Lawsuit Dismissal Sparks Plans for Appeal

Lawyers representing a North Carolina nonprofit and two paralegals announced plans to appeal after a federal judge dismissed their lawsuit challenging the state’s legal practice regulations. The North Carolina Justice for All Project (JFAP) filed the suit earlier this year against five state prosecutors and the former president of the North Carolina State Bar Association, alleging that restrictions on non-lawyers providing legal advice infringe on constitutional rights.

Claims of First Amendment Violations

The plaintiffs argued that North Carolina’s rules prohibiting the unauthorized practice of law violate the First Amendment. These rules, they claimed, hinder their initiative to offer affordable and free “simple” legal advice to residents. Their proposed services aimed to help individuals complete court-created forms in areas like domestic violence, child custody, and small estate administration—areas where access to affordable legal assistance is often limited.

The lawsuit sought to prevent the enforcement of these rules as they apply to their plans, highlighting the potential to close the access-to-justice gap for low-income individuals.

Federal Judge Upholds Legal Practice Rules

On Monday, U.S. District Judge Terrence Boyle ruled in favor of the defendants, affirming the validity of the state’s legal practice regulations. In his decision, Judge Boyle stated that the rules are a reasonable approach to regulating the legal profession and ensuring quality legal services.

“North Carolina’s current limits on the practice of law and the provision of legal advice reasonably fit within its interest in regulating the legal profession,” Judge Boyle wrote. He noted that the regulations do not prevent the nonprofit or paralegals from providing general legal information or assisting clients with forms under attorney supervision.

Plaintiffs Express Disappointment and Resolve to Appeal

Paul Sherman, an attorney with the Institute for Justice representing JFAP, expressed disappointment with the ruling but remained determined to pursue the case. “JFAP has a First Amendment right to provide advice about common legal issues, and North Carolinians have a right to hear that advice,” Sherman said in a statement on Wednesday. The group intends to appeal the decision to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

State Officials Decline to Comment

The North Carolina Department of Justice, which represents the five district attorneys named in the lawsuit, declined to comment on the case. Similarly, lawyers for Todd Brown, the former president of the North Carolina State Bar who was sued in his official capacity, did not respond to requests for comment. The bar’s current president, Matthew Smith, assumed office in October.

Broader Implications for Access to Justice

This case underscores the ongoing debate over the balance between regulating the legal profession and expanding access to affordable legal services. The outcome of the appeal could have significant implications for the way legal advice is delivered to underserved communities in North Carolina and beyond.

The post North Carolina Nonprofit to Appeal Dismissal of Legal Practice Challenge first appeared on JDJournal Blog.

To simplify regulatory navigation for business owners, New York City introduced the MyCity chatbot, an innovative artificial intelligence (AI) tool. However, recent revelations have exposed significant inaccuracies within the chatbot’s responses, prompting concerns among attorneys and law firms regarding its reliability and legal implications.

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Unveiling the MyCity Chatbot

Launched as a pilot program in October, the MyCity chatbot aimed to provide business owners with accurate and actionable information on regulatory matters. Despite initial promises of delivering trustworthy guidance, investigative reports from The Markup have unveiled instances where the chatbot provided erroneous advice, potentially exposing businesses to legal risks.

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Inaccuracies and Legal Ramifications

Among the reported inaccuracies, the chatbot incorrectly advised that employers could deduct portions of their workers’ tips and indicated a lack of regulations mandating employers to notify employees of schedule changes. Such misinformation underscores the serious legal consequences of relying on AI technology without adequate vetting and oversight.

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Acknowledging Deficiencies

New York City Mayor Eric Adams has acknowledged the shortcomings of the chatbot, attributing them to the challenges of deploying emerging technology. While city officials have assured ongoing efforts to address these inaccuracies, legal experts remain concerned about the chatbot’s efficacy and potential liability for businesses.

