Pittsburgh Legal Newslog: Trimming the Fat from that Budget.

SUMMARY: Next time there is a budget impass, try forced starvation.

It amazed me as a child to learn that Mohandas Ghandhi (who was a lawyer, by the way) was able to bring the mighty British Empire to its knees by hunger strikes.

Governor Rendell lost 40 pounds during the budget negotiations, but he apparently was not emulating the Great Soul during those 101 days. If he had done so, there might not be a budget yet. After all, the Lt. Governor happens to be a Republican.

A better strategy would have been to lock the doors and starve the legislature. Nothing focuses the mind better than hunger.

CLT

Category: Uncategorized

The Importance of Being Nobel.

There were 205 nominees for the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize. Were there any obvious choices who were passed over?

Don’t all speak at once.

Okay. Here’s an idea for Literature next year: Salman Rushdie, possibly the greatest living novelist of the English language.

CLT

Category: Uncategorized

Waterbagging.

Posted by Cliff Tuttle

Do NOT try this at home.

CLT

Category: Uncategorized

Support Your Local What?

SUMMARY: We may have to take their money, but casinos shouldn’t ask us to give them our hearts.

I heard a radio commercial yesterday warning the public not to encourage the legislature to try to solve the Pennsylvania budget crisis by raising the tax on table games to a level that will make them unprofitable for casinos. Although we don’t have table games at Pennsylvania casinos yet, it seems inevitable that the authorization will come as part of a package of legislation that will finally enact a budget. The licensing fees, paid up front by casinos this year, will close the gap in 2009, with additional tax revenues coming from the casinos’ increased take in later years. Of course, we all know that casino patrons will pay a lot more than just the tax. But paying more tax directly is politically unacceptable. Inducing some of us to voluntarily pay the tax, plus a whole lot more — while not wildly popular — seems to be politically acceptable. And so, that is how things get done.

Pennsylvania casinos will soon have the full monty. Maybe it couldn’t have been avoided. We seem to have painted ourselves into a corner. But don’t ask us to love it.

That’s just what the commercial said, however. As closely as I can remember, the script ended with the immortal words:

“Support Your Local Casino.”

Give us a break!

CLT

Category: Uncategorized

Yes, There is a Lawyer Shortage.

SUMMARY: Mortgage foreclosure defense by competent lawyers is a critical need, but public funding of defense lawyers is probably not the answer.

The New York Times points out in an editorial that persons facing home foreclosure are usually unrepresented by counsel during this critical legal event. This is due, of course, to lack of money. The Times speaks of the social cost of turning people out of their homes and the personal hardship it brings. While true, there are usually sound economic reasons for a homeowner to defend a foreclosure. If there is substantial home equity, and many foreclosures follow years of regular payment, it represents a catastrophic financial loss that may be correctable.

The popular myth that the recent wave of foreclosures occurred primarily because greedy people bought homes they could not afford after adjustable rate mortgages brought inevitable high payments is simply not true. Every case is different and the stories in many cases will shock you. This crisis is largely the result of the rise of national lenders funded by real estate investment trusts (REITs). Community lenders, who did most home lending in the past, kept the foreclosure rate much lower, even during economic downturns. They did it by working out many cases before or in the early stages of foreclosure. Compared to the large national servicing companies of today, they did it quickly and cost-effectively. And most significantly, they had a personal relationship with their borrowers (who were usually depositors) and truly did not wish to see them fail.

REITs are not lenders, they are investors. They have all the power, but no relationship with the borrower. When a mortgage account reached the delinquency level, their protocols called for it to be shut down and liquidated. Period. Mortgage modifications, such as there have been, have come to this brave new world slowly, expensively and very ineffectively. Government programs encouraging such modifications, despite ballyhoo, have had very limited success. The only thing that is going to permanently change this sorry situation is for defendants in mortgage foreclosures stop being lambs and start being lions. This change, if and when happens, will be accomplished by individual lawyers who will work hard and long despite the fact that they are not being paid very well by their clients.

