Like Whitney Cunningham, I did not directly address the Arizona bill titled SB1062. Instead, I marveled at the community engagement—on both sides of the issue—that the proposed law brought to life.
Always open for dialogue and discussion
I titled my column “The Civics Brain Stirs,” which opened:
“The notion that we are a nation(state) of laws may never have been more apparent than in February, as Arizona was held in the grip of a controversial bill sent from the Legislature to the Governor. As she wrestled with her decision of what to do with SB 1062 (which she ultimately vetoed), we in the state got a front-row seat to civics and remarkable political drama.”
“In an age dominated by sound bites and Xbox, it is amazing how often people will set down the joystick to engage with each other on difficult elements of law and public policy. Here are four things that occurred to me as events unfolded.”
This Thursday morning, a thoughtful and experienced panel will discuss how legal services are dispensed in Arizona. Here is part of the Law Day event announcement from the Arizona Foundation for Legal Services and Education:
“At the Forum, Chief Justice Rebecca White Berch will discuss access to justice in Arizona; Karen Lash, Senior Counsel of Access to Justice for the U.S. Department of Justice, will offer a national perspective; Hon. Lawrence Winthrop will recap the results of input from regional forums; a panel of experts will share some best practices from around the state; and Vice-Chief Justice Scott Bales will wrap up with the closing remarks.”
I will attend and report to you what was said. I am curious if any new initiatives are part of the conversation (such as an Indigent Defense Commission, which I discussed previously). And it would be helpful to hear about some successful best practices from elsewhere in the country.
Do you have privacy rights in what’s stored in your cellphone? Supreme Court cases raise the issue.
A quick question for you on Monday morning: How private is your cellphone?
That simple question underlies some cases facing the U.S. Supreme Court this Term. There, the justices must wrestle with issues of search and seizure when it comes to the ubiquitous cellphone.
When you are asked to empty your pockets (following, we suppose, establishment of probable cause or at least a Terry stop), is your phone entitled to no more privacy than, say, the wad of tissues, or the spare change?
Here is how one news story about the cases opens:
“Two Supreme Court cases about police searches of cellphones without warrants present vastly different views of the ubiquitous device.”
“Is it a critical tool for a criminal or is it an American’s virtual home?”
“How the justices answer that question could determine the outcome of the cases being argued Tuesday. A drug dealer and a gang member want the court to rule that the searches of their cellphones after their arrest violated their right to privacy in the digital age.”
“The Obama administration and California, defending the searches, say cellphones are no different from anything else a person may be carrying when arrested. Police may search those items without a warrant under a line of high court cases reaching back 40 years.”
“What’s more, said Donald Verrilli Jr., the administration’s top Supreme Court lawyer, ‘Cellphones are now critical tools in the commission of crimes.’”
“This unique museum opened in 2012 and is centered around a restored cellblock on the sixth floor of Maricopa County’s Historic old Courthouse—the Courthouse has been renovated to its 1929 grandeur. While visiting the museum you will get a sense of Maricopa County’s legal history, its court cases and important elements of the Rule of Law, including individual rights and liberties guaranteed in the United States and Arizona constitutions. To our knowledge, it is the only such museum in an active courthouse in the county.”
The museum is located at 125 W. Jefferson, Phoenix, and is open from noon to 1:00 pm Monday through Thursday.
Lawyer networking? This way, to The Duce in Phoenix.
Did you ever hesitate to attend a networking event, unsure if there will be even one person there you know?
An event tonight was organized in a way that minimizes that possibility. If the number of sponsoring groups is any preview, you’re likely to run into some familiar faces. (I’m sorry to say I’ll be unable to attend myself. If you go, take a few photos and send them my way: arizona.attorney@azbar.org)
Staged by the Arizona Small Business Administration, the event will be at The Duce in south-central Phoenix, from 5:30 until 8. If you’ve never wandered through the cool complex, it’s worth the drive for that alone.
And here is the list of sponsoring organizations:
Arizona Asian American Bar Association
Arizona Jewish Lawyers Association
Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce
Arizona Black Bar
Chinese Chamber of Commerce of Arizona
Los Abogados Hispanic Bar Association
Phoenix Black Chamber
Phoenix Children’s Hospital Emerging Business Leaders
State Bar of Arizona Young Lawyers Division
Organizers say, “Attendees will enjoy complimentary appetizers and quality networking in a fun, fresh environment. A cash bar will be available.”
