|
President-Elect and Bar Commission Election Results
Debra J. Moore was elected President-Elect of the Utah State Bar. Debra received 1,346 votes to Denise A. Dragoo's 987 votes. N. George Daines in the Second Division joins new Third Division
Commissioners Stephen W. Owens and E. Russell Vetter, who all ran unopposed.
**********
A Tribute to Norman Johnson
by Scott Daniels
Norman Johnson, a former president of the Utah State Bar died on May 4, 2002 at the age of 71. The following is reprinted from
the December 1999 issue of the Utah Bar Journal.
About 25 years ago, when I was a first-year law school graduate and an associate in a small law firm, I was given an assignment to research an
area of securities law. At that time, Worsley, Snow & Christensen didn't do much securities law and we didn't have any resource material in our library. One of the lawyers suggested that I might
call a lawyer who officed a few floors upstairs by the name of Norm Johnson. He said that mr. Johnson did securities work and would have some looseleaf services or other books about securities in his
library. he told me that Norm was a good guy and would probably let me use his books.
Being a new lawyer, I was a little reluctant to call Mr. Johnson, but I finally did. He cheerfully told me
to come on up and he would show me his books.
Mr. Johnson met me in the reception area of his office. He took me to his library and showed me the looseleaf service. He asked me the nature of
the problem and helped me get started in the research. All in all, he probably took about 45 minutes of his time to help me out.
This isn't a big thing, but I've thought about it many times
over the years. Three-quarters of an hour isn't a lot when viewed in context of an entire lifetime. But I now know what a precious nugget 3/4 of an hour of unbillable time can be in a busy lawyer's
day.
This practice of experienced lawyers unselfishly helping and mentoring new lawyers is a fine and continuing tradition in our profession.
A few years ago, Norm became very ill and I
pessimistically believed that he wasn't going to make it. I thought at the time how sad it is that we wait until someone is almost dead to verbalize the good things about them. Norm has now recovered
his health and is serving our country on the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Examples like Norm Johnson make me proud to be a lawyer.
**********
Announcing the new Utah State Bar Member Benefits Program
The Utah State Bar is proud to announce a new program focused on helping you, the member, remain current on all of
your practice tools. We have created the new Member Benefits Program to help you do just that.
Perhaps one of the most difficult aspects of the practice to stay up on, legal technology is
critical to your practice, yet more difficult to do, every day. And that is where the Member Benefits Program will focus extensive effort as your Chief Technology Office. In this role, we will search
out new, innovative technology for you. We're talking about technology that will give you a competitive edge in the market as well as important upgrades in your existing technology tool set.
The First Example - EnterVault
Lawyers have a unique duty to protect the client information they create, transmit and store. EnterVault, through their product Private Vault, provides a
highly secure, online storage solution to help meet this ethical requirement.
The Bar has secured a free 10 Megabyte vault for each member for three years. This vault will enable you, as a
member, to experiment with and explore the uses of this valuable technology to you, your clients and your practice. Information to access your free vault will be mailed to you in May.
PrivateVault - a Client Care Tool
Today, the most common methods of communicating quickly with a client are via fax or overnight express mail. Both methods can expose sensitive client
information to unintended audiences. For example, there is the situation where sensitive information is sent to a shared fax machine at the client's office. The pages may sit on the fax machine or
the counter top for 30 minutes or several days. Office colleagues may casually skim the contents, or worse a night janitor may pocket the items for later delivery to an identity theft ring. Or
imagine this: your client is traveling, so you send items via overnight express mail. Something happens in transit and your client leaves the hotel before the items make it into your client's hands.
Again, sensitive information is at the mercy of low-paid office workers.
In an age when identity theft is one of the fastest growing, yet less likely crimes to be prosecuted, isn't it up to
the trusted advisors to offer new methods of communicating that improve your firm's standard of client care? PrivateVault is such a tool. Send sensitive information via email, to the client's secure,
online vault - clientname@vaultinbox.com. Most firms charge in the range of $5 to fax an item. A single $5 fee per month would more than cover the cost of the client vault.