The Times recommends public funding of defense efforts or perhaps authorizing legal service lawyers to file class actions. But frankly, neither approach is likely to provide a real solution. Public funding has its limitations and usually falls short of what is needed to successfully complete the task. Individual lawyers who pursue cases with ingenuity and tenacity must provide the solution.

When it begins to be evident to the public, and it will, that mortgage foreclosures can be successfully defended under the right conditions, people facing foreclosure will seek out lawyers earlier and more often. There is some evidence that this is beginning to occur already. It is necessary for this change to occur for the good of the public and the profession.

Category: Uncategorized

Whining with the Best.

SUMMARY: The “Above the Law” column, “Notes From the Breadline” is running out of material. It is time for Breadline Lady to quit trying to get a job and go get a client.

“Above the Law”, puzzlingly the most read legal blog in America, reports endlessly on large law firm layoffs. There have been times when this topic has been 90% of the daily output of this tablog. (Tabloid blog. Yes, I just coined the word.)

So, it is not surprising that ATL also carries a stupid periodic column about being a laid-off lawyer called “Notes From the Breadline.”

This is not to speak disrespectfully of my brothers and sisters in the law who are suffering in the aftermath of a layoff. And I understand that some of us prefer to work for others. But there comes a time . . .

That time seems to have come for Roxanna St Thomas, the Breadline Lady. The latest installment speaks of waiting and waiting and waiting. Excuse me, but you are a lawyer. You can sell what you do directly to the consumer.

Or, here’s a thought, work for law firms on an a-la-carte basis. You don’t need fancy digs — home offices save clients money, you know. You already have a computer and a large network. Instead of sending out tweets saying “woe is me”, offer a blue light special on whatever it is you know how to do. After all, you are pretty well known, thanks to ATL.

If you need further encouragement, read Carolyn Elefant’s “My Shingle”.

We feel your pain, Breadline Lady. We’ve been there.

CLT

Category: Uncategorized

Goodbye to the Maven’s Maven.

It would not be proper to fail to mark the passing of William Safire. Among the many famous people who left this earth in 2009, he was arguably the smartest.

What a career! Presidential speechwriter. New York Times columnist and Pulitzer Prize winner. Author of fiction, non-fiction and tireless disector of our language. He could be pithy and funny at the same time.

Among his many books was a little-remembered novel published in 2000 called “Scandalmonger.” In it he drew word portraits of Jefferson, Hamilton and their contemporaries that were so vivid it seems as though he had known them, just as he had known presidents and other leaders of our age.

He was a contradiction that worked. Politically partisan but brutally frank, even when it hurt his own espoused causes. Scholarly but endlessly entertaining. Traditional but up-to-the-minute, even trendy. Safire could surprise you by knowing things you wouldn’t expect a Nixon Republican to know. He was endlessly curious and thoroughly analytical. And he wasn’t afraid to make very specific predictions and own up when he was wrong.

When he retired from the New York Times panel of Op Ed contributers, the paper added David Brooks as its nominal conservative. I say “added”, because William Safire could never be replaced. Never.

CLT

Category: Uncategorized

The Last Symbol.

Posted by Cliff Tuttle (c) 2009
With apologies to Dan Brown

Professor Robert Langdon, world famous Harvard symbologist, was summoned quite suddenly to Pittsburgh on the eve of the G-20, Summit. The list of protest sites announced in the media had been spooking County Executive Dan Onorato and particularly Mayor Ravenstahl — especially Petland at the Pittsburgh Village of East Side.

“What can this mean?”, the nervous Mayor anxiously implored the great symbologist.

As they pored over the list together, Langdon stated that the list was undoubtedly written in Code.

“Fine,” the impatient Onorato shot back, “what does it say?”

Patience,” replied Langdon.

After two hours on his lap top, Langdon announced that it was quantum code. As soon as you looked at it, it changed.

“Great,” said Ravenstahl. “Now we’ll never know.”

But Langdon continued to pore over the lists. At last he stated:”there will be a bridge, two bridges.”

“Oh, fine,” said Onorato. “That narrows it down.”

“I see something about dumpsters and broken glass, and oh, yuck!” Langdon stated.

