California Bar Journal
OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE STATE BAR OF CALIFORNIA - NOVEMBER 1999
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Texas lawyers do battle with do-it-yourself legal software
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By MATT RICHTEL
New York Times
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A controversial group of Texas lawyers, deputized by the state to protect citizens against unauthorized legal advice, has lost its battle to ban the sale of the popular self-help legal software package Quicken Family Lawyer '99.

[A possible showdown with Nolo Press, a pioneer publisher of do-it-yourself legal advice that has branched out into software and the Internet, was averted when the Texas group dropped an investigation of the Berkeley-based publisher.]

Whatever the ultimate outcome of the debate, the two sides - along with outside legal observers - say the conflict raises important questions about self-help law in the digital age.

The general controversy surrounds the proliferation of self-help Internet sites and software, which are intensifying the long-standing tension between the publishers of do-it-yourself legal materials and the traditional legal establishment.

Some lawyers say that the self-help materials oversimplify the law

See TEXAS LAWYERS


NEW
MCLE
COMPLIANCE DEADLINES

GROUP 2
Last names H-M
Should have completed 36 MCLE hours by Jan. 31, 1997
Those who did comply must complete: 25 hours by Jan. 31, 2001
Those who did not comply must complete: 61 hours by Jan. 31, 2001
Next compliance deadline: 25 hours by Jan. 31, 2003
GROUP 1
Last names A-G
Should have completed 36 MCLE hours by Jan. 31, 1998
Those who did comply must complete: 25 hours by Jan. 31, 2001
Those who did not comply must complete: 61 hours by Jan. 31, 2001
Next compliance deadline: 25 hours by Jan. 31, 2004
GROUP 3
Last names N-Z
Should have completed 36 MCLE hours by Jan. 31, 1999
Those who did comply must complete: 25 hours by Jan. 31, 2002
Those who did not comply must complete: 61 hours by Jan. 31, 2002
Next compliance deadline: 25 hours by Jan. 31, 2005

Chair of MCLE review tackles job 'with no options barred'
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By NANCY McCARTHY
Staff Writer
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A commission appointed to examine the State Bar's decade-old continuing education requirements will approach its task "with no options barred" and hopes to be finished by June.

Former bar president David Heilbron, who is heading the 12-member group, said it has a wide-open charter and every aspect of the MCLE program will come under scrutiny, "even including doing away with it."

David HeilbronThe group is charged with studying requirements in other states and other professions in California, and Heilbron said it also will look at the quality of classes, the special requirements of ethics, substance abuse and elimination of bias, and the number of hours attorneys must complete.

In recently enacted legislation authorizing the bar to collect dues for the coming year, the MCLE program was scaled back from 36 to 25 hours every three years (see compliance chart above), and the law practice management requirement and the exemption for retired judges were eliminated.

"We don't see our charter as being limited by what the legislation requires, although it seems clear we couldn't go below what the legislation requires," Heilbron said. He also noted that the group will be guided by an August Supreme Court decision which upheld the MCLE program and found that exemptions for certain groups, including retired

See MCLE REVIEW


Bar honors legal giant Joseph Ball
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Joseph A. Ball, a giant of legal history in California, received the Bernard E. Witkin Medal from the State Bar last month. The 96-year-old trial lawyer was honored for a distinguished record of accomplishment and devotion to the law which "personifies the highest standards of the profession."

The Witkin Medal recognizes attorneys "who have changed the landscape of California jurisprudence."

Ball's impressive resume includes serving as a member of

See JOSEPH BALL