That phrase “Attendees will” is pretty demanding, but maybe the ASBA is just an optimistic bunch. (And remember: The “quality networking” depends on you!)
And, yes, The Duce has an open-to-all boxing ring, but remember: It’s a collaborative event.
Boxing at The Duce: Two enter, hopefully closer colleagues exit.
Creative ideas and those who protect them are recognized on World Intellectual Property Day. Bring the popcorn.
Time flies: It’s already World Intellectual Property Day.
I may be the last to know; you’ve probably been preparing for weeks for today’s celebration. But if you’re still unsure what all the hubbub is about, the Library of Congress has you covered. It has announced a program today in honor of all things IP:
“The U.S. Copyright Office will host a Copyright Matters program in connection with World Intellectual Property Day at 1:45 p.m. on Wednesday, April 23,in the Coolidge Auditorium of the Library of Congress, located on the ground floor of the Thomas Jefferson Building, 10 First Street, SE, Washington, D.C. The event is free and open to the public; tickets are not required.”
“The theme of World Intellectual Property Day this year, as announced by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), is ‘Movies: A Global Passion.’ World Intellectual Property Day is celebrated around the globe annually to mark the date the convention establishing WIPO came into force.”
Movies are a global passion, and so I was pleased to see that, yes, they are planning to screen a film. This year, it will be an award-winning movie called Rhythm Thief, and its director Matthew Harrison will be a speaker.
Here is a trailer for the film.
The trailer is delightfully uninformative (that’s a compliment), which is another way of saying it draws you in without believing we need mundane plot points to be attracted to a visual artwork. (We don’t.) Plus, a critic compared it to the incomparable Breathless, so it must be pretty remarkable.
As I said in a previous year, enjoy your day recognizing IP. If you get a chance, kiss a patent lawyer. After all, any attorneys who use terms like “deceptively misdescriptive” and “Auslegeschrift” deserve one.
Since then, however, I’ve come across a message that I wish I could have shared in Chicago. It was drafted by Whitney Cunningham, the State Bar of Arizona President.
So here was Whitney’s challenge in the April issue of Arizona Attorney Magazine: how to explore a delicate topic made even more controversial by a high-profile and breaking piece of state legislation, without crossing any lines into inappropriate legislative advocacy.
State Bar of Arizona President Whitney Cunningham (photo by John Hall)
Of course, the State Bar of Arizona is a member organization. Among members, there may be many views of this and other laws. And if you cross a line, they let you know.
So how can a Bar President convey the mission and values of the organization, but do so without taking an overt stand on a pending law?
The answer was: Quite well, thank you.
Top to bottom, Whitney never discusses the bill itself, but instead focuses on the value of diversity that runs through the Bar association. He wisely titled his column “Getting Rich,” and then delineates the scores of ways diversity aids the association and the State of Arizona. And then he ends, “As a bar, we are rich and getting richer.”
A unique opportunity presents itself to attorneys this Friday and Saturday—the free chance to learn about human trafficking and perhaps to get some credit doing it.
“Project ALWAYS is a nonprofit law firm committed to providing free legal services and system reform advocacy to empower homeless children and youth and survivors of sex trafficking. Working through referrals from our social service partners, we help clients lift the legal barriers that stand in the way of opportunity, security, and self-sufficiency.”
At the site, you can read more about the Arizona firm, including its founding by attorney January Contreras and its leadership by former Judge Barbara Mundell. The Project also receives support from the Hickey Family Foundation and the Project’s fiscal sponsor, the Arizona Foundation for Legal Services and Education.
Barbara Mundell, founding board chair of Project Always
The training is titled Human Trafficking 101, and it covers immigration, criminal and civil remedies available to survivors of trafficking.
As the organizers say, the training includes “an in-depth overview of the legal issues facing victims of human trafficking, including criminal victim witness advocacy issues, immigration benefits, and civil remedies. Participants don’t have any registration fees, but must agree to take on one trafficking pro bono case. Register online here under “News and Events,” or contact January Contreras at january@projectalways.org.
