The American Medical Association, American Dental Association and American Veterinary Medical Association have jointly written to Federal Trade Commission members asking that health professionals be excluded from the Red Flags rule. The rule requires many businesses, including health care organizations, to take specific steps to minimize identity theft. These steps include identifying suspicious activity involving Social Security numbers, credit reports and other identifying information. This would involve new policies and procedures, and likely implementation of new data security and regulatory compliance software products. … ‘We are writing to you and to each member of the Federal Trade Commission in our capacities as President or Chief Executive Officer of the American Dental Association, the American Medical Association, the American Osteopathic Association, and the American Veterinary Medical Association. Together, our four organizations represent hundreds of thousands of licensed health care professionals (LHCPs) who would be subject to the Commission’s Red Flags Rule (the Rule), 16 C.F.R., sec. 681, if the Rule is extended to LHCPs who accept payment after their services have been rendered. We are writing to request that the Commission make clear that, in light of the decision in American Bar Association v. FTC (D.D.C. No. 09-1636 (RBW)) (the ABA litigation), the Rule will not be applied to such professionals.’

Gary Marchant, Executive Director of the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law’s Center for Law, Science & Innovation and Lincoln Professor of Emerging Technologies, Law and Ethics, will address a meeting of the American Bar Association, Jan. 28-30 in Colorado. Marchant will participate in a plenary session, “Role of Human Genome and Genetic Testing in Toxic and Mass Torts Litigation,” at the ABA Section of Litigation’s Environmental, Mass Torts and Products Liability Litigation Committee’s Joint CLE Seminar.

The city sued an Oakland company Thursday in Superior Court, alleging the firm ripped off immigrant families by fraudulently representing itself as a service to help people seeking legal residency in the United States. Oakland-based American Legal Services cost families “many thousands of dollars” and, in some cases, “prejudiced their clients’ opportunities for immigration status,” the city said. … Attorneys say the popularity of such consultants in Spanish-speaking communities sometimes stems from confusion about the job title known as ‘notario publico,’ which in some Latin American countries signifies a person who can help with travel or immigration documents. ‘They can, in some Latin American countries, properly give immigration advice,’ said Karen Grisez, who chairs the immigration commission at the American Bar Association.

Critics say it cannot be done. A lackluster law school plagued by dismal bar exam passing rates will not be able to attract students good enough to help it gain national accreditation. Add to that a commitment to educate the underprivileged, often students with less than stellar academic records, and it becomes mission impossible. But as the University of Massachusetts contemplates undertaking this very challenge, a public law school in Washington, D.C., provides the state with a blueprint for how a school in dire straits can, with years of careful attention, vastly improve its quality while maintaining its focus on the underserved. … Massachusetts officials hope the UMass story unfolds like UDC’s. The American Bar Association granted the UDC law school full accreditation in 2005, a full decade after the once-private law school merged with the public university system.

Iowa’s highest court is seeking public input on a revised proposal of the code of ethics for Iowa judges and magistrates. Individuals and organizations have until March 19 to comment on the Iowa Supreme Court’s Jan. 19 proposal to revise the Iowa Code of Judicial Conduct. This proposal is substantially similar to the American Bar Association’s 2007 Model Code of Judicial Conduct. However, the Iowa proposal includes some modifications tailored for certain requirements specific to Iowa judges such as merit selection and retention, election procedures and Iowa’s gift and election laws, said Court Communications Officer Steve Davis.

Earlier this month, Mark Greenbaum penned a blistering op-ed in the Los Angeles Times, blasting the American Bar Association for not exercising greater regulatory control over law schools. Obviously, I’ve been publicly begging the ABA to do something about the proliferation of new law schools and new law students, hoping against hope that lawyers would be afforded the same kind of professional protection that doctors enjoy. … Here’s the opening to [ABA President Carolyn B. Lamm’s] full-throated defense of the ABA: To the Editor: You published a recent opinion piece by Mark Greenbaum. His analysis is premised on incorrect facts from which he draws flawed conclusions. … Lamm further explained to ATL that the ABA is looking into whether or not it needs to do more to keep law schools honest about the employment prospects of their graduates.

