Law.com – Judge Rules FTC Cannot Make Lawyers Comply With Identity Theft Laws

The Federal Trade Commission cannot force practicing lawyers to comply with new regulations aimed at curbing identity theft, a federal judge ruled Thursday at the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Read article-National law Journal.

CLE Program: Representing the Pro Bono Debtor Under BAPCPA*

Underwritten by: The Community Foundation of Herkimer and Oneida Counties, Inc.
and the Upstate Institute of Colgate University

Friday, October 30, 2009
Registration at 11:45 a.m.
Buffet lunch at 12:00 p.m.
Presentation from 1:00-5:00 p.m.

Cost: Lunch and CLE credits are free of charge to attorneys admitted to practice in New York State and who pledge to take a minimum
of two pro bono bankruptcy cases annually.

Where: Radisson Hotel-Utica Centre, 200 Genesee Street, Utica, NY 13502

CLE Credit: 3 Hours Skills and 1 Hour of Ethics

*Appropriate for both newly admitted and experienced attorneys

PLEASE PRE-REGISTER NO LATER THAN MONDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2009.
by emailing Dawn_Simmons-Norris@nynb.uscourts.gov
For questions, call Dawn Simmons Norris at (315) 295-1683.

Trista F. O’Hara, Esq.
Pro Se Coordinator
NDNY Federal Court Bar Association, Inc.
221 S. Warren Street, Suite 130
Syracuse, New York 13202
Office #: (315) 422-2711
Toll Free #: 1-877-422-1011
Fax #: (315) 422-2778
tohara@ndnyfcba.org

Feed Demon 3.0

http://www.newsgator.com/

So you want to stay up to date with news from the Boston Globe and the New Orleans Times-Picayune and 75 other news outlets as well? Feed Demon 3.0 can make it happen. This recently released edition of the popular RSS news aggregator syncs effectively with Google Reader, and it makes it easy to update your subscriptions and share items with others. Visitors should also note the application’s compatibility with Twitter feed reading and tagging features. This version is compatible with computers running Windows 95 and newer

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From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2009.http://scout.wisc.edu/ To subscribe to the Scout Report in text or HTML format, go to:
http://scout.wisc.edu/About/subscribe.php

NY: Revocation of Lawyer’s Pension Violated Due Process, Judge Says

The New York Law Journal – ; Revocation of Lawyer’s Pension Violated Due Process, Judge Says

By Vesselin Mitev
August 27, 2009

State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli improperly revoked the $106,000 annual pension of a Long Island lawyer, an Albany judge has ruled in ordering the state to restore the benefit.

The state violated Albert D’Agostino’s due process rights by “depriving him of continuing retirement benefits prior to granting him a hearing and by failing to provide adequate notice” of the case against him, Acting Supreme Court Justice Gerald W. Connolly ruled in D’Agostino v. DiNapoli, 8134-08.

Bad Week for “Bottom-Feeders” Continues: NAF Barred from Credit Card & Consumer Arbitrations

Office of Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson

National Arbitration Forum Barred From Credit Card And Consumer Arbitrations Under Agreement With Attorney General Swanson

Swanson Also Wants Congress to Ban “€œFine Print”€ Forced Arbitration Clauses

Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson and the National Arbitration Forum, €”the country’€™s largest administrator of credit card and consumer collections arbitrations, €”have reached an agreement that the company would get out of the business of arbitrating credit card and other consumer collection disputes.

“€œI am very pleased with the settlement.  To consumers, the company said it was impartial, but behind the scenes, it worked alongside credit card companies to get them to put unfair arbitration clauses in the fine print of their contracts and to appoint the Forum as the arbitrator.  Now the company is out of this business,”€ said Swanson.

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Read entire Press Release from Minnesota AG

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Hat tip to Bob Ambrogi, who looks at the implications of this move and the connections to collections industry giant Mann-Bracken..

Law.com – ABA Plans for Litigation Over FTC Rules on Identity Theft

Law.com – ABA Plans for Litigation Over FTC Rules on Identity Theft

The president of the American Bar Association said Wednesday that the group is preparing to go to court if it cannot persuade the Federal Trade Commission to exempt lawyers from new regulations to protect against identity theft.

H. Thomas Wells Jr. said in an interview that the New York-based firm Proskauer Rose has signed up to represent the ABA pro bono. The trade commission is scheduled to begin enforcing the regulations Aug. 1, and Wells said the bar association would file a lawsuit by the end of next week if necessary to head off enforcement.

“If they stay with the Aug. 1 date and we don’t get some kind of sign, we’ll be filing before Aug. 1,” said Wells, a partner at Maynard Cooper & Gale in Birmingham, Ala.

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Read entire article.

Practice Mang. & the New Rules of Prof. Conduct–6/10/09

Wednesday, June 10, 2009
- Location -
Teleconference
Find out how the new rules affect your practice

12:00- 2:00 p.m.

2.0 MCLE Credits in Ethics

Presented by the Committee on Law Practice Management and the General Practice Section

Moderator:

Professor Gary Munneke

Speakers:

Marian Rice, Esq.

Thomas Rice, Esq.

On April 1, 2009 the New Rules of Professional Conduct replaced the existing Disciplinary Rules. In addition to adoption of ABA Model Rules Format, the new rules bring changes that affect the manner in which you manage your law firm or practice on your own.

Please note that newly admitted attorneys cannot receive credit for participation in CLE teleconferences or webinars.

To view the 2009 CLE live program schedule, go to www.nysba.org/CLE

The last day to pre-register online is June 9, 2009. Register online now

Members, please login to get member discounts.

Continue reading “Practice Mang. & the New Rules of Prof. Conduct–6/10/09″ »

State Bar Complaints Filed Against “Torture Memo” Lawyers

VELVETREVOLUTION.US : The DisbarTortureLawyers Campaign

On Monday, May 18, 2009, a broad coalition of organizations (Velvet Revolution.US), filed disciplinary complaints with state bar licensing boards against John Yoo, Jay Bybee, Stephen Bradbury, Alberto Gonzales, John Ashcroft, Michael Chertoff, Alice Fisher, William Haynes II, Douglas Feith, Michael Mukasey, Timothy Flanigan, and David Addington for advocating the torture of detainees during the Bush Administration.

These detailed complaints, with over 500 pages of supporting exhibits, have been filed with the state bars in the District of Columbia, New York, California, Texas and Pennsylvania, and they seek disciplinary action and disbarment. Copies of the complaints and exhibits are available here, together with links to the released torture memos:

The Released Torture Memos

http://www.fas.org/irp/agency/doj/olc/index.html
http://www.aclu.org/safefree/torture/torturefoia.html
http://www.propublica.org/special/missing-memos.

Senate Report Shows Military Debate Over Detainee Interrogation Tactics

INQUIRY INTO THE TREATMENT OF DETAINEES IN U.S. CUSTODY

(U.S. Senate Armed Servs. Committee, Apr. 22, 2009) – The Senate Armed Services Committee today released a report from last November revealing opposition by a number of military lawyers and commanders to the Bush administration’s efforts to redefine the limits of military interrogation practices used by the U.S. military in Iraq and Afghanistan.

American Legal Process Charged with “Sewer Service”

The New York Law Journal – Court Papers Went Undelivered; Process Server Faces Charges

A company hired to serve debt collection lawsuits to thousands of cash-strapped New Yorkers did not bother to deliver the papers much of the time, leaving many people unaware they had been sued until the case was over and their bank accounts were frozen, authorities said yesterday.

Attorney General Andrew Cuomo filed criminal fraud charges against the firm, American Legal Process, of Lynbrook, and its owner and president, William Singler.

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Read entire article here.