BAR BLAST_2012-07-10

2012 WV LAWS FOR BUSINESS AND LICENSING

The 2012 Edition of West Virginia Laws for Business and Licensing isnow available for purchase. To purchase, you may contact the Secretary of State’s Office at 304-558-8000 or email pbarker@wvsos.com. Click here for for additional information.

Your membership dues for fiscal year 2012-2013, and your Financial Responsibility Disclosure and IOLTA reporting requirements, can now be completed on line. For the first time, dues payments can be made by credit card. Click Here for a link for further instructions on online submissions. All must be returned no later than September 1, 2012. 

ENERGY LAW 

The West Virginia Law Review is accepting articles for a special energy issue for the upcoming academic year.  For information outlining the call for papers, click here.  You may also find a link to the website:http://wvlawreview.wvu.edu/call_for_articles.  Questions:  contact Michael Bush, MABush2010@gmail.com, 304-780-2323.

The West Virginia State Bar’s Unlawful Practice of Law Committee has issued an Advisory Opinion addressing the duties and responsibilities of counsel retained or appointed to represent a criminal defendant.  For a full text of Advisory Opinion 2012-001 click here.

MCLE REMINDER

The 2010-2012 reporting period ended on June 30, 2012. The filing deadline is July 31, 2012. If necessary, you may take courses in the month of July 2012 and carry the credits back to meet the 2010-2012 requirement without any penalty. Courses carried back may NOT be split between two different reporting periods. You may carry over six excess general credits earned to the 2012-2014 reporting period. You may check your credits online and file approved activities completed using the State Bar’s website if you have an e-mail on file with the State Bar office. To access your records, go to www.wvbar.org, click on MCLE, then click Member Login.  If you have not used the new online submission program, you will need to go to the Password Reset Feature, enter your e-mail as on file with the State Bar, and click reset password.  You will then receive an e-mail with a link to create your password.  The password must be created within one hour.  You may then review your credits and submit credits online.  You may access the reporting period, the requirements, and forms by double-clicking MCLE on the website.  If you have questions, contact compliance@wvbar.org atcompliance@wvbar.org.

LAWYER DISCIPLINARY BOARD REQUEST FOR COMMENTS: ELECTRONIC MEDIA COMMITTEE

The Lawyer Disciplinary Board has received a request for an opinion concerning the retention and destruction of closed client filed which were kept in electronic format.  The Committee has drafted an L.E.O. to address this issue, and is soliciting public comments thereon.

Click here for a copy of the L.E.O.

Please submit  your written comments to the Electronic Media Committee, c/o Office of Disciplinary Counsel, 4700 MacCorkle Avenue SE, Suite 1200C, Charleston, WV 25304. Deadline for submissions isJuly 20, 2012.

COMMENTS REQUESTED ON DOMESTIC VIOLENCE CIVIL PROCEEDINGS RULES  

The Court is requesting comments on the Proposed Amendments to the Rules of Practice and Procedure for Domestic Violence Civil Proceedings, Rules 4 and 11. The contact person is the Deputy Clerk, Edythe Nash Gaiser, her contact information is as follows:  phone no. 304-558-2601 and email address:  Edythe.Nash@courtswv.gov

SAVE THE DATE

Court-Approved GAL Training-Trainings for guardians ad litem (GALs) in family court and child abuse/neglect cases will take place onNovember 14, 2012, at the Charleston Marriott and November 16, 2012, at the Waterfront Place Hotel in Morgantown.  Sponsored by the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia, the trainings will meet the new guidelines for family court GALs under the Rules of Practice and Procedure for Family Court, as well as the new training requirement for child abuse/neglect GALs/children’s attorneys under W.Va. Code §49-6-2(a).  Registration information will be available this summer.