A fuss over attorney’s fees 

BY: Edward Poll
POSTED: February 3, 2012

In the United States, what is called the American Rule requires that a person pays for his or her own attorney’s fees regardless of the outcome of a lawsuit. This is different from the practice followed in England, which requires the losing party to pay for the prevailing party’s attorney’s fees in addition to his or her own.

Confidentiality for prospective clients 

BY: Siama Y. Chaudhary
POSTED: February 3, 2012

It is widely understood that a lawyer must keep a client’s information confidential, but perhaps less widely known is that information provided by a prospective client to a lawyer also must be kept confidential.

Worried about moving too often? Just do it right 

BY: Edward Poll
POSTED: January 27, 2012

Lawyers are increasingly at home with the revolutionary way that the Internet changes how they interact with clients.

Differing results for two lemon law cases 

BY: Marshall H. Tanick
POSTED: January 27, 2012

Minnesota has a special “lemon law,” which applies to defective vehicles. Under Minn. Stat. sec. 325.F.665, owners or lessees of “lemons” may recover compensatory damages, together with attorney’s fees and other relief, when they find themselves squeezed by a defective vehicle.

Online-only proposal puts legal system at risk 

BY: Tonda F. Rush
POSTED: January 27, 2012

The American Bar Association in February will be asked to endorse a proposed uniform law aiming at new standards for state government websites that host legal materials. The Uniform Electronic Legal Materials Act (UELMA) is proposed by the Uniform Laws Commission to address a trend, still in its infancy, of shuttering public printers and posting laws only online. But shifting an entire system of laws to online-only postings puts our legal system at risk.

New client? Do some due diligence 

BY: Edward Poll
POSTED: January 20, 2012

Under Rule of Professional Conduct 1.16, a lawyer may withdraw from representing a client if “the representation will result in an unreasonable financial burden on the lawyer or has been rendered unreasonably difficult by the client.” However, withdrawing from a representation already begun is extremely difficult, as much of the rest of Rule 1.16 attests.

Should ‘outsiders’ run law firms? 

BY: Edward Poll
POSTED: January 13, 2012

One major law firm is moving toward the management model that General Motors finally embraced.

University of Minnesota mortuary student case raises key issues 

BY: Marshall H. Tanick
POSTED: January 13, 2012

A student disciplinary case from the University of Minnesota, pending before the Minnesota Supreme Court raises some lively issues for the academic community and, for that matter, discipline in other venues as well.

To improve your writing, revisit some basics (part 2) 

BY: Matthew R. Salzwedel
POSTED: January 6, 2012

Last week, we looked at five simple tips to improve your legal writing, and various legal-writing authorities that support them. Here are five more.

Who owns a departing lawyer’s receivables? 

BY: Edward Poll
POSTED: January 6, 2012

Large law firms like Howrey and Heller Erhman that went under in the Great Recession became the targets of personnel raids before their demise. Very good lawyers from these, and similar, law firms departed and joined other major, national law firms. The firms that lured them away certainly thought they were scoring a coup.

But how many of these firms asked if their new lateral partners had any unwanted baggage?