The decisions are never easy. This year’s winners run the gamut from blogs with multiple contributors to those with one, some big firm lawyers, some solo practitioners. Some blogs target the general public, while others are written for the legally-trained audience, covering family, criminal, employment, estate and probate, securities and patent law. Our winners include new blogs as well as repeat winners.

What were our criteria? In addition to content, we evaluated design and ease of navigation. We liked blogs with regular posts, even if the posts were monthly versus multiple times per week.

Lawyers are communicators so it is not surprising to see more and more lawyers beginning to blog. We all benefit from their efforts; more information, about more topics, demystifying the law for all. Congratulations to all of our winners. Start reading, then spread the word.

© Nancy Hupp for Practice Blawg, 2012. | Permalink | No comments yet | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Blawg, Legal Blogs, Top 25, Top 25 Blawgs

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Practicelaw.org, the MSBA’s online source of forms and other practice resources, has recently expanded its civil litigation form set. MSBA members now have access to forms spanning every phase of civil litigation.

During November and December, 21 new civil litigation forms joined the 25 civil litigation forms already on the site:

• CIV-431   Order (Proposed)
• CIV-436   Order for Summary Judgment (Proposed)
• CIV-437   Order Denying Summary Judgment (Proposed)
• CIV-460   Notice of Motion and Motion to Compel Discovery – General
• CIV-462   Certification of Compliance with Minn. Gen. R. Prac. 115.10
• CIV-463   Order Compelling Discovery (Proposed)
• CIV-480   Notice of Motion and Motion for Sanctions Pursuant to [Rule 11][Minn. Stat. 549.211]
• CIV-568   Rule 68 Offer of Settlement (Total Obligation)
• CIV-569   Rule 68 Offer of Judgment (Damages Only)
• CIV-580   Witness and Exhibit List
• CIV-583   Authorization for Release of Financial Information
• CIV-585   Authorization for Release of Personnel Records
• CIV-602   Notice of Dismissal
• CIV-603   Order for Dismissal Pursuant to R. 41
• CIV-604   Stipulation for Dismissal
• CIV-605   Order for Dismissal (Pursuant to Stipulation)
• CIV-606   Confession of Judgment
• CIV-607   Promissory Note
• CIV-818   Waiver of Independent Counsel

A form Settlement Agreement is in draft stage and should be posted soon as well.

We decided to add additional civil litigation forms because of survey data and user requests. We survey practicelaw users annually, and the percentage of users who indicate that they’ve used or relied upon civil litigation forms has increased each year:

• 2009 – 29%
• 2010 – 33%
• 2011 – 38%

Additionally, 98% of users surveyed this month indicated that practice-related forms are the most valuable of all those resources posted on practicelaw.

Also, just a reminder that in addition to civil litigation forms, the MSBA has other resources helpful to the civil litigator, namely a Statute of Limitations Handbook and a Judicial Survey Service. The Service collects information from district court judges with respect to their individual preferences on motion practice and courtroom conduct. The information is organized by judicial district and by the judge’s name.

Let us know if you have any comments or suggestions on the new forms.

© Nancy Hupp for Practice Blawg, 2011. | Permalink | No comments yet | Add to del.icio.us
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If you have used practicelaw in the last year, please take this year’s short survey:
http://pxlaw2011.notlong.com/

If you have not used practicelaw in the last year, please email me nhupp@mnbar.org and let me know why not.

practicelaw is a MSBA member benefit and surveys are one way to determine how well we are meeting the needs of our members. Your input is critical.

Thanks much -

© Nancy Hupp for Practice Blawg, 2011. | Permalink | No comments yet | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: survey

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Effective tomorrow, December 1, the Fourth Judicial District Court (Hennepin County) has new requirements for all* proposed guardians and conservators to:

1. watch a new Guardianship/Conservatorship Educational video before they appear at their initial hearings; and
2. file a modified version of the Acceptance of Appointment form, which states that they watched the video and understand the duties and responsibilities for which they seek appointment.

The video was created to help educate, inform, and prepare proposed guardians and conservators about their duties and responsibilities. The goal is to reduce  the number of successor petitions filed with the court where the appointed guardian or conservator is not able to fulfill their duties and responsibilities. Letters of appointment will not  issue until the proposed guardian or conservator has watched the video and filed the Hennepin County-specific Acceptance of Appointment form with the court. For more information, see the Announcement.

As detailed in a previous post, we have just reviewed and revised the Guardianship and Conservatorship form sets on practicelaw. Today we also added new Acceptance of Appointment forms for use in Hennepin County. These forms include reference to the required videos. The forms specific to Hennepin County have “H” at the end of the form number.

*Editorial note: The new requirements do not apply to the proposed guardian of a minor.

© Nancy Hupp for Practice Blawg, 2011. | Permalink | No comments yet | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: conservatorship, guardianship

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Experience – 35% of solos and 30% of small firm respondents had less than three years of experience prior to starting their firm. At the other end of the spectrum, 34% of solos and 32% of small firm respondents had more than ten years of experience prior to starting their firm.

Reasons for starting a practice – Both groups indicated that “independence” was the primary reason for starting their own practices. The same percentage of solos also indicated that quality of life was a primary reason, compared to 19% of small firm respondents.

Type of business entity – Over half (52%) of solos practice as a sole proprietorship.

Costs – 76% of solos as opposed to 54% of small firm respondents indicated that their start-up costs were less than $10,000. 63% of solos spent less than $2,500 per month on overhead. The overhead expense of small firm respondents was spread over a range.

Practice –The breakdown in practice areas was of particular interest to practicelaw staff. For both groups, the top four practice areas were family, probate and trusts, civil litigation, and business law. Practicelaw has forms and other resources for attorneys practicing civil litigation, family, probate, and real estate law. In December, we will post 15+ additional civil litigation forms and in January,  we will be rolling out a business law form set.

These are a but a few of the results that caught our attention but the report has plenty more. Check out the entire survey report here.

© Nancy Hupp for Practice Blawg, 2011. | Permalink | No comments yet | Add to del.icio.us
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