The MSBA High School Mock Trial program is a great way for Minnesota lawyers to give back to the local schools. Volunteers are needed to judge the trials this winter, held at local courthouses across the state. The time commitment is minimal but the payback, terrific.

Time Commitment – 8 hours, max
Volunteer judges are asked to spend three or four hours preparing for the trial;  the trial itself lasts two hours. Volunteers are assigned to a trial in pairs. Judges Jim Dehn & Pete Cahill will facilitate a training on December 16 at 3:00. You can attend in person at the MSBA offices or by teleconference. The training has been approved for 1.5 CLE credits. For more information on judging, check the Mock Trial website.

Payback – be amazed, appreciated and meet some people too
The students and coach participants clearly spend hundreds of hours preparing the cases and learning how a trial really takes place beyond what they hear in media clips or on sensationalized television shows.  Certain students master the Mock Trial Rules of Evidence. I was amazed to hear them argue evidentiary rules using the case facts and law.

I have had the wonderful opportunity to meet and judge trials with lawyers from throughout the state.

The students really appreciate the judges’ time and effort, and it is a great way to give back to your community.

Contact Emily Reilly, MSBA Mock Trial Manager at 612.278.6306 or email her, ereilly@mnbar.org,  if you want to volunteer or get more information. Please join me and volunteer to judge. Working with dedicated high school students is a tremendous privilege.  I cannot wait for another great High School Mock Trial year in 2012!

© Andrew Steil for Practice Blawg, 2011. | Permalink | No comments yet | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: mock trial, Volunteer

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Thanksgiving is upon us. For some, holidays are a joyful time and a wonderful reminder of what we have. For others, however, the holidays bring stress and depression.

One way to bolster your internal defenses against stress and depression is to make a conscious effort to give thanks. Being in a state of thankfulness is healthy and leads to more contentment. Just as negative emotions make themselves more permanent in your psyche the more you focus on them, positive emotions stay with you if you make them a habit. One method of cultivating an attitude of thankfulness is to write it down. At the end of each day, write down three things you were thankful for that day. Instead of looking for things to be unhappy about, you can note that for which you are grateful.

Let me suggest a place to start:

• You have the privilege to practice law. Many dream of being a lawyer, but not everyone gets to live that dream.
• You have clients. Clients don’t just pay the bills. They refer new clients, present opportunities to learn new skills, give you feedback if you’re open to it.
• You have a life filled with opportunities to experience, grow, and change. You had the smarts and energy to get yourself through law school; surely you can find these opportunities and make the most of them.
• You have challenges. While unwelcome now, challenges will make you stronger and better in the future.

You can just “be” thankful or you can acknowledge your thanks to your family, friends, colleagues,clients, and community. Do it — in person, over the phone, with a handwritten card, or by email.

Celebrate Thanksgiving this year by trying conscious thankfulness. Better yet, make it a year round habit and see if you feel differently and your practice changes as a result.

Editors’ Note: If you are concerned about stress or depression in yourself or others, check out the resources provided free through Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers.  As we’ve noted in a previous post, we can all do more to assist lawyers suffering from depression.

© Shaun G. Jamison for Practice Blawg, 2011. | Permalink | No comments yet | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Depression, stress, thanks

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

• The ABA Journal and the University of Alabama teamed up to honor Harper Lee for her book To Kill a Mockingbird by creating the Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction. The Prize will be awarded in September for the book-length fiction that “best exemplifies the role of lawyers in society and their power to effect change.” The finalist novels were announced in June. Read them on vacation and cast your vote.
• If “book-length” seems too daunting, you might try comic books. Last fall the New York Times profiled an exhibition at the Yale library titled, “Superheroes in Court! Lawyers, Law and Comic Books.” For more discussion on the legal ramifications of comic book characters’ escapades, check out the blog Law and the Multiverse. Both resources recommend certain comic books.
• Sick of reading? All right, then how about watching one of the ABA Journal’s 25 Greatest Legal Movies? (But remember, the book is always better than the movie.)

Happy time off.

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

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Military Law

Check out the ABA’s new site, HomeFront, which gathers legal resources helpful to military families. The site has publications, links to resources, and a way to connect attorneys wanting to do pro bono work with military families in need. The resources referenced are nationwide and deal with a variety of issues faced by those deployed and their families on a variety of legal topics military families may encounter. The Minnesota resources are here.

Legislative Session In Review

See the MSBA’s Advocacy site to see how various pieces of MSBA-endorsed legislation fared at the legislature this spring. Also, the MSBA President, Terry Votel, sent an email to members last week touching on these and other legislative proposals.

New Federal Rules

The Supreme Court approved a few new federal rules and amended others effective December 1, 2011. The rules impact the Appellate Rules, Bankruptcy Rules, Criminal Rules, and Evidence Rules.

Email Registration for Minnesota Appellate Cases

Lastly, for those involved with appellate practice, note that the Minnesota Clerk of Appellate Courts will soon send notices, orders, opinions, and correspondence related to pending cases by e-mail, rather than snail mail. To prepare for implementation, attorneys must register their e-mail addresses. For more information, see the notice from the Clerk of Appellate Courts.

© Nancy Hupp for Practice Blawg, 2011. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Appellate Practice, Legislative Work, military

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

I will preface my remarks by noting that I am not in Marketing. My sales days ended when I sold innumerable boxes of Girl Scout cookies to win a 10-speed bike, but was beaten by the girl whose dad took the order form to work. When the cookies arrived for me to deliver, I was sullen, knowing I was not the new bike owner, so was quite slow in delivery. I let the boxes languish in our basement where they were discovered by ants. My parents had to reimburse the Troop and I was done with Marketing. Until now.

Attention: I am now going to market two new MSBA Sections and the MSBA Unconventional Convention. I feel secure in this detour from my usual job duties, because unlike Girl Scout cookies, I believe in the product. (Yeah, I only sold the cookies to get the bike.) Believe me, no bike or other desirable is headed my way for a successful sales pitch. Rather I am motivated by the knowledge that MSBA staff  are doing good things, and I want to tell you about them because in our collective rushes to get our individual jobs done, we don’t often notice the good things done for members by our coworkers. Time to notice. What better way to break my arm than to pat someone on the back.

#1. MSBA Sections. Did you know the MSBA now has two more sections available to members? Yes, the Consumer Litigation section and the Social Security Disability section were approved at the April MSBA Assembly meeting. Adds work but benefits members. Joining a section gives members a chance to connect with others in the practice area and get involved in many ways. Check here for upcoming CLEs and events for all MSBA sections.

#2. Nine Days, MSBA’s Unconventional Convention. Last year, for the first time, we did something completely different. Instead of inviting you to a statewide convention, we brought the convention to you. Nine days of CLE programming in nine different judicial districts. The CLEs concern topics identified by Bar leaders in each of the judicial districts. In addition, we kept some of the “old” favorites like the law school receptions, President’s Reception and added Lawyers with Talent, all on Day 9 at Target Field. How popular was the change? Well in 2010, 1,525 lawyers participated — a 577% increase over the 2009 convention. Try it this year, you’ll like it.

My final pitch – joining an MSBA section or going to the Convention will benefit you in all sorts of ways. Cookies aren’t good for you.

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

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh