Category: News Feeds

Oh, the brave new world quarantine hath wrought. A year ago this headline would have been absurd, but we’ve already had a Harvard Law kid brandishing a gun on Zoom, so eh, par for the course.

Anyway, this find comes from our friends at Roll on Friday. Although the exact providence of the call is unclear, they note, “It is understood to have been a call between legal sorts, with Civil Procedure the intended subject of the call (before a willy derailed it), and what appears to be the Lexis Nexis logo can be seen in one of the tabs.”

Anyway, as can be seen in the video below, a participant named “Ben” appears without his shirt on and, in short order, he stands up revealing exactly what god gave him. You can hear folks saying “Oh my God!” “Ben!” and the ultimate in passive aggressiveness, “Let’s make sure everybody has clothes on.”

Anyway, enjoy(?!?) the Zoom etiquette faux pas!

Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, and host of The Jabot podcast. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).

The COVID-19 global pandemic has forced law firms to adapt at an unprecedented pace. To gain a sense of how firms are reprioritizing and reconfiguring their processes and operations — and how associates are being affected — Major, Lindsey & Africa and Above the Law fielded a survey of law firm associates in April 2020. The survey received responses sharing insight into topics such as communication transparency, technological resources, firm culture, and potential long-term effects on the profession.

This new report, The Unprecedented Challenge of COVID-19: Findings from the 2020 Major, Lindsey & Africa / Above the Law Law Firm Associate Survey, offers the most detailed picture available of how law firms and individual associates are coping right now with both the ongoing disruption and the prospect of lasting change.

Fill out the form below to view the report!

A great deal of digital ink has been spilled on Tiffany Trump’s law school journey — from her LSAT preparation to the elite law schools she visited (Harvard, Columbia, and NYU) to the law school she chose to call home (Georgetown) to celebrating her “last first day of school” — and the time has finally come for America’s celebrity law student to bid farewell to the school she’s called home for the past three years.

Like all students who graduated this spring, Trump didn’t get a real graduation due to the COVID-19 outbreak, but instead marked the occasion with a virtual ceremonial degree conferral and a video celebrating the collective achievements of her class. For her part, Trump shared her excitement about her brand new degree in the best way she knew how: by updating her Instagram story.

(Image via Instagram)

(Image via Instagram)

In her parting message, Trump wrote, “Congratulations to my fellow Georgetown Law’s Class of 2020! We did it!” We’re reminded of this scene from Legally Blonde:

(Image via Giphy)

Congratulations to Tiffany Trump! We can’t wait to see what you do next!

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.

[5/17, 11:52]+263732456675: Mangwanani. Mamukasei.

[5/17, 11:52] +263732456675: Tipei kuti hurongwa hwamira papi.

[5/17, 11:53] +263732456675: Vakomana ve MDC, tipei tinzwe kuti mavapapi.

[5/17, 11:57] +263774148461: Mangwanani.
Tava ne date re congress.
Asi tiri kuita Ma challenges kunyanya on raising the Congress delegates acho. We had an online meeting but vazhinji havana kukwanisa kuipinda because of network and other challenges.

[5/17, 11:58] +263774148461: Saka from the perspective of organizing for congress, we are making little progress pama numbers especially of the original congress delegates.

[5/17, 12:00] +263776363204: Plan yedu iya yekupa vanhu mari is not working much. Zichida pakuda kuti tiwedzere mari yatiri kuita offer.

[5/17, 12:03] +263776363204: We had banked also on Kerenyi Kore kuti abvume mari and revive relationship yake na Mai Khupe. But she is resisting. So maybe if we can increase the offer and try again. We can also target Bulawayo ine Ma disgruntled people vakawanda plus Mai Khupe vaiva ne control ikoko. Kuti tikabata Bulawayo, Harare, Manicaland. Tikawedzera ma payouts

[5/17, 12:07] +263732456675: Ok, Saka panyaya ye Congress tikawana zvinhu zvakaita sema stand zvinogona kubatsira here kuti mu divide vanhu. Toti veku lands vakupei land. Zvakare kuti ma Councilor amwe auye tikati Ministry ye local government imutse nyaya dzavo dzekuba. Zvinogona kubatsira here

[5/17, 12:09] +263732456675: Kunze Kwa Kerenyi Kore, umwe arikuramba kutora mari ndiani. Zvakare ko mukomana uya we News akatadza here. Ndebele. Arikutadza kugadzira nyaya zvakanaka here kuti amanikidze mai ava.

[5/17, 12:15] +263774148461: Kuma Mp tanga tatifambei kunyanya ve PR ne Senate High court inogona kutibatsira neku ramba application yaitwa nana Hwende. That will allow us to recall 5 more that way vanobva vauya vese

[5/17, 12:19] +263783184710: Ok saka parikudiwa more money. Then panodiwa ma congress delegates

[5/17, 12:33] +263776363204: Tirikuita imwe problem also yekuti Team Chamisa iri very violent. Saka vanhu vedu varikutya kuita ma meeting and engagements in public. Saka kana tikawana vakomana vaya vatibatsirewo ipapo.

Post published in: Featured

Since quarantining began at the end of March, trials have been at a standstill.  No jurors can be, or want to be, invited to serve during the COVID-19 outbreak.

It makes sense. Being cooped up in a large group in cramped court rooms and even more cramped jury rooms for hours on end, potentially being chosen as a juror and locked into an often windowless room to deliberate, is one of the  worst things anyone would advise during a pandemic.

But what about the defendants who’ve been waiting in jail, some as long as two years, for their cases to be tried? Can due process be suspended indefinitely? At what point does the court either have to either let the presumed-innocent inmates out, or think about holding jury trials virtually. Is that even possible? And if so, what constitutional rights are at risk?

This thought spread through the defense bar last week with a visceral response: “No way in hell do we want virtual jury trials.”

The cons are many:

• How could the court know the jurors would not be influenced by other people at home as they potentially hear the evidence together?
• Would jury duty only be possible for people with home computers and adequate internet service? This would cut out a juror base similar to most people in jail.
• What about jurors living in close quarters — where would they be able to participate if they can’t find a room to themselves?

• Would the camera adequately represent the body language and mannerisms of witnesses, so important in judging credibility?

• What about examining the evidence, holding it, seeing it up close for as long as each juror wants?

•  How could it be guaranteed that jurors don’t wander to the toilet, as in a recent U.S. Supreme Court argument, or text a friend, or get interrupted by a doorbell, a pet, a child?

• How to guarantee the witness wouldn’t be influenced or coached by someone off camera?

•  Wouldn’t defendant’s right to confront the witnesses against him be seriously challenged where the attorney can’t see the witness face to face, approach him in the stand, and gauge his reactions?

Not seeing a defendant in the courtroom depersonalizes the experience and the connection jurors might make with an accused as a human being, interacting with his attorney, responding to evidence, with family in the courtroom.

According to a recent article in the American Bar Association Journal, defendants generally fare worse in video proceedings than when seen in person. A 2010 study in Cook County, Illinois, showed that judges seeing a defendant only on a monitor, set higher bail than for defendants seen in person.

Then there’s the technology issue. I’ve found, in appearing in court for bail applications on Skype or Zoom recently, that there’s a lot of background noise, defendants have no way to privately communicate with their attorneys, and it takes a lot of coordination to review documents at the same time.  Multiply that by the amount of exhibits presented at a trial, the number of jurors and alternates, the premise of making the trial open to the public, and the vagaries of coordinating all this with the prison system — often interrupted by alarms and other emergencies — and it’s difficult to see how virtual trials would be advantageous for defendants, not violative of their constitutional rights, or even feasible.

That said, there’s no timeline in place for when jury trials will resume. Many of my cases are being put into July, not for trial but for updates. Should we guess that jurors will be welcome in September, or maybe not till January 2021. What about not until a vaccine is developed?

