Proposed rules governing information about legal services

I spotted this announcement on the LSBA web site:

The Rules of Professional Conduct Committee has drafted proposed amendments to the Rules of Professional Conduct dealing with lawyer advertising and solicitation and has received approval by The Louisiana Supreme Court's Committee to Study Attorney Advertising.

The LSBA Rules of Professional Conduct Committee has scheduled public hearings to invite and receive comments on the proposed new advertising and solicitation rules: Rules 7.1 through 7.10.
The public hearing schedule is as follows:

Baton Rouge
Thursday, November 2, 2006 at 5:00 p.m., LSU Law School, Room 106

Lafayette
Wednesday, November 8, 2006 at 5:00 p.m., Federal Court

New Orleans
Thursday, November 9, 2006 at 6:00 p.m., Loyola University, Main Campus, Audubon Room in the Dana Center

Shreveport
Thursday, November 16, 2006 at 10:00 a.m., Federal Court

Under proposed Rule 7.6(b), web sites "are considered to be information provided upon request," making them subject to different requirements from those applicable to print, radio, or TV advertisements.

Changes to Rules of Professional Conduct

The Supreme Court announced changes to the rules of professional conduct. The changes affect rules 5.5 and 8.5. A new "in-house counsel" rule has also been adopted.

Four New Members Appointed to LADB

The Advocate reports that the Louisiana Supreme Court has made four appointments to three-year terms on the Louisiana Attorney Discipline Board. The four newly appointed members are Michael Walsh, an attorney in Baton Rouge, Terrebonne Parish Assistant District Attorney James R. Dagate of Houma, and public members Martin L. Chehotsky of Lake Charles and Charles C. Beard Jr. of Shreveport.

Ethics Board Faces Challenges

Executive Director of the State Ethics Board, R. Gray Sexton, stated that exceptions in the State Ethics Code create a perception and possibly a reality of unfairness. According to The Advocate, Sexton called for NGOs, the media, and labor and business groups to assist the Ethics Board in protecting the Code from further encroachment.

LSC Permanently Disbars Michael O'Keefe and Steven Edwards

Today the Louisiana Supreme Court permanently disbarred Michael H. O'Keefe because of his multiple felony convictions and for "runner-based solicitation" of personal-injury cases. The Court also permanently disbarred Steven R. Edwards, son of former governor Edwin Edwards, because of his convictions in federal court for extortion, racketeering, and money laundering.

AMA Withdraws Resolution

The Town Talk reports that a proposal submitted by a physician to the the American Medical Association to endorse a physician's right to refuse care to attorneys (and their spouses) involved in medical malpractice cases drew an angry response at their annual meeting. The resolution left the AMA "a really big mess to clean up," said one neurosurgeon. The article also notes this story about a plastic surgeon in Mississippi who refused to treat a young lady's burn scars because her father, a state legislator, had voted against limiting damages in medical malpractice suits.

Lawyer must report judicial misconduct

The Louisiana Supreme Court has amended Rule 8.3(b) of the Rules of Professional Conduct, effective May 29, 2004. Under the new rule, if a lawyer knows that a judge has committed a violation of a rule of judicial conduct, raising a question about the judge's honesty, trustworthiness, or fitness for office, then the lawyer must report the matter to the Judiciary Commission. Complaints about the conduct of federal judges must be reported to the appropriate fedeal authorities according to federal laws and rules governing federal judicial conduct and disability.

Louisiana Supreme Court gets tough on judicial ethics

The Times Picayune reports: "The removal of C. Hunter King from the civil court bench in New Orleans last month was the latest high-profile judicial discipline case showing that the Louisiana Supreme Court is taking a hard line when judges and lawyers are accused of serious ethical lapses..."

April Ethics Opinions Now Available

The Louisiana Board of Ethics has posted opinions from its April 10, 2003 meeting. Additionally, the agenda for the May 8-9, 2003 meeting is also online.

Opinions From Louisiana Board of Ethics

Opinions recently rendered by the Louisiana Board of Ethics can be found at the following links:

January
February
March

Ex-Judge Bodenheimer Indicted

A federal grand jury charged ex-judge Ronald Bodenheimer and two other men with fixing Al Copeland's child custody case in hopes of gaining a lucrative contract with Copeland's restaurants, reports The Time-Picayune.

Two Permanently Disbarred by LASC

T. Kenneth Elbert of Baton Rouge and William B. Lynch, who is currently in federal prison, were permanently disbarred by the Louisiana Supreme Court last Friday, reports The Advocate.

Jim Brown Writ Denied

Also making the rounds from yesterday's news, US Supreme Court refuses to review Brown's conviction.

Naked Ownership commented on the writ application here.

Discriminating Jury Pool

The Times Picayune reports on an interesting disupte regarding the Jefferson Parish jury pool. Clive Stafford-Smith, who is representing a defendant in a first-degree murder retrial, argues that the jury pool unfairly discrminates against African-American residents because the jury pool database is alleged to contain more than 830,000 names even though only 450,000 people live in the parish. The Clerk of Court, Jon Gegenheimer, answers that the larger database contains duplicates and other individuals ineligible for jury duty and that the jury pool database only contains about 200,000 names.

Why Smart Lawyers Pick Dumb Jurors

I only post this article because I gained nothing else from the ten minutes it took me to read it - in fact, I am now dumber for having read it (to paraphrase from Billy Madison). The article essentially uses 5,000 plus words to support the following quote attributed to Mark Twain:

"The jury system puts a ban upon intelligence and honesty, and a premium upon ignorance, stupidity, and perjury, [we] swear in juries composed of fools and rascals, because the system rigidly excludes honest men and men of brains."