After War Whoop Tuesday, it has been literally hours since someone made an offensively stupid allegation about Elizabeth Warren in the Massachusetts Senate race.
Never fear, though – there’s an endless supply!
Cornell law professor William Jacobson alleges that Warren practiced law illegally in Massachusetts because, while she was a professor at Harvard, she provided legal advice to a New Jersey client in a bankruptcy case in the bankruptcy court for the District of New Jersey. Warren was licensed in New Jersey; she was not in Massachusetts.
Cornell law professor William Jacobson is a clown.
Here is how this works: you may practice law in any state in which you are licensed to practice. “Practice” means that you appear in courts of law and/or represent a client’s legal interests in that state. Physically being in state A and representing a client in state B counts as the practice of law in state B. This is why a lawyer on vacation can still get contacted by their supervising partner at 3 in the morning to prepare and file something from a completely different state. That and the smartphone you’re required to have.
This is the document Warren filed in the District of New Jersey:
GAF Bankruptcy – Elizabeth Warren Fee Applications
Note the difficult to read “District of New Jersey” at the top of the very first page, which is a strong indicator that New Jersey attorney Elizabeth Warren represented someone IN NEW JERSEY. This is open for debate, though, in that oh sweet merciful Jesus, it’s not.
Another small problem: even if Warren were somehow representing a client in Massachusetts federal court, an attorney simply has to motion for admission pro hac vice in order to be admitted for that particular case. How does pro hac vice work? Let’s write a short vignette!
JUDGE: Are you admitted to practice in Massachusetts?
ATTORNEY: No, but I’d like to move for pro hac vice admission.
JUDGE: You have a local attorney to move for you?
ATTORNEY: Yep.
LOCAL ATTORNEY: Yep.
JUDGE: Ballin’!
I have sat through many pro hac vice admissions. It is quite nearly the most efficient thing the federal government does. This means that Republicans will almost certainly try to pass laws requiring birth certificates for plaintiffs’ attorneys by this time next year.
The strangest thing about this isn’t that that Jacobson, a total hack, is trying to make a political issue out of this. The strangest thing is that Jacobson, a licensed attorney at one of the best law schools in the country, is making incredibly serious ethics charges against an attorney without understanding how federal courts work or asking a legal practice professor a basic question a 1L would know.
Through extensive internet research, I have discovered that Cornell’s mascot is a bear unofficially nicknamed “Touchdown.” Something something replacement ref joke. You make us sad, William Jacobson.
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Jacobson is no clown. He's a pro hac.
I guess we know what his vice is, or at least one of them.
Christ! Clever word play AND first out of the chute? I'm going back to bed.
I think I won't be asking this Cornell professor to represent me anytime soon – because I would like my lawyer to know something about the law.
Between this hac, Althouse and Reynolds, the future of the legal profession is clear: Go to plumbing school.
As Rick Santorum would say to you, "What a snob!"
Hell's bells, the last tenured law prof who actually knew how to practice as more than a helicopter consultant/savior died decades ago. Why do you think I'm getting a PhD – my near decade in practice means jack shit to academics.
Do you moonlight as Cornell's Touchdown bear?
No f'ing way. