Ex-CTLawyer

@funnybone
It is highly unusual for a client to have to wait for me. Unlike a physician, most of my client contact is by phone, email, fax, etc.
Should a client have a short wait before being shown into my office (generally caused by my doing something to facilitate the meeting) the client would be offered coffee, cake, a cold drink or snack. I can’t remember the last time a client was made to wait more than 10 minutes for an office appointment with me.
BUT, unlike Mentsch1, I see less clients in the office in a week than he does in a typical afternoon. I’m far more likely to meet with associates, paralegals, investigators, accountants or other attorneys on my clients’ behalf than with the client during representation. There are many clients who I never see from retainer to resolution.

@Mentsch1
Thank you.
This discussion was important so that readers can see that we are operating businesses, even though we are deemed to be ‘professionals’ and that it is not a free market. Government can and does set rates.

@Mentsch1
Just a quick mention of what happened to me today (apropos of my last post).
Today I had jury duty at the local Superior Court. In CT, attorneys are not exempt and I am called every three years for the obligatory one day service, then if not chosen for a jury and free for the next 3 years.
I was sent as part of a group of 40 to be interviewed for selection to serve on a murder trial.
After discussing the case, the judge called us into the courtroom one by one for questioning (Voir Dire). Most prospective jurors were questioned for about 3 minutes. I was on the stand for over half an hour. The judge wanted me to serve, the prosecutor wanted me to serve, the defense attorney was forced to use a peremptory challenge to get rid of me.
As the judge thanked me for my time and dismissed me from jury service, he informed me that I could not leaver the courthouse, but had been assigned to represent an indigent minor child whose parents were in the family division in the final stages of a divorce.
So, I spent the entire afternoon providing free legal counsel…with the state determining I should work at a rate of ZERO dollars per hour.

הגר Hagar

BTW, if it’s not in the four coprners of the document, it doesn’t exist………………….

@DovidBT
As long as it does not violate state law (in Mass it would): If the restaurant or store posts that it does not accept cash and it is on the menu and/or the server lets you know before you place your order, it is legal.

they are offering to serve you a meal on their terms and you accept by placing your order…forming a meeting of the minds and a contract for goods/services.

@litvishechosid

You can solve your problem by using a DEBIT card. Your date/dining associates won’t think you are living on credit and you don’t have to carry bulky cash.

I don’t think one should be worried about ‘impressions’ made by how you pay the bill in an restaurant. Today, most legitimate business is done with plastic. In fact more and more goyische restaurants no longer accept cash. I read an article about this in the newspaper within the past month

When I was young and maintained an office in Manhattan, I had house charge accounts at the restaurants I frequented the most. The check would arrive, I’d take out my pen sign my name and a two digit number. That often made an impression.

RebYidd23….
I don’t have ‘fancy shmancy’ furniture. We buy the best we can afford and it lasts a lifetime or longer. That’s what I was taught by my great grandparents and grandparents, I sit typing this comment at my home office desk that my grandfather bought when he opened his Optometrist practice in 1926.
We have many family pieces that have passed down through the family. We often buy quality used items and reupholster or refinish them. I do not see the value in cheaply made products that don’t last a long time.
I recently reupholstered (me, not a shop) the seats on our dining room chairs. It’s probably the 4th time I’ve done so in 45 years of marriage. B”H I have the tools and ability. My father insisted that all his sons learn how to use hand tools and do basic, carpentry, plumbing, painting and electrical. We are not cliff dwellers, if you are going to own a house you should be able to do basic maintenance. Mrs. CTL was the granddaughter of a painter. He had only daughters and granddaughters..they all learned to paint, sheet rock and wallpaper.
The CTL main house has doubled in size since we bought it decades ago. All work was done by us and siblings except for those items such as framing, installing an in-ground pool and plumbing and electrical required to be done by a licensed person in order to get permits and COs.
B”H, I still get exercise mowing, my lawn , shoveling the snow and taking out the trash.
The only 2 pieces of furniture I might think fancy are ‘Ebony and Ivory’ our Black and White Grand Pianos. The Black we bought for our children to learn and play on. The White belonged to my late MIL and moved in with us when she did. She taught our children all to play.

@ZD
Your point about leaving rural areas for the cities is true among all European people, NOT just Jews. You write of the urban migration of the Industrial revolution of the 1800s.

@WTP
In the early 1900s Jewish farming colonies were established in NJ and CT for those Eastern European Jewish poor who managed to get to America. These were great failures because in general, except for keeping a few chickens for eggs and a kitchen garden, these village Jews were not farmers.

Joseph…………..
I don’t know that the vast majority of those killed in the Holocaust were ‘Frum’ Yidden. I believe the term Ero-traditional may be more appropriate. In most small town/village Eastern Europe there was only one style of shul/davening. People complied to a standard of religious living in public, but perhaps not in private or in thought.
There were many Jews in big cities who were not ‘frum’ who were carted off and killed.

Posting about the year 1700 in Eastery Europe, and when challenged relating a story from 1930s Lithuania is nonsense. You can’t extrapolate from Vilna in 1936 to a village in Galicia in 1700.

