SBM Blog

A Lawyer Helps: Here, There, and Everywhere

When It Rains, Help Pours In. Use your legal skills to help flood victims in Michigan and Texas.

In Michigan: Midland, Isabella, Bay, and Gladwin Counties, Michigan Flood Disaster Relief Legal Services

Low income flood victims are in need of legal services for:

• Counseling on landlord-tenant problems
• Replacement of wills and other important legal documents destroyed in the disaster
• Assistance in consumer protection matters, remedies, and procedures
• Counseling on mortgage-foreclosure problems
• Assistance with securing FEMA and other government benefits
• Assistance with life, medical, and property insurance claims
• Help with home repair contracts and contractors

Volunteer Now 

Submit your completed Volunteer Agreement Form to [email protected].

For more information, see the FAQs.

In Texas: Hurricane Harvey Disaster Relief Legal Services

The Texas emergency order permits out-of-state lawyers to provide legal services on a temporary basis in a variety of practice areas ranging from brief advice to full representation.

Volunteer Now

The Supreme Court of Texas emergency order, which permits out-of-state lawyers to provide legal services for a 6 month period beginning August 30, 2017, serves as a national call for action to the legal profession, and another opportunity to show Michigan lawyers in action.

Submit the form to the State Bar of Texas, which serves as a clearinghouse for out-of-state lawyer volunteers. Out-of-state lawyer volunteers must also submit the State of Texas Registration for Temporary Practice of Texas Law form before or shortly after providing legal services to Hurricane Harvey victims.

Scribes Honors Professor Joseph Kimble by Naming Award in His Honor

Scribes – the American Society of Legal Writers – has honored long-time Michigan Bar Journal Plain Language Column Editor Joseph Kimble by renaming its Distinguished Service Award the Joseph Kimble Distinguished Service Award. Kimble, a former executive director and 15-year board member of Scribes, was surprised by the announcement while in the audience of the Scribes 2017 Continuing Legal Education Conference at the Oklahoma City University School of Law. The Scribes Board of Directors unanimously voted to rename the award in Kimble’s honor.

Kimble is a distinguished professor emeritus at Western Michigan University Cooley Law School, where he joined the faculty full-time in 1984. Kimble is senior editor of The Scribes Journal of Legal Writing and has published dozens of articles and two books about legal writing. He led the redrafting of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and Federal Rules of Evidence. He is also past president of Clarity, an international association promoting plain language, a founding director of the Center for Plain Language, and a board member for the Legal Writing Institute.

He was named a “Plain English Champion” by the Plain English Campaign in England, received the first Plain Language Association International Award, received the Burton Award for Reform in Law twice – once for his work on the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and once for his work on the Federal Rules of Evidence – received the American Law Schools Section on Legal Writing, Reasoning, and Research Award, and received the SBM John W. Reed Lawyer Legacy Award.

Scribes was founded in 1953 and is the oldest organization devoted to improving legal writing and honoring legal writers. The first recipient of the Joseph Kimble Distinguished Service Award was Kenneth Gartner, a New York-based commercial trial and appellate litigator.

ABA Center for Innovation Offering Fellowships

The American Bar Association Center for Innovation is now accepting applications for its 2017 fellows program. There are two categories of fellows: NextGen Fellows and Innovation Fellows.

NextGen Fellows are recent law school graduates who will spend one year in-residence at the ABA headquarters in Chicago. They will receive a stipend of $45,000 plus benefits during their time in the program. There are two openings in the NextGen program. 

Innovation Fellows will rotate in and out of Chicago on a nine to 12 week basis, beginning in April. There is no stipend for this fellowship, but sponsorships may be available. 

The deadline to apply for the fellowship programs is January 31. 

View more information and apply.

Happy Love Your Lawyer Day!

To all of our members: We are so grateful for all that you do! Happy Love Your Lawyer Day! Take part in sharing your love for your fellow attorneys by using #loveyourlawyerday on Facebook and Twitter today.

Want to help attorneys affected by floods in Louisiana? Here's how you can.

Attorneys in Louisiana are reeling as the result of devastating, once-in-1,000-years floods. The New York Times reported that the floods have killed 11 and caused 30,000 people to need rescues. An estimated 40,000 homes are affected, and many of those do not have flood insurance because they are not located in areas known to flood. The Louisiana governor has declared a state of emergency and has issued an emergency suspension of legal deadlines. 

In response to the disaster, the Louisiana State Bar Association has put together a disaster response website filled with information, announcements, tools and resources to help its members recover and assist them as they seek to offer legal assistance to people in their communities. 

The Louisiana State Bar Association runs a program called SOLACE, (Support of Lawyers/Legal Personnel - All Concern Encouraged). The sole purpose of the program is to allow the legal community to reach out in meaningful and compassionate ways to judges, lawyers, court personnel, paralegals, legal secretaries and their families who experience a sudden catastrophic loss. SOLACE is currently accepting assistance requests from attorneys and other people for non-monetary needs. People can make requests for office space, gift cards, furniture, temporary housing, food, and more. Undoubtedly, the SOLACE program is stretched to its limit by this disaster. 

If you'd like to help, here's how you can: 

Donate to help lawyers affected by the floods

Another way to donate to help lawyers and their staff members affected by the floods

Volunteer to help lawyers affected by the floods (only if you are also licensed in Louisiana).

