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Paralegal Arrested for Robbing Peter to Pay Paul

May 19, 2009

A former paralegal has been arrested for allegedly stealing from one firm to pay another. The paralegal allegedly stole over $100,000 from the Norristown, PA firm of High Schwartz to repay $285,000 to a New York firm. According to the Legal Intelligencer, the paralegal was found guilty for stealing from that firm, she was ordered by the court to make restitution. Are you following this yet? According to the Montgomery County DA's office, an internal audit, done after paralegal Kathy Foer-Morse was fired by High Swartz for attitude and work performance, revealed the alleged theft. Kathy Foer-Morse has been arrested... Read more →

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Posted at 04:23 AM in Ethics | | Comments (0)

What Gives Paralegals a Bad Rap- Lawyer Gets Suspended for Trusting Too Much - Again

Mar 22, 2008

This just sent chills down my spine. Made my hair on my neck stand up. Whatever the cliche, I had it. The Maryland Daily Record reported that longtime lawyer Charles Jay Zuckerman said he has had it with private practice after a unanimous Court of Appeals on Monday suspended him a second time for mismanaging his client trust account, from which two successive paralegals stole more than $300,000. Zuckerman failed again to oversee a second paralegal, who wrote checks payable to clients but endorsed by her husband. The paralegal, Rhonda L. Elkins, pleaded guilty in February 2007 to stealing $170,000... Read more →

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Posted at 10:39 AM in Ethics | | Comments (1)

Conspicuous Hole in [Paralegal] Ethics Training

May 02, 2007

This commentary in Law.com by an experienced paralegal surprised me. What's your reaction? "For all the talk of the need to prevent ethics transgressions in the legal profession, a glaring education gap exists for one group: paralegals. "Usually, it does not rise to the level of a topic to be covered -- until there is a problem. It generally crops up after an unintentional violation of the attorney-client relationship by support staff members who have received no ethics training. "As a paralegal for more than seven years, I often get questions from colleagues asking what to do in certain situations.... Read more →

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Posted at 09:43 PM in Associations, Confidentiality, Ethics, Law firm staffing, Paralegal-lawyer partnership, Unauthorized practice of law | | Comments (1)

"New York's Most Obnoxious Lawyer"

Apr 25, 2007

Hmmm, I'm sure someone could nominate lawyers "worthy" of this "honor" in other states. But check out the "competition" in this Village Voice article: "'With so many jerks working as attorneys in New York City, you'd think there would be no way to determine who's the single biggest pain in the ass. You could be wrong. The winner (or loser) is arguably Kenneth Heller. "You can't count the number of crooks, shysters, or idiots among the city's 74,000 lawyers. But Kenny Heller was disbarred for simply being obnoxious. After 50 years of heaping abuse on everyone within earshot and hurling... Read more →

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Posted at 07:50 PM in Current events, Ethics, Malpractice | | Comments (0)

"Leave It to Lawyers to Think of Beating the Clock Like This ..."

Mar 07, 2007

I'm both surprised & not, really, after reading this post pointed to by Legal Blog Watch: "Every once in a while, we lawyers hear about conduct by our colleagues that's so deceptive that it makes us embarrassed to be part of the profession. David Lat offers an example of the type of activity that I'm describing in this post about a law firm that discovered a way to give itself a couple of extra days to make its filings. "According to the judge's order posted at Lat's site..., the law firm of Snell and Wilmer figured out that it could... Read more →

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Posted at 12:01 PM in Ethics, Time management | | Comments (1)

"Paralegals in position to improve reputation of legal profession"

Feb 14, 2007

Well, yeah! This is indeed a welcome news article: "Paralegals are critical to improving the reputation of lawyers in the community. The legal profession still suffers from negative stereotypes and some do indeed think we're better off 'at the bottom of the sea,' as the lawyer joke goes. Paralegals can pull lawyers out of this muddy, messy, pool of disrepute by displaying the following qualities. * Honesty and integrity * Professionalism * Giving back through pro bono work and volunteering * Enthusiasm" Author Elizabeth Balfour's speech at the annual San Diego Paralegals' Association Luncheon in June 2006 provided criteria for... Read more →

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Posted at 05:54 PM in Bar association, Client appreciation, Ethics, Paralegal-lawyer partnership, Pro bono | | Comments (0)

"Check Your Lawyer's Credentials"

Jan 22, 2007

This story about a paralegal masquerading as a lawyer gets even more snarky: [snip] "In a 2005 litigation case, [Brian T.] Valery told a court in Stamford, Connecticut that he was a lawyer in good standing. Last week, Connecticut authorities arrested him, and he faces two month for the impersonating-a-lawyer charge and up to five years for perjury (the claim of being a lawyer in good standing). "What's great is how clients explain Valery's 'unimpressive' skills; one Valery client told the NY Times, 'All first- and second-year attorneys are pretty terrible.'" Read more →

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Posted at 04:15 PM in Ethics, Law firm management, Unauthorized practice of law | | Comments (0)

"Trials & Tribulations of New Rules on EDD"

Dec 12, 2006

Could not understanding EDD issues -- both evidence rules & technology -- amount to malpractice? Oh, yeah, I think so, especially if the client didn't 'know' not to monkey with hard drives: "During discovery in a securities case in the Northern District of Florida, Miami attorney Michael Kreitzer's client wanted to see e-mails between two of the defendants. The defendants claimed that the hard drives on which the e-mails were stored had failed, and that all the data were lost. "Kreitzer, the chair of the litigation group at Bilzin Sumberg Baena Price & Axelrod in Miami, persuaded the judge to... Read more →

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Posted at 02:30 PM in EDD, Electronic discovery, Ethics, Evidence, Federal rules, Malpractice | | Comments (0)

"Associate Suspended for Offering Information to Opposing Party for Fee"

Dec 05, 2006

Simply amazing! Was potentially losing a legal career worth $2,000? Or even $20,000? "A former law firm associate who offered to provide information to an opposing party for a $2,000 fee has been suspended from the practice of law for five years. "Glenn A. Kiczales, a former associate at landlord-tenant firm Ingram Yuzek Gainen Carroll & Bertolotti, began representing real estate firm Stahl Associates in 2002 in an action to recover an apartment from a tenant and a sublessee named Rajiv Gosain. 'Gosain offered at various points in the action to pay Kiczales, 36, for help in the case, including... Read more →

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Posted at 08:14 AM in Associate attorneys, Ethics, Malpractice | | Comments (0)

Are You a 'Re-Gifter'?

Nov 30, 2006

Okay, who hasn't 'regifted' once or twice (or more)? But please follow the "12 rules for regifting": "There are only three reasons you might be reading this column: You think 'regifting' is totally tacky, but you secretly hope there might be a polite way to get rid of that hideous scarf your Aunt Edna gave you. You're a chronic regifter and you need some new ideas to get you through the holidays. You've never heard of regifting. Really. You're just curious. "Welcome, one and all, to a frank discussion of a grand old holiday tradition we all practice and pretend... Read more →

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Posted at 12:46 PM in Ethics | | Comments (0)

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