Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly articles from May 2006

Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly archives from May 2006

Commentary: How to get attorneys to be team players.
May 8, 2006... Byline: Edward Poll The bane of many law firms is the problem of how to get individualistic attorneys to create and accept both firm and individual business plans. It's no secret that lawyers tend to be technicians who want to do what...

Sheldon Whitehouse, Rhode Island senate hopeful visits Martin Scorsese.(Brief article)
May 8, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Sheldon Whitehouse, the former Rhode Island attorney general who is campaigning to unseat incumbent Republican Sen. Lincoln Chafee, says the biggest difference between being in the national...

New Hampshire atty., polygrapher scales Mount Kilimanjaro.(James A. Johnson Jr.)(Brief article)
May 8, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff At age 65, New Hampshire attorney and polygrapher James A. Johnson Jr., who has worked with attorneys throughout New England, has high expectations -- literally. In March, Johnson and eight...

Ballot question contribution limits are unconstitutional.
May 8, 2006... Byline: Noah Schaffer The state may not impose the same restrictions on political contributions to ballot questions that apply to contributions to individual elected officials, a U.S. District Court judge has ruled, in declaring a portion...

Family law's new clientele: Internet lovers.
May 8, 2006... Byline: Nora Lockwood Tooher A decade after the launch of online dating services, family lawyers are starting to see the first wave of couples who met online. Some are coming in for prenuptial agreements before marrying. Others are...

Board can't use hearsay in firing of police officer.
May 8, 2006... Byline: David E. Frank A disciplinary hearing board's decision to uphold the firing of a veteran police officer based on hearsay testimony from a "known liar" violated the officer's due process rights, a Superior Court judge has found. ...

R.I. Supreme Court Case Summaries: May 8, 2006.
May 8, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil practice Summary judgment - Opportunity to oppose Where judgment has been entered in the defendant's favor in a dispute over a modular home, the judgment must be vacated and the...

Superior Court Case Summaries: May 8, 2006.
May 8, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Municipal Police officer - Termination - Hearsay Where a police officer was terminated based on hearsay evidence that she was given advance information about a promotional examination, the...

1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Case Summaries: May 8, 2006.
May 8, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Bankruptcy Student loans - Bipolar disorder Where a debtor requested to have her student loan obligations discharged on the ground of undue hardship, the bankruptcy court did not err in...

U.S. District Court Case Summaries: May 8, 2006.
May 8, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Elections Campaign contributions - State statute Where a challenge has been brought to the validity of a state statute regulating campaign contributions, some of the statute's provisions...

U.S. Magistrate Judges Case Summaries: May 8, 2006.
May 8, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Social services Disability Insurance Benefits - Medical opinion Where a plaintiff has been denied Disability Insurance Benefits under the Social Security Act, a remand must be ordered...

U.S. Supreme Court Case Summaries: May 8, 2004.
May 8, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Bankruptcy Probate exception The probate exception to federal court jurisdiction doesn't apply to bankruptcy proceedings - and therefore former Playboy Playmate Anna Nicole Smith can go...

Workers' Compensation Court Case Summaries: May 8, 2006.
May 8, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Workers' compensation End of incapacity Where an employer petitioned to stop paying an employee workers' compensation benefits, we hold that a trial judge acted correctly in granting the...

Rhode Island Lawyers in the News: May 8, 2006.(Stephen A. Izzi has joined Moses, Afonso, Jackvony, Ltd.)(Lisa S. Holley awarded Victims' Rights and Services Award from the Rhode Island Victims' Advocacy and Support Center)(Brief article)
May 8, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff New associations Stephen A. Izzi has joined Moses, Afonso, Jackvony, Ltd. in Providence as a partner. He focuses his practice on litigation and commercial bankruptcy. Honors Lisa S....

Commentary: 'Radical' changes proposed by USPTO will alter patent process.(Patent and Trademark Office)(Column)
May 8, 2006... Byline: Leslie A. McDonell As the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office endeavors to find solutions for managing its vast workload, it is considering changes that, if accepted, will significantly alter the course of the patent process. ...

