Sept. 30, 2021
Good morning. We’ve heard a lot about the country’s biggest law firms adopting rules for their attorneys and staff to get vaccinated against COVID-19, but now we have a look at how midsize firms are tackling the issue. And Britney Spears’ dad has been removed from her conservatorship — after 13 years. Plus, we’ve got the details on lawmakers’ promise to investigate the judicial financial disclosure process, and reporter Karen Sloan takes us through California attorneys’ opposition to nonlawyers doing legal work. We’re past the hump, stay with us!
REUTERS/Emily Elconin Many major U.S. law firms have embraced vaccine mandates in response to the rise of the COVID-19 Delta variant, spurred on by the federal government’s directive earlier this month that companies with more than 100 employees must ensure full vaccination or require weekly testing.
But law firms that aren't covered by President Joe Biden's recent vaccine mandate have been left grappling with whether to independently require their lawyers to get the jab, Chinekwu Osakwe writes.
While some midsize firms are taking a wait-and-see stance, others appear to be sharing their Big Law counterparts' approach. “Regardless of politics, it’s simply the right thing to do,” said Steven Molo, a founding partner at litigation firm MoloLamken, which has about 40 attorneys.
Legal consultant Kent Zimmermann, a partner at Zeughauser Group, said midsize firms may fear losing job candidates over vaccines, amid a surge in competition for associate talent.
Read more about some of the thinking inside midsize firms about vaccine mandates.
REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni At a contentious hearing, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Brenda Penny suspended Jamie Spears as the conservator of daughter Britney Spears’ estate.
With #FreeBritney protesters outside the courthouse, the pop star’s attorney, Mathew Rosengart of Greenberg Traurig, made a passionate plea to have Jamie Spears’ oversight of the conservatorship — which governs both Britney’s personal life and finances — end immediately.
She also set a date in November for a hearing on whether to end the conservatorship entirely.
"The current situation is not tenable. It reflects a toxic environment which requires the suspension of Jamie Spears effective today," Penny said at the hearing.
Read more to find out what Rosengart said before Penny’s ruling.
Industry buzz
REUTERS/Leah Millis That’s the number of days of jail time given to the first two defendants sentenced to incarceration for a nonviolent misdemeanor offense during the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol. U.S. District Judge James Boasberg rebuffed arguments from the Ohio men, Derek Jancart and Erik Rau, that they be spared imprisonment. "I 100% know better than to do what I did that day," Rau told the judge. Jancart and Rau pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct. Learn more about the sentencing.
Join Reuters Legal on Twitter Spaces for a preview of the new Supreme Court term. On Friday, Oct. 1 at 11 a.m. ET, Reuters columnist Hassan Kanu will chat with Reuters Supreme Court reporters and Pulitzer Prize winners Lawrence Hurley and Andrew Chung about the term’s biggest cases, including abortion rights and gun rights. Tweet your questions using #AskReuters.
Karen Sloan on lawyers’ concerns about legal “paraprofessionals”
California is flirting with letting nonlawyers provide legal services in limited circumstances, and lawyers have already shared lots of thoughts on the issue—mostly negative. I recently logged in to a four-hour virtual meeting on a new proposal for legal “paraprofessionals,” about half of which consisted of lawyers telling the State Bar of California’s Board of Trustees why they hate the concept.
To be fair, there were a handful of speakers who spoke in support of the proposal, on the grounds that it could help solve the state’s access to justice problem by offering people a lower-cost option for legal help.
But the vast majority opposed the plan. Many objectors said they feared clients would be duped by scammers, such as people claiming to provide immigration advice without qualifications. Others cautioned the reforms could create a stratified world of legal services where clients who can pay get real attorneys, while those with fewer means are stuck with poorly-trained advisors.
The concerns aren’t surprising. Allowing nonlawyers to enter legal practice, even with special training, would be a big step in a large state.
But some of the early pushback also suggests a desire by lawyers to protect their turf. They aren’t enthusiastic about the prospect of paraprofessionals siphoning off some of their client base. Will their opposition kill the proposal? That remains to be seen, but previous attempts have fallen apart under the weight of lawyer objections.
Video: Pro Bono Heroes — Paul Weiss duo defends voting rights in North Carolina When a North Carolina court ruled that the state’s voter ID law was unconstitutional because it would disproportionately impact Black voters, it was a major win for Paul Weiss associates Paul Brachman and David Giller, who co-led the fight. Columnist Jenna Greene names the two as her Pro Bono Heroes for September. Read about how they successfully litigated the case and watch Brachman, Giller and one of the plaintiffs in the accompanying video by Alex Cohen.
Coming up today
"To be clear, it's not the volume by itself (that) is the problem. It is that more and more of these rulings are directly and permanently shaping state and federal policies."
In the courts
Industry moves
The SEC has stepped up its requirements for company environment, social and governance disclosures, but its preoccupation with ESG reporting is missing the mark, writes Professor Marc Steinberg of Southern Methodist University’s Dedman School of Law. Instead, the agency should address many existing gaps in company disclosures that leave investors uninformed and unprotected, Steinberg says. Read more to find out what gaps Steinberg has identified.
Correction: An item in Wednesday's Daily Docket about Hassan Kanu's column incorrectly said that a Texas man's death penalty sentence was overturned because of exculpatory evidence that wasn't revealed by the prosecution. His sentence was overturned because a prosecutor in the case was also working as a clerk for the judge.
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