COURT NEWS |
THE NEBRASKA JUDICIAL BRANCH WEB SITE IS NOW EASIER TO FIND. . .
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UPDATES TO JUDICIAL BRANCH
WEB SITE:
Judgment Interest
Rate (Updated in preparation of a change on 1/14/03)
http://court.nol.org/community/interestrate.ht
Court Holidays,
2003-2005 (Updated through 2005)
http://court.nol.org/library/hours.htm
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THE NEBRASKA SUPREME COURT WILL HEAR CASES AT THE UNL COLLEGE OF
LAW ON FEBRUARY 6, 2003
The Nebraska Supreme Court will travel to the University of Nebraska
College of Law to hear cases argued by local attorneys. The Court will
hear arguments in the McCollum Hall Auditorium in Lincoln on February
6 beginning at 9 a.m.
The Supreme Court courtroom is located in the State Capitol building
in Lincoln, but for educational purposes, the Court occasionally travels
to each of Nebraska's law schools.
The Supreme Court Justices are: Chief Justice John V. Hendry, Justice
John F. Wright, Justice William M. Connolly, Justice John M. Gerrard,
Justice Kenneth C. Stephan, Justice Michael McCormack, and Justice Lindsey
Miller-Lerman.
The Supreme Court's basic responsibilities are to hear appeals and
provide administrative leadership for the state judicial system. The
Supreme Court hears all appeals regarding the death penalty, the sentence
of life imprisonment, or cases where the constitutionality of a state
statute is challenged. Appeals are brought to the Supreme Court from
the Court of Appeals, district courts, county courts, juvenile courts,
Workers' Compensation Court, and administrative agencies.
A description of the cases that will be heard can be found on the Web
site of the Nebraska Judiciary at http://court.nol.org/call/sccasesummary.htm
The rules on media coverage of the Supreme Court can also be found through
the Court's Web site under the For the Press@ button.
UNL Contact Person:
Glenda Pierce
UNL College of Law
P O Box 830902
Lincoln, NE 68583-0902
472-8264
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NSBA NEWS |
UNIFORM TRUST CODE
The purpose of Legislative Resolution 367 is to study whether Nebraska
should enact the Uniform Trust Code as promulgated by the National Conference
of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws in 2000.
See the text of Comments and Recommendations For Enactment of a Nebraska
Uniform Trust Code. The document contains the Uniform Trust Code (2000),
commentary of the National Commissioners on Uniform State Laws, and
a section by section Nebraska analysis pursuant to Legislative Study
Resolution 367 (2002). Comments on the proposed legislation can be sent
to trustcode@unl.edu for further
consideration by the study group and the Nebraska Legislature.
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SALES TAX ON LEGAL SERVICES
The Unicameral began its session on January 8, 2003. The NSBA expects
that a bill to impose a sales tax on professional services will be introduced.
The NSBA Legislation Committee will meet in late January to review this
legislation, along with many other bills affecting the administration
of justice. The House of Delegates, meeting on January 31, will determine
the NSBA's position on sales tax on legal services. In 2001, a bill
was introduced to impose the sales tax. The NSBA opposed LB841. Dean
Patrick Borchers of Creighton University Law School testified in opposition
to the imposition of sales tax on legal services. We have reproduced
his remarks to give you information on this important topic.
Following Dean Borchers' statement is the NSBA Legislative Contact
Form. If you are interested in becoming a contact person for your Senator,
please complete and return to form to NSBA's Legislative Counsel, William
J. Mueller.
Testimony of Dean Patrick J. Borchers Regarding LB 841
Revenue Committee of the Nebraska State Legislature
February 21, 2001
Hon. Chairman Wickersham and Committee Members:
I submit this testimony in opposition to that portion of LB 841 that
would impose a tax on legal services. Though I do not doubt the good
intentions of the bill's author, I believe that imposition of such a
tax would work disastrous results.