Commentary: Need advice? Send your queries to 'Ask the Pitbull'.
May 15, 2006... Byline: David Yas Hello and welcome to "Ask the Pitbull," where advice is offered from a tough lawyer who isn't afraid to give you tough answers. Dear Pitbull: I have a client who is in a business dispute with his own brother; they...

Commentary: Do prospects want your testimonials ... or you?
May 15, 2006... Byline: Edward Poll As evidence that the Tin Man finally had a heart, the Wizard of Oz conferred a testimonial upon him. Marketers consistently use testimonials from presumably satisfied customers to serve as evidence of an...

Commentary: Being a good lawyer is no longer good enough.
May 15, 2006... Byline: Rick Trilling Let's start with the bad news, which you hopefully already know: The practice of law is a business as well as a profession. This raises two substantial problems. First, you probably are already plenty busy being a...

Rhode Island House OKs polygraph testing in police hires.(Brief article)
May 15, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff State representatives approved a bill that would allow law-enforcement agencies to use polygraph tests in hiring, according to The Providence Journal. The bill must still gain Senate approval...

Rhode Island governor announces two ballot questions.
May 15, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Gov. Donald L. Carcieri said he would place two nonbinding questions on the November ballot to seek voter support for proposals that would limit state spending and allow citizens to change laws...

Rhode Island Senate paves way for vote on felons.(Brief article)
May 15, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff The Senate approved a bill that could pave the way for convicted felons on probation or parole to gain the right to vote. Last year the General Assembly approved sending the issue to the ballot...

Criminal defense lawyer's commitment to client's case can be intellectually/ emotionally intense.
May 15, 2006... Byline: Barbara Rabinovitz As the cameras zoomed in on relatives of victims of the deadly Station fire while they tearfully spoke about their wracked lives in the wake of their losses, a somber-faced Thomas G. Briody could be seen sitting...

Rhode Island Supreme Court rules worker should get COLA despite 'interrupted' incapacity.
May 15, 2006... Byline: Jason M. Scally An injured employee who missed more than a year of work should not have had his cost-of-living adjustment denied, even where his period of incapacity was not consecutive, the Rhode Island Supreme Court has ruled....

Superior Court rules borrower can sue bank for 'accelerating' loan repayment.
May 15, 2006... Byline: David E. Frank A borrower should be allowed to sue a bank for calling in a loan early where the bank allegedly breached the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, a Superior Court judge has found. The defendant bank...

Notices from the Courts: May 15, 2006.
May 15, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Executive orders issued by court SUPREME COURT No. 2006-02 EXECUTIVE ORDER Pursuant to the authority granted to the Chief Justice under Section 8-15-2 of the General Laws of the...

Rhode Island Commissioner of Education Case Summaries: May 15, 2006.
May 15, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Education Residency Where a student in the Lincoln public school system has been living in North Providence since November, the student should be ordered to enroll in the North Providence...

R.I. District Court Case Summaries: May 15, 2006.(Brief article)
May 15, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Unemployment compensation Misconduct - Job performance Where an employee sought unemployment benefits for the duration of a suspension he received for "not being practice enough and not...

R.I. Supreme Court Case Summaries: May 15, 2006.
May 15, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Contract Loan - Promissory note - Family dispute Where a judge found that $68,000 advanced by the defendant to his son (the plaintiff) constituted a loan and not a gift, the judge's...

Rhode Island Ethics Commission Case Summaries: May 15, 2006.(Brief article)
May 15, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Conflict of interest Consulting firm employee Where the petitioner is an employee of a consulting firm that provides services to the Rhode Island Housing Resources Commission as a...

Superior Court Case Summaries: May 15, 2006.
May 15, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Banks and banking Good faith and fair dealing - ECOA Where plaintiff borrowers have brought a multi-count suit against the defendant bank, a motion for summary judgment filed by the bank...

U.S. Bankruptcy Court Case Summaries: May 15, 2006.
May 15, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Bankruptcy Dismissal - Serial petitions Where a bankruptcy judge dismissed the debtors' fourth Chapter 13 petition, the dismissal order should be affirmed based on the debtors' bad faith....

