CLE For Poll Workers

  • Law
  • Jason Frierson, first African-American U.S. attorney for Nevada wants to “open the door” for others. [RJ]
  • Nevada to receive over $4 million following opioid settlement. [News3LV]
  • Two lawyers, Nevada Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar and AG Aaron Ford, opine that Nevada lawyers should get CLE credits for volunteering to be poll workers. [Las Vegas Sun]
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Anonymous
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Anonymous
February 5, 2024 9:47 am

If CLE is about keeping us competent, then there shouldn’t be waivers for community service. I say this as a person who has received 4 CLE hours per year for many years for volunteering through LACSN. If CLE doesn’t help us remain competent, it should be abolished or reformed. But giving people CLE credit for poll watching or doing pro bono work is garbage.

Anonymous
Guest
Anonymous
February 5, 2024 9:50 am

Mandatory CLE is a joke, more lipstick on a pig. Good lawyers stay competent by choice and bad lawyers can’t be helped by CLE anyway. Ford coming up with this idea does not surprise me, considering how poorly he runs his office. I want CLE credit for navigating traffic at Costco.

anonymous
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anonymous
February 5, 2024 2:11 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

CLE is kind of a joke. I’d replace the whole thing with a required annual four hour refresher on significant new caselaw, rule changes, legislative changes, etc. Maybe six or seven hours in a legislative year. Leave it at that.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
February 5, 2024 2:43 pm
Reply to  anonymous

Exactly – a four hour annual refresher on a combination of bankruptcy creditor rights litigation, changes in patent law, updates on veterans rights in custody disputes and federal law updates on veterans pension allocation in divorces, updates on changes in trademark law etc. OR…. recognize that there are disparate areas of law and having the attorney choose what they want to get updates on is probably more beneficial.

anonymous
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anonymous
February 5, 2024 4:01 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

2:11 here – yes have different breakout sessions depending on one’s area of practice.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
February 5, 2024 4:37 pm
Reply to  anonymous

@2:43p here – how exactly is that any different than the CLE’s we’re doing now? Is it that it’s four hours at one time in person, or Zoom (RIP shitty Bluejeans) and one becomes a captive audience for the four one hour sessions and breakout sessions?

Anonymous
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Anonymous
February 5, 2024 5:38 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

It is a joke if you start the CLE, turn the volume way down, minimize the screen, and do something else while it is running. We are professionals, take responsibility to learn something that interests you.

Anonymous
Guest
Anonymous
February 5, 2024 10:16 am

I recall being urged to volunteer as a poll watcher in one of the more tame electoral cycles. While they probably need a better carrot to entice the watchers this isn’t it.

Anonymous
Guest
Anonymous
February 5, 2024 10:25 am

Why not provide an actual CLE on election law/poll watching for credit, and then additional CLE credit for volunteering as a poll worker?

Anonymous
Guest
Anonymous
February 5, 2024 1:19 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

In the past when I’ve volunteered, that was the case. It was years ago though so maybe something has changed.

Anonymous
Guest
Anonymous
February 5, 2024 5:39 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

Would that include learning how to double count votes?

Anonymous
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Anonymous
February 5, 2024 2:17 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

I tried to get casinos to stop letting an addicted family member of mine gamble and they told me that the person in question has to request it themselves. I know it isn’t a very Vegas take, but I despise gambling.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
February 5, 2024 4:00 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

I tried to get whirehouse to stop letting me go there for free but the workers said I was too good and refused.

Anonymous
Guest
Anonymous
February 5, 2024 1:53 pm

Wanna talk garbage, I attended a CLE at the Legal Aid of Southern Nevada and once the CLE program was done, they informed me that they would not give me the CLE credits unless I signed up to take a case.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
February 5, 2024 2:06 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

Legal Aid of Southern Nevada–CLE then you need to take case. This is because the attorneys at Legal Aid don’t do legal work or take cases. What do they do? Many are not even licensed in Nevada but have special “C”bar numbers.

anonymous
Guest
anonymous
February 5, 2024 2:17 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

Nothing is free. I would be surprised if this was not disclosed up front in some fashion.

Anonymous
Guest
Anonymous
February 5, 2024 2:30 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

Come on. LACSN tells you up front that their free CLEs require taking a case. Stop acting like you were bait and switched.

