Law Commons^™

The Lawyer As Dream Enabler, Gerald S. Reamey

Faculty Articles

In law school and in law practice, the power of preparation is reinforced. Generations of law students have heard me extol the virtue of preparation above all others. While it is true, even the best preparation will never beat luck; luck is fickle and not subject to our control. On the other hand, we totally control the amount and quality of the preparation we put into any project. I discovered preparation is more important than good looks, nice clothes, a shiny leather briefcase, eloquence, experience, or even intelligence.

Lawyer Training Shouldn't Be One Size Fits All, Heidi K. Brown

Articles & Chapters

No abstract provided.

Don't Get Lost In Translation!, Sherley Cruz

Tennessee Law in the News

This piece highlights the importance of creating a language access plan and knowing how to work with interpreters.

Logan, Leland Hallowell, 1905-1980 (Mss 744), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 744. Correspondence and papers of Bowling Green, Kentucky attorney Leland H. Logan. Includes some personal material regarding his law practice and draft status, diaries for 1944 and 1945, and a small group of files representing his legal work, especially for the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation.

Professional Speech At Scale, Cassandra Burke Robertson, Sharona Hoffman

Faculty Publications

Regulatory actions affecting professional speech are facing new challenges from all sides. On one side, the Supreme Court has grown increasingly protective of professionals’ free speech rights, and it has subjected regulations affecting that speech to heightened levels of scrutiny that call into question traditional regulatory practices in both law and medicine. On the other side, technological developments, including the growth of massive digital platforms and the introduction of artificial intelligence programs, have created brand new problems of regulatory scale. Professional speech is now able to reach a wide audience faster than ever before, creating risks that misinformation will cause …

Lawyering 'Twisties': Naming And Untangling Performance Anxiety, Heidi K. Brown

Articles & Chapters

No abstract provided.

Business Law And Lawyering In The Wake Of Covid-19, Joan Macleod Heminway

Scholarly Works

The public arrival of COVID-19 (the novel coronavirus 2019) in the United States in early 2020 brought with it many social, political, and economic dislocations and pressures. These changes and stresses included and fostered adjustments in business law and the work of business lawyers. This article draws attention to these COVID-19 transformations as a socio-legal reflection on business lawyering, the provision of legal services in business settings, and professional responsibility in business law practice. While business law practitioners, like other lawyers, may have been ill-prepared for pandemic lawyering, we have seen them rise to the occasion to provide valuable services, …

“Portability Of The Ube: Where Is It When You Need It And Do You Need It At All?”, Suzanne Darrow- Kleinhaus

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

Face Fear—Don’T Fake It, Heidi K. Brown

Articles & Chapters

No abstract provided.

Ethics In The Legal Industry, Michael Ariens

Faculty Articles

A brief item in the Hearsay section of the June 2017 ABA Journal was headlined "2%." This number indicated an increase in the percentage of lawyers, from 2012 to 2016, "who worked remotely within the legal industry." Making one's "office" a location other than the physical space leased or owned by oneself or by an employer is hardly news, even as applied to the work of lawyers. Lawyers know as well as anyone that technology allows one to work almost anywhere and, unfortunately, almost any time. What is striking in this brief news item is the use by the flagship …

Well-Timed Solutions For Legal Education And The Bar, William D. Henderson

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

How To Build A Better Bar Exam, Eileen Kaufman, Andrea Anne Curcio, Carol L. Chomsky

Scholarly Works

As a licensing exam, the purpose of the bar exam is consumer protection–-ensuring that new lawyers have the minimum competencies required to practice law effectively. As critics point out, however, the exam, and particularly the multiple-choice question portion of the exam, has significant flaws because it assesses legal knowledge and analysis in an artificial and unrealistic context, and the closed-book format rewards the ability to memorize thousands of legal rules, a skill unrelated to law practice.

This essay discusses how to improve the exam by changing its multiple-choice content and format. We use two law licensing exams to illustrate how …

Teaching Legal Technology, Camille Broussard, Kathleen Brown, Daniel Cordova, Sarah Mauldin

Articles & Chapters

No abstract provided.