When:
Friday, April 25 & Saturday, April 26th 8:30 am – 5:00 pm
The following is a recap of the program, which focused on family law—divorce, child support, and paternity issues
The volunteer attorneys were: Christa Banfield, Michael Clancy, Tali Collins, Michael Cordrey, DeeAn Gillespie Strub, Wendy Hernandez, Kris Leonhardt, Nancy Khiel, Londa Rivera and Patrick Sampair
Volunteer attorneys answered 148 calls on family law issues. An additional 41 consumers were assisted via social media, which gave us an impressive total of 189 people who were helped.
Here is a sample of consumer questions:
How do I modify current child support payments?
How do I request/establish child support?
How do I modify custody and parenting time?
How can I request grandparent’s rights? What are my rights as a grandparent?
Can I travel outside of the country with my children?
What are the differences between a legal separation and a divorce? Pros/cons?
How do we divide assets?
Do I qualify for spousal maintenance?
Do I need to hire an attorney to file for divorce?
Social media continues to be a successful element of Lawyers on Call. 41 consumers asked their questions via the 12 News Facebook page and attorney Kris Leonhardt responded with her recommendations/advice.
All 10 attorneys were first-time volunteers.
Next month, volunteer lawyers will answer consumers’ bankruptcy and foreclosure questions on Tuesday, May 6.
Their solution? Blogging. And the lawyers interviewed by the talented Dan Wise of the New Hampshire Bar Association share the reasons that a law blog makes the difference. Here’s part of the story opening:
“‘I thought [blogging] was a great idea, but I figured other people must already be doing it,’” says [attorney Kysa] Crusco. ‘When I went home and did a web search, it turned out that there weren’t many, if any, family law blogs. The nhfamilylawblog.com URL was available, so I reserved it and contacted Lexblog. They got my blog up and running, and I started writing. I was able to see an immediate effect in articles that I posted and the potential clients that were calling for a consultation.’”
Kysa touches on what continues to be a surprise to me, 15 years after the first law blog was launched (though there’s debate on who was first): The surprise that, all these years later, relatively few lawyers write a blog. And that is a missed opportunity.
Let’s examine the necessary elements:
There are 26 tools—if you count every letter of the alphabet.
There is some modicum of writing ability.
There is some practice knowledge.
There is a small (and shrinking) technology aspect.
We already know that lawyers avoid math, not words, and every lawyer I know possesses a large amount of practice knowledge. So … what’s the boggle?
Typically, it comes down to a misunderstanding of strategy or—more particularly—differentiation. Here’s what I mean.
You probably think that potential clients can distinguish you from other lawyers in your practice area because, um, you went to a good law school. Or because you were in the Order of the Coif. Or served as Assistant Managing Editor on your law journal.
Of course, none of that distinguishes you (except to your mom, who always asks what was up with that “Assistant” in your title).
What does distinguish you is something that is wholly unique. No, not your fingerprint or hair whorl. I mean—writing.
Those who want to buy legal services are not seeking a terrific writer, so don’t let that put you off. But they do seek a person behind the website. They want to hear how you think.
A blog can do that. Sure, it takes a commitment of time. But at least it’s not math.
I was particularly intrigued by some of the findings of the New Hampshire Bar:
“To research this article, Bar News reached out to Bar members to submit information about their blogs and we have compiled a selective list. We also have conducted numerous searches on Google—just as many potential clients do—to find New Hampshire lawyers’ articles and blogs. The results were disappointing. There are only a few freestanding blogs offering timely advice that showcase the ability of lawyers to plainly explain current questions of law. Unfortunately, many blogs or articles on law firm websites are either out of date or populated by content designed not for readers, but for search-engine robots.”
Blogging: It’s just not that hard. (click to enlarge.)
I wonder what my results would be if I were to search for Arizona lawyer blogs. This past year, we did start a Blog Network on which any Arizona lawyer may add their link (and where we currently have more than 60). But there must be more out there.
And before you abandon blogging plans as a fad or idea that doesn’t gel with the profession, remember, as Dan Wise writes, “While SEO techniques are helpful in the 21st century world of digital marketing, certain old-fashioned values still apply: Success comes to those who prepare carefully and commit themselves to a strategy for the long haul.”
Sound like you? I thought so. Now, go back and finish that New Hampshire story.
Please contact me if you ever want to talk about blogging. I’m curious how it affects your practice.
AZ Attorney 