Anonymous
Guest
Anonymous
February 5, 2024 2:48 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

Complaining about being asked to do something minimal, but meaningful (Pro Bono work), in exchange for something valuable (CLE), is embarrassing/shameful. Cue the “but that’s not the point…” The mantra of the cheap and tacky.

Anonymous
Guest
Anonymous
February 5, 2024 3:03 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

GTFOH. Pro bono orgs are the bureaucracy that raises and takes millions of dollars and accomplishes very little in terms of public good. I have no shortage of persons that actually need pro bono work coming to my door. Usually in the form of a referral from someone I trust and like.

I evaluate them, their case and their need and it usually does not take any longer than a paid consult.

I take the case without charge, get the fees from them, if they can afford it or pay them myself and away we go. Some of the most satisfying cases in my 20+ years have been these cases and I typically run 300 hours a year happily working on them.

I don’t need or want the BS that comes with taking a case from some org that only peripherally helps the marginalized and then jets off to DC to meet in the White House.

Fuck that and fuck you for bilking our community and our government (our tax dollars) out of millions of dollars for your virtue signaling BS that serves no one except your resume. Public interest my ass. . . . .

Anonymous
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Anonymous
February 5, 2024 3:17 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

Legal Services Bureaucracy-There was a thread recently that our bar dues goes to support Legal Services and their bloated organization. Try sending a client to them that needs help. Have sent many clients there over the years and not one got any kind of help whatsoever. This is with Legal Services funneling the cases to real lawyers who agree to take cases and not their staff attorneys. WTF

Anonymous
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Anonymous
February 5, 2024 3:52 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

That thread basically was a red herring. The OP said SBN funds LACSN, then said well look at the DEI Grant that SBN gave to LACSN. The notion that SBN is funding the LACSN bureaucracy with your bar dues is not true.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
February 5, 2024 6:22 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

What is the source of the money for the SBN IDEA Grants? And your source for that information? Thanks.

Anonymous
Guest
Anonymous
February 5, 2024 7:40 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

And what percentage of the “Legal Services Bureaucracy” do you believe was funded by IDEA Grants (and your source of the information)? Thanks.

Anonymous
Guest
Anonymous
February 5, 2024 3:11 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

The lawyer gets “for free” a CLE that is worth, what, $150?, and LACSN gets from the private attorney free labor worth 10x? 100X? in exchange. Then uses that private attorney’s work, and the work of other private attorneys, to go get more subsidizing for its empire.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
February 5, 2024 3:19 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

LACSN lives off of stolen money. Every dollar of interest on IOLTA accounts that goes to the Bar Foundation is money taken from clients.

That said, this wasn’t a bait and switch.

Anonymous
Guest
Anonymous
February 5, 2024 5:09 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

I am happy that IOLTA steals a tiny amount of money from my clients — the accounting work to allocate and pay each client his share of the interest earned on my trust account would be a nightmare.

Anonymous
Guest
Anonymous
February 5, 2024 3:01 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

Want to talk garbage? Sign up for a CLE by a legal service organization that says that it is free so long as you take a case, accepting the benefit and then declining to fulfill your part.

Anonymous
Guest
Anonymous
February 5, 2024 3:14 pm

Who do you all recommend for immigration cases? It does not seem like there is a dearth of information on reputable practitioners online.

Anonymous
Guest
Anonymous
February 5, 2024 4:09 pm

Good thread! I agree with maybe half the comments but it’s a worthy discussion. And btw, I’ve been a precinct walker and poll watcher for at least the last 5 presidential elections. it’s got nothing to do with being a lawyer.

Anonymous
Guest
Anonymous
February 6, 2024 8:32 am

Did Hutchison & Steffen buy out Jolley Urga?

Anonymous
Guest
Anonymous
February 6, 2024 10:00 am

Something something no criminal immunity. We’d have problems if not!

Anonymous
Guest
Anonymous
February 6, 2024 10:11 am
Reply to  Anonymous

So you are saying he is a criminal…

Anonymous
Guest
Anonymous
February 6, 2024 10:27 am
Reply to  Anonymous

I think that’s for a jury to decide.

But if you want my unsolicited, internet blog commentator opinion, it doesn’t look great for this guy.