winter sun
lifting his round face
to catch it
waiting in line
for the ballet
we shift our feet
tomato blossoms
a breeze lifts the hair
on my arm
“waiting in line” – Modern Haiku, XXXII:1 (2001)
“winter sun” Manichi Daily News, March 5, 2005 (No. 669)
by dagosan:
filling the pan
on the radiator —
icicles drip
[March 9, 2005]
potluck
ADA does not preclude disbarring a lawyer with a serious drug and alcohol addiction. The
lawyer did not contest the finding of his misconduct, including misappropriation of client funds,
neglect of a client matter, forgery of a judge’s signature on orders, and mortgage fraud.
According to Chinaris:
The Supreme Court approved the disbarment recommendation, noting that under
the facts of this case any less severe discipline would be “insufficient to fulfill the
threefold purpose of attorney discipline.” . . . (discipline must be fair to society,
fair to respondent, and severe enough to deter others).
The lawyer did not argue that ADA barred discipline, but instead that his mitigating
circumstances deserved more weight, making a five-year suspension more appropriate.
The Florida Bar v. Gross, ___ So.2d ___, 30 Fla.L.Weekly S133 (Fla., Nos. SC01-
1403, etc., 3/3/2005). ethicalEsq discussed disabilities and discipline at length here.
“tinyredcheck” Thanks to John Steele for pointing to a Reuters Alert that raises whether the Tsunami
lawsuit shows “the need to curb lawyers” (March 8, 2005). Prof. Lester Brickman opines that the suit
against atmospheric forecasters, “perfectly illustrates” the need for U.S. laws to hold lawyers
liable for the economic damages they inflict on those they sue. Walter Olson noted last month
that
Aside from the fact that NOAA owes no duty to vacationing Germans in Thailand,
NOAA did try to notify other countries of the tsunami potential of the earthquake.
If the affected nations failed to act after NOAA’s warning, perhaps some kind of liability does
exist. Of course, NOAA shouldn’t be a named defendant, and might better be brought in for
discovery. The Reuters article notes “Victor Schwartz, general counsel to the American Tort
Reform Association, said he doubted the tsunami case would succeed but it would help bring
attention to related legislation aimed at punishing lawyers who bring meritless cases.”
Despite our making light of it, Prof. Althouse and others seem to take the issue of “potty parity” and single-gender rest rooms quite seriously. See Althouse here and here,
plus links and comments. Like Ann Althouse, I think single-gender and single-user rest rooms
are best. [I wonder if George Wallace would have successfully avoided making OutHouse
puns, as I have done so admirably today.]
Although I often disagree with what I see at his website (including his broad condemnation of hourly billing
and his divorce of ethics from economics), I find Bruce’s commentary timely and thought-provoking. One
warning, however, for those who rely on his statistics: announcing his membership in the Law.com line-up,
on Monday, Bruce refers to “The other half-dozen-plus members of the network.” There are eleven other
members — a full dozen, with Lisa’s Legal Blog Watch. We may have to check Bruce’s math before we pass
it on or act on it. [emoticon deleted] On the other hand, we sure do agree about those ads.