Columns
Ethics Matters
Boot Camp Is Better Than Ignorance Of Rules
Monday, April 9, 2012 | by Mark Dubois | The Connecticut Law Tribune
Many folks do not know that our rules of professional conduct do not mirror the American Bar Association model rules in some important respects. For instance, model Rule 1.15 is four paragraphs long. Our rule is over 25 pages long. Model Rule 1.6 permits disclosure of client confidences to prevent serious physical harm to another. Our rule mandates it. Our Rule 3.7 contains a prohibition on threatening criminal action to gain an advantage in civil litigation. The model rule has no such provision.
Legally Conservative
The Law of Human Nature - A Titanic Encounter
Monday, April 9, 2012 | by Karen Lee Torre | The Connecticut Law Tribune
You can't make this stuff up, I thought, as I stared at the TV. If not for realizing that people were going to die, I would have laughed. Earlier, I had joined relatives for a leisurely last meal at sea. We would disembark in the morning. I had partied to excess and needed a pillow. While the others went off for more, I stumbled to my stateroom.
Ethics Matters
UConn Law Should Find New Measures Of Success
Monday, April 2, 2012 | by Mark Dubois | The Connecticut Law Tribune
Well, the U.S. News ratings are out and UConn Law has dropped into a solid Tier II slot at No. 62. This has led to the predictable round of anger, recriminations and general angst in many quarters. Present students feel betrayed, as they watch the ranking sink at a time when the market for recent law grads is extremely bad. Recent grads are angry, feeling that the value of their degrees has continued to slide with the rest of the economy.
Legal Ease
PC Doesn't Just Get Mad; It Gets Even
Monday, April 2, 2012 | by Amy Goodusky | The Connecticut Law Tribune
While I am on the subject of machines we deal with daily in the office and the overwhelming temptations they inspire in us to discharge large bore shotguns in their direction when they malfunction or consume time which would otherwise be billable for reason or reasons unknown to any but the most technologically sophisticated or those with psychic powers, let me mention my Computer. Hmm. I didn't capitalize that. I wonder what happened? Operating the key to shift the case doesn't seem to do anything. Never mind. I'll just keep writing.
Guest Commentary
Is Your Password Protected By The Constitution?
Monday, March 26, 2012 | by MONIQUE M. FERRARO | The Connecticut Law Tribune
Whether the Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination is implicated when a defendant is asked to reveal a password was, until now, a theoretical question. The topic was the subject of heated geek-debates which were akin to the early Christians slugfests about how many angels could dance on the head of a pin. Two recent federal cases have finally brought the matter into the legal limelight. The arguments are academic. The practicalities are marginally meaningful. Let me tell you why.
Legal Ease
Cats May Be Cool, But They're Not Kindly
Monday, March 19, 2012 | by Amy Goodusky | The Connecticut Law Tribune
Yesterday, as I was moving to preclude a litigant from introducing any evidence, testimony, or discussion about anything at all during the trial of his action, including but not limited to the weather, the stock market or his full name, a member of my firm barreled into my office, brandishing a copy of the Connecticut Law Tribune, which flapped limply open as he threw it toward my head.
Ethics Matters
Dealing With Detritus Of The Dead And Disappeared
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Monday, March 19, 2012 | by Mark Dubois | The Connecticut Law Tribune
I saw an article the other day that the trustee for the defunct Howrey law firm was trying to figure out what to do with 220,000 boxes of closed files belonging to 10,000 clients. Not a pretty picture. And, except for the sheer volume, not all that uncommon a problem.
Guest Commentary
Shedding Light On Shadow Lives
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Monday, March 19, 2012 | by MICHELLE CRUZ | The Connecticut Law Tribune
There's a silent struggle being waged by 1,400 families of people in Connecticut who have gone missing or who are victims of unsolved murders. It's what I call a modern-day epidemic. These families have been torn apart by the unfathomable and yet wait, sometimes decades, for answers, fearing there will be no justice for their family. There is a fiction, a fable of sorts, in our communities that allow us to sleep at night, and that is if our loved one goes missing or is murdered, that certain events will occur and bring forth swift justice.
One Hand Clapping
Skittish Co-Counsel Had Reason To Be Parnanoid
Monday, March 12, 2012 | by Norm Pattis | The Connecticut Law Tribune
Lawyers who tell war stories are tedious bores. I mean, we all have stories to tell, right? What makes your story so special that I should stop what I am doing to listen to it? Yet we can't help telling these tales. The truth of the matter is, a lawyer lives a privileged sort of life. We get front-row seats at the theater called chaos. So let me relay a story, sanitized somewhat to protect the names of folks who might not like being memorialized in this manner.
Legal Ease
649 Words And Counting...
Monday, March 12, 2012 | by Amy Goodusky | The Connecticut Law Tribune
For almost four years, I have been contributing to the Law Tribune, seeking to inspire and foster a quality which my fellow trenchant and talented observer, Dan Krisch, notes is all too rare among those in our profession: levity. The requirements, when I began, were soft Although I must confess that I secured the gig by looking exactly like my other fellow columnist, Norm Pattis, thus saving the expense and trouble of placing a new photo adjacent to my byline (this all changed of course, when Norm came out of retirement, and I had to have my picture taken, but I digress), the only other guidance I received about my submissions was, as they say in our profession, overly broad, but certainly not its boon companion, burdensome.