I am the Dean of the Creighton University School of Law. Creighton
operates the Milton R. Abrahams Legal Clinic, which provides free legal
services to low?income residents of Douglas County. Last year the Abrahams
Clinic was contacted by over 1200 prospective clients, all of whom received
at least some legal advice. Of those, about 120 were actually taken
on by the Abrahams Clinic for representation in a wide variety of matters,
including landlord?tenant disputes, family and custody issues and housing
discrimination complaints. This huge volume is testimony to the fact
that many cannot afford legal representation. The net effect of LB 841
will be, however, to make legal services in Nebraska more expensive,
and thus price these services beyond the reach of even more of our citizens.
When one considers that most of our counties do not have a privately
funded resource like the Abrahams Clinic, it seems inevitable that taxation
of legal services will work serious hardships throughout the state.
The bill would also have many other unhappy consequences, some of which
could prove quite damaging to our state. For the most part, legal services
for large business transactions will escape taxation. An out?of?state
company that needs, for example, a corporate reorganization will be
able to avoid the tax simply by dealing with a firm in another state
that does not impose such a tax. In fact, even Nebraska clients in need
of legal services will often be able to avoid the tax by routing it
to out?of?state law firms. In Quill Corp. v. North Dakota, 504 U.S.
298 (1992), the United States Supreme Court ruled that taxes of this
kind cannot be collected from out?of?state businesses that do not have
a "substantial nexus" with the taxing state; merely having
in?state customers does not qualify as a "substantial nexus."
Thus, the only constitutional manner in which such a tax could be collected
is by attempting to impose what amounts to a "use tax" on
every potential Nebraska client ? a nearly impossible undertaking.
The result will be that the burden of the tax will be felt mainly by
those clients of relatively modest means who have a need for local legal
services and cannot reasonably obtain access to services in another
state. Thus, a resident of Grand Island who needs an estate plan or
a resident of Chadron who needs family law services will feel the full
brunt of the tax in the form of an increased bill. A large company in
need of municipal finance advice will, however, be able to easily avoid
the tax by routing its legal business to Kansas City, Des Moines or
Denver. The net result will be that much of the sophisticated legal
work in our state will dry up, and along with it the legal expertise
often necessary for business development. Without a base of sophisticated
legal work in the state, the attractiveness of both of the state's law
schools will diminish in favor of schools in areas that have climates
favorable to such work.
The bill seems to me to have other problems, which I will endeavor
to address in brief. If enacted into law it seems obviously vulnerable
to constitutional challenge. As written, the bill would tax "gross
receipts for providing services
including the "gross income received for ... [l]egal services."
This does not specify what nexus the legal services must have with the
state and thus would be invalid under the "substantial nexus"
test mandated by the United States Supreme Court. One can imagine an
almost infinite number of troubling questions in that vein. For example,
if a Nebraska lawyer, admitted to practice in more than one state, consults
on out?of-state litigation for an out?of?state client, is that a "legal
service" within the meaning of the bill? If it is, it may lack
the "substantial nexus" necessary to pass the Supreme Court's
test. Are paralegal services covered? Are the salaries paid to in?house
lawyers "legal services" within the meaning of the bill? If
so, does it cover the time that in?house lawyers spend performing non?legal
tasks? Are Nebraska attorneys admitted in other states to be taxed when
they represent clients in those other states?
For these reasons, I respectfully request that the bill be amended
to delete legal services from the ambit of any taxation of services.
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MARKETING LAW ONLINE
From the solos to the big guns, lawyers are establishing themselves
on the Internet. The Web is a critical marketing tool for lawyers --
and it levels the playing field for firms of all sizes when it comes
to drumming up business. The best firm Web sites are user-friendly and
dynamic. But beyond their Web sites, firms are using e-mail newsletters
and online seminars to really sell themselves.
Read full text
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CLE UPDATES |
Dakota & Woodbury Counties
Joint Bar Association Meeting
Northeastern Nebraskans and Northwestern Iowans! The Dakota and Woodbury
County Bar Association Meeting is planning a special event for February
20th, including 2 1/2 hours of CLE - Immigration, Notice Pleading and
Everyday Ethics. Accredited in Iowa.
Click here for registration form and fax back to 402-475-7098.
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2003 ESTATE PLANNING & PROBATE SEMINAR
The 2003 Estate Planning & Probate seminar on March 14th will include
topics on tax, trusts, ethical issues, recent developments and more.