Items placed in
the client's vault are stored encrypted on an EnterVault server. Only the vault owner has the decrypt key, meaning only the person who knows the login name and password can actually read the contents
stored in a vault account.
Consider this: traditional corporate email systems are not confidential systems. Incoming emails are stored on a managed server. Employers have the legal right to
review their employees email. Bored network administrators have been known to rummage through stored emails. With the PrivateVault service, not even EnterVault engineers have enough information to
decrypt the items stored on the EnterVault servers. Retrieving information stored in a PrivateVault is very similar to the process one must go through to retrieve physical documents stored in a bank
safe deposit box.
Unlike most Internet service providers, EnterVault is a federally audited business. Their systems and business practices were reviewed for security and privacy prior to
going into business. Their systems were hacker tested prior to the service going live.
In addition to improving the privacy of sensitive client correspondence, PrivateVault can expand the
level of service you are able to offer your high net worth, trust and estate planning clients. Imagine, in addition to producing the usual printed set of trust documents, your firm offers to scan
those documents and email them to your client's private vault. Now, those trust documents are available to your client, at a moment's notice, from anywhere in the world, if they have a computer, a
browser and an Internet connection.
This is just the beginning on how the Utah State Bar is striving to locate solutions for your practice. Look for more exciting technologies and practice
tools in the upcoming months!
**********
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF UTAH
PUBLIC NOTICE
APPOINTMENT OF NEW MAGISTRATE JUDGE
The United States District Court for the District of Utah, under
the authority of the Judicial Conference of the United States, has been authorized a new full-time United States magistrate judge position in Salt Lake City subject to funding by the Congress in
Fiscal Year 2003. The position's duties include conducting preliminary proceedings in criminal cases; authorizing search warrants; trying and disposing of certain misdemeanor cases, conducting jury
trials where authorized by the Court and with the parties' consent; conducting scheduling, discovery, and settlement conferences; handling referred civil matters; and, in general, conducting a
variety of pretrial matters as directed by the Court. Position may entail periodic travel.
The jurisdiction of United States magistrate judges is set forth in 28 U.S.C. ¤636. To be qualified for appointment an applicant must:
1.Be a member in good standing of the Bar of the State of
Utah or the Bar of the highest court of another state, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or the Virgin Islands of the United States, and have been engaged in the active
practice of law for a period of at least 5 years (with some substitutions authorized) at the time of appointment.
2.Be competent to perform all duties of the office; be of good moral
character; be emotionally stable and mature; be committed to equal justice under the law; be in good health; be patient and courteous; and be capable of deliberation and decisiveness;
3.Be under 70 years of age; and
4.Not be related to any district judge of the court.
A Merit Selection Panel appointed by the Court of attorneys and citizens in the community will
review all applications, conduct interviews, and recommend to the Court's active district judges in confidence up to five persons whom it considers best qualified for the position. Subject to funding
of the position by the Congress on or after October 1, 2002, the Court will make the appointment, following an FBI background investigation and IRS tax check of the finalist who is selected as the
prospective appointee. The selection panel and the Court will give due consideration to all qualified candidates. The current salary of the position is $138,000 per annum. The term of office is eight
years.
Application forms for the magistrate judge position may be downloaded from the Court's website at www.utd.uscourts.gov or obtained from:
Markus B. Zimmer
Clerk of Court
United States District Court
Suite 150
Frank E. Moss United States Courthouse
350 South Main Street
Salt Lake City, Utah 84101
Applications prepared and submitted as nominations by a party other than the applicant will not be considered. Completed application forms and supporting documentation must be received in
the Office of the Clerk of Court no later than 4:30 p.m., the close of business, on Friday, July 19, 2002. All applications submitted in advance of the deadline will be considered in confidence by
members of the Merit Selection Panel and the active district judges of the Court. The panel's deliberations will remain confidential.
**********
United States Court of Appeals
Tenth Circuit
In re:
Tenth Circuit Rule 33
Confidentiality Requirements.
