Month: April 2015

Fwd: NYS Form RP-5217–Your Comments Sought

Begin forwarded message:

From: “Wilson, Mark” <MWilson@NYSBA.ORG>

Sent: Tuesday, April 28, 2015 5:08 PM

Subject: NYS Form RP-5217

 

Good Afternoon, 

 

I am writing to county bar leaders and directors for input regarding New York State form RP-5217 Equalization & Assessment forms for real property deed transfers.

 

Concerns regarding the form originated with Kevin Allen, President of the Orleans County Bar Association, who noted that quite a few solo and small-firm practitioners were having issues with county clerks not accepting modified Form RP-5217. 

 

The RP-5217-PDF Real Property Transfer Report in NYS was originally a four-page carbon-copy form available at the County Clerk’s office and required for recording any deed. In 2013 the form became a one-part downloadable barcoded pdf form used to document the information associated with real property transfers for approved counties within New York State. An original RP-5217-PDF form must still accompany all deeds and correction deeds upon filing. Here is information about the RP-5217, where instructions note no handwritten changes.

 

The problem noted by the Orleans County Bar is that certain counties are not accepting modified forms: For example, if the phone number is crossed out, the clerk rejects the filing. 

 

Because the new form is bar coded, the new signed form would be required and the deed cannot be recorded. Only the date of closing can be filled in or handwritten in for certain counties. For closings where the buyer or seller may not be local, or if a senior citizen has to come in and sign and resign this causes inconveniences, especially for solos if the form has to be redone online each time there is a change – both buyer and seller sign this form.

 

The Orleans County Bar is concerned with the inconsistency among counties and the practice management issues with rekeying the form each time there is a change because of the bar code. It appears certain counties take modified forms without issue while others are rejecting it outright. It was noted that middle initials being added triggers the form to be rejected. 

 

If your association members have had similar inconsistencies filing Form 5217 with your County Clerk, please let me know. We want to chronicle the concerns of all bar associations regarding this issue. 

 

Thank you and with best regards,

 

Mark Wilson  Manager of Bar Services

New York State Bar Association

One Elk Street, Albany, NY 12207

 

direct/fax: 518.487.5540 |  main: 518.463.3200 | email:  mwilson@nysba.org | www.nysba.org

Review: Apple Watch – iPhone J.D.

Jeff Richardson:

The Apple Watch is the newest product from Apple.  It requires an iPhone and thus can be viewed as an iPhone accessory, much like you might have Bluetooth headphones that work with your iPhone.  But it has so much computing power that it can also be considered an independent device, alongside the iPad, iPod, etc.  After three days with the Apple Watch, I am incredibly impressed.  For those of you wondering whether you should get one, hopefully my initial experiences will help you to make a decision for yourself.

The model that I have is the Apple Watch 42mm Stainless Steel with Black Classic Buckle.  I ordered it just a few minutes after Apple started taking pre-orders on April 10, 2015, and my Apple Watch was in my hands around 9:30 a.m. on Friday, April 24.  My first three days with the Apple Watch have been different types of days.  Friday was a work day, so I was mostly in the office.  Saturday I was mostly at home, doing errands and playing with my kids.  On Sunday I was at the New Orleans Jazz Fest, so I was outside most of the day and doing a lot of walking around and receiving and sending a lot of text messages to make plans with others at Jazz Fest.  These three very different days gave me the opportunity to really understand how the Apple Watch excels and what its limitations are.  

Read Jeff’s full review here.

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Term Law Clerk Vacancy Announcement–NDNY

April 25, 2015

Term Law Clerk Vacancy Announcement

 

The United States District Court for the Northern District of New York is seeking a two-year term law clerk for the Honorable David N. Hurd, U.S. District Judge in Utica, New York.  A law clerk will perform a wide variety of judicial tasks, including the preparation of draft opinions on dispositive motions; bench memoranda in preparation for trials and oral arguments on motions; and instructions to the jury in civil and criminal matters.  The law clerk will also share administrative tasks.  (Please see full announcement below).

 

Opening Date:

April 22, 2015

Closing Date:

May 8, 2015

Projected Start Date:

June 2015

 

 

Term Law Clerk Vacancy Announcement

  

Application Process and Deadline:

Send cover letter, resume, and unofficial law school transcript on or before May 8, 2015 to:   

 

Honorable David N. Hurd, U.S. District Judge 

Alexander Pirnie Federal Building 

Room 300 

10 Broad Street 

Utica, NY 13501 

 

 or by emailing materials to nicholas_mangold@nynd.uscourts.gov

The Oyez Project at IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law | A Multimedia Archive of the Supreme Court of the United States

Here’s an old friend, even  larger and improved, with additional resources:

