October 1, 2016 Letters
Letters
Lawyers Under Pressure
Dr. Scott Weinstein’s “Lawyers Under Pressure” column in the September 1 News referring to the new attorney starting a practice and getting in over his or her head and the experienced attorney seeing the client flow and revenues decrease reminds me of the retired judge and law professor who said, “If you open your own office without having first worked in a law firm, you’ll be a menace to society,” and how we lawyers always quipped, “When it’s not fun anymore, we’ll quit practicing.”
Well, the legal profession hasn’t been fun for the past several years, with too many lawyers and established firms using paralegals to do what new attorneys used to do. Throw in the internet and Legal Zoom, which have pulled an end run around all lawyers, and Dr. Weinstein’s article should have been titled “The Eclipse and Decline of the Depressing Practice of Law.”
David P. Carter
Seminole
More to Offer
I commend the Board of Governors on its recent approval allowing inactive attorneys to act as emeritus attorneys. However, I believe something more needs to be done for senior members, and I agree with Wilson Wright’s recent letter in The Florida Bar News.
As a solo practitioner, practicing in a primarily retirement community and a senior active member of The Florida Bar (for almost 60 years), I feel that the Bar discriminates against senior solo practitioners by not giving due recognition to our needs and requirements to remain in active practice should we choose to do so.
Unlike the ABA, there is no reduced dues structure for senior members of the Bar. The cost and scheduling of many, if not most, of the CLE programs offered by the various sections of the Bar sometimes makes it difficult for attorneys like myself to attend in order to obtain enough hours to meet our CLE requirements.
I believe that something must be done to recognize our senior solo practitioners in order to retain them as active and responsible members of our legal community. I feel that we still have a great deal to offer to the legal profession here in the state of Florida, and perhaps beyond.
Allen J. Levin
Port Charlotte