Prosecutors have been pushing for “bench” trials, trials with no jury, where a judge is the final arbiter. “Not guilty” are words that come with great difficulty to most judges. In my over 20 years of practice, I’ve never waived a jury. A defendant, generally, never fares as well, especially in a system where judges rely on public opinion for being voted to another term.

Eventually, something’s going to have to be done. My suggestion, let more people out on bail, or for those unable to make any bail, get more ankle-bracelet systems running (these cost money and many jurisdictions don’t have the technology.)

If bail is set, or more pre-trial inmates can be released with home monitoring, judges will have greater options than just keep the “presumed-innocent” inmate in jail indefinitely and hope for the best.

Toni Messina has tried over 100 cases and has been practicing criminal law and immigration since 1990. You can follow her on Twitter: @tonitamess.

If you’ve read this column, well ever, you know I usually write about law school and the bar exam. But right now, dealing with all of that is depressing. There are no graduations, the July/September/October bar exam situation is a nightmare. And quite frankly, I don’t think anyone wants to come here so that I can teach them how to brief a case right now.  

And, if I’m being honest, the legal community as a whole seems to not be putting its the best foot forward during this crisis and it has been kind of bumming me out. 

See: Your Bar Association COVID Board Is Probably Not The Place To Downplay COVID, Biglaw Firm Fires Staff Member Who Posted ‘Threatening’ Message About Being Forced To Wear COVID-19 Mask, and UVA Deciding Whether To Force Student To Withdraw From Law School Because Her National Guard Unit Was Called Up

So, I went on a search to find some members of the legal profession behaving the way I would expect lawyers to behave in crisis: organizing, advocating, donating, etc. I’m not going to lie, it took me a while to find anything positive, but I didn’t come up empty-handed! 

Read on to find out how some lawyers, law students, and legal organizations are actually making the legal community proud. 

The Dominican Bar Association

The Dominican Bar Association (DBA) has organized a COVID-19 Relief Initiative targeting low-income NYC Housing Authority residents, senior citizens, and low-income immigrants in the South Bronx. 

The DBA is a nonprofit organization founded in NYC in the 1990s made up of legal professionals and law students, which supports Latino members of the legal profession, particularly attorneys and law students of Dominican ancestry, in their pursuit of higher posts in the legal profession and other facets of influence in the United States.  

As part of their COVID-19 relief initiative, the DBA is donating $10,000 worth of groceries to families that have been affected by COVID-19 in the South Bronx area. DBA has partnered with three South Bronx based organizations to complete the purchasing, packaging, and distribution of the groceries. Those organizations are The Bronx Rising Initiative, Mothers on the Move, and the Mary Mitchell Center. They will be distributing approximately 900 bags of groceries over the next three weeks. This initiative goes hand-in-hand with the DBA’s 2020 theme Nuestra Comunidad. Nuestro Legado. (Our community. Our legacy.)

The DBA is leading by example and showing how bar associations and their leaders can rise to the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. I hope their initiative encourages other organizations to engage in similar work and serves to highlight the power of coming together as a community.

Lawyers Honoring COVID Caregivers 

According to their website, Lawyers Honoring COVID Caregivers was created

[T]o demonstrate the appreciation that members of the Massachusetts Bar have for Massachusetts first responders and caretakers (including nurses, respiratory therapists, radiology technicians, physicians, maintenance and cleaning staff, and paramedics) in the form of financial support for those who have bravely cared for the citizens of the Commonwealth and continue to do so selflessly and at great risk during the pandemic caused by the COVID-19 virus.

The best part? The lawyer who founded this organization, Clyde D. Bergstresser, is, wait for it, a medical malpractice attorney! That’s right, a guy who made his career suing nurses, respiratory therapists, radiology technicians, physicians, maintenance and cleaning staff, and paramedics is now the director and president of a nonprofit organization that provides them support.

If that isn’t an example of being able to put aside your differences and come together in a crisis, then I don’t know what is. 

Law students rising to the occasion 

You know you’re getting old when you start to think and say things like “the youth will save us” (or be the death of us depending on what kind of mood you catch me in). But, when it comes to COVID-19, I think it is the former. While I admittedly struggled to find uplifting news about how lawyers were responding to COVID-19, I had a much easier time with the law student response.

For example, I learned that Columbia Law School has started the PPP Pro Bono Project to help small business owners navigate the Paycheck Protection Program. University of Michigan student Maiya Monico founded the MLaw COVID Corps to offer pro bono services to Michigan organizations (and has had 200 law student volunteers sign up to date). Finally, I checked out what was going on at my own alma mater, The Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University (which used to just be Pace Law School back in my day), and I discovered two stories. The first was about two students who were called up to serve with their National Guard units. The second was about a rising 2L spending her free time sewing masks and organizing local food organizations to provide meals. 

I never thought I’d be one of those people who had to “look on the bright side,” but I guess this pandemic is changing us all in different ways. While it might be hard to see a lot of good in the world, or legal community, right now, it is there if you look for it.

Kerriann Stout is a millennial law school professor and founder of Vinco (a bar exam coaching company) who is generationally trapped between her students and colleagues. Kerriann has helped hundreds of students survive law school and the bar exam with less stress and more confidence. She lives, works, and writes in the northeast. You can reach her by email at info@vincoprep.com.

I know, I know:  You want to be a conduit. It’s so easy; you don’t have to do anything. You just mindlessly pass along information, giving it no thought.  You can’t possibly be wrong about anything, because you’ve never expressed an opinion about anything. And you get paid as though you’re a lawyer! What could be better than that?

In-house, being a conduit looks like this:

“I’ve attached Bigg & Mediocre’s fee proposal.  What do you think?”

(Being a lawyer would require effort: “In the attached fee proposal, Bigg & Mediocre proposes X.  That proposal does not make sense for three reasons:  A, B, and C. Instead of what Bigg & Mediocre has proposed, we should suggest….”)

Alternatively, you could be a conduit like this:

“You said that this case would turn on the definition of the term ‘Event’ in the insurance policy. I’ve therefore attached the insurance policy for you to review.”

(Being a lawyer would require effort: “You said that this case would turn on the definition of the term ‘Event’ in the insurance policy. On page 7, the attached policy defines ‘Event’ as …. This means that we’re able to argue A, B, and C.”)

Or maybe you could be a conduit like this:

“I’ve opened the new matter that you sent to me. What expense reserve do you propose?”

(Being a lawyer would require effort: “I’ve opened the new matter that you sent to me. The case is silly, but Bigg & Mediocre is an expensive firm. Are you comfortable with an expense reserve of $X?”)

At law firms, you can also be a conduit:

“We just received 4,000 pages of documents from the plaintiff. I’ve attached them for your information.”

(Being a lawyer would require effort: “We just received 4,000 pages of documents from the plaintiff. There are three key admissions in the documents. At page P140 (third line), you’ll see that the plaintiff admitted ….”)

You can also be a conduit at a law firm like this:

“You asked me to research Topic A. I’ve attached copies of two cases for you to read.”

Being a lawyer, of course, would require effort.

Turn this over in your mind: When a novel coronavirus hits, and times are tough, and the firm is deciding who to lay off, who will get laid off first — the conduit or the lawyer?

Or consider this: When a firm is deciding who should be invited to enter the partnership and who should be discarded, who do you suppose will receive the invitation — the conduit or the lawyer?

I’m just sayin’.

Mark Herrmann spent 17 years as a partner at a leading international law firm and is now deputy general counsel at a large international company. He is the author of The Curmudgeon’s Guide to Practicing Law and Drug and Device Product Liability Litigation Strategy (affiliate links). You can reach him by email at inhouse@abovethelaw.com.