Author: cdtalaw

Solo Practitioners And Personal Commitment

Solo Practitioners And Personal Commitment

The benefits of working for yourself often seem distant when working during the 11th hour trying to finish a motion. However, this situation would certainly still occur even if you were working at a firm. Practicing law on any scale often requires hard work after hours seven days a week. For solo practitioners wishing to achieve success, the practice of law involves a deep, personal commitment that will be time-consuming beyond anything else in the practitioner’s life. At least, for some period of years. Any graduating law student considering a solo practice should address and answer the following questions to get...

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Adapting To The September 2020 California Bar Exam

Adapting To The September 2020 California Bar Exam

The California Bar Exam has been postponed to September 9th and 10th, 2020. This will result in a delay from the test’s normal administration at the end of July. This allows graduates and other exam-takers to have more time to prepare for the exam. So how should you use it? These dates mean a relatively short six- or seven-week delay for law students, allowing them to study over the summer. These dates also allow test-takers to take the test before starting their jobs in the fall. In 2019, 7,664 took the California Bar Exam, of which 4,938 (63.6%) were first-time applicants. First...

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Attorney-Client Privilege And Client Confidentiality

Attorney-Client Privilege And Client Confidentiality

As law students prepare for graduation, certain questions that relate to legal ethics and professional responsibility become more prevalent in their minds. These practical considerations are of equal importance to any other aspect of a law firm’s practice. Like substantive legal rules, they require the strict adherence of all licensed attorneys. An important question relates to protecting client confidentiality. After all, most attorneys like to talk. On one hand, there is the attorney-client privilege which, of course, contains a facet of confidentiality. This is what law students learn about in professional responsibility class as they study the ethical rules, including RC...

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When A Lawyer Is Representing A Corporation, Who Exactly Is The Client?

When A Lawyer Is Representing A Corporation, Who Exactly Is The Client?

A recurring question for lawyers who represent corporations and other entities is who exactly is the attorney representing? What is the scope of the attorney’s clientele in this situation? Does the attorney also represent others? Does the attorney represent shareholders? Affiliate and subsidiary corporations? Officers? Directors? In California, Rule of Professional Conduct 1.13 “Organization as Client” answers this question. A lawyer employed or retained by an organization represents the organization through its duly authorized constituents. A lawyer must conform his or her representation to the concept that the client is the organization itself, acting through its duly authorized directors, officers, employees, members,...

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Memorization Techniques For Applied Knowledge

Memorization Techniques For Applied Knowledge

The California Desert Trial Academy is a progressive law school where students focus on those skills necessary to become not just a lawyer, but an attorney-advocate. Learning the skills to be an advocate gives students an expedient path to a successful and rewarding legal career. With certain memorization techniques in your toolbox, there are ways to use this knowledge to build connections between concepts and push your understanding of the material to a new level. Here are two memorization techniques for applied knowledge: *Explain what you’re trying to learn to someone else An excellent way to test your understanding of a concept in...

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Fixed Legal Fees And Making A Profit

Fixed Legal Fees And Making A Profit

Of course, like any other business that charges some cost for its services, fees are the lifeblood of a law practice. Legal fees depend on several variables: the time necessary to remedy the problem; the lawyer's ability, experience, and reputation; the novelty and difficulty of the case; the results; and associated costs. A lawyer's overhead expenses such as rent, utilities, office equipment, computers, also affect the fee charged. Profit is a lawyer’s income. In the case of a law practice, it is what remains after paying the aforementioned overhead costs of the practice. Research indicates that attorneys may expect to keep...

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Handling And Collecting Legal Fees

Handling And Collecting Legal Fees

Not only must lawyers do the hard work that is necessary to earn their fees, but they must also handle and collect them, which are processes that are both time-consuming and detail-laden. Lawyers must not only be attorneys, but they must also be accountants and bill collectors. Lawyers are subject to special ethical rules when handling client funds, which are funds in which the client still has an ownership interest. The rules require all client funds to be maintained in an interest-bearing trust account while they are in the lawyer’s possession. Safekeeping client funds in a trust account improves client-relations since clients...

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California Bar Exam Officially Scheduled For September

California Bar Exam Officially Scheduled For September

Any student engaged in online, distance learning at a progressive law school like California Desert Trial Academy College of Law, has the freedom to study whenever and wherever, at their utmost convenience. In these current troubled times, CDTA students are at an advantage based on the online resources available to them on campus and at the CDTA website. On April 27, the Supreme Court of California postponed the July California Bar Exam to September 9-10. Applicants registered for the July exam will automatically be registered for the September exam. However, applicants must still submit all eligibility documents to the State Bar. The California...

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About The Different Types Of Attorney’s Fees

About The Different Types Of Attorney’s Fees

This is a quick summary of the common types of fee arrangements used by lawyers. Any fee must be reasonable, and the client must agree to it and all other provisions of the fee arrangement. Consultation: This is a fixed or hourly fee that clients are charged for their first meeting with an attorney where the needs and goals of the clients are discussed and the attorney ascertains whether he or she can satisfy and achieve them on the client’s behalf. Many attorneys, such as bankruptcy and personal injury attorneys offer free, first-time consultations. Contingency: This fee is based on...

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About Fee Agreements And Costs

About Fee Agreements And Costs

This week's blogs feature topics related to legal fees. In April 2020, the national average cost of attorney’s fees where an hourly rate is charged is $225 per hour. The minimum cost is $100, and the maximum is $1,000. The average range is from $100 to $300. The type of fee arrangement that an attorney utilizes is often based on the type of legal issues that a client presents for resolution. Attorneys must base their fees on a clearly communicated and memorialized fee agreement negotiated at the beginning of their representation with clients. Regardless of whatever a local state bar’s rules...

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