in your life. Whether that’s family, whether that’s arts and entertainment, whether that’s sports, whether that’s reading for pleasure — all of these things are parts of a whole human, and no person should ever be so consumed by their work that they can’t also enjoy the important things. That said, there will be times when those other things don’t get priority, when they have to be put aside, because the work is that important. My grandmother would often say, you can have it all, but you can’t have it all at the same time. Prioritizing when the work comes first, or when family comes first, is something that each individual has to learn to balance on their own, but it does not mean that an important element of your life has to be abandoned in the pursuit of a successful legal career.

Also, marry well.

— Clara Spera, granddaughter of the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and a fellow at the ACLU’s Ruth Bader Ginsburg Liberty Center, offering advice she’d received from her grandmother that was applicable to lawyers, during an event hosted by the New York State Bar Association that focused on Ginsburg’s legacy. Spera was joined by four of her grandmother’s former clerks: Dean Trevor Morrison of New York University School of Law; Subash Iyer, special counsel for ethics, risk and compliance at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority; Rachel Wainer Apter, director of the New Jersey Division on Civil Rights at the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office; and Gillian Metzger, Harlan Fiske Stone Professor of Constitutional Law at Columbia Law.

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Staci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.

When the pandemic first hit, law firms understandably freaked out. Firms cut salaries and laid people off. Few really understood how to work remotely when this all kicked off. But by the end of the year, firms were reinstating salaries, holding the line on annual bonuses, and many even offered additional COVID-appreciation payments. So just how bad was the year for law firms?

The 2021 State of the Legal Market Report, a joint effort from Georgetown Law’s Center on Ethics and the Legal Profession and the Thomson Reuters Institute, offers some insight into exactly how this all played out. As it turns out, while there were definitely trying times in the early going, the year ended on a fairly positive note for attorneys.

From February until August, things looked bleak for the legal sector. At this point, the economy was in neutral and many courts were closed, putting a drag on both transactional and litigation work. But despite the pandemic only getting worse over the latter half of the year, firms had settled into a functioning model and clients were running back to the warm embrace of their lawyers.

As one might suspect, bankruptcy had the best year, becoming the only practice area to experience growth in 2020. But other practice areas held their own, experiencing modest dips, mostly during the five or six months’ worth of early shutdown.

While furloughs and layoffs plagued the industry, they paled in comparison to the 2009 catastrophe. Attorney headcount ended up off about 1.7 percent, while it reached as high as 4 percent during 2009. That said, firms laid off a good deal of support staff over the course of the year, which makes the human toll of the cutbacks more severe than it appears based on this figure alone.

Where firms really came out ahead was on managing costs beyond simply firing people.

Running a law firm got a lot cheaper in a lot of areas, but the slashing of recruiting and business development expenditures were steep. Obviously, those should see a significant rise once the legal industry returns to a new routine.

With revenue down a little and costs down a lot, you can imagine how profits per equity partner worked out.

No wonder firms were willing to hand out COVID appreciation bonuses. And to the extent firms stiffed the associates, it makes you wonder how far off the market the firm ended up this year.

There are more insights to be had in the full report, but all in all it appears as though the legal industry managed to come out of this crisis well-positioned for a breakout stretch once the virus is eradicated.

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Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.