Last Lecture: Tips For Lawyers Who Want To Get Good Results For Clients And Make Money, John M. Lande

Faculty Publications

Lawyers often assume that they know what their clients want-to get as much money or pay as little money as possible. While clients usually are very concerned about their bottom line, they often have additional interests. In virtually any kind of case, parties may have an interest in being treated respectfully and fairly, minimizing the cost and length of the process, freeing time to focus on matters other than the dispute, reducing the emotional wear and tear caused by continued disputing, and protecting privacy and reputations. Plaintiffs may have interests such as obtaining favorable tax consequences, getting nonmonetary opportunities, and …

"No Country For Old Men": Junior Associates And The Real-World Practice Of Law, Ian Gallacher

College of Law - Faculty Scholarship

Law schools are designed to teach students about the doctrine of law and to help them prepare their skills to practice law. There are some practical aspects of law practice, though, that are rarely if ever discussed in law school. Perhaps this is because of an assumption that law firms will make these issues clear to the students they hire as associates, or perhaps it is because of a belief that such information has no place in the curriculum of an academic institution.

Whatever the reason, this is information law students should have as they begin to think about where …

The Rise And Fall Of Social Trustee Professionalism, Michael Ariens

Faculty Articles

Elite lawyers have long urged the private practice bar to account for the interests of more than their clients in their work. A lawyer who served merely as a "mouthpiece" or "hired gun" of clients failed to meet the standards of professionalism, of failing to act, in Roscoe Pound's words, "in the spirit of a public service." Pound's view, expressed in the mid-20th century, was premised on the ideal that the lawyer pursued a public calling that incidentally was remunerative. This ideal required the lawyer to serve as a social trustee, one encumbered by duties for the benefit of society. …

From The Editor, Susan Nevelow Mart

Publications

No abstract provided.

Rebellious Pedagogy And Practice, Anthony V. Alfieri

Articles

Gerald Lopez's ground breaking book, Rebellious Lawyering: One Chicano's Vision of Progressive Law Practice, introduced new critical pathways and perspectives for clinical educators to better understand and enhance their advocacy, teaching, and scholarship. Indeed, Lopez's interdisciplinary investigation of the local, sociocultural context of the lawyering process produced a marked shift in both the pedagogy and the practice of public interest law, particularly civil rights and poverty law. A quarter century after its publication, Rebellious Lawyering stands out not only for its contextual critique of lawyering theory and practice, but also for its multifaceted integration of law, cultural studies, race …

Video: May It Please The Court: Techniques For Persuasive Witness Testimony, Mark Dobson, Jayme Cassidy, Maxine Streeter

NSU Law Seminar Series

Success at trial depends on preparation and practice. Knowing the law and the facts of the case is important. Knowing how to present persuasive witness testimony at trial and how to speak to the Court and jury in an ethical and professional manner is even more important. Learn techniques to prepare witnesses and yourself for successful handling of direct, cross-exam, and objections to achieve your goals at trial. Our panel will direct an interactive role-play session.

Video: Charities For Fun & Profit: Serving & Representing Them, Adam Scott Goldberg

NSU Law Seminar Series

Registration & Continental Breakfast:

7:30 to 7:55 am

Atrium & Lecture Room

Welcome & Introduction:

7:55 to 8:00 am

Elena Rose Minicucci, J.D., Director of Alumni Relations, NSU Shepard Broad Law Center

• Welcome
• Introduce Adam Scott Goldberg, J.D., LL.M. of Krause & Goldberg, PA Weston, Florida.

Seminar Presentation

8:00 am to 9:30 am

Adam Scott Goldberg, J.D., LL.M.

I. Introduction

1. What is the difference between Tax Exempt and Not-For-Profit?

2. Why is the difference between a Calendar Year and a Fiscal Year?

A. Many Charitable Organizations use July 1st to June 30th

B. Tax returns are due 4.5 months …

Video: Going Your Own Way: What You Need To Know About Starting Your Own Law Practice Or Business, Russell Miller-Thompson

NSU Law Seminar Series

Registration & Continental Breakfast:

7:30 to 7:55 am

Atrium & Lecture Room

Welcome & Introduction:

7:55 to 8:00 am

Elena Rose Minicucci, J.D., Director of Alumni Relations, NSU Shepard Broad Law Center

• Welcome
• Introduce Russell Miller Thompson, Esq. of the Law Offices of Russell M. Thompson, Sunrise, Florida.

Seminar Presentation

8:00 am to 9:30 am

Russell M. Thompson, Esq.

Video: Board Certification: Reaching The Pinnacle Of Practice, Steven S. Farbman, Donna Litman, Sheryl A. Moore, Todd A. Weicholz, William A. Snyder

NSU Law Seminar Series

Course Outline & Timeline

Registration & Continental Breakfast:

7:30 to 7:55 am

Atrium & Lecture Room

Welcome & Introduction:

7:55 to 8:00 am

Elena Rose Minicucci, J.D., Director of Alumni Relations, NSU Shepard Broad Law Center 

• Welcome
• Introduce Professor Donna Carol Litman, and attorneys Sheryl Moore, Steven Farbman, Todd Weicholz, and William Snyder, LL.M.

Seminar Presentation

8:00 am to 9:15 am

Professor Donna Carol Litman - Moderator

Nova Southeastern University Shepard Broad Law Center

Fort Lauderdale, FL

Florida Bar Board Certified in Tax Law

Professor Litman will lead the discussion among the other Board Certified attorneys listed above.

The …

Legal Education In Disruption: The Headwinds And Tailwinds Of Technology, Jon M. Garon

Faculty Scholarship

By harnessing improvements on communications and computational systems, law firms are producing a revolution in the practice of law. Self-help legal manuals have transformed into sophisticated interactive software; predictive coding can empower clients to receive sophisticated legal advice from a machine; socially mediated portals select among potential lawyers and assess the quality of the advice given; and virtual law firms threaten to distintermediate the grand edifices of twentieth century Big Law. These changes may profoundly restructure the legal practice, undermining the business model for many solo and small firm practices.

This paper focuses on the implications of these profound disruptive …

Foreword—Establishing A Firm Foundation For The Small Law Practice, Eric J. Gouvin

Faculty Scholarship

On March 26, 2014, the Western New England Law Review sponsored a symposium entitled "Firm Foundations: Managing the Small Firm and Individual Practitioner." The symposium presentations provided perspectives on the often-overlooked world of small firm practice.

A few influential books about the state of legal education and the future of the legal profession prompted public outcry from bar associations across the country to weigh in on the perceived problems of American legal education. The debate has resulted in some real changes in law school programs.

Legal education is in the midst of major changes. For decades, law schools have been …

The Role Of Ethics Audits In Improving Management Systems And Practices: An Empirical Examination Of Management-Based Regulation Of Law Firms, Susan Saab Fortney

Faculty Scholarship

For decades, legal malpractice experts have urged lawyers to implement risk management measures. To assist law firms in doing so, legal malpractice insurers have provided audit services and self-audit materials. Under the Australian regulatory regime, incorporated legal practices are required to complete a self-assessment process and to report on the firm's compliance with ten objectives of sound law practice. Using management-based principles, this Article discusses steps to take to encourage ethics audits "to merge good ethics and good business" in the U.S.

Encouraging The Development Of Low Bono Law Practices, Luz E. Herrera

Faculty Scholarship

For decades, the discussion about access to justice has primarily focused on the ability of low–income individuals to obtain free representation by lawyers. Lawyer representation is the “gold star” of the legal profession and advocates of legal services for the poor have fought difficult battles to ensure the most disadvantaged in our country have access to these professionals. As a result, legal aid programs and pro bono services that assist the most economically disadvantaged in our country are now common in our legal service delivery system.

Despite those important efforts, only 50% of those eligible for free legal services actually …

One Small Step For Legal Writing, One Giant Leap For Legal Education: Making The Case For More Writing Opportunities In The "Practice-Ready" Law School Curriculum, Sherri Lee Keene

Faculty Scholarship

Legal writing is more than an isolated practical skill or a law school course; it is a valuable tool for broadening and deepening law students’ and new attorneys’ knowledge and understanding of the law. If experienced legal professionals, both professors and practitioners alike, take a hard look back at their careers, many will no doubt remember how their work on significant legal writing projects advanced their own knowledge of the law and enhanced their professional competence. Legal writing practice helps the writer to gain expertise in a number of ways: first, the act of writing itself promotes learning; second, close …

Systematically Thinking About Law Firm Ethics: Conference On The Ethical Infrastructure And Culture Of Law Firms, Susan Saab Fortney

Faculty Scholarship

To advance the discourse related to law firm ethics and the impact of formal controls and informal influences on lawyer conduct, we convened on April 5, 2013 the Conference on the Ethical Infrastructure and Culture of Law Firms ("Conference" or "Symposium"). The Conference, conducted under the auspices of the Hofstra Law Review and the Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University's Institute for the Study of Legal Ethics, was funded in part by the Abraham J. Gross '78 Conference and Lecture Fund at the Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University. Experts who have studied issues …

Perspectives: From The Chair Of The Aba Law Practice Management Section, January/February 2013, Joan R. Bullock

Journal Publications

In this era of the "new normal," lawyers and law firms are seeking ways to create efficiencies and realize new capabilities.

Perspectives: From The Chair Of The Aba Law Practice Management Section, March/April 2013, Joan R. Bullock

Journal Publications

Technology--friend or foe? Legal practice is continually evolving, with an increasing integration of technology in firm operations and in the daily activity of lawyers and staff. How do you use technology so that it enhances firm operations and is an integral component of an efficient and effective legal practice?