Tuesday, January 8, 2013
Page 11
SNIPPETS (Column)
Feb. 1 Deadline for State Bar Fee Payment, Group 1 MCLE Compliance
Members of the State Bar have until Feb. 1 to pay their annual fees of $410 for active lawyers and $125 for inactive lawyers, the State Bar said in a release.
Fees are waived for inactive attorneys who are 70 years old on Feb. 1.
Active lawyers with a total gross annual individual income from all sources of less than $40,000 in 2012 are eligible for a 25 percent reduction in the membership fee.
Failure to pay fees by the deadline will trigger a $100 late payment penalty for active lawyers and a $30 penalty for inactive attorneys.
The 2013 dues bill includes contributions to the Client Security Fund, disciplinary activities, the Lawyer Assistance Program, the building fund and technology upgrades.
Lawyers also have the option to donate to various other funds, including the Justice Gap Fund ($100 recommended donation), the California Bar Foundation ($50 recommended donation), the Conference of California Bar Associations ($35 recommended donation) and the California Supreme Court Historical Society ($25 recommended donation).
Additionally, those lawyers whose last names start with A-to-G (Group 1) have a Feb. 1 deadline to report completion of their 25 hours of Minimum Continuing Legal Education (MCLE).
Dues can be paid and MCLE compliance can be reported online by logging on to “My State Bar Profile” at www.calbar.ca.gov.
•The Los Angeles County Bar Association has programs for last-minute MCLE compliance, including:
•CLE-in-a-Box, a 25-hour CD audio pack (including materials), with information on how to apply the programs to either participatory or self-study credit. This package is also available on-demand;
•CLE Required Subjects Bundle/6-Pack, containing the six hours of required subjects (4 hours ethics, 1 hour prevention of substance abuse, 1 hour elimination of bias), and available as a CD set or on-demand;
•Live programs, a full listing of which is available on LACBA’s web site, under its calendar of January programs;
•Online CLE Catalog of hundreds of programs available in a variety of formats, including on-demand audio and video, audio CD, and CD/DVD video;
-Self-study articles and CLE tests for one hour of CLE credit each, through Los Angeles Lawyer magazine; and
•CLE+ Membership, which includes free access or substantially reduced prices to most live programs.
For more information visit www.lacba.org, or call LACBA member services at (213) 896-6560.
•The 10th Annual Entertainment and Media Law Conference will be held on Thursday, Jan. 17, 2013, at Loews Hollywood Hotel.
The conference, presented by Southwestern Law School’s Donald E. Biederman Entertainment and Media Law Institute and the Media Law Resource Center, will explore issues such as copyright protection and right-of-publicity in the new digital environment.
Three discussion panels will be presented:
•“TV Everywhere – Copyright Protection Nowhere or Somewhere?”;
•“Content without Borders: Issues in International Production and Distribution”; and
•“Rights (and Wrongs) of Publicity: The Evolving Law of Misappropriation.”
Scheduled speakers include: F. Jay Dougherty, Loyola Law School; Vineeta Gajwani, Electronic Arts Inc.; R. David Hosp, Goodwin Proctor; Bruce E.H. Johnson, Davis Wright Tremaine; Brid Jordan, Reynolds Porter Chamberlain; Laine R. Kline, Fox International Productions; Robert C. O’Brien, Arent Fox; Michael H. Page, Durie Tangri; Rebecca Sanhueza, Time Inc.; Michael D. Scott, Southwestern Law School; Nathan Siegel, Levine Sullivan Koch & Schulz; Richard L. Stone, Jenner & Block; Tim Suter, Perspective Associates; and Shelly Tremain, NBCUniversal.
The event, offering four hours of MCLE credit, is scheduled from 1:00 to 7:00 p.m., with a reception afterward.
Registration fees are $100 by Jan. 7, $125 after Jan. 7 (or at the door as space permits), and $25 for non-Southwestern students.
Loews Hollywood Hotel is located at 1755 North Highland Avenue in Hollywood.
Additional information and online registration are available at www.swlaw.edu/academics/entertainmentlaw.
Questions may be directed to the Biederman Institute, 213.738.6602 or institute@swlaw.edu.
•The Beverly Hills Bar Association has announced its events for January, which include:
•“Recent Tax Concerns for Small Businesses and Their Counsel,” presented by the Business & Taxation Section Jan. 10 at noon at the BHBA Conference Center;
•2013 MCLE Extravaganza, which includes six hours of MCLE, free upon joining BHBA, Jan. 11 at 8:30 a.m. at Lawry’s the Prime Rib;
•Trusts lunch on Jan. 15 at 11:45 a.m. Lawry’s the Prime Rib;
•Various lunch and dinner barristers workshops (see BHBA website for details);
•“2012 Entertainment Year in Review,” on Jan. 16 at 5:00 p.m. at the Beverly Hills Hotel.
The full Jan. calendar of events is available on the BHBA’s website at www.bhba.org.
BHBA is located at 9420 Wilshire Blvd., 2d Floor, Beverly Hills, CA 90212.
Lawry’s the Prime Rib is at 100 North La Cienega Blvd., Beverly Hills, CA 90211.
The Beverly Hills Hotel is at 9641 Sunset Blvd., Beverly Hills, CA 90210.
For more information visit www.bhba.org, or call (310) 601-2422.
•San Fernando Valley Bar Association presents January events including:
•“Best Practices in Hiring - Avoiding the Landmines,” presented by the business law and employment law sections, Jan. 9 at noon, with attorney Jeffrey S. Thomas. Topics include employment applications, interviews, the “Googling” of applicants, the I-9 process, offer letters and more;
•“Do’s and Don’ts in the Courtroom,” presented by the Litigation Section Jan. 9 at 7:00 p.m. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Lisa Hart Cole will give an update on the court;
•“Marijuana Laws: What’s the Latest?,” presented by the Criminal Law Section Jan. 10 at 6:00 p.m. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Melvin Sandvig and attorneys Eric Shevin and Ariel Clark will discuss the laws pertaining to marijuana, including the business and corporate side of the medical marijuana industry;
•“Cancellation of Debt Income” with Attorney Layton Pace, presented by the Taxation Law Section Jan. 15 at noon.
All events take place at the San Fernando Valley Bar Association, 5567 Reseda Boulevard, Suite 200, Tarzana, CA 91356.
•The State Bar’s Office of Chief Trial Counsel ended 2012 with an investigations backlog of just five cases, and a lower-than-expected backlog of 232 complaints where investigations had been completed but formal charges not yet filed, the State Bar said in a release yesterday.
Cases are considered backlogged if they have not been disposed of, or formal charges have not been brought, within six months of the State Bar receiving them.
The State Bar also saw an increase in the number of discipline trials that began in 2012 – 176 compared to 101 in 2011 and 112 in 2010, according to the release.
The release notes that this is the first time in decades the investigations backlog has been eliminated, and the State Bar has pledged to continue to keep those numbers low.
“By maintaining a zero backlog, we are slowly showing our constituency, the people of California, that we are deadly serious about meeting our regulatory responsibility,” Executive Director/CEO Joe Dunn said in the release.
Chief Trial Counsel Jayne Kim is also quoted:
“This year, probably the biggest factor is that we started out with zero,” adding that not having old cases to worry about at the start of last year left investigators free to focus on newer ones.
The State Bar offered additional training for prosecutors last year and used supervising investigators to help track aging cases per the release.
Kim’s office plans to continue to look at ways of increasing efficiency by continuing to strengthen its audit processes and holding additional summits with law enforcement and other outside agencies, the release says.
Copyright 2013, Metropolitan News Company