Maryland Lawyer Blog

I got scores of hits for Maryland Bar exam related searches last night. If you just finished the bar exam and you are Googling this, you really need to relax. It's all good. The exam is over. Statistically speaking, the chances are that you passed and you are going to be a lawyer in December. Most people that think they failed are wrong. You worked hard (well, most of you) so relax and enjoy yourself for a while before you start worrying about your job (or the job market).

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Posted In: Practicing Law

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The Maryland Daily Record also reports today that a Maryland lawyer defended
himself yesterday in New York against charges by a federal judge that the fees in the settlements the lawyer negotiated on behalf of the families of four Pentagon workers killed were "unfair” and "unreasonable."

Specifically, the judge alleged something that will have every mass tort lawyer involved in cases with multiple defendants nodding their heads: that the lawyers’ strategy "seems to have been to coast on the work of others, and to wait for last position" before settling. This is familiar to mass tort products liability lawyers because if you have ten defendants, there are usually about three law firms working like crazy with the other seven firms riding on their coattails. (When I defended drug companies, I played both roles at different times.)

I remember about a zillion lawyers volunteering to handle these cases pro bono, so I’m not sure what happened there or how these clients found these lawyers. I’m also not in a position to judge what these lawyers did. But a lot of Maryland lawyers were looking quite good with their volunteer efforts. Regardless of the true facts, this debacle gives every Maryland lawyer – including defense lawyers, by the way – a black eye.

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Posted In: Maryland Legal News , Practicing Law

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The Maryland Daily Record that tells us today that 650 hopefully soon to be Maryland lawyers are talking the bar exam on a laptop.

My handwriting is so bad I typed the essay portion of the bar exam on a typewriter. There were probably 30 of us in the room typing away. It was louder than a rock concert.

Maryland bar exam test administrators require laptop users must sign a waiver before the test releasing them “from any liability in the event you experience a malfunction of the software or the hardware.” Can you imagine going back to your employer who was waiting for you to pass the bar exam and telling him your laptop ate your bar exam?

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Posted In: Maryland Legal News

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I was on vacation last week which accounts for the lack of posts to the Maryland Lawyer Blog. I planned on blogging while on vacation, a plan that died about five minutes after arriving at the beach. Expect the Maryland Lawyer Blog to be back and posting this week.

In the meantime, if you are looking for some local Maryland blog material, check out the new Baltimore Injury Lawyer Blog, written by another Miller & Zois lawyer John Bratt. This blog offers a similar yet different perspective on personal injury cases in Maryland with a focus on Baltimore. The blog is not directed to accident and malpractice victims but instead offers advice and information to lawyers handling personal injury cases in Baltimore and throughout the country.

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Posted In: Auto Accidents , Good Legal Blogs , Maryland Legal News

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The Washington Redskins - who play football in Maryland - won last week a lawsuit challenging the Trademark Office's decision to cancel the Redskins' trademark as racially derogatory. The court found essentially that too much time has elapsed and the Redskins would be prejudiced by lawsuits that could have been brought long before the Redskins made the investment that they have in the name.

I don't know what my reaction I have to this ruling. If American Indians are as a group truly offended by the Redskins name they should get rid of it, with or without a court order. But I don't get the impression that American Indians are offended by the name. My impression comes from American Indians who are more assimilated; I've never taken the pulse of people who live on an Indian reservation who might have a different view. But somehow, I doubt it.

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The Maryland Daily Record reports today that U.S. District Judge Peter J. Messitte has notified President Bush that he will take senior status effective September 1, 2008. Judge Messitte candidly admitted that the timing of his decision to take senior status – which means a reduced case load - is connected to the fact that he would prefer someone other than President Bush to name his successor.

Judge Messitte sits in Maryland’s federal courthouse in Greenbelt. There are a lot of vacancies around the country with President Bush struggling to get his nominees past a Democratic Congress. But Judge Messitte’s change in status will create the only vacancy on Maryland’s 10-judge federal court. Who will succeed him will depend on will depend on whether it is President Obama or President McCain. (Note: it is a joy typing the word president without the next word being Bush or Clinton. Try it for yourself, it is real fun.)

The Daily Record also pointed out that there will be another change in 2010 when Chief Judge Benson E. Legg’s seven-year term as chief judge will end. The chief judgeship of Maryland will then pass to the longest-serving judge under the age of 65, which is expected to be Judge Deborah K. Chasanow.

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Posted In: Maryland Legal News

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The Wall Street Journal Law Blog has a post about chemical and plastics giant Celanese legal malpractice lawsuit against one of it former law firms, claiming that discovery mistakes led to a $107 million settlement, which the company otherwise did not need to make but for the legal malpractice of the law firm. Kaye Scholer had represented Celanese from 2002 to 2006 a MDL brought by customers alleging the price-fixing of polyester fibers.

Celanese fired Kaye Scholer in 2006 and hired Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman. Now these same lawyers are filing a lawsuit against Celanese. Sneak preview to one of Kaye Scholer’s defenses to the legal malpractice action: you morons never should have settled the frivolous lawsuit in the first place. Don’t be surprised if lawyers at Kasowitz are served with deposition notices to explain why they settled the case and what recommendations they gave to Celanese.

What gets lost in the notions of tort reform and lawsuit abuse is that a quick glance at the largest verdicts in this country show that most are business to business lawsuits.

I never particularly enjoyed George Carlin’s humor. But he had a great line that applies to big business: “Have you ever noticed that anybody driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac?” (Let's face it, we all do this a little bit.) Insurance companies and big business adopt a derivative of this logic: When you sue me, you are abusing the system; when I sue you, I’m seeking justice.

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