Month: June 2020

Ethics Opinion 1197

Is a lawyer participating in a free legal services program and receiving a nominal fee from the program administrator subject to the full panoply of provisions governing conflicts of interests set out in the Rules?

The Virtual Board Meeting

How NYSBA pulled off our first virtual board meeting, passed groundbreaking reports and brought together a record number of delegates to participate.

New York State Bar Association Condemns Effort To Remove U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman

New York State Bar Association President Scott M. Karson issued the following statement today regarding the effort to remove U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman. “The New York State Bar Association condemns the unseemly effort to remove U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman. Politics has no place in the administration of justice, as prosecutorial independence is a fundamental component … Continued

Juneteenth-An American Holiday

Throughout her career in the news, the story Cheryl Wills didn’t know she was born to tell was that of her grandparents who had a hand in ending slavery. Emmy award-winner Cheryl Wills, anchor for New York 1 News, is the great-great-great-granddaughter of Sandy Wills, an enslaved Civil War soldier. She has spent the last … Continued

Daily Coronavirus Update: Court System Issues Procedures for Eviction Matters, Prior Test-Takers May Apply for Sept. 2020 Bar Exam

Good evening Members, Chief Administrative Judge Lawrence K. Marks issued a memorandum today establishing procedures for addressing residential and commercial eviction proceedings. Marks said the measures are a result of concerns “about the adverse public health consequences that may arise from a sudden high-volume influx of eviction matters, often involving unrepresented tenants (and unrepresented landlords … Continued

Thoughts on Legal Writing from the Greatest of Them All: David Mellinkoff

“After six hundred years of lawsuits caused by language atrocities, a terrible suspicion is born. Maybe the lawyers don’t understand each other.”[1] David Mellinkoff, late Professor of Law at UCLA School of Law, is best known for authoring a series of books that decried the use of impenetrable language by lawyers and which contributed to … Continued