Dear Member,
Welcome to HALT's eJournal, a bimonthly newsletter featuring updates on our recent activities, nationwide legal news and helpful information for legal consumers. |
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Nevada Bar Finally Compensates Victims of Lawyer Fraud
After HALT urged the President of the Nevada Bar to invest more resources into its bankrupt Clients' Security Fund, the bar increased members' annual contributions and applied pro hac vice (when a lawyer makes an out-of-state appearance) fees to the fund. For the first time in four years, the fund had sufficient monies to pay all claims in full. In 2006, the fund awarded more than $200,000 to clients whose former lawyers had stolen from them and carried forward a substantial balance into this year.
"We're very pleased that the Nevada Bar considered our recommendations and decided to take proactive steps to replenish the state's Clients' Security Fund," stated HALT Senior Counsel Suzanne M. Blonder. "Guaranteeing compensation helps restore integrity to Nevada's legal community and provides meaningful recourse to victims of fraudulent attorneys."
In addition to reimbursing victims of dishonest acts by lawyers, Nevada's fund can also compensate individuals whose attorneys have died without completing work and clients whose attorneys could not complete casework due to a mental or physical illness.
For more information about Nevada's newly restored Clients' Security Fund, click here. | |
Oregon Small Claims Bill Passes in Legislature
Oregon House Bill 2316, which aims to increase the small claims jurisdictional limit from $5,000 to $7,500, has now passed both the House of Representatives and the Senate. It now awaits Governor Ted Kulongoski's signature. Oregon last increased its jurisdictional limit in 2002 from $3,500 to $5,000.
South Carolina Releases Senior Citizens' Handbook
The South Carolina Bar Young Lawyers Division recently released its S.C. Senior Citizens' Handbook which reviews topics of interest to seniors including estate planning, health-care options, financial planning and more.
To download the guide, click here, or call (803) 799-6653, ext. 146 to request a free print copy.
Learn How to Become a Legal Document Preparer
General guidelines for how to become a legal document preparer are posted on the National Association of Legal Document Preparers' Web site (www.naldp.org). Currently, only two states (California and Arizona) license and regulate legal document preparers, who help consumers represent themselves in undisputed legal matters by preparing the necessary legal documents. Unlike traditional paralegals, document preparers work without attorney supervision.
The guidelines recommend researching your state's laws regarding the unauthorized practice of law, getting paralegal training, purchasing the necessary software to organize and prepare documents and joining the Association for additional support.
To read their guidelines, click here. |
HALT was featured in a March 26, 2007 Chattanooga Times article about the marks Tennessee received in HALT's 2006 Lawyer Discipline Report Card.
Lawyer review in state gets high marks
A reform group, however, cites failure to hold more public disciplinary reviews.
By Brian Lazenby, Staff Writer
A legal consumer reform group recently ranked Tennessee fourth in the nation among states for its system of disciplining lawyers but questions reliance on private reviews.
"We are concerned about Tennessee's closed-door system," said Suzanne Blonder, senior counsel for HALT.
HALT recently evaluated the lawyer disciplinary systems in all 50 states, ranking the Tennessee Board of Professional Responsibility fourth. The group ranked Georgia's disciplinary system ninth in the nation and Alabama's 47th. HALT, an Organization of Americans for Legal Reform, is a nonprofit, nonpartisan public interest group of more than 50,000 members, according to the organization's Web site.
Tennessee sanctions attorneys in private two times as often as it issues discipline in public, which Ms. Blonder said hurt the board's score for adequacy of discipline imposed, which was a D. In five other areas, the state earned grades ranging from an A to an F.
"We'd like to see them meting out public, formal discipline," Ms. Blonder said.
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