You won't want to miss this program. Accredited in Iowa.
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YOUNG LAWYERS SEMINAR
The Young Lawyers Section Practice Seminar is March 21, 2003. Plan to
attend this program for important practical update information on visitation,
appeals, ex-parte communications, attorneys fees, electronic filing
and more!
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NCLE'S MASTERS OF EDUCATION 2003
Are you interested in presenting or planning a CLE event? Then plan
on attending "Andragogy v. Pedagogy" - a free two hour seminar
that will get you on the right path to becoming a "Master"
of (CLE) Education!
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UPDATED CIVIL PRACTICE MANUAL
New Publication: Updated and Revised Practice Manual. Special Offer for
this and related materials.
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RESOURCES |
NELAWEXPRESS
The NELawExpress brings customized advance sheet summaries via e-mail
of recent decisions from the Nebraska Supreme Court, the Nebraska Court
of Appeals and the U.S. District Court for the District of Nebraska.
The site also includes quicklinks which provide attorneys the opportunity
to see at a glance the areas of practice that are affected by the cases
summarized in each edition.
If we don't have your e-mail address and you would like to subscribe
at no cost, contact Sam Clinch
For access to all past NELawExpress e-journals, refer to the NELawExpress
index.
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CASEMAKERTIP™ #1: HOW TO GET TO CASEMAKER™ FASTER.
How? Log on the NSBA website and access Casemaker™ through the
link provided. Work your way through the boilerplate pages(reading them
carefully, of course) until you reach the page where you log in to Casemaker™
by entering your NSBA ID number and password. Depending on your web
browser you can make the that page a 'favorite' place or 'bookmark'
it. The next time you want to go to Casemaker™ you just need to
begin with the favorite place or bookmark.
In the alternative, you(or your local computer geek) could also make
that Casemaker™ page your browser's home page, that's the page
which appears first when you launch your browser, and therefore eliminate
another couple of steps.
Although it would be convenient you cannot successfully bookmark the
Library Contents page. You will need to log in with your password each
time.
Doug Kluender
dkluender@law7000.com
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CASEMAKER
Casemaker is an online legal research system that permits search and
browse functions for legal research through the Internet. Thus far,
in addition to Nebraska, Ohio, Oregon, Connecticut, Idaho, Indiana,
Massachusetts, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Rhode Island and Vermont
belong to the consortium. Currently, Nebraska, Ohio, Connecticut, Massachusetts
and North Carolina are online with the others coming up in the next
few months.
CASEMAKER ONLINE DEMONSTRATION!
Check out the
on-line demonstration of Casemaker before using it.
Frequently asked questions
about Casemaker.
Print
out a "cheat sheet" of searches in Casemaker.
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NEBRASKA LAWYERS ASSISTANCE PROGRAM
NLAP was created in 1995 by the NSBA; and the director and volunteers
of NLAP, who are members of the NSBA's Committee on the Nebraska Lawyers
Assistance Program, know the problems faced by their impaired colleagues
and how to help overcome these problems.
Because of the sensitive nature of addiction and psycho- logical problems,
lawyers who may be in need of help are often very reluctant to seek
it. Recognizing this concern and in order to foster early and confidential
contact with NLAP and its volunteers, the Supreme Court of Nebraska
adopted DR 4-101(E) as part of the Code of Professional Responsibility.
DR 4-101(E) provides that the relationship between a member of the Committee
and/or the NLAP Director and a lawyer or judge who seeks or receives
assistance through the Committee or NLAP shall be the same as that of
attorney and client for the purposes of the application of DR 1-103,
DR 4-101 and DR 7-102(B).
The foundation of NLAP is a network of judges and lawyers throughout
the state of Nebraska who are themselves recovering from alcohol and
other drug addiction, psychological problems, and impairment caused
by other conditions. The NLAP director and these volunteers stand ready
to assist their colleagues in all areas of their recovery.
For Additional Information Call the NLAP Toll-Free Hotline 24hrs, 7
days a week at (888) 584-6527 (NLAP)
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