Class Actions in Kentucky

If intrigued by legal history or if you wish a fuller context behind Civil Rule 23, check out this post. If neither of the above apply, beware of death by boredom (the ultimate weapon in a lawyer’s arsenal)! Stan Billingsley has been bringing Kentucky’s CR 23 to the forefront recently with this editorial.

Happy Valentines

I don’t understand why Cupid was chosen to represent Valentine’s Day.
When I think about romance, the last thing on my mind is a short, chubby
toddler coming at me with a weapon.

~Author Unknown

Thanks Joyce Maughan

Exactly!

I can’t say it any better so I will simply qoute the Greatest American Lawyer:

One of the hazards of our profession is more subtle. Many lawyers are so desensitized by the fact that they have to take “positions” in court on behalf of their clients that they forget to determine whether those positions are in fact reasonable. We have all been there. You end up in case and the facts go sideways. You have to protect your client’s interest in court and you take a position. The judge rules against you, you lose and go on with your life. But I think many lawyers are so accustomed to taking unreasonable positions on behalf of their clients that they start taking unreasonable positions in life as well. And then, of course, there are those lawyers who could take reasonable positions, but have no ability to determine what is in fact reasonable. Their ability to sort good arguments from bad arguments is compromised by the fact that they get paid by the hour either way. There is no incentive for good strategy in a traditional hourly billing setting.

Sometimes good guys finish first!

Sorry for the absence - hopefully it was noticed! Last week involved a hearing in a rather intense custody battle and I have been digging out my desk these past days. My opponent inspired this prior post. True to his/her form, opposing counsel took every opportunity to mischaracaterize records admitted into evidence and statements of witnesses that had left the stand just minutes prior. It truly was a heroic effort at obfuscation on his/her part.

Thanks to God that the barrage of befuddlement fell on deaf ears. My client won the return of his/her child. I am truly sorry though that the child’s pet remains a hostage out of state making it clear that the other parent’s goal was more about revenge and control than about what was best for the child. This base aspect of family law a huge barrier to achieving justice. I’m just glad that it is not an insurmountable barrier because I believe justice was served in this matter and that those attorney’s who pander to pettiness often do not prevail.

Now, that’s creative!

I was greatly impressed by the ability of this guard at Guantanamo Bay to reframe conditions in solitary confinement camp 6. See the whole article here. Regardless of your point of view on the justice or lack thereof of the Guantanamo detainees, this guy exhibited true ingenuity.

This guard, in responding to allegations that the isolation of those prisoners is inhumane, stated, “It’s kind of like having their own apartment.”

This guy needs to be hired as a consultant on contract with the government once his tour of duty is up.

Government Contracting

I tried unsuccessfully to find a link to “Surge in Government Contracts Questioned” in todays Herald Leader. Briefly, the article says:

Competition, intended to produce savings, appears to have sharply eroded.

The most secret and politically delicate government jobs . . . are increasingly contracted out, despite regulations forbidding the outsourcing of “inherently governmental” work.

Agencies are crippled in their ability to seek low prices, supervise contractors and intervene . . . because the number of government workers . . . has remained level.

The most succesful contractors are not necessarily those doing the best work, but those that have mastered the skills of selling to Uncle Sam.

Contracting usually leads to less public scrutiny.

I don’t know - reducing government contracting would endanger one of the sweeter perks in life. While I was a gub’ment employee I knew one contractor that allegedly was making $80k to facilitate meetings by continually repeating what each person said and asking what others though about it. Now that was a SWEET job. I think its called consulting.

The state also tried contracting out child protection services for families involved in a particular program. The sweet thing about their job was that they could turn anything complicated back over to the state workers. Seemed like there was a lot of complications.

Improving Child Protection in Kentucky - Part 4

Here is the 4th recommendation from the Office of the Inspector General on improving services from the Cabinet for Health and Family Services.

In situations where parents are potentially threatening to social service workers, or deny entry to the social service worker, law enforcement should accompany the worker to assure the worker’s safety. Since law enforcement may assume protective custody of a child, without prior approval of the court, workers should be required to contact law enforcement and request verification of the safety of any children in a home, whenever a parent denies access to a social services worker, prior to the worker contacting the court for an ECO. Based on the fact that, once an ECO is issued, even if the worker, upon entry to the residence, determines conditions in the home are safe, they have no recourse but to remove the children. Contacting law enforcement first would prevent the unnecessary removal of children from a home simply because the parent denied the social service worker’s request for access. Further, it will eliminate the perception, whether accurate or not, that children removed in such cases are being removed by social service workers for the purpose of punishing the parent for originally denying access.

This was pretty much standard procedure in my county and it worked well. However, the Cabinet instituted a two track system for referrals during my tenure. Some low risk referrals were taken as family assessments that, on paper, were supposed to be voluntary for the families. This was contrasted with the dependency, neglect and abuse investigations which families had to participate in or at least face non-removal petitions to court order cooperation.

This second tier of Cabinet involvement seemed like a great way to engage in preventive services. Unfortunately, some beaurocrat decided that if a family said they did not want to participate, then that bumped the risk level up so it became a full blown investigation. So much for engaging families.

Even then I was mindful of the careful balance that needed to be maintained between interfering with a family to protect children and respecting the rights guaranteed us through the Constitution. Police officers are specifically trained to be mindful of where that balance point is; the lines that should not be crossed (and yes, sometimes that training is disregarded). Hopefully, this awareness of balancing rights and protection can be, or has been, integrated into social service training.

Humor - or is it? hmmm. . .

Here’s an excerpt from Anonymous Lawyer. I’ll let you decide if its humor or reality - perhaps both. Click here for the whole post.

Skill #1 [in law school] is learning to read the professors’ minds, just like they’ll have to read partners’ minds at the firm. Skill #2 is the busy-work that comes with journal work. Skill #3 is learning to tolerate the arbitrary relationship between effort, talent, and rewards. Grades are pretty close to random at law school, and praise at the firm is similarly pretty close to random. Skill #4 is the typing. So, still important, but not quite #1.