By Eric Deitz
The utility, portability and convenience of laptops, tablets and smartphones make them an integral part of our daily practice lives, but our reliance upon and the ubiquity of these devices requires us to be mindful of the ethical considerations affecting their use. This is particularly true when an electronic storage device contains privileged or confidential client information and is lost or stolen. Read More
The “blue light” emitted by our devices is known to interfere with sleeping patterns. Our brains have been wired to adhere to wake and sleep cycles associated with sunlight. Our eyes are used to seeing cooler “blue light” during mornings and a warmer orange light in the evenings (when the sun sets). You may (or may not!) have noticed that it can be difficult to fall sleep right after tearing yourself away from that last look at Facebook or while plugging away at a brief (more likely, right?). This restlessness may be due to that emitted blue light which is signaling our brain that it is actually time to wake up. This is where Night Shift feature comes in – it’s been available on iPhones since iOS 9 – the goal is to filter that sleep-interrupting light and replace it with a warmer, more soothing orange light.
If you’ve updated to Sierra, you can now activate this feature on your Mac. You’ll find Night Shift settings in two places: in your Notification Center and with more options in System Preferences (Displays > Night Shift tab).
For many transactional attorneys, reusing an old operating agreement template or a buy-sell agreement from a prior deal years back is more appealing than starting from scratch. But after hours of working in Microsoft Word to remove formatting flaws or wrestle with making similar sections uniform through styles, starting from scratch sometimes seems like a better solution. Here are the top five tricks when trying to rehabilitate templates with unwanted formatting issues:
Microsoft provides several Paste Options when Copying + Pasting language in a new document:
If the new document reflects a similar style to the old document, select the first option. If the two documents have significantly different formats and you would like to maintain the new document’s formatting, select the second option. If formatting is giving you trouble altogether, select the third option and all formatting will be removed. Many attorneys merely allow the default Paste Option to apply (Keep Source Formatting) and then struggle for hours trying to make the entire piecemeal document look uniform. Help yourself out by toggling through these three options to match the format most similar to the new document.
Control + Home will jump you all the way to the top of your 150 page agreement without the time consuming scrolling. Read More
Phishing has been around for more than 20 years and, unlike malware and other exploits that are usually patched with haste as soon as they are identified, phishing shows no signs of going anywhere. Not only that, but once your information has been stolen, it leaves you at risk for identity theft and other fraud for years to come. Some victims have to file paper returns with the IRS for many years, among other hassles. Read More
Providing legal counsel to a California marijuana dispensary is a tricky business given the existing conflict between state and federal law.[1] The issues facing the marijuana industry require the same type of legal advice any business seeks: corporate law issues such as incorporation or partnership formation, contract law issues such as leases and purchase agreements, employment law issues, as well as criminal law considerations, to name a few.[2] Can an attorney ethically provide any of this needed advice, when the conduct of the business is illegal under federal law?
None of the applicable California rules are clear on the ethical question. First, California Rule of Professional Conduct 3-210 prohibits members from advising clients to violate any law, rule, or court ruling. Second, Business & Professions Code § 6068(a) creates a duty for attorneys to “support the Constitution and laws of the United States and of this state.” Finally, Business & Professions Code § 6106 mandates disbarment or suspension to any attorney who, in either the course of work or otherwise, commits any act “involving moral turpitude, dishonesty, or corruption.”
The Bar Associations of San Francisco and Los Angeles issued advisory ethics opinions endorsing the ability of an attorney to advise and assist a medical marijuana dispensary concerning the cultivation, distribution, and consumption of marijuana under state law. Both opinions – (San Francisco Opinion 2015-1 and Los Angeles Opinion 527) – rely upon the long-standing policy that attorneys should be available to assist those in need of legal counsel. As the Los Angeles Opinion states, “[i]t would be a strange result indeed, if a client who wants to avoid committing a crime under California law cannot receive assistance from a lawyer.”
However, these opinions explain that an attorney cannot advise or assist a dispensary to violate the federal law. Instead, an attorney must explain federal law violations and consequences to the client. Additionally, the San Francisco Opinion cautions that by simply giving the advice an attorney may aid and abet violations of the federal law. Therefore, an attorney must advise clients regarding the potential limitations on confidentiality, such as the crime fraud exception to attorney client privilege and any applicable exception to client confidentiality listed in Business & Professions Code § 6068(e)(2).
The Board of Trustees of the State Bar of California has proposed amendments to the California Rules of Professional Conduct that would permit an attorney to provide advice and assistance concerning a California law that conflicts with federal law as long as advice is also provided regarding the federal law. See Comment 6 to Proposed Rule 1.2.1, Advising or Assisting the Violation of Law.
On March 30, 2017 the State Bar submitted these proposed rules to the California Supreme Court for approval. Two weeks ago, on April 11, 2018, in Administrative Order S240991 the Court proposed revisions to the proposed rule, including Comment 6. The proposed revisions allow an attorney to advise and assist in “drafting, administering or complying” with California law and implementing regulations, but obligate the attorney to inform the client of the conflicting federal law and, and if circumstances warrant, advise about the conflict.
These new rules do not take effect until they are approved by the Court. On May 8, 2018, the Board will consider the Court’s proposed amendments and whether the changes require additional public comment. If the Board approves the changes, it can simply submit the modifications for the Court’s approval. For those representing marijuana businesses, the sooner this rule is passed the better.
Kelly Knepper-Stephens is General Counsel & Chief Compliance Officer with Stoneleigh Recovery Associates, LLC.
[1] See 21 U.S.C. § 841 (making it a crime to grow, sell or possess marijuana); compare Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code 26000 et seq., Cal. Health & Saf. Code 11000 et seq., 11357 et seq., 11362.7 et seq. Read More
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