SBM Blog

State Bar Representative Assembly Endorses End To Age Discrimination In Judicial Selection, Skittish On Attorney Inventory Rule

After spirited debate, the Representative Assembly approved a resolution calling for an end to the constitutional prohibition on appointment or election of lawyers over the age of 70 to judicial office in Michigan. After similarly spirited debate, a proposal for a rule requiring Michigan attorneys who represent clients other than in-house clients to identify the name of an active member to serve as an inventory attorney in the event of the attorney's death, disability or disappearance did not receive the Assembly's approval.

The judicial age limit proposal was among the issues presented to the Assembly by former Chief Justice Marilyn Kelly on behalf of the Judicial Selection Task Force that she co-chaired with former Michigan Supreme Court Justice James L. Ryan.  A key element of the Task Force's report, urging the amendment of the Michigan Campaign Finance Act to require disclosure of expenditures for electioneering in judicial campaigns, was adopted by the Representative Assembly in 2010.

Happy Birthday, SBM Representative Assembly

On January 12, 1972, the Representative Assembly was created. John S. Clark of Petoskey, who had served as State Bar President in 1965-66, was its first chairman. Clark, who was born and raised in Bad Axe, was also president of the American Judicature Society, chairman of the Coordinating Council of National Court Organization, chairman of the Advisory Council for the National Center for State Courts, and received the Most Distinguished Award from the Michigan Association of the Professions. Clark died in 2003 at the age of 91.

Photo: John S. Clark

Hon. Michael J. Riordan Sworn In As COA Judge

Court of Appeals Judge and recently re-elected State Bar Commissioner Michael J. Riordan was sworn in ceremonially this afternoon by Michigan Supreme Court Chief Justice Robert P. Young, Jr.

Riordan, the 81st Michigan Court of Appeals judge told an impressive crowd his only sadness was that his parents weren't here to see it, but that he's certain they're smiling on him from Heaven.

Prior to his appointment to the bench, Judge Riordan was an assistant U.S. Attorney, served as an attorney with the Securities & Exchange Commission, and worked in private practice.

Posted by State Bar staff

Mind Your P's & Esq's

I recently received a phone call from a student at my former high school who wanted to thank me for a small pledge.

"Mr. Esquire?" he asked.  

I scratched my head for a moment and then realized he thought the "Esquire" after my name was actually my last name. 

"No, that's not my last name," I said, with a laugh. "It just means that I'm an attorney."  

But after we hung up I wondered whether that's precisely what Esquire means. And what's the difference between "Esq." and "J.D."?

Fathers Day Sampler of Michigan Father-Son/Daughter Lawyer Combos

This list is the attorney father-child combinations, historic and current, made known to SBM Blog. The list is in no meaningful order and certainly just scratches the surface.  SBM Blog extends an invitation to all Michigan lawyers to salute their father-lawyers through comment to this post. Happy Fathers Day, all.

The Fitzgeralds. The Googasians. The Griffins. The Archers. The Boyle-Pernicks. The Brickleys. The Ryans. The Sawyers. The Bernsteins. The Baughman-Palmers.  The Danhofs. The Cavanaghs. The Brennans. The Levins. The Brakes. The Neckerses. The Rodgerses. The Peterson-Rodgerses. The Granos. The McCrees. The Crowleys. The Charfooses. The Brickleys.  The Diehls. The Kaufmans. The Evanses. The Honigmans. The Van Dusens. The Aboods. The Smiths. The Achos. The Kallmans. The Vivianos. The Adamses. The Kellys. The Witherells. The Agers. The Kaupers. The Allens. The Andarys. The Andersons. The Antkoviaks. The Bairds. The Hathaways. The Jacksons. The Arnolds. The Barrs. The Basiles. The Dingells. The Websters. The Mossners. The Bellancas. The Gilleses. The Bensons. The Lewises. The Johnsons. The Hoffiuses. The Dillons. The Kennedys. The Keatings. The Blacks. The Hersteins. The Bransdorfers. The Callahans. The Demings. The Borchards. The Dressers. The Borrellos. The Bradys. The Haroutunians. The Whitmers. The Browns. The Brundages. The McGinnises. The Camerons. The Badgleys. The Farhats. The Buessers. The Buitewegs. The Burgesses. The Toys. The Butzbaughs. The Campbells. The Dunningses. The Horns. The Hoods.  The Buchanans. The Hathaways. The Murrays. The Murphys. The Sullivans.  The Clarks. The Rashids. The Collinses.  The Colombos. The Conlins. The Burtons. The Szymanskis. The Hurands. The Coopers. The Dobsons. The Grants. The Bishops. The Coxes. The Smiths. The Rutherfords. The Goodmans. The Carmodys. The Butzels. The Cummingses. The Maceronis. The Davises. The Schwedler-Kokotoviches. The Allens. The Fiegers. The McDonalds. The O'Briens. The Jamiesons. The Lesinskis. The Hare-Harwels. The Broderick-McCloreys. The Reids. The Stockmeyer-Shaughnessys. The Hallmarks. The Nebels. The Tilstads. The Lambroses. The Cobbses. The McCloreys-Bernard-McLaughlins. The Rosatis. The Fershtmans. The Jolliffes. The Feikens. The Roumells. The LeVasseurs. The Vercruysse-Welches. The Schuitmakers. The Thompson-Nuckolls. The Rothstein-Minns. The Miller-Browns.

Portraits: James Witherell, Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court, 1808-1828,  and his son, Benjamin Witherell, Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court in 1857. They are the only father-son Justices of the Michigan Supreme Court.

Now Showing At A Law School Near You: The Discipline Show

The State Bar of Michigan is pleased that its Professionalism in Action program, which brings distinguished lawyers from the community into law schools to talk to 1Ls about ethical problems in practice, has been embraced by all of Michigan's law schools. Here's an equally great idea: bring Michigan disciplinary proceedings into the law schools to show what the consequences can be when disciplinary rules aren't followed. That's exactly what happened last week at the Ann Arbor campus of Cooley Law School. Appearing before the school's students, the nine members of Michigan's Attorney Discipline Board heard appeals and found four attorneys guilty of professional misconduct.  Board members and the lawyers for the disciplined attorneys took questions from the students.

HT: Washtenaw County Legal News

James Madison College at Michigan State, Take A Bow

MSU's James Madison College is a residential college that prepares its students for law school, graduate study, decision-making roles in public and private enterprise, and careers in government, media, politics, social services, public administration, education, business and industry, and the foreign service. Its webpage declares, "There isn't an important issue in the world today that our students and alumni are not studying and working to solve." For the record, one of those issues is equal access to justice, and three dynamic James Madison-trained problem-solvers were in the spotlight last Thursday at the United States Supreme Court.  They accepted the ABA's prestigious Grassroots Advocacy Award for the work of their organizations, the State Bar of Michigan and the Texas Supreme Court. For the State Bar of Michigan, SBM President Julie Fershtman, who began her college career at James Madison, and SBM Director of Governmental Relations Elizabeth Lyon, '02, shared the honors.  Chief Justice Wallace Jefferson, '85, represented the Texas Supreme Court. And that's not the end of the story. Back home in Lansing, another James Madison grad, Greg Conyers, the State Bar's director of diversity and inclusion, plays an important role in State Bar public policy development.

What Did The State Bar of Michigan Do To Win National Grassroots Advocacy Award?

From the press release of the American Bar Association:

Last year, the State Bar of Michigan played an exemplary role in advancing access to justice by successfully advocating for adequate funding for LSC [Legal Services Corporation] during the congressional budget allocation for fiscal year 2012. The State Bar of Michigan advocated for LSC funding through an ongoing grassroots legislative advocacy campaign that included urging congressional members on the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction to push for increased LSC funding.

The State Bar of Michigan worked to prevent a potentially devastating $104.2 million (25.7 percent) proposed cut to the LSC budget of $404.2 million in fiscal year 2010.   While the House of Representatives proposed funding LSC at $300 million, the Senate favored an allocation of $396 million.   Ultimately, funding was set at $348 million, thanks in large part to efforts such as the State Bar of Michigan’s.

“The State Bar of Michigan has been at the front, leading on a variety of issues, including the effort to preserve funding for legal services. Their immense contributions on behalf of Michigan lawyers have strengthened our system of justice,” said ABA President Wm. T. (Bill) Robinson III.