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Reliance on AI Technology

The MyCity chatbot relies on Microsoft’s Azure AI service, similar to other generative AI platforms prone to producing incomplete or inaccurate responses. This underscores the importance for attorneys and law firms to exercise caution when utilizing AI-driven tools, understanding their limitations and associated legal risks.

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Mitigating Legal Risks

In response to mounting criticisms, the city has updated disclaimers on the MyCity chatbot website, warning users against considering its responses as legal advice. Nevertheless, it remains crucial for business owners to seek guidance from qualified legal professionals when faced with regulatory uncertainties to avoid potential legal pitfalls.

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Advocating for Comprehensive Legal Guidance

Andrew Rigie, director of the NYC Hospitality Alliance, emphasizes the urgency of addressing the chatbot’s deficiencies to prevent businesses from inadvertently violating laws. Attorneys and law firms serving businesses in New York City must ensure clients are aware of the limitations of AI tools and advocate for comprehensive legal guidance to mitigate legal risks.

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Conclusion

As New York City strives to improve the accuracy and reliability of the MyCity chatbot, attorneys and law firms play a vital role in safeguarding their clients’ interests and providing informed legal counsel. By staying informed about advancements in AI technology and exercising prudence in its application, legal professionals can uphold the integrity of the legal profession amid the emergence of AI-driven solutions.

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Contingency fee arrangements are a common practice in the legal profession. In such arrangements, a lawyer takes on a case without charging the client upfront and receives a percentage of the settlement or judgment recovered. While contingency fee arrangements can be lucrative for lawyers, they can lead to conflicts between lawyers and clients. Sometimes, clients take advantage of the arrangement to seek lower fees, leaving lawyers in awkward situations.

One such situation involved a case where the fee was partially calculated on a contingency basis. The client approached the law firm about lowering their fee percentage in exchange for settling the matter early. While this may seem like a reasonable request, it stung the law firm as the percentage was already low, to begin with. The client’s request left the law firm feeling taken advantage of, and they were tempted to accept the offer due to the client’s power to decide if the matter went to trial. This situation highlights the power imbalance in contingency fee arrangements, leaving lawyers vulnerable to client exploitation.

Another challenge with contingency fee arrangements arises when one party has a contingency fee agreement while the other has an hourly fee agreement. In such situations, the party with the contingency fee arrangement may not be incentivized to settle the matter early. They do not have to bear any out-of-pocket expenses for litigation costs. This can lead to the opposing party’s lawyer doing more work than they would if this power imbalance did not exist.

While there are solutions to such situations, such as requesting to be relieved as counsel if a client is being patently unreasonable, judges may not always grant such requests. This can leave lawyers in awkward situations where they may be forced to continue representing a client they disagree with.

Sometimes, clients can exploit contingency fee arrangements to seek free legal services. For example, when a plaintiff files a lawsuit, the defendant can file counterclaims, which the lawyer working on a contingency fee arrangement may need to address as part of the litigation. If the counterclaims against the client are successful, the amount owed to the lawyer may be more significant than any amount the plaintiff recovers. While lawyers can try to anticipate such situations in retainer agreements, it is difficult to anticipate every possible scenario.

In conclusion, while contingency fee arrangements can benefit lawyers and clients, they also come with significant risks. Clients can use the arrangement to take advantage of lawyers, leading to conflicts and awkward situations. Additionally, power imbalances can exist between parties with different fee arrangements, leaving lawyers vulnerable to exploitation. As such, lawyers should approach contingency fee arrangements with caution, ensuring adequate protection to safeguard their interests.

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When dealing with taxes, Stephen Ribble, an enrolled agent and owner of Guardian Accounting Group in Tampa, Florida, recommends treating payments made in cryptocurrency the same way cash payments would. Any gains or losses should be reported to the Internal Revenue Service when converting tokens into U.S. dollars. This can become complicated if a client doesn’t opt to convert their cryptocurrency into U.S. dollars upon receipt but instead holds onto it until its value has increased or decreased significantly before selling it off for cash.

