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Just ask

Re: malpractice insurance disclosure. What am I missing? If it matters to potential clients, why can’t they ask if the attorney has malpractice insurance?

Thomas M. Holliday
Nauvoo, Ill.

More disclosure

I commend the bar for pursuing their efforts to require all of us to disclose our insurance coverage or lack thereof. They’re on the right track, but aren’t going far enough in their efforts to confirm their anti-practitioner attitude.

I suggest that in the event the attorney discloses that he’s not covered, he then be required to furnish an assets and liabilities statement, make and model of car(s) and where garaged, address of and equity in the family home, locations and account numbers of bank accounts, safe deposit boxes, including those of members of the family, and market value of the family dog. Then we can be sure the bar is performing its primary function of protecting the public from its members.

I’ve been paying bar dues for 55 years. I’d like a refund.

Donald B. Brown
Torrance

Lawyers as the enemy

I have no personal axe to grind here, but I find (the proposed amendment on resigning with charges pending) outrageous. What happened to innocent until proven guilty? I have never been disciplined or had charges pending, but I can imagine situations in which persons might just decide to drop out of the bar rather than fight charges that may or may not have any basis. A person may have personal situations, such as illness or family problems, that would cause him/her to quit rather than fight.

This is just another example of the bar being punitive toward its members. A letter in the December Bar Journal states my feelings precisely: When is the bar going to do something FOR us instead of TO us? I truly resent paying my dues. I feel as if the bar considers its members the enemy and this proposed amendment is a perfect example of that.

Fredrica Greene
Tiburon

Leave my e-mail alone

Each month I find another poorly thought-out idea that the bar thinks is best for me. For instance, I recently found out that online regisration is best for me. Apparently, according to the bar, some 75 percent of lawyers prefer to receive information from the bar via e-mail. According to bar logic, that justifies the imposition that all attorneys receive information from the bar by e-mail.

I do not want State Bar information by e-mail. I want to read my e-mail or not when I want to.

With the bar being able to contact me at the touch of a button, I am sure I will be receiving far more unsolicited “offers” from the bar than I do now. As it is, I am able to detect important correspondence from the bar by the appearance of the envelope. All else gets shredded without being opened. Ah ha! That’s it! The bar has thought of a sneaky way to get us to read their various come-ons that otherwise might end up as confetti. Leave my e-mail alone.

C. Timothy Lashlee
Long Beach

CASA needs volunteers

Thank you to Jeff Bleich for understanding how urgently California’s foster youth need our support (November). I want to clarify for those who are ready to act that there are CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate) programs in 43 California counties (including Marin Advocates for Children, which he mentioned). All of these programs need committed mentors and advocates to navigate the court and foster care systems in a child’s best interests. Many of them also need dedicated volunteer board members.

Information is available at californiacasa.org.

Jennifer Troia
Director of Advocacy
California CASA Association

More resources

I wish the article (“Handbook for Fire Victims,” December) included two more very important resources. The Disaster Recovery Handbook & Household Inventory Guide is the first such guide and is widely recognized as being one of the most useful tools for helping victims of fires and other disasters. It was written by Amy Bach and Carol Ingalls Custodio, and can be found at united policyholders.org/booksale.html.

United Policyholders, one of the organizations that distributes The Disaster Recovery Handbook, is a nonprofit organization that was started by California attorneys and is dedicated to helping insureds and ad-vancing their rights. They have pages of free information on their Web site.

Demián Oksenendler
San Francisco

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