I won’t address your comments about the economics of yeshiva students in current day EY.

I do highly doubt your statement that hundreds of thousands of each million frum males in 1700s Eastern Europe were spending sizable portions of the day studying in stiebelach in their stetlach. I would suggest that most of them were toiling most of the day attempting to scratch out a living at their restricted means of employment.
I would challenge you to produce factual evidence to support your claim.

@mentsch1
Here in the country things are different.
No shows and cancellations with less than 24 hour notice are billed a fee (there are exceptions, such as being admitted to the hospital). Don’t pay the fee and chances are the doctor will drop you as a patient.

Unlike, some of the Frum enclaves often mentioned in the CR, the doctors here are not seeing a large number of Medicaid patients.

My time is money…that’s what attorney’s do, they bill time. I respect the doctor’s time as well. When booking an appointment I let the receptionist know if I need a brief or extended visit. The internist who is my primary care doctor does not see children. That speeds things up. Also, people who call and say they’ve just come down with a kronk are referred to the walk-in facility in the building, not told to come in and be squeezed in.

As far as your statement about costs, in this areas almost 50% of MDs have sold their practices to the area hospitals and are employees, not business owners. Excluding my dentist. all of my doctors are in practices now owned by two hospitals. This includes the concierge practice owned by Yale.

@lesschrumras
There are many occasions for ‘well doctor’ visits: Annual physical, Flu Shots, Eye Exam, every six month teeth cleaning, orthotic adjustment at the podiatrist.

Not every doctor visit is because one is sick.
In fact, I went on Monday to update certain vaccinations for travel to travel to southern Africa this month.

I agree that the time to meet your child’s prospective mate is during the dating period.
We met our children’s mates after the 2nd date and before the 4th. In all cases it was not a formal meeting of Mrs. CTL and I and the you young people in out living room…too stiff and uncomfortable for all involved.
We arranged for couple to attend a Sunday late afternoon BBQ or meal at our home that included other relatives and friends of the couple. In fact, to make it more comfortable we had our child ask the date to bring a few friends as possibles for our other children or invitees. We watched the social interaction of the young people as a whole and had limited but satisfying interaction with the target bride/groom.
This worked well for 4 of 5 children.
The other son in law was the child of friends and we had watched him grow up and didn’t require such a meeting.

@Yehudayona
Should Rubashkin be allowed to vote?
He would NOT qualify in Connecticut, as he still has to make restitution and is on supervised release.
He may qualify in NY, the rules are a bit more lenient.

What’s my opinion?
I have lobbied my state legislators to change the law to forbid granting voting rights to convicted felons.
I don’t care if they are Jews or Goyim

Voter registration requirements in the USA are left to the individual states as long as they do not violate the Voting Rights Act of 1965 as amended.

Different states have different rules. Some allow felons to vote from prison, some =never restore voting rights. Some require an individual to petition for restoration. Some base re-enfranchisement on the crime.

In Connecticut, as long as the felon has completed his/her sentence and parole requirements he/she may register to vote and paid all ordered fines and restitution.

This means that the CONVICTED FELON Mayor Joseph Ganim of Bridgeport, who was sent to prison for stealing the taxpayers’ money and taking payoffs, was able to become an elector (registered voter) and then run for and win election as Mayor of Bridgeport.

In the 1950s and 60s Mayor Rado of Naugatuck was convicted and jailed for voter fraud twice. Each time after release and satisfaction of terms of his conviction, he got his vote back and the voters returned this felon to office.

If your states lets convicted felons vote and you oppose it, lobby your state legislators to change the law

@WTP
Different laws in different states is exactly why we have separate Bar Exams for each state. One day National law is tested, day two, state law is tested.
I am admitted in CT, MA (where I went to Law School), NY and FL. I am old enough that after practicing in CT for 5 years, all I had to do was pay my fee to NY, drive to Albany and be sworn in. Nowadays, I’d have to take and pass the NYS Bar Exam. I took and passed the other exams. I am also admitted to the Federal Bar for my District.

That said, No one knows every law on the books in their state. Lawyers and Judges tend to keep up to speed on the areas of their practice. Otherwise they look things up or have clerks and paralegals research and report results. I was in court this morning with a Judge in Housing Session, Superior Court. He had just been transferred in after 5 years in the Family Law Division. In one 30 minute session, he stopped and referred to the Connecticut General Statutes (on line version) 4 times before rendering a decision.

@Shopping613
Back through the early 1970s, all public school students took a class in Civics while in Junior High School which covered this subject. MY OOT Day School/High School also taught it. OOT schools are far more likely to have a full half day of secular subjects. We constantly read articles on YWN of Yeshivos NOT teaching the government required secular classes, turning out graduates who are ignorant of necessary information to live in the greater world.

I have three Chinese Foreign Exchange students living in an apartment I own and attending private high school in the US. I mentor them. They all are taking a Government class which deals with the basics of the US legal system.