Vincent Chang, who grew a $3,500 crypto portfolio into a $1 million one, points out other risks to consider when accepting payments in cryptocurrency. These include phishing attacks where an attacker poses as a credible person attempting to gain access to sensitive information such as passwords and physical attacks of the same nature. He also warns against giving staff members full access to crypto wallets as they could transfer funds to their wallets and run off with the money.

Chang suggests using a digital wallet requiring multiple people to sign off on a transaction before it is approved to mitigate these risks. He also suggests immediately selling crypto back into flat currency so there’s minimal price fluctuation from payment received to currency exchange. If clients want to pay in crypto, Chang suggests encouraging them to use digital dollars pegged to the dollar or gold because that could ease worries about market volatility.

Cryptocurrency is an exciting new payment option for law firms, but it’s essential to know all the potential risks and repercussions associated with its acceptance. Taking the necessary precautions and researching how to handle crypto payments properly could be beneficial for law firms in the long run. Furthermore, by helping clients understand these risks, law firms can build a strong relationship of trust with their clients. 

Accepting cryptocurrency as payment can be an excellent way for law firms to expand their practice and keep up with the ever-evolving digital landscape. But it’s important to properly educate yourself on all potential risks and repercussions associated with dealing in cryptocurrency so that you can make an informed decision as to whether or not this is a viable option for your firm. With the proper precautions and research, law firms can benefit significantly from accepting cryptocurrency as payment. 

REFERENCES:

Is crypto payment a good deal for law firms?

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Summary: The manager of a high-profile Jersey law firm has been accused of making legal guarantees in exchange for sex from the male client and his girlfriend.

The manager of a South Jersey law firm was caught trading sex for legal services. A lawsuit filed by Javier Castillo against Conrad Benedetto and his law firm claims that the firm manager, John Groff, used his position to obtain sex from Castillo and his girlfriend in exchange for legal representation.

Castillo claims that Groff promised to keep him out of jail in exchange for sex. Groff is a convicted felon himself and told Castillo to remain a fugitive so that they could continue their sex deal. This deal included exchanging images of his genitals with Castillo. Groff also made several other promises related to Castillo’s legal problems that he could not guarantee.

See Woman Says She Traded Sex for Legal Services to read a similar story.

The lawsuit was filed by attorney Matthew Wolf on behalf of Castillo since Castillo is now an inmate in Camden County jail. Once he was arrested and his girlfriend became pregnant, the firm no longer was interested in representing him.

Benedetto’s law firm has gathered a significant amount of attention lately after taking on high-profile cases. These cases include representing the family of a man killed by Bridgeton police, the family of a man killed by police in Vineland, and Penns Grove officials accused of assaulting a police officer.

Groff advised Castillo not to turn himself in to the police after reaching out to him first on Facebook. Castillo violated his probation after making terroristic threats to an ex-girlfriend and posting nude photos on her Facebook. Castillo was later arrested at his place of employment. The lawsuit claims, “As a result of having specific promises made to him regarding the results of his criminal case, and as a result of realizing that he was duped into having sex in exchange for results that were not delivered, and for other reasons related to Mr. Groff’s bizarre law firm management, [Castillo] has suffered severe emotional distress.”

Groff’s criminal history goes back to 1992 for things such as passing bad checks, theft, and insurance fraud.

Source: http://www.nj.com/camden/index.ssf/2016/01/law_firm_manager_exploited_men_women_for_sex_lawsu.html

Photo:

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Summary: The robot lawyer can provide guidance about basic legal issues through a chat conversation related to parking tickets, PPI claims and delayed flights/trains as well as a few other general topics.

Last year, British student Joshua Browder developed a website to help people appeal parking tickets that were unfair. Now he has developed an even greater tool to help people with some basic legal issues.

Browder, 19, studies computer science and economics at Stanford University. His latest development is a robot lawyer that actually talks with users to find out their legal issues. The idea for the robot lawyer came soon after his first website, DoNotPay, gained attention.