“So what does it all signify?” asked the Mayor.

“I see sound and fury, signifying nothing,” replied Langdon.

After a long pause he added: “I see one more symbol in this code. A yellow towel with black writing. Something terrible!”

________________________

For a more conventional report on the G-20 doings on the outside:

Jurist, September 24, 2009.

CLT

Category: Uncategorized

Civility in the City of Brotherly Love.

SUMMARY: Make nice. Its ethical.

Shannon Duffy (a former legal-journalism colleague whom I would gladly invite to lunch when in Pittsburgh) wrote a piece in the Legal Intelligencer, the lawyer’s newspaper in Philadelphia, about a common story with an uncommon ending.

Two lawyers at a deposition let it become personal and started referring to each other by an unflattering epithet. However (here’s the unusual part), when the episode came to the attention of the judge, she sanctioned them to have lunch together. The idea was to restore some modicum of civility to the case. And, incidentally, the Rules of Professional Conduct direct lawyers to treat each other with courtesy and respect.

Every lawyer has encountered another practitioner who behaves himself like a [redacted]. (No ladies fit into this category, of course) Words like [redacted] and [redacted] are part of his everyday vocabulary. He intimidates his secretary, associates, children and anybody else whom he thinks he can with colorful but not very imaginative figures of speech.

Then it flows over to his professional demeanor. However, he takes care to keep it off the record. Eventually, he gets careless. On one fine day, his candid remarks are overheard by the wrong person or even spread on the official record. Then it is apology time.

This reminds me of a story, slightly off point, but not really. I was doing business with a lawyer from a government agency who sent a lot of mail. His secretary declared that he never read the letters he signed and set out to prove it. A long letter, addressed to my client, copy to me, ended with the memorable sentence: “Thank you for your time and consideration of this matter, a_________.”

He signed the letter. Everyone in the secretarial pool had a good laugh at his expense. Nobody noticed that the original and the copy to me went out in the mail. My client was angry and didn’t let it drop. The secretary, who was a single mother, was fired.

So, to all my brother lawyers who have ever called me a [redacted], an [redacted] or even a [redacted-redacted], either to my face or behind my back, I say:

Et cum spiritu tuo!

Now, go in peace.

CLT

Category: Uncategorized

Super-Regulator for Banking Institutions?

SUMMARY: Consolidating the four federal regulators into one super-regulator is a bad idea.

The New York Times reported today that Senator Christopher Dodd of Connecticut, Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, is proposing that four Federal regulators, including the Federal Reserve, the Office of Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Office of Thrift Supervision be consolidated into a super-regulator.

In practice, the four regulators often work in tandem, jointly issuing regulations. But each regulator is mindful of the special needs in its own bailiwick.

But there is one overpowering reason why this is a bad idea. The federal associations regulated by the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) are in the main much smaller than the national banks under the aegis of the Office of Comptroller of the Currency. One regulator means one style of regulation. Community Banks, especially those with good capital and fewer problem loans, do not need to bear the increased burden that is sure to follow such a change.

One size does not fit all.

CLT

Category: Uncategorized

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Welcome

CLIFF TUTTLE has been a Pennsylvania lawyer for over 45 years and (inter alia) is a real estate litigator and legal writer. The posts in this blog are intended to provide general information about legal topics of interest to lawyers and consumers with a Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania focus. However, this information does not constitute legal advice and there is no lawyer-client relationship created when you read this blog. You are encouraged to leave comments but be aware that posted comments can be read by others. If you wish to contact me in privacy, please use the Contact Form located immediately below this message. I will reply promptly and in strict confidence.

Pittsburgh Legal Back Talk

Legal topics of interest to lawyers and consumers with a Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania focus.

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Pittsburgh Legal Newslog: Trimming the Fat from that Budget.

The Importance of Being Nobel.

Waterbagging.

Support Your Local What?

Yes, There is a Lawyer Shortage.

Whining with the Best.

Goodbye to the Maven’s Maven.

The Last Symbol.

Civility in the City of Brotherly Love.

Super-Regulator for Banking Institutions?

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