Mark Dubois

March 04, 2013 | Connecticut Law Tribune

There is a crisis in legal education driven by a contracting legal market and a serious overproduction of new lawyers. Some have estimated there are enough un- and underemployed lawyers to fill the needs of the profession for the next decade.

By Mark Dubois

4 minute read

August 27, 2012 | Connecticut Law Tribune

I would have thought by now that every lawyer in the United States, if not every lawyer in the world, would be aware of the e-mail scams directed at the bar. But I recently read that some continue to fall for the legal version of the Nigerian Prince scam. Maybe we should send a notice about this with the annual bar registration or with the quarterly URL reporting notices, because this all would be really funny if so many lawyers were not getting badly burned.

By Mark DuBois

4 minute read

July 13, 2012 | Connecticut Law Tribune

Stephen Glass is quite a writer. When he worked for the New Republic, I loved his articles. They were invariably well-researched and dealt with hot topics. I remember one where he claimed to have attended a meeting of the great right wing conspiracy. Fascinating stuff.

By Mark Dubois

4 minute read

May 14, 2012 | Connecticut Law Tribune

Judge Jonathan Lippman of the New York Court of Appeals has set off something of a firestorm by proposing a rule that 50 hours of mandatory pro bono be a part of the admission requirements for New York lawyers. His proposal is both a pragmatic (though heavy-handed) solution to a pressing need and a cynical recognition that new admittees really have no say in setting the standards by which they will get (or be denied) licenses.

By MARK DUBOIS

4 minute read

April 23, 2012 | Connecticut Law Tribune

OK, some days just can't seem to get going. Instead of jumping into the brief I have to write, or filing the many e-docs littering my in-box, I desperately look around for something to amuse and distract me. My latest hideout is something called Bar and Bench, which is a really neat web site catering to lawyers in India.

By MARK DUBOIS

4 minute read

May 28, 2012 | Connecticut Law Tribune

By the time you read this, the Judicial Branch's Rules Committee may have considered some very interesting and, I believe, good amendments to the Practice Book. The panel met May 21 to consider a mixed bag of things. Among them are several that I have been tracking for some time due to my interest in all things related to lawyering.

By MARK DUBOIS

5 minute read

April 30, 2012 | Connecticut Law Tribune

I was both pleased and pained a few weeks ago to read an article on how the Connecticut Bar Association has voted to create positions in its House of Delegates for representatives of minority bars. I think this is an important step in getting more diversity into the association, which is a great thing. I was pained that one member of the membership committee was quoted as saying that some folks think the leadership of the CBA is too old, too white and too male. The truth hurts.

By MARK DUBOIS

4 minute read

September 10, 2012 | Connecticut Law Tribune

I recently attended the American Bar Association Center on Professional Responsibility annual symposium in Boston. This gathering brings together an interesting mix of law professors, bar regulators and lawyers engaged in the business of legal ethics (defense/expert/consultant folks). There is a tremendous amount of talent roaming the hallways.

By Mark Dubois

4 minute read

December 10, 2012 | Connecticut Law Tribune

If you haven't heard about MOOCs, you soon will. These Massive Open Online Courses are the hot topic in undergraduate and graduate education today, and have the potential to radically alter much of what we have traditionally thought of as education. And once MOOCS get rolling, they will transform education and law. Bet on it.

By by Mark DuBois

4 minute read

September 28, 2012 | Connecticut Law Tribune

Legal risk managers often warn against dabbling. The dictionary defines it as a superficial or intermittent interest, investigation, or experiment in an unfamiliar field. I am a lawyer. I write an occasional column for this paper. As a journalist, I am probably a dabbler. I try my best, but I am far from Pulitzer Prize caliber. (Just ask my editor.) A more serious problem occurs when a lawyer dabbles in areas of law that he or she is not conversant with. Bad things often happen.

By Mark DuBois

4 minute read