For Roscoe Campbell, his family’s quest for asylum in this country has been a ‘long and rough road, mentally, physically and financially.’ But years of fearing deportation when any stranger rang their doorbell or stopped them on the street ended this month with a remarkable and rare turnaround by the Board of Immigration Appeals. … Marks said her union’s concern with OPR proceedings stem from the Justice Department’s position that immigration judges are attorney-employees, not judicial officers. ‘Immigration judges welcome transparency into our conduct,’ she said. ‘The proper standards to evaluate judicial performance as well as discipline are not being implemented by the department because immigration judges are treated as attorneys, not as judges. We think the proper standards are the American Bar Association’s model code of judicial conduct.’ The department proposed a code of conduct for immigration judges three years ago — not the ABA model code. It has not gone into effect and is the subject of negotiations with the judges’ union.

Just returned from a conference in San Antonio sponsored by the American Bar Association’s Section on Taxation.  I attended this conference to learn more about plans the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the IRS have going forward in their anti-offshore vendetta, and how the financial institutions and nations affected by it are likely to react. While I was there, I attended briefings in which high-level officials from these agencies participated.  Among them was Victor Song, Deputy Chief of the IRS Criminal Investigation Division and Jeffrey A. Neiman, Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida.  I also heard a presentation from Thierry Boitelle, a tax partner with the Altenburger law firm in Geneva, Switzerland.

On Friday, 450 of you (mostly women, and a few brave men) joined us at Sequoia for our second “Where Do Women Stand?” event, and heard from five of DC’s most distinguished female professionals about what it takes to flourish in today’s workplace. ABA prez Carolyn Lamm, who’s headed to Paris this week for White & Case’s annual partners meeting, tells us there’s a major ABA study due out next month on the status of women in the legal profession. She says at least one of the findings—that women tend to be more self-critical than men, who seem to instinctively self-promote and encourage each other—may be familiar to soccer moms like herself. “If my son misses a goal, his teammates come pat him on the back.” This peculiar male tendency to promote those who have made mistakes, panelists agreed, is prevalent in the workplace too. Especially in the workplace for sports team owners, one quipped.

John Jason Mings committed suicide last Monday according to police findings released to the public.  … The American Bar Association provides resources and assistance to lawyers struggling with depression, alcoholism, stress and other emotional health issues. The National Suicide Prevention Hotline (1-800-273-TALK) is also available 24/7 to anyone in an emotional crisis and/or contemplating suicide.

The search for president-elect Teresa A. Sullivan — who will succeed John T. Casteen, III and become the eighth president in University history — began with questions not only from students, faculty and staff, but also from senior administrators at private and public universities nationwide. … Her renown as a scholar also impressed faculty, who, in a report to the search committee prior to Sullivan’s selection, said the University needed a president with “substantial academic credentials” and a “close acquaintance with the rigors of building and sustaining academic research programs.” In addition to her career as an administrator, Sullivan has written six books, several journal articles and is internationally recognized as a scholar in labor force demography. She also won the prestigious Silver Gavel Award from the American Bar Association for her book, As We Forgive Our Debtors: Bankruptcy and Consumer Credit in America.

… But the law provided relief only for 2009. If Congress doesn’t take additional action this year, the number of taxpayers caught in the AMT’s highly complex web for 2010 will soar. Most tax experts I have spoken with predict that Congress will pass additional relief for 2010. Failure to do so would mean a sharp increase in the number of AMT victims during an important election year. That would amount to political suicide for incumbents. The AMT’s origins date back to the late 1960s. It was designed to make sure a small number of very wealthy people couldn’t escape paying any federal income tax. Over the years, however, the AMT has grown rapidly and now affects many not-so-wealthy individuals who weren’t supposed to be targets. Influential organizations, such as the American Bar Association tax section, have sharply criticized the AMT as grossly unfair and inordinately complex. They have urged Congress to eliminate the AMT entirely. But that’s not likely to happen any time soon because the tax now generates huge amounts of revenue each year. The AMT operates as a parallel system to the regular tax system, but with many different rules.