To the Forum: I represent a client who is the executor and beneficiary of a decedent’s estate, as well as the trustee of a supplemental needs trust created for the benefit of his disabled sister. The client requested that I close the estate, but in order to do so I need to obtain a release … Continued
As a practicing attorney and licensed psychologist, I have observed many of my attorney colleagues who have suffered with anxiety and depression. However, acknowledgement of their suffering has been somewhat taboo. It is for this reason, when I was asked to be a member of the New York State Bar Association’s Task Force on Attorney … Continued
If one were designing the measure of damages recoverable for negligent tax advice, the most obvious element of recoverable damages would be the avoidable extra taxes caused by the negligence. After all, minimizing taxes is at the heart of a tax representation. In most states, such avoidable taxes are recoverable. The situation in New York … Continued
In January 2020, the United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit, issued a decision in United States v. Varner,[1] that a federal court cannot require litigants, judges, court personnel or anyone else to refer to litigants using pronouns matching their gender identity. In the Varner decision, the Fifth Circuit sets forth three bases to support … Continued
To help attorneys navigate these continued unprecedented times, the New York State Bar Association (NYSBA) has created, “Virtual Lawyering: A Practical Guide,” a centralized resource of 22 practical chapters and subchapters authored by former federal judges, former law clerks to judges, and some of the leading New York practitioners in their fields.
Many older lawyers feel they have only two retirement options open to them: either continue in their primary career path working full time or retire from it. This is based on the traditional meaning of retirement that is a single event – “withdrawal” from the workforce into leisure, relaxation, a slide into the end of … Continued
Once COVID-19 began spreading rapidly throughout the U.S. this past spring, schools across the state and nation quickly closed their doors, and our educational system had to adjust to a new kind of learning that began to take place primarily all online. Months later, many parts of New York City and the rest of the … Continued
The definition of “culture,” according to Merriam-Webster, is the “set of values, conventions, or social practices associated with a particular field, activity, or societal characteristic.” Put more simply, culture is the way we operate. It is defined by our behaviors, not our mission or business statements. In looking at the culture of the legal profession, … Continued
As part of its continued mission to expand its global presence, the New York State Bar Association (NYSBA) has entered into a historic collaboration with the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) through the NBA Women Forum. The alliance with the NBA Women Forum – officially called a memorandum of understanding (MOU) – will involve the joint … Continued
Culture Change As the National Task Force on Lawyer Well-Being reviewed the research published in the Journal of Addiction Medicine in 2016 and thought about what we could do to improve our professional well-being in general and our struggles with substance use in particular, we recognized that we needed to change our very culture. No … Continued