I haven’t written about my state bar for a while, figuring I might give it a break after the Tom Girardi FUBAR. (And provides my editor a break as nicely.) Nevertheless, I can’t resist writing in regards to the California State Bar’s newest snafu: the February bar examination held this week.
Are you aware of the time period BOGO? It’s a standard advertising and marketing time period meant to entice retail purchases: Purchase One, Get One. The California State Bar has its very personal BOGO now. It FUBARed (sure, a brand new verb) the February bar examination, so it’s now providing those that took the February bar examination (February 25 to February 26) and didn’t cross (or who withdrew prematurely from the examination) spots within the upcoming July bar examination with out cost. The bar is falling throughout itself in apologies, as nicely it ought to … mea culpas from an establishment not identified to readily take duty for screwups. And this one has been a doozy. Think about the angst for take a look at takers, the very last thing they wanted in a state of affairs that piles on additional stress. (By the way in which, the California Supreme Court docket had authorized the bar’s trolling for a brand new vendor for the bar examination after the court docket nixed the bar’s intention to depend on Kaplan.)
Now what? What’s the plan for the July bar examination? Kaplan? In home? Contemplate the NCBE various? A minimum of the bar is accepting duty for the snafu, not like the finger pointing already arising out of the LA wildfires.
Nevertheless, I don’t share Joe Patrice’s optimism that ultimately these snafus will “finally make for a greater licensing examination.” Joe hasn’t spent the previous 5 a long time as a licensee (fka member) of the California Bar watching its antics on so many events making an attempt to get issues proper and failing. I might present a few latest examples, however I’ll spare you.
From BOGO to NOGO: what would you do on this state of affairs? Your boss or your boss’s boss or your boss’s boss’s boss, whomever, you get the image, desires you to deal with a selected case in a sure means, a means that you just assume is sideways to your moral duty. What to do? Acquiesce to the “command and management” of your senior legal professionals or resign?
Typically, new legal professionals assume that the skilled duty examination is a one-off and that, as soon as they’re working towards legal professionals, they’ll shelve what they crammed for the night time earlier than the examination. Au contraire. It’s in the true world of follow that the rubber (moral questions) meets the highway (what to do).
Instance: The legal professional has not been paid, or the consumer sees the case very in a different way than counsel. There are limits on what might be stated with out violating attorney-client confidentiality. So, in a movement to be relieved, there shall be language resembling “irreparable hurt” or “the connection has damaged down irretrievably” or one thing related that alerts the court docket that the connection has tanked for good. Typically the court docket will relieve counsel however not all the time. Timing is a consideration. The nearer to trial, the much less possible the aid.
The resignations of seven DOJ attorneys in response to the order from above to dismiss the Eric Adams prison case is a latest instance (“ripped from as we speak’s headlines,” so to talk). Some may argue that these attorneys had been insubordinate in refusing to comply with the order from on excessive. That could be the place of some who would inform them “to not let the door hit you on the way in which out.” What’s the moral factor to do once you disagree with an order from a superior and might’t in good conscience symbolize the consumer?
Precisely what these legal professionals did, they resigned somewhat than comply. They resigned somewhat than taint their reputations, which, as all of us ought to know, is the one factor that legal professionals really possess. (Shoppers come and go and will care much less about our moral duties.) The district court docket indicated that it wouldn’t simply rubber stamp the DOJ’s request for dismissal of the Adams indictment. A listening to is set for March 12 the place District Court docket Choose Dale Ho ought to obtain a report from former solicitor normal Paul Clement appointed by Ho to look into this mess.
As legal professionals, we swore that we’d shield and defend the Structure of the US and no matter state structure utilized, and to faithfully discharge our duties as legal professionals. Does the oath now imply subservience somewhat than indifferent impartial service on the consumer’s behalf? I ponder what regulation professors are instructing their college students now.
Jill Switzer has been an lively member of the State Bar of California for over 40 years. She remembers working towards regulation in a kinder, gentler time. She’s had a various authorized profession, together with stints as a deputy district legal professional, a solo follow, and several other senior in-house gigs. She now mediates full-time, which supplies her the chance to see dinosaurs, millennials, and people in-between work together — it’s not all the time civil. You may attain her by e mail at [email protected].