U.S. Supreme Court Media

http://www.oyez.org/

The Oyez Project at Chicago-Kent is a phenomenal resource for anyone who wants to understand the workings of the United States Supreme Court. In fact, as multimedia archive, the site “aims to be a complete and authoritative source for all audio recorded in the Court since the installation of a recording system in October 1955.” The site can be scouted in a number of convenient ways. First, readers may simply explore the Latest Stories, which include Weekly Roundups, articles, and analyses of goings on at the Court. For more focused searches, readers may prefer to select Cases and Justices. The Cases tab navigates to every case that has been argued in the Supreme Court, along with a summary and, often, audio files of the oral arguments. The Justices section, on the other hand, provides summaries and rulings of every justice that has served on the Court. In addition, the excellent Tour function provides a DIY tour of the Supreme Court, complete with peaks into the Exterior, the Great Hall, the Courtroom, and the offices of select justices. 

From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout 1994-2015. https://www.scout.wisc.edu

60 Apps in 60 Minutes 2015 – iPhone J.D.

iPhone J.D. is published by Jeff Richardson, an attorney in New Orleans, Louisiana. 

This past Saturday morning at ABA TECHSHOW in Chicago, I teamed up with Dallas attorney Tom Mighell, Ohio attorney Joe Bahgat and Florida legal tech consultant Adriana Linares to present the 2015 installment of 60 iOS Apps in 60 Minutes.  Lots of useful and fun apps were discussed during the session, and the enthusiasm from the standing-room-only crowd was fantastic.  I know that the session was fast-paced, so for those of you who attended and who may have missed an app or two, and for those of you who could not make it to ABA TECHSHOW 2015 this year, here is a list of the apps that we discussed.

For the apps that I previously reviewed here on iPhone J.D., I added a link to the app name.

Connect to the Apps list here.

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Launching Today (4/14/15): A Cloud Platform for Bankruptcy Attorneys – Robert Ambrogi’s LawSites

Launching today (April 14, 2015) is NextChapter, a cloud platform for bankruptcy attorneys designed to help them prepare, manage and electronically file bankruptcy cases. Its founder says it is like TurboTax for bankruptcy cases, in that it uses guided forms to help attorneys move through the preparation of bankruptcy documents.

It is the first true cloud-based bankruptcy platform for legal professionals that works on all desktop and mobile devices, the company’s founder says. Another bankruptcy platform, CINcompass, is accessed through the cloud, but because it is built using Microsoft Silverlight, it can be accessed only on Windows-based tablets, not on iOS or Android devices.

It is also offering a unique pricing model. Users pay only when they file a case. There is no charge to start using the site to create petitions or load client information. Only when you actually file the case do you pay a fee of $59.

More frequent users can opt for one of two monthly subscription plans. For $149 a month, you get up to 24 filings, and for $699 a month, you get unlimited filings.

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One important feature that is not yet operational is electronic CM/ECF filing. That will be in place within 60 days, by June 15, the company says. In the interim, attorneys can use the site to prepare petitions to file after June 15 or they can download the petitions they prepare and file them manually.

Read entire article by Bob Ambrogi at the first link below:

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Xmarks | Bookmark Sync and Search

Xmarks

https://www.xmarks.com/

Often considered the number one bookmarks add-on on the market, Xmarks is built to be compatible with Firefox, Safari, Google Chrome, and Internet Explorer. The program can be downloaded in seconds. From there readers may begin backing up and synchronizing bookmarks in an intuitive and friendly template. In addition, Xmarks will sync bookmarks across computers, and, if desired, across different web browsers. While Xmarks is free for personal computer use, a premium version ($1 per month) is necessary for readers who want to sync with their iPhones, Blackberries, and Androids. Xmarks is the most popular bookmark sync add-on for a reason: it’s easy to use and convenient. 

From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout 1994-2015. https://www.scout.wisc.edu

Next Version of Lexis for Microsoft Office: New Integrations and Features – Robert Ambrogi’s LawSites

Robert Ambrogi:

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“…LexisNexis Legal & Professional will announce a new, enhanced version of Lexis for Microsoft Office, an application that provides direct access to Lexis research and citation tools and Web search tools from directly within Microsoft Word and Outlook.

The most significant of several new features in this release is integration with Lexis Search Advantage, which enhances search capabilities across a firm’s internal document management collection, incorporating Shepard‘s Signal Indicators and embedded links to citations in a firm’s internal documents. From within Word and Outlook, users can perform a single search across internal firm content, external content in Lexis Advance, and the open Web, or narrow the search to any of those types of content.

This new version 4.9 of Lexis for Microsoft Office also adds the ability to directly download into CaseMap, the Lexis case analysis litigation software. Users can choose to have documents delivered in a format compatible with CaseMap, so that they can be incorporated into case planning and assessment….”

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Read entire article by clicking on first link below:

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