During the presentation of the award Thursday evening at the United States Supreme Court, ABA President Robinson also called attention to the nationally-recognized work of the Judicial Crossroads Task Force.

Other recipients of 2012 ABA Grassroots Advocacy Awards include George Cauthen, Nelson Mullins et al; L. Jonathan Ross, Primmer Piper Eggleston & Cramer PC; the Supreme Court of Texas; and Betty Balli Torres, Texas Access to Justice Foundation.

For another firsthand view, see State Bar President Julie Fershtman's account on her blog.

Photo: ABA Day Chair William Hubbard, SBM President-Elect Bruce Courtade, Past SBM President Reginald Turner, SBM President Julie Fershtman, Justice Sotomayor, SBM Director of Governmental Relations Elizabeth Lyon, and ABA President Robinson.

The Problem of the Self-Represented in Courts: Live-Blogging the State Bar's Summit

A day-long meeting of leaders in the Bar is exploring the dimensions of the problems concerning the growing phenomenon of the self-represented in Michigan courts, and examining a variety of proposed solutions.  This post will be updated throughout the day.

Keynote address by State Court Administrator Chad Schmucker: The current State Court Administrative Office (SCAO) self-help forms site gets 1200-1300 hits a day. It is "not very good," lacking even some of the most needed forms, but an improved version is coming in a few months. Courts are a finite resource and an inept response to the dealing with the self-represented in courts hurts everyone, including the practicing bar. A key initiative underway that will help is the introduction of performance measures in trial courts, using data to improve service for everyone, in order to promote "smart courts." Schmucker offers the Kent County circuit court website performance measures as an example of what's coming. He sees this as an impetus for "monumental improvement" of Michigan's courts.

Erika Davis, Co-Chair of Justice Initiatives, introduced Linda Rexer, Executive Director of the Michigan State Bar Foundation and Co-Chair of the Solutions on Self-Help Task Force reported that the Task Force has 90 people working on 20 workgroups, with key involvement by the State Court Administrative Office. One workgroup is piloting a self-help website, soon to be launched. The website is in response to the discovery that over the years 158 nonprofit, volunteer-driven or governmental self-help websites (not including commercial operations) have cropped up, with content that is often inappropriate or stale. Other workgroups are working on self-help centers, developing curricula for judges and training for librarians, and examining the need to adapt rules and policies and forms to meet the problem. Rexer emphasized that the bulk of the users of self-help resources cannot afford lawyers.

Angela Tripp, Michigan Poverty Law Center, described the process and protocols used for developing the content on the pilot website, "Michigan Law Help."  The development process has been aided greatly by assistance from the Illinois Legal AId program, whose online assistance component, which includes automated interviews, has proven to be very successful, averaging over 120,000 "hits" per month. (The program has become widely accepted as a useful resource in Illinois, including by the practicing bar.) Tripp takes the summit participants on a "tour" of the draft website, which includes links to lawyer referral services and other community resources.

Chris Hastings, chair of the Unauthorized Practice of Law committee, describes the development of a proposed definition of the practice of law (PDF), which will be presented to and considered by the State Bar's Representative Assembly this Saturday. The internet and Dressel v. Ameribank together have confused the legal landscape concerning the unauthorized practice of law,  heightening the need for a coherent, workable definition, while complicating the ability to achieve it. Hastings asserts the MIchigan has the weakest arsenal for fighting the unauthorized practice of law of all 50 states, based on the statute and case law.

Pro Bono Month: A Generous Profession, A Tireless Leader

Name another profession that makes provision of professional services to the poor a tenet of its formal code of ethics.  (Just saying.)  A Lawyer Helps is the State Bar's program for drawing attention to that value in Michigan.  If you need an up-to-the-minute example of how Michigan lawyers respond to our ethical obligation don't miss State Bar President Julie Fershtman's blog posts from yesterday.  Julie, a sought-after lawyer with a busy national practice, spent the day in Lansing meeting with the lawyers from across the state who are leading the Bar's justice initiatives programs, followed by a speech at Lansing's Pro Bono Fair showcasing opportunities for lawyers to provide pro bono services. A full day, no?  But Julie's day didn't end until she hit the "publish" button for her blog posts at 11:41 p.m.  Hat's off, Madam President.