Will Artificial Intelligence Replace Lawyers and Paralegals?

Browder started receiving thousands of emails a month asking him questions like “What happens if I can’t pay my court fine?” or “I got a parking ticket — which appeal should I choose?” He tried to answer them all but quickly realized he needed a better system. “To solve this problem, I realized that the best way to help people would be to create a computer program that could talk to users, generate appeals and answer questions like a human,” Browder told Mashable in an email.

Software Can Resolve Some Small Claims and Family Law Disputes

The robot works by asking a series of questions based on the users answers. “The robot can currently handle parking ticket appeals, payment protection insurance (PPI) claims and delayed flights/trains,” Browder explained. “It can also answer some general legal questions. I am ultimately looking to give it as much functionality as possible in the spirit of trying to replace the large group of exploitative lawyers.”

Once the robot has enough information and the information provided gives legal grounds for an appeal, it generates a letter for the user to use. Whenever the robot is unable to answer a question, Browder is notified so that he can try to provide an answer for them. He also uses the situation to “add functionality for any future requests of a similar nature.”

Source: http://mashable.com/2016/01/13/british-teenager-creates-robot-lawyer/#5dzY0u0aTOqa

Photo credit: Joshua Browder’s YouTube Channel

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Summary: Every year on Martin Luther King Day, a “Talk to a Lawyer Today” event is held for anyone to receive free legal advice in the Northeast Indiana area.

Heads up for those in the Northeast Indiana area, the annual free legal advice day on Martin Luther King Day will be happening again. There are no income restrictions, but they encourage those with low incomes to take advantage of the opportunity. Get advice on any legal issues with landlords, roommates, wills, estates and more. Also receive information on divorce if it’s something you’re considering.

Lawyer Offers Free Advice on Streets of Harlem

The annual “Talk to a Lawyer Today” event has been happening for 15 years now on Martin Luther King Day at three locations: Huntington, Steuben and Allen counties. The Volunteer Lawyer Program of Northeast Indiana is sponsoring the event with the Indiana State Bar Association. The event is a chance for those with legal questions to meet with an attorney in a one-on-one consultation for 10- to 15- minutes. “It’s held in honor of Martin Luther King and his belief in social justice,” Executive Director of the Volunteer Lawyer Program Ruth de Wit said.

Williams Mullen Offers Free Legal Advice For A Day

There will more than 40 attorneys signed up to provide advice in the areas they specialize in. Attorney Yvette Gaff Kleven of Adelsperger & Kleven specializes in bankruptcy and financial workouts. She has signed up since the beginning to help others, “We don’t delve into legal matters but provide an opportunity to give guidance. It takes them a long way in resolving an issue that has been troubling them. That makes it very rewarding.”

Legal Phone Help Program Launched by Avvo Inc

For those that do make the low-income requirements, they can be set up with a volunteer attorney with the Volunteer Lawyer Program. For those that can’t make the commute, there are eight attorneys reserved for taking phone calls, even in Spanish. More than 350 people attended last year.

Source: http://www.news-sentinel.com/news/local/crime/-Talk-to-a-Lawyer-Today–event-provides-free-legal-consultations

Photo credit: Benjamin Stangland/FreeImages

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Crowell & Moring LLP

According to a firm press release, attorneys from the firm’s cross-disciplinary retail law practice will use the blog to comment on issues of law that impact the bottom line–ranging from price fixing to lease restructuring.