 

 

Michigan Judicial Institute Wins Prestigious National Award

The American Bar Association Judicial Division awarded their 2015 Judicial Education Award to the Michigan Judicial Institute on July 31 in Chicago. The award recognizes the MJI for its successful efforts in providing high quality judicial education and training to Michigan judges. 

MJI provides educational resources to Michigan judges, judiciary employees and the general public in the form of materials such as reference guides for judges, live seminars and webinars for judicial employees, oversight of the Michigan Supreme Court Learning Center, juror orientation videos and IMPACT email and podcast service that delivers summaries of recent court and legislative activities.

"The resources we offer help courts statewide be more efficient and enhance service to the public," said MJI Director Dawn McCarty. "This award is a credit to our most valuable resource  — our staff, who is dedicated to serving the trial courts." 

The MJI is a unit of the State Court Administrative Office, the administrative arm of the Michigan Supreme Court. 

Posted by Samantha Meinke

National Death Penalty Archive Will Incorporate Collection of Michigan Attorney Eugene Wanger

Michigan attorney Eugene Wanger will donate his collection of artifacts related to the death penalty to the National Death Penalty Archive in Albany, New York. His collection is one of the largest privately owned collections in the country, composed of books, periodicals, pamphlets, posters, photographs and other memorabilia, memorializing the history of the death penalty in the United States and across the globe. 

The National Death Penalty Archive will hold a dedication ceremony to incorporate the Eugene G. Wanger and Marilyn M. Wanger Death Penalty Collection into the archive at 1:30 p.m. on Friday, April 17 at the University at Albany Science Library in Albany New York. The event will feature Eugene Wanger as a speaker, as well as Henderson Hill, executive director of the Eighth Amendment Project; Richard Dieter, of the Death Penalty Information Center; William Bowers, director of the Capital Jury Project; Margaret Vandiver, professor at the University of Memphis; Constance Putnam, PhD, co-author of In Spite of Evidence; Eric Freedman, professor at Hofstra Law School, Daniel Linke, archivist and curator of public policy papers at Princeton University; and Charles Lanier, PhD, of Lanier Consulting and research.  

Eugene Wanger served as a delegate to the Michigan Constitutional Convention in 1961-1962 and authored the provision in the current Michigan Constitution prohibiting the death penalty in the state. 

Posted by Samantha Meinke

Throw Back Thursday: Michael Franck received the first ever Michael Franck Award

It was almost 20 years ago to the day that former SBM Executive Director Michael Franck received the first ever Michael Franck Professional Responsibility Award from the American Bar Association. He received his award on May 31, 1994 at the Chicago Yacht Club. 

The following was written by Jeanne Gray and published in The Professional Lawyer in August of 1994.

On May, 31, 1994, a great man was paid tribute by the legal profession he had nurtured and sustained throughout his life. For his outstanding contributions to the profession, Michael Franck was honored by the American Bar Association with the establishment of the Michael Franck Professional Responsibility Award.

On June 28, 1994, Michael Franck passed away leaving a legacy of the law as a high calling, of justice as a defendable right, and of public service as the beacon of a life's work.

For those of us fortunate enough to have been linked with Mike throughout his career, we learned through him that the law was illuminating and empowering and that reform was only one good debate away.

As stated by his colleague Robert Hetlage, past Chair of the ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility, on the occasion of the establishment of the Michael Franck Professional Responsibility Award:

You have done more than any lawyer I have known in my many years of work in the Bar to advance the cause of professional practice, by example, by personal commitment and dedication, by foresight and a remarkable sense of what is right and what works, by sound judgment and leadership, and by pure hard work.

The seeds of Michael Franck's journey as the champion of professional responsibility began in New York City in the early days of professional regulation. For a decade he dominated the scene as the Chief Litigator of the Committee on grievances of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York. There he acquired the reputation as tough minded prosecutor and persuasive advocate.

Florida hits snag with release of bar exam results

Above the Law's Elie Mystal shone a snarky spotlight on problems that arose in Florida, when results from the February 2014 bar exam results were released.

Apparently, the Florida Board of Bar Examiners inadvertently reposted the results of the July 2013 exam, and mistakenly labeled them as being results from the February 2014 exam. Meaning that everyone who failed the July 2013 bar exam believed that they had failed the 2014 exam as well.

Massive confusion and heartbreak ensued for a couple of hours until the mistake was caught and corrected.

Thoughts to all involved.

Posted by Samantha Meinke

Dennis Archer to lead ABA task force looking at cost of law school

Former State Bar of Michigan president, American Bar Association president, Michigan Supreme Court justice and Detroit mayor Dennis Archer will head up the newly appointed ABA Task Force on Financing a Legal Education.

In a story on MLive, Brian Smith reports that the task force will make recommendations on how law schools can control the rising cost of attending law school.

"As law school tuitions and educational debt loads increase at the same time employment opportunities for recent graduates are constrained, the ABA needs to lead a thorough examination of the financing of legal education and law schools,” Silkenat said.

MLive created a searchable database of information on employment after graduation from Michigan's five law schools. Scroll to the bottom of the story to utilize it.

Posted by Samantha Meinke