Soft Skills

Five Things To Avoid During A Hearing

Five Things To Avoid During A Hearing

Whether it is the first time or the hundredth time, it is an exhilarating and nerve-wracking experience to walk into a court hearing. On one hand, an attorney’s attention is directed at asserting and protecting the rights of his or her client. On the other, he or she must act within the decorum required by the court and avoid any mistakes that may be detrimental to a case’s outcome. No lawyer is invulnerable to mistakes but some mistakes are more detrimental than others. The following lists five things that any attorney should avoid when handling a hearing, whether live and in-person...

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The Top Five Qualities That Produce The Best Job Performance

The Top Five Qualities That Produce The Best Job Performance

What do those office managers and upper-level executives – and senior law partners  - want in an employee – and associate? Of course, this may differ by industry and job, yet many desirable qualities are universal in any type of worker for any type of job. It is important to note that these qualities are not necessarily the same qualities that provide success in an academic setting. Many academics and scholars believe that a person’s grade point average (GPA) is not a strong predictor of job performance because it is not a true indicator of intelligence. Business organizations, including law firms,...

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Principles Of Professional Conduct – Competence

Principles Of Professional Conduct – Competence

The preamble of the Model Rules of Professional Conduct describes a lawyer and member of the legal profession as “. . . a representative of clients, an officer of the legal system and a public citizen having special responsibility for the quality of justice.” One primary principle of the Model Rules is that a lawyer must be competent as a representative of clients. In 2018, the California Supreme Court issued an order that approved 69 Rules of Professional Conduct for California attorneys, rejecting only one. These new rules became effective in November of 2018 and closely follow the ABA Model Rules of Professional...

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How Do I Know If I Should Take The Case?

How Do I Know If I Should Take The Case?

It really is no secret that the practice of law is highly competitive. There may be times when young lawyers and sole practitioners sit at their desks and wonder when a client will walk through the door. For attorneys, it is easy to find yourself taking every case that comes your way. However, in the long run, this may make your practice inefficient and unprofitable. As a young lawyer, how do you know if you should take a case? When attorneys accept a bad case from a client, several problems typically transpire. The matter causes the attorney to expend valuable resources...

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Attorneys, Advocates, And The CDTA Vision

Attorneys, Advocates, And The CDTA Vision

From the time the California Desert Trial Academy (CDTA) accepted its first class of students in 2012, it provided them with a unique, innovative, genuinely modern focus on legal education. While this emphasis implements the same comprehensive learning curriculum as traditional law schools, it contemplates and remedies the common shortcomings of law school graduates. At CDTA, we educate students to be lawyers, but we also train and develop them to be exceptional trial advocates. The Attorney Upon leaving law school with a JD, ideally, a graduate should understand the substantive law and be in the position to start her own practice or assume the role...

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Gaming And Education, Part Two

Gaming And Education, Part Two

The following are some benefits of combining the practice of video gaming with the educational process. *Attention and Memory Capacity There is an undeniable correlation between learning and memorization. Often, students feel overwhelmed during the conventional learning process simply because of the seeming abundance of information presented to them in many different subjects. A wonderful aspect of gaming is that it constantly places players in different circumstances with which they are comfortable and even familiar. This makes them alert and focused with little outside third-party effort, thus gradually improving their ability to pay attention and memorize information. Gamers who play educational video games...

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Some Thoughts About Trial Strategy

Some Thoughts About Trial Strategy

Trial strategy is an attorney’s comprehensive plan that when executed will provide the best chance of success in a litigated matter. Attorneys may use certain tactics throughout a trial as tools for specific purposes designed to implement this strategy. Since every legal matter differs when considering the underlying facts of each matter, applicable law, the measure of damages, defenses, etc., so must every trial strategy differ. Approaches to trial strategy may be far-ranging. There are basic, straightforward ideas as well as concepts that delve into the psychological realm and utilize other advanced approaches. The basic concepts of trial strategy involve the simple...

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Adaptive Learning For Law Students

Adaptive Learning For Law Students

Adaptive learning is a technique for providing students with more personalized learning to provide efficient, effective, and customized learning paths for each individual student. Adaptive learning works at all levels, including the graduate level, and law students may reap the benefits of this new learning mechanism. Adaptive learning systems utilize a data-driven approach to adjust the path and pace of a student’s studies to deliver personalized learning. Adaptive systems may support changes in the roles of faculty, enable innovative teaching practices, and incorporate a variety of content formats to support students based on their learning needs. Adaptive learning through training in the digital...

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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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