Fifth Avenue Forum

Oh, and as per usual, IANAL yadda yadda yadda.

Thanks for the lead on the book. I'll definitely check it out.

I thought the dissent sounded pretty kooky.

Yeah, that 6A thing is more reading comprehension than legal smarts imo.

I suggest reading the dissent before attacking it as kooky.

https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/1 ... 6_2c83.pdf

Thomas's dissent mostly just notes that the Court has continually expanded the Sixth Amendment counsel clause in an area of dubious authority.

The vast majority of dissents come across as sour grapes to me. It could be how they're curated in the context that I receive them. Don't get me wrong, I understand their function, it's just a theme I have picked up on.

For instance, this case doesn't even have a Sixth Amendment question. The dissent is just being used as a platform to express a tangential opinion about a doctrine nobody was deploying as a legal argument.

It does involve a Sixth Amendment question. As Thomas points out, the "right to effective assistance of counsel" right announced in Strickland is directly based on the "right to counsel" announced in Gideon. The court expanded the right from "you have the right to a lawyer" to "you have the right to an effective lawyer." It's all supposedly based on the Sixth.

Regardless, his opinion carries as much weight as yours or mine in the legal sense. Dissents, meh.

Dissents can be useful. They can advocate for changes to the law, and many dissents have over time morphed into majority views. They often give a researcher useful information and case references for other ways to attack the majority holding in subsequent litigation on the same subject.

Agreed on the utility aspect. I said as much in my first response.

A law student looked around a Louisiana courthouse, didn’t see any young jurors and voiced a concern that led to the exposure of an enormous computer glitch in a government database.

https://t.co/YfCR1dEXRI

Passed the MPRE (ethics exam). I really thought I might have botched it, the questions are so vague. Ended up getting a 90 on it (75 needed for PA, 86 is highest required score by any state).

**** right, didn't want to deal with retaking that during my last semester.

Good on ya, mate!

Shyster, are you expressly not a member of the ABA specifically or all of these types of advocacy groups in general?

Shyster, are you expressly not a member of the ABA specifically or all of these types of advocacy groups in general?

Pretty much ABA specifically. I am a member of the Pennsylvania Bar Association and the Allegheny County Bar Association, but my experience is that the PBA and ACBA are much less politically biased (and vocal about) than the ABA. The ABA not only takes positions on political issues that its members would reasonably disagree about, it takes positions on political issues that clients would reasonably disagree about.

Thanks, that's kind of the feeling I have too. I was writing a paper about civil procedure and was proposing various solutions, including advisory opinions from ABA, PBA, county level bar associations, and trial advocacy groups. While researching the ABA, PBA, and Westmoreland BA mission statements and areas of influence the ABA stuck out as much farther removed from what I thought these groups would be doing. Glad to hear you felt similarly; I figured with your position on the ABA you'd lean towards being critical of the smaller organizations as well. Happy surprise.

While the PBA does engage in lobbying and the like when it comes to legislation in PA, it mostly sticks to matters that affect the practice of law or the ability of lawyers to represent their clients. My experience is that the local bar associations do not engage in the sort of freewheeling publication of "policy statements" like the ABA does. They pretty much keep out of it and focus on stuff like CLE programs, educating the public and the bar, providing ethical opinions and advice, facilitating networking, and similar stuff. On the other hand, you can go to the ABA's website and find literally dozens of statements where the ABA has voted to adopt a certain political position when it comes to controversial topics like guns, abortion, immigration, state-funded birth control, etc. There are lawyers on both sides of all of those topics, both personally and professionally. I strongly believe that an organization that purports to represent all lawyers should not be taking sides on issues where its own members reasonably take sides.

tl; dr – Screw the ABA.

Niiiice: "A California lawyer has been suspended for 30 days for failing to disclose that one of his clients had died, even as the case headed to trial in a countersuit after an appellate win."

Niiiice: "A California lawyer has been suspended for 30 days for failing to disclose that one of his clients had died, even as the case headed to trial in a countersuit after an appellate win."

I had this happen during an appeal. We had to file a motion to compel the guy to file a suggestion of death so that this dope would actually communicate with the Estate about the existence of the claim. Solo pracs get away with murder in state court.

I picked up a book a couple years ago called Lawyers in the Dock: Learning from Attorney Disciplinary Procedings by Richard L. Abel. It does an analysis of lawyer disciplinary proceedings and includes about a half-dozen in-depth case studies on specific lawyers and their screwups. It's a good book. There are some cheap used copies to be had on abebooks.com, and it's also available for the Kindle, albeit at a higher price. One of the statistics I remember is that sole practitioners have rates of misconduct that are substantially higher than lawyers practicing in firms. There are a number of explanations offered for that phenomenon, but it is also my experience that solos tend to operate closer to the lines of unethical behavior.

https://global.oup.com/academic/product ... us&lang=en&

Well, that's relevant to my interests. Personally I think if I screw up it's because I am self-teaching the entire process.

Stupid question, but I'm in the process of getting power of attorney for both of my parents due to my father's declining health. Do you know if I'd be able to buy a vehicle for my mother (her money, not mine, ha) at the dealership without her having to sit there for hours on end while salesmen do their shtick? She'd debating whether she wants to get a vehicle (doesn't currently have one - I'm their sole source of transportation) and I'm just trying to plan ahead should the situation arise.

Yes, you can. That's what they're for.

I bought a house and had to sign for my wife. On every page. Which meant my signature for myself, my signature for her, and a statement that I was attorney-in-fact on every single line. Fun!

Cool. That's what I assumed, just wanted to check. Many gracias!

Make sure it would be a durable power of attorney that would apply even if they become incapacitated. Most PoAs should have provisions that say that the attorney-in-fact has the power to do everything that the principal could due, including buy and sell property, enter into contracts, etc. This would probably also be a good time to make sure your parents have advance directives and healthcare powers of attorney. A financial power of attorney is not necessarily the same as a healthcare power of attorney (which specifically lets the attorney-in-fact make healthcare decisions), and I want to say that some jurisdictions require separate agreements. It's easiest to have two separate documents.

Thanks for the advice, Shyster! Yeah, we're getting healthcare POAs taken care of too, along with living wills.