“It’s never going to go well,” Arizona attorney Lynda C. Shely says about the prospect of representing anyone you are close to, including family members and friends. Shely, the immediate past chair of the ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility, works in private practice and has advised more than 2,500 law firms around the country on legal ethics matters.
The first session of the 118th Congress achieved some notable legislative successes, but it has struggled to gain political consensus on most issues, including recently those involving funding for the conflicts in Ukraine and Israel, federal appropriations and border security. In total, only 34 bills were signed into law this past year—the fewest in decades, according to Axios.
Albert Einstein said, “Try not to become a man of success but rather try to become a man of value.” So you want to become a doctor or a lawyer? For some reason or other, these two words are often muttered together, like St. Paul and Minneapolis. Or like Dallas and Fort Worth. Or like Tweedledum and Tweedledee. Do these professions generate similar value to society?
I do not recall ever facing a new year with such a sense of trepidation and even fear of what to expect. The presidential election campaign of 2024 promises to be unlike any we have seen in American history, and it seems inevitable that the U.S. Supreme Court will play a large role. And the docket for the current term is filled with major issues about controversial matters, such as abortion, administrative law, gun rights and the First Amendment and social media.
Industry analyst Ari Kaplan recently hosted the 2023 Ari Kaplan Advisors CEO roundtable and spoke with leading CEOs about opportunities, challenges and the road ahead in the legal industry.
The past year has been one defined by unpredictability and economic uncertainty as well as the lasting impact of the pandemic on technology adoption and the emergence of generative artificial intelligence. In the wake of these developments, lawyers, traditionally tech-resistant, began to embrace advanced tools even as there was a sudden and marked downshift in legal technology investments and mergers.
As lawyers, whether we practice in a corporate legal office, a global law firm or an independent firm, we are all trying to position ourselves for success in a changing and more globalized legal landscape. We are also all facing challenges in recruiting and retaining the young lawyers who will help us get there. Lawyer exchanges are one tool that can be effective on both fronts.
Documentaries about murder should be an educational resource, to one extent or another, but sometimes become nothing more than a vehicle to glorify a criminal at the expense at the expense of the victims and their families.
My 40-plus years litigation practice in the Toronto area consisted of a moderate amount of family, aka matrimonial, cases. In spite of this area being emotionally charged, I think that I was able to maintain a reasonable degree of sanity. Reasonable.
