Author: San Diego County Bar Association

Mindfulness & Curiosity

By Jim Eischen

“Seek mindfulness.” This persistent mantra echoes in the wellness community. Thought leaders in the business, healthcare, and yes, even legal communities, preach mindfulness as a necessary solution to nearly all present-day challenges. If mindfulness was a prescription drug, it would be proliferating our healthcare system as a zero-risk cure-all for every ailment.  Read More

How Long Do You Have to Keep Your Files?

By Michael L. Crowley

Nary a week goes by without your author being asked how long we have to keep our files in storage. I would like to be able to give you a definitive answer, but there isn’t one. The state bar’s Committee on Professional Responsibility and Conduct (COPRAC), however, is venturing into the area and you are likely not going to like it.  Read More

Legislature Chills Non-Lawyer Participation in Providing Legal Services

By David C. Carr

Independence is often referred to as one of the core values of the legal profession. This value is reflected in American Bar Association Model Rule 5.4, entitled “Professional Independence of A Lawyer.” Model Rule 5.4(a) provides that a “lawyer or law firm shall not share legal fees with a non-lawyer …” with some narrow exceptions. Model Rule 5.4(b) forbids a lawyer from forming a partnership with a non-lawyer “if any of the activities of the partnership consist of the practice of law.” Subsection (c) of the Model Rule states that a “lawyer shall not permit a person who recommends, employs, or pays the lawyer to render legal services for another to direct or regulate the lawyer’s professional judgment in rendering such legal services.” Finally, Model Rule 5.4(d) says that a lawyer may not practice in the form of a professional corporation or other association if a non-lawyer holds any interest in the entity, is a director or similar member of the control group, or otherwise has the right to control the professional judgment of the lawyer. The rationale is that non-lawyers, unbound by the lawyer’s professional obligations, may make decisions that are not in the clients’ best interest in the name of more profit for the business entity. Read More

“Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.”

By Amy J. Lepine

This single line from Desiderata expresses the basic reason I practice at wellness. The habits that we cultivate in our lives, whether consciously or not, are very powerful. Most often, we are not aware of the patterns of the mind. We’ve developed shortcuts for our perception that rob us of the true import of the moment. But in the same way, developing positive habits that bring us back to the present moment can erase those tendencies and bring us closer to reality, and wellbeing. Read More