F I L E D
United States Court of Appeals
Tenth Circuit
APR 17 2002
PATRICK FISHER, Clerk
EMERGENCY GENERAL ORDER
Before TACHA, Chief Judge, SEYMOUR, EBEL, KELLY, HENRY, BRISCOE,
LUCERO, MURPHY and HARTZ, Circuit Judges.
It is the consensus of the court that the confidentiality requirements of Tenth Circuit Rule 33.1(D) must be strengthened immediately. The
confidentiality requirements of Rule 33 are broadened to forbid disclosure of statements made during a conference and in related discussions, and any records of them, to anyone outside the mediation
process. Mediation proceedings under Rule 33 may not be recorded by counsel or the parties. These requirements take effect immediately upon filing of this General Order.
As soon as practicable, the court will adopt amendments to Rule 33.1(D) in compliance with 28 U.S.C. ¤ 2071.
ENTERED FOR THE COURT
Patrick Fisher, Clerk
**********
Cover of the Year
The winner of the Cover of the Year Award for 2001 is the March issue, featuring a beautiful photograph taken by Ronald G. Russell of Parr Waddoups Brown Gee
& Loveless, Salt Lake City. The photograph is of a sunset over the Great Salt Lake taken from Antelope Island. This is the first photograph by Mr. Russell to appear on a Bar Journal cover.
Mr. Russell is one of 48 members of the Utah Bar or its legal assistants division, whose photographs of Utah scenes have appeared on at least one cover since August 1988. Covers of the Year are
framed and displayed on the upper level of the Law and Justice Center. Congratulations to Mr. Russell, and thanks to all who have participated in this program.
**********
Discipline Corner
ADMONITION
On April 1, 2002, an attorney was admonished by the Chair of the Ethics and Discipline Committee of the Utah Supreme Court for violation of
Rule 1.7 (Conflict of Interest: General Rule) of the Rules of Professional Conduct.
The attorney represented a client in preparing estate planning documents. The attorney later filed a lawsuit
on behalf of the client's son and others (one of whom was the original client) against the client's daughter, which representation was directly adverse to the original client, and was without the
original client's consent.
ADMONITION
On April 2, 2002, an attorney was admonished by the Chair of the Ethics and Discipline Committee of the Utah Supreme Court for violation of
Rules 1.1 (Competence) and 8.4(a) (Misconduct) of the Rules of Professional Conduct.
The attorney signed a Durable Power of Attorney on the line intended for the attorney's client's signature.
The attorney also notarized the attorney's own signature.
ADMONITION
On April 5, 2002, an attorney was admonished by the Chair of the Ethics and Discipline Committee of the Utah
Supreme Court for violation of Rules 1.3 (Diligence), 1.4 (Communication), and 8.4(a) (Misconduct) of the Rules of Professional Conduct.
The attorney represented a client in a Chapter 11
bankruptcy matter. The attorney failed to file necessary financial reports, which resulted in the bankruptcy being converted to a Chapter 7 bankruptcy. The attorney failed to keep the client
reasonably informed of the status of the case.
ADMONITION
On April 10, 2002, an attorney was admonished by the Chair of the Ethics and Discipline Committee of the Utah Supreme Court
for violation of Rules 1.16(d) (Declining or Terminating Representation) and 8.4(a) (Misconduct) of the Rules of Professional Conduct.
The attorney failed to return a client's file upon
termination by the client of representation. The attorney refused to return the file alleging that the client owed attorney fees.
ADMONITION
On April 10, 2002, an attorney was
admonished by the Chair of the Ethics and Discipline Committee of the Utah Supreme Court for violation of Rules 1.5 (Fees) and 8.4(a) (Misconduct) of the Rules of Professional Conduct.
The
attorney traded with a client for legal services in a domestic matter in return for the client constructing a driveway. The attorney continued to charge the client in excess of the work performed on
the client's case. The attorney also charged the client duplicate fees and for bills already paid.
ADMONITION
On April 10, 2002, an attorney was admonished by the Chair of the Ethics
and Discipline Committee of the Utah Supreme Court for violation of Rules 1.5 (Fees) and 8.4(a) (Misconduct) of the Rules of Professional Conduct.
|
