spring 2004 vol. 9 no. 4                                                                                                                 Return to Contents
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Kristy Ritchie
Professional Development Chair
San Antonio, TX
Kristy.Ritchie@bracepatt.com

Legislative News Update:

H.R. 2660, Popularly known as the “Overtime Bill”:

The door is open once again for the Department of Labor to pass rules related to white-collar workers that could potentially affect the paralegal profession. On January 22 by a 65-28 vote in the Senate, a consolidated spending bill was passed which includes funding to support the DOL activities in updating and clarifying its regulations defining what professions and workers are exempt as executives, administration or professional. The bill was passed to finance 11 other departments and numerous agencies other than the DOL. The bill was met with opposition as it failed to include an amendment that was approved by the Senate in September and have stopped DOL from using any 2004 funds to pass rules that would take away overtime from any workers that currently earned them. The House of Representatives sought to block the Senate amendment last year but subsequently voted to allow it to be included in a conference report prepared by its committee established to study the proposal. However, when the bill was presented for vote, the amendment was not included. Emotional appeals were made stating the proposal would certainly eliminate an employer’s requirement to pay overtime to professions such as firefighters, nurses, police officers and that women would be most heavily impacted. The appeals were met with testimony that it is time to move forward with government and the work of the last session to fund the agencies affected by the bill. In order for the bill to be successful, Congress must approve of it after release of the 2005 budget by the President in early February.

H.R. 1119, another attempt at amending the Fair Labor Standards is still on the Union Calendar.

National News:

Tennessee: The Supreme Court of Tennessee’s Board of Professional Responsibility has issued an opinion regarding screening of non-lawyer personnel when a change in employment conflicts with prior client representation. Tennessee’s prior ethics rules have long held to the “imputed disqualification” rule that requires disqualification of a lawyer that moves to another firm; the new firm is disqualified from further participation in any of the cases where the new lawyer employee had been representing the opposite side prior to the move. The rule was subsequently expanded to nonlawyer personnel and the issue of use of screening procedures to avoid disqualification was considered. The result was that the imputed disqualification did extend to non lawyer personnel and screening procedures were disapproved. In 1989, the Tennessee Board of Professional Responsibility reconsidered screening procedures and approved them for nonlawyer personnel with established guidelines. In 2001, the issue was brought before the board for a third time. The Tennessee Supreme Court agreed with the prior rule and stated the sufficiency of screening procedures would be determined on a case by case basis. An “appearance of impropriety” test was used in the decision making process. In March of 2003, the old Code, long followed in Tennessee was replaced with new rules on attorney ethics which permit screening and which specify procedures to be utilized during the process. Although the new rules do not specifically address nonlawyer personnel, they do direct attorneys to insure that their personnel are compatible with the rules and further place responsibility on the lawyer for the conduct of his staff.

Nevada: The Nevada Supreme Court has overturned a decision by prohibiting screening for nonlawyer employees. In a state court decision, a law firm was disqualified after the hiring of a legal assistant from an adverse firm. The legal assistant reportedly had taken the initial phone call from the client, prepared a memo of the basic facts and prepared a substitution of attorneys on the subject case. The legal assistant stated that she had not obtained any privileged information as a result of working on the case. After consideration by the court, the firm was disqualified from further representation. It was later learned that the firm seeking the disqualification had also hired a legal assistant from the firm that was disqualified.. The firm contended it was unaware that the potential employee had work for their adversary as it was not disclosed on the resume. The firm contended the legal assistant had not performed any substantial work on the matter and they should therefore not be disqualified. Subsequently, the disqualified firm moved for disqualification of its adversary. The case forced the Supreme Court to take up the issue of screening of non-lawyer personnel and establish tests and guidelines on the issue. The underlying order disqualifying the first law firm was overturned stating that mere opportunity to access confidential information did not merit disqualification.

Special Announcements

HB 1769

The Division is investigating the implications, if any, of HB 1769 on
our membership. However, as the sanctions referenced in the Texas Bar Journal (Volume 67, Number 1 – January 2004, page 51 entitled “Licensed Investigators”) article may be imposed against the employer attorney, the Division suggests that concerned attorneys contact the General Counsel’s office of the State Bar for their interpretation.

Director Elections

The Spring 2004 director elections will be held in April 2004 for even numbered districts. For additional information about the director elections, please see page 22 in the Winter 2003 issue of the Texas Paralegal Journal. Deadline for candidate to run for district director is March 17, 2004; deadline for voting online is May 1, 2004.

Member Renewals

Membership renewals will be mailed to members in April 2004. All membership renewals must be forwarded to the State Bar of Texas by September 1 to avoid an additional $20 late fee; if current year renewal and fee is not received by October 31, the member must reapply for membership using the current membership application.

Mandatory CLE Hours

Mandatory CLE hours for active and associate members – Six (6) hours (2 of which can be self-study) of CLE is require to maintain/renew active and/or associate member status in the Legal Assistants Division. The required CLE hours are to be listed on the 2004-2005 membership renewal forms. Eligible CLE Hours are those CLE hours that have been obtained between April 2003 – May 31, 2004. For more information regarding mandatory CLE hours, please go to www.lad.org, and click on Membership.

Job Bank

To post a job vacancy on the Legal Assistants Division web site, please go to www.lad.org, click on Members Only and choose Job Bank. There will be directions on how to post or view the listings. All vacancies must be posted by a member of the Legal Assistants Division.

Sign up for the LAD E-Group – A GREAT NETWORKING TOOL

Going to trial in a “foreign” jurisdiction and want some tips from those who have gone before? Need a form but do not know where to turn? Need a court reporter, process server or another type of legal vendor? Or just need advice! Then you need to sign up for the LAD E-group! This is a members-only group and a benefit of being a member of the Legal Assistants Division (LAD).
To sign up, go to www.lad.org, click on Members Only and choose LAD E-Group. There will be directions on how to sign up. Once you have signed up, you will begin receiving emails from the members of LAD.

Change your email address on the LAD E-Group

Since the email address each member creates for use for the LAD E-group is Password protected, only the member who has access can change the LAD E-Group email address. Go to www.lad.org, click on Members-Only, click on LAD E-Group, enter your password, delete the current email address and create a new email address where you want to receive your LAD E-Group messages.

Exceptional Pro Bono Service Award
Exceptional Pro Bono Service Award – the Legal Assistants Division (LAD) standing committee, Professional Development Committee, is accepting nominations for the Exceptional Pro Bono Service Award. This award is given to an individual LAD member who has volunteered his or her time and special skills in providing uncompensated services in pro bono assistance to their community. The deadline to nominate a LAD member is March 31, 2004. For nomination form, please go to www.lad.org/membership/probonoservice.asp on the Division’s webiste. The winner of the award will be announced at the Annual meeting, his/her expenses to attend the Annual Meeting will be incurred by the Division, and a profile of the individual will be published in the June issue of the Texas Paralegal Journal.

Upcoming Events

2004 Annual Meeting of the Legal Assistants Division

Annual Meeting is scheduled for June 24-25, 2004 in San Antonio. Register at www.texasbar.com no later than May 1 to receive the early registration discount.

LAU 2004 Seminar

LAU 2004 is scheduled on September 22-24, 2004 at the Fort Worth Doral Tesoro Hotel. Register online at www.lad.org beginning in May 2004.

Dallas Area Paralegal Association
2003 Paralegal of the Year

Kim J. Cantu, CLA was awarded the Dallas Area Paralegal Association’s 2003 Paralegal of the Year at their holiday luncheon on December 12, 2003. The nominations were submitted in narrative form stating the accomplishments of the nominee and she was picked by a panel of three judges for her outstanding contributions to the Dallas paralegal field.

Ms. Cantu has over 20 years experience as a paralegal both in a law firm and corporate setting. She is in particular, a champion of Continuing Legal Education and Professional Development, having developed many programs and seminars for paralegals over the years. Additionally, Ms. Cantu has been a leader in professional associations at the local, state and national level, contributing numerous hours to promote and develop the profession.

Terms used to describe her in the nomination were: leader, mentor, student, employee, friend, colleague and professional. To the Paralegals in the Dallas area and across the State of Texas, Ms. Cantu is a role model who embodies the all attributes of a professional paralegal. In every task undertaken, the nominee puts forth her best effort and goes beyond expectations.

If you have information about special recognition of other Legal Assistant’s Division members please forward them to the editor at rjb@uwlaw.com.

Texas Paralegal Journal © Copyright 2004 by the Legal Assistants Division, State Bar of Texas.

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