@ZD
There are only 14 states that recognize Common Law Marriage and in some of them it had to be established in the last century.
States That Recognize Common Law Marriage
Only a few states recognize common law marriages, and each has specific stipulations as to what relationships are included:

Alabama
Colorado
District of Columbia
Georgia (if created before 1/1/97)
Idaho (if created before 1/1/96)
Iowa
Kansas
Montana
New Hampshire (for inheritance purposes only)
Ohio (if created before 10/10/91)
Oklahoma (possibly only if created before 11/1/98. Oklahoma’s laws and court decisions may be in conflict about whether common law marriages formed in that state after 11/1/98 will be recognized.)
Pennsylvania (if created before 1/1/05)
Rhode Island
South Carolina
Texas
Utah

@WTP
The recipient of Social Security (and some pensions) has an obligation to notify SS of a change in marital status. The officiant of a Jewish Marriage marries them, having convinced them not to live in sin, telling them they don’t have to get a government issued marriage license (and record the completed document after the ceremony).
The officiant knew they were marrying and keeping it a secret form the government to continue receiving finds for which they are no longer eligible.

@Gadolhadorah
Why don’t you hear more of this?
In the USA, such a marriage might got total Social Security benefits received by the individuals, as well as cause the loss of other pension and insurance benefits.
A wife collecting on her husband’s Social Security benefits gets 50% of his check amount. When he passes away, she then gets 100% of the amount of his check as long as she is a widow. If she remarries, that increase is gone.
Many pensions have provisions to pay the surviving spouse as long as no remarriage occurs.
My father’s plan paid my mother’s health costs (above Medicare) as long as she did not remarry.
I’m a Family Law/Wills and Trust Attorney. Almost every trust we write had surviving spouse’s benefits end on remarriage so that the maker of the Trust can be sure his/her children/grandchildren get every penny set aside, not have any go to a second spouse or their children/grandchildren.

When people had no or little money it was different. Widowed seniors were married off to keep each other company, save on the cost of maintaining two homes for a single person, and give relief to the children and grandchildren..knowing that the widow/widower was not alone.

@AviK
#1 Depends on Jurisdiction
In many jurisdictions the judge makes the defendant rise and questions whether he/she agrees to the guilty pleas and understands the ramifications. If the defendant says no, the judge may refuse the plea. Judge can order a court psychiatric evaluation

#2 Morality is a set of beliefs, often personal or religion based. In US legal system Ethics are a set of rules that Attorneys and Judges must follow or be subject to sanctions.

#3 A judge in charging the jury will remind them that the attorney’s summation is NOT evidence, and has not been given under oath, subject to cross examination and penalties of perjury

Disclaimer Time:
I’m an attorney, but don’t practice criminal law.
That said there is much incorrect information in the above posts………………………..

@AviK the attorney was wrong to say this to the jury in the death penalty phase. If the client was truly legally insane, the please should have been not guilty because of insanity. Expert testimony and evidence would be entered during the trial to prove insanity. The words of the attorney in summation hold no authority, they may influence the jury, but are not authoritative

@yytz A client may not always fire his attorney, client needs judge’s permission during trial as it may cause delay. If the plea has been one of insanity then the judge may be loathe to allow client to make decisions like this.
The client’s mental health as a mitigating factor is brought in by expert testimony, NOT simply by an attorney’s statement which is not part of the trial required to be considered by the jury.

@Joseph
Morality is a religious question, Ethical is a legal standards question in American Jurisprudence. An attorney can not cause a danger to society to be lefty free in society, the trier of fact (judge and/or jury) does that. The Defense Attorney has the ethical responsibility to advocate his best for his client. The Prosecuting Attorney should be trying to keep people whop are dangers to society off the streets.

@groissechuchum

“bar mitzvah lessons (parsha and haftorah) are typically $65 for 35 min once a week for a year before the bar mitzvah = approx. $3k”

Maybe in your neighborhood, not in ours.
Bar Mitzvah lessons come along with synagogue dues, here in suburban CT. They are taught either by the shul Rabbi or Educational Director (the Talmud Torah principal who deals with the members who attend public or private non-Yeshiva schools). It is customary to give the teacher a $300-500 gift at the end of the teaching. Takes about 6 months twice a week for an hour. The initial Trop classes are held for all Bar Mitzvah boys in the shul as a group. Haftorah and leyning of the specific parsha is private.

Our grandsons’ day schools teach the trop to all 6th grade boys as part of regular classes.
In my day, one went to the local Hebrew Book Shop and bought a 78RPM record and the Parsha/Haftorah booklet for about $10 a set. The shul Shammos gave lessons Tuesday nights and Sunday afternoons for about $1 per lesson. My zeidy taught me and my sons. I have taught 2 of my grandsons , the others have been taught by my SILs’ fathers..they didn’t want a Litvak (Tayrah) pronunciation.

I do not like Blueberry Pie
I do not like berries in any shape or form
No Blueberries, Strawberries, Blackberries, Raspberries, Gooseberries, Huckleberries
I am an equal opportunity berry hater…no discrimination by color