Recent Articles from greg.froom
Coach’s Corner: Finder, grinder – or minder?
For law firms to be successful they must be more than a collection of single practitioners. Success in the law, like success at sports, is a team effort - if the team isn't firing on all cylinders, it gets away from what made it successful and people no longer play their true roles. No law firm can be profitable and growing without a range of skills and abilities. Not every player on a sports t[...]
Attorneys – Trust Account – Overdrafts – Insufficient Funds – Client Ledger Balances – Monthly Reconciliations
In re Halford. Where an attorney's trust account checks were returned against insufficient funds due to accounting errors resulting from a failure to account for fees charged by credit card vendors in . . .
Scribner’s Error: May I see your papers? The humiliation of a border crossing
Strike "international contraband smuggler" off my list of alternative careers. I'd never get the first kilo over the border. I've known for a while that I have an innate distaste for authority, which I attribute to some residual ornery genes inherited from the West Virginia branch of my family tree. But I wasn't aware that I had such an irrational fear of authority until last month's episode at [...]
Coach’s Corner: Politicians, lawyers and ‘protecting the public’
Lawyers nationwide increasingly face state and federal government actions to implement a whole new regulatory structure aimed at what is in fact a growing problem: companies that charge consumers an up-front fee to modify the terms of a mortgage or deed of trust they can no longer afford, then either fail to deliver results or actually abscond with the fee itself. In an early effort, New York bann[...]
Scribner's Error: Extreme revisionary history — Civil War with no guns
I was bewildered by the sight of my 11-year-old nephew carefully clipping the gun-like plastic protrusions off of a brigade of 2-inch-tall Civil War soldiers. It didn’t seem likely that a pacifist streak had surfaced in the boy, particularly considering that he was playing the gory videogame “Halo” just hours before. At the other end […]
Recession put brakes on fundraising for USC building
Although the recession may have stalled fundraising for a new law school building at the University of South Carolina, Dean Jack Pratt says he sees signs that cash might start flowing in soon. “In recent months, instead of responding ‘no,’ people are responding with a little more hope that the economy is going to turn […]
Charleston law school sheds newbie status
It took less than six years for South Carolina’s second law school to go from interloper to institution. That’s a remarkable pace in a state known for a tight-knit legal community made up of lawyers with a mostly homogeneous educational background — the majority graduated from the University of South Carolina’s law school. But it […]
Scribner's Error: Less of a nanny state, more of a police state in Mexico
The difference in the details is what makes international travel enlightening. It’s often the seemingly small things that tell you a lot about a foreign country and your own. I just got back from a visit to our neighbor to the south (Mexico, not Georgia), and my observations gave me some insight into how the […]
Scribner's Error: Using lowercase letters — a capital idea
I don’t intend for this to be another screed on legalese or how illogical and inconsistent the English language is. If you’re interested in the latter, Richard Lederer and Bill Bryson have penned some delightful books about our twisted mother tongue. If you want to hear a rant on legal jargon, listen to your clients. […]
Looking for an alternative lifestyle in the law
There’s something slightly countercultural about the notion of alternative careers in the law. It would appear that people who choose such a path could be part of a neo-hippie group working to subvert the buttoned-down, corporate model of the traditional legal career. I must be one of these non-traditional types, because my alma mater invited […]
Scribner's Error: Adversarial system makes for odd bedfellows
Before law school, I never knew how partisan the practice of law was. Not in the Republican/Democrat sense, either, though there’s an element of that. Maybe “religiously dogmatic” would be a better description, but it’s not precisely an issue of theology. I’m speaking of litigation here particularly the personal-injury type and criminal law, too. In […]
Scribner's Error: The leaves have it right: Fall is a good time to change
I miss the academic calendar. Eight years removed, and I still miss it. No, it’s not the freedom of summer I long for. I didn’t experience much of that after about the fifth grade when I started working summers washing and later selling cars at my granddad’s dealership. Being employed by family might not sound […]
Business Law
- Economy forces attorneys to get down to business
- Business Court judges trawl for customers
- Va. company's Web site did not subject business to personal jurisdiction in S.C., appeals panel rules
- Former running back from S.C. wins courtroom victory in contract dispute
- Contract – Government Contract – Qui Tam – False Claims Act
- Licenses & Permits – Beer & Wine Permit – Restrictive Covenant – Suitable Location
- Consumer Protection – FCRA – Auto Loan – Bank Accounting Errors
- Licenses & Permits – Veterinarian – Vaccine Maintenance
- Tort – Business Tort – Va. Computer Crimes Act – Trade Secrets
- Textile firm, railroad settle Graniteville train wreck lawsuit
- State regulators look at car dealer accused of lying to customers
- Subprime mortgage meltdown hits securities law
Commentary
- Virginia Tech student got due process in hearing
- High court justices cross the line of propriety
- High court’s term was rough on big business
- The flip side of generative AI in law and how to address it
- The fight for equal educational opportunity continues
- Letter From The Editor – Working from Home
- NLRB joins FTC in taking aim at non-competes
- Supreme Court leaves key internet protection untouched
- US Supreme Court bites back at parody’s use of the First Amendment
- My goal: Provide the information that you need now
- Case study: North Carolina courts provide guidance on scope, limitations of attorney-client privilege
- A Different Ode to Pro Bono Work