In 1994, the United States District Court for the District of Vermont adopted an Early Neutral Evaluation program. It required that nearly every civil case on its docket be “evaluated” before being set for trial. I was fortunate to be one of the lawyers named to the initial panel of evaluators.
Although evaluation is featured…
I often collaborate with other attorneys. We routinely create documents together. I know what I am looking for in a final product. I share my 30 Rules for Legal Writing with them. You may not agree with all my rules and there is sometimes a good reason to vary a particular rule. Occasionally, my collaborators and…
Last week I testified before the judiciary Committee of the Vermont House of Representatives on H. 417, a bill that would reduce the size of juries in civil cases in Vermont from 12 to 6 members.
The impetus of the bill is a desire to restart civil jury trials as we try to recover from…
In our practice we see lots of new clients. We are particularly sensitive to the attorney-client privilege issues because many of them communicate with us about employment problems. For employees, it often true that just consulting an attorney may have a negative impact on the employment relationship, if the employer learns of it.
So, on…
Complaints are Opportunities
I read Lee Rosen’s email newsletter, Friday File. It’s a great place for practical advice on how to run a law practice. You can subscribe here.
In a recent edition, Lee described a traumatic experience with his dentist, who lost control of his drill and punctured Lee’s tonsil. Two weeks of painful…
November No sun — no moon! No morn — no noon — No dawn — no dusk — no proper time of day. No warmth, no cheerfulness, no healthful ease, No comfortable feel in any member — No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees, No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds! — November!…
Here is more on that federal criminal trial described in my September 28, 2020 Post: How do we Resume Jury Trials in Vermont It’s based on remarks made by Chief United States District Judge Geoffrey Crawford today at a Federal Bar Association CLE on Qui Tam litigation.
The Judge points out that the case was…
Forty-Two Years Ago
When I awoke last Friday morning, I realized that it was the 42nd anniversary of my first full day of work as a lawyer. I was not yet admitted to the bar, but as a fledgling judicial law clerk I did not need to be.
Remembering that anniversary flooded my mind with…
The Justice System is Struggling to Adapt to the COVID – 19 Pandemic
Here we sit in the seventh month of the COVID–19 pandemic. When will it end? No one knows. Optimists thought that it would end with warm weather. They were wrong. Now they think a vaccine is on the horizon. Maybe. More realistic…
If there is one thing that almost
all lawyers do, it is negotiate. Business lawyers do it. Litigators do it do
it. Real estate lawyers do it. I suspect that even patent lawyers do it.
Most of us think we do it well.
Particularly after you have been practicing for a long time, you feel…
