Ethics Committee

ABI Committee News

ABI’s 26th Annual Spring Meeting: Committee Educational Session

ABI's 26th Annual Spring Meeting, the networking and CLE event of 2008, will be held April 3-6 at Washington, D.C.'s Renaissance Hotel in the Nation's Capital! Join us during cherry blossom season for exciting and informative sessions, including a luncheon keynote by Supreme Court Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr.

The Ethics Committee will meet jointly with the Real Estate Committee on Saturday, April 5, from 8:00 to 9:30 a.m. and present a program entitled: "A Failure of Proof? The Mortgage Industry at a Crossroads."

The panelists will be Honorable Cecelia G. Morris, United States Bankruptcy Judge for the Southern District of New York; Mary Daffin, Esq., of Barrett Burke Wilson Castle Daffin & Frappier, LLP, Houston, Texas; and Ronda Winnecour, Chapter 13 Standing Trustee (W.D. Pa.) Pittsburgh, PA.

The program will be moderated by Real Estate Committee Co-Chair, Alec P. Ostrow, Esq., of Stevens & Lee, PC, New York. The discussion will embrace topical issues involving the sub-prime mortgage crisis, the clash between mortgagees and consumer debtors in bankruptcy court, and what happens when the lender's records are not in proper order. A stimulating discussion is predicted.

 

Swords to Plowshares: Let Us War No More

Written by: H. Kent Aguillard
Hoychick & Aguillard LLP; Eunice, La.

Cases—like seasons—come and go. What remains is the indelible mark left by the professional footprint of counsel. Long after the mediation is concluded, the plan confirmed, the jury discharged, the defendant sentenced, the loan closed, the adoption granted and file retired, there will remain both intended and unintended impressions and appreciations of the parties and their counsel.

A reputation is easier kept than recovered. In this truism is embodied the whole of the lawyer’s foundation from which to ply his trade. The reputation of the lawyer will define and even dominate the nature of his practice. While character can be defined as what one stands for, reputation can be defined as what one falls for. This is never truer as it is in the modalities and methods employed in advancing the interests of one’s client. In a phrase, “even a child is known by his doings.”

Read the full article.