U.S. Magistrate Judges Case Summaries: May 15, 2006.
May 15, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Commercial Cable television filters - Communications Act Where evidence indicates that the defendants sold and/or otherwise distributed "pirate" digital cable television filters for...

1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Case Summaries: May 15, 2006.
May 15, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Administrative Medicare - Reimbursement of costs Where a plaintiff health care provider has challenged the reimbursement of necessary and proper costs related to patient care under the...

Commentary: How do you measure financial performance?
May 22, 2006... Byline: Edward Poll What management reports do sole and small-firm practitioners look at to determine how well they're doing? It's a very good question. There is much data out there, and most good financial information systems can and do...

Pro bono gets schooled in Rhode Island.(Pro Bono Collaborative Pilot Project)
May 22, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Roger Williams University School of Law has summoned three Providence law firms back to school to help launch its Pro Bono Collaborative Pilot Project with the hope of increasing legal services to...

R.I. State Law Library hosts two luncheons in honor of Law Week.
May 22, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff In celebration of Law Week, the Rhode Island State Law Library hosted two luncheons that included a demonstration of the latest Westlaw enhancements and a presentation by Jane E. Rindsberg, a...

Bill penalizes parents in R.I. who let kids drink.(Brief article)
May 22, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Parents who permit underage drinking could find themselves prosecuted under legislation nearing adoption by the General Assembly. The House and Senate have approved separate bills that would...

List of individuals who pass February, 2006 Rhode Island Bar Exam.
May 22, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff The following individuals were successful on the February 2006 Rhode Island Bar Examination and must be certified by the Committee on Character and Fitness before admission. A single asterisk...

R.I. Superior Court rules company can't add additional condo units.(Rhode Island)
May 22, 2006... Byline: Jason M. Scally A property management company could not block a permit limiting further development of a condominium complex, even where it was previously assigned the right to develop additional units, a Superior Court judge has...

R.I. Supreme Court rules handbook doesn't protect employee with seniority.
May 22, 2006... Byline: Noah Schaffer An at-will employee could be terminated even where a clause in the company's employee handbook allowed workers to "bump" less senior employees in the event of layoffs, the Rhode Island Supreme Court has ruled. ...

Survey shows corporations these days want more value for their legal budget.
May 22, 2006... Byline: Dick Dahl Back in the day, a law firm's relationship with its clients was often a cozy affair. Senior corporate managers and senior partners belonged to the same country clubs, and the legal bills that the firms submitted were...

R.I. Supreme Court OKs presumptive sentences.
May 22, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Supreme Court In re Adoption of Presumptive Sentences ORDER In accordance with G.L. 1956 (2000 Reenactment) Sect. 12-19.3-2, the attached rules of the Superior Court, promulgated by a...

U.S. District Court announces attorney registration deadline.
May 22, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT District of Rhode Island NOTICE TO MEMBERS OF THE BAR COMPLETION OF ATTORNEY REGISTRATION Pursuant to Local Rule 203(c)(1), every member of the...

R.I. Supreme Court Case Summaries: May 22, 2006.
May 22, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Employment Discrimination - Layoff - Handbook Where a plaintiff filed suit challenging her termination, summary judgment was correctly awarded to the defendant employer, as (1) an employee...

R.I. Superior Court Case Summaries: May 19, 2006.
May 22, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Licenses and permits Real estate - Violation of regulation Where (1) a hearing officer of the Rhode Island Department of Business Regulation found that a plaintiff had violated Rule 20 of...

1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Case Summaries: May 19, 2006.
May 22, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil rights Police conduct - Substantive due process Where a plaintiff filed a federal civil rights action against a defendant police detective, claiming that the defendant violated the...

U.S. District Court Case Summaries: May 15, 2006.
May 22, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Insurance Employee theft - Indemnity Where plaintiff policyholders claim that the defendant insurance company has not fulfilled its duty to indemnify the plaintiff for losses caused by...