“Retailers are under tremendous economic pressure now, which makes identifying legal risks and opportunities all the more critical to running a successful enterprise,” said San Francisco Crowell & Moring partner Gregory D. Call, who heads the firm’s Retail Law practice. “Our goal for the Retail Law Observer is to highlight those legal issues most pressing to the retail industry,”

The firm listed a number of trends and issues to be covered by The Retail Law Observer, including:

• Retail lease provisions and cost-saving opportunities relating to minimum rent, percentage rent, CAM, real estate taxes, marketing fund, utilities, insurance, trash, and co-tenancy
• Lease restructuring and right-sizing your space
• Comparative risks and rights under traditional retail leases and pop-up store leases
• Employee claims, including class action lawsuits challenging employee classifications and meal and rest breaks
• Efforts by employees to unionize
• Opportunities for retailers to recover antitrust overcharges
• Duty savings through global trade negotiations
• Bankruptcy disputes that continue to rise out of the struggling economy
• How a retailer’s business, risks, and rights are impacted by the sale and financing of malls, shopping centers and mixed use facilities, and the merger and consolidation of center owners
• Consumer data collection and new privacy legislation impacting social media
• The FTC’s new guidelines on making “green” or environmentally friendly claims, such as recycled content, compostable, and non-toxic
• Upcoming changes to the Internet naming system, which will dramatically expand the domain names that can be used by retailers
• Changes to generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) and its impact on reporting requirements

Crowell & Moring has a broad retail law practice representing a wide spectrum of clients in the retail industry, including wholesale and specialty retailers, department stores, and “big-box” retailers across the United States and internationally.

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These rankings, which are presented in tiers both nationally and by metropolitan area or by state, showcase the largest firms in the country to hundreds of one-person and two-person law firms, providing a comprehensive view of the U.S. legal profession that is unprecedented both in the range of firms represented and in the range of qualitative and quantitative data used to develop the rankings.

Best Law Firms’ mission is to help guide referring lawyers and clients – from the country’s largest companies needing corporate legal advice to individuals needing to get a divorce or write a will – issues that have a bet-the-company implication (in the case of a corporation) or a potentially life-changing result (in the case of an individual).

In the press release at PR Newswire, Tim Smart, Executive Editor of U.S. News & World Report was quoted as saying:  “U.S. News has more than two decades of experience in providing the public with the most accurate and in-depth rankings of a wide range of institutions, including our Best Law Schools rankings. This experience, coupled with our growing reputation as a leading career information resource, makes these law firm rankings a logical next step.”

Steven Naifeh, President of Best Lawyers was quoted as saying: “U.S. News is the world’s leading publisher of institutional rankings based on both objective data and peer evaluations. We are combining this expertise with Best Lawyers’ experience of providing rankings of individual lawyers based on peer reviews for almost three decades. By combining hard data with peer reviews, and client assessments, we believe that we are providing users with the most thorough, accurate, and helpful rankings of law firms ever developed.”

Major clients and leading lawyers were asked to rate the law firms they consider best in their practice area.

These reputational survey responses were combined with more than 3.1 million evaluations of individual lawyers in these firms in the most recent Best Lawyers survey of leading lawyers.  Hard numbers were also used to develop the practice area rankings — data about numbers of lawyers and their previous experience, numbers of clients within different billing ranges, numbers of transactions and litigation matters at different dollar levels; pro-bono commitment, diversity, and other objective data.

The U.S. News Media Group is a multi-platform digital publisher of news and analysis, which includes the monthly U.S. News & World Report magazine, the digital-only U.S. News Weekly magazine, www.usnews.com, and www.rankingsandreviews.com. Focusing on Health, Money & Business, Education, and Public Service/Opinion, the U.S. News Media Group has earned a reputation as the leading provider of service news and information that improves the quality of life of its readers.

Best Lawyers is the oldest and most respected peer-review publication in the legal profession. For a quarter century, the company has helped lawyers and clients find legal counsel in distant jurisdictions or unfamiliar specialties. Best Lawyers lists are excerpted in a wide range of general interest, business and legal publications worldwide, reaching an audience of more than 17 million readers.

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DLA Piper was ranked first by deal volume in global mergers and acquisitions in the first half of 2010…

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Reed Smith added four partners to its energy group…

Brownstein added two new partners to its practice…

The Senate Judiciary Committee delayed a preliminary vote on Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan…

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Former U.S. Senator and HUD secretary Mel Martinez left DLA Piper for JP Morgan Chase & Co…

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