U.S. Supreme Court Case Summaries: May 19, 2006.
May 22, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff ERISA Reimbursement A health plan's attempt to obtain reimbursement from a plan beneficiary who received payments from a third party constitutes "appropriate equitable relief" under ERISA....

Workers' Compensation Court Case Summaries: May 19, 2006.
May 22, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Workers' compensation End of incapacity - Medical opinions Where a trial judge concluded that an employee's incapacity for work had ended and that surgery was not necessary to cure,...

Commentary: Too old to practice law?
May 29, 2006... Byline: Edward Poll Two recent items on the topic of age and the practice of law caught my eye. One, an article in The Seattle Times about the "graying of the bar," was noticed by blawgers around the country. Noting that 66 percent of...

Commentary: Step one: strategic business planning.
May 29, 2006... Byline: Rick Trilling So the business aspects of your law practice are taking up time and other limited resources that you would rather focus on the actual practice of law. We're lawyers, darn it, not businesspeople, right? Wrong....

Bill to revoke governor's power over ballot wins approval in Rhode Island House.
May 29, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff A bill that would strip the governor of his power to place questions on the ballot won approval in the House, over the opposition of House Republicans and a few Democrats, according to The...

Superior Court judge rules denial of variance by town zoning board a 'taking'.
May 29, 2006... Byline: Jason M. Scally A town zoning board should have granted a variance to an applicant seeking to build a house on an undersized lot, despite objections from neighborhood residents, a Superior Court judge has ruled. Asserting that...

1st Circuit rules federal judge cannot require convict to pay investigation costs.
May 29, 2006... Byline: Barbara Rabinovitz A federal judge could not require a defendant convicted of criminal contempt and perjury to pay the costs of the investigation of his crimes, the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled. The defendant...

Superior Court judge rules in dispute over the rice being served at the Providence Place Mall.(attorney John J. DeSimone)(Interview)
May 29, 2006... Byline: Noah Schaffer Judge Stephen J. Fortunato Jr. couldn't resist. "Let me see if I can bring things to a boil here and then reduce them appropriately in order to distill their essence," the Superior Court judge told the parties in...

R.I. Supreme Court Case Summaries: May 29, 2006.
May 29, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Criminal Solicitation of murder Where a defendant has appealed his conviction for criminal solicitation of murder, we hold that the conviction must be vacated both (1) because the...

Superior Court Case Summaries: May 29, 2006.
May 29, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil practice Proof of claim Where a Probate Court judge denied a plaintiff's petition to allow a proof of claim, the judge acted permissibly, as the plaintiff did not file her petition...

U.S. Magistrate Judges Case Summaries: May 29, 2006.
May 29, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil practice Motion for leave to amend - Affirmative defenses - Counterclaim Where a corporate defendant has moved for leave to amend its affirmative defenses and counterclaim, I find...

U.S. Supreme Court Case Summaries: May 29, 2006.
May 29, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Search and seizure Exigent circumstances - Altercation Exigent circumstances justified a warrantless entry into a home where officers witnessed an altercation and had reason to believe that...

Family Court Chief Justice Jeremiah S. Jeremiah Jr. honored.(Jeremiah S. Jeremiah Jr. into Collegium and Academy of Distinguished Alumni )(Brief article)
May 29, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Family Court Chief Justice Jeremiah S. Jeremiah Jr. has been inducted into the Collegium and Academy of Distinguished Alumni of the Boston University College and Graduate School of Arts and Sciences...

Commentary: jury consultants can foster success in mediation.
May 29, 2006... Byline: Edward P. Schwartz I frequently get calls from lawyers after mediation fails, and they're almost always incredulous that their opponent couldn't see the overwhelming strength of their client's case. Although it's understandable...

Providence attorney Linn Foster Freedman receives Founders Award.(add Rhode Island Department of Health )(Brief article)
May 29, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Linn Foster Freedman, an attorney at Nixon Peabody in Providence, has received the Founders Award from the Rhode Island Department of Health for her efforts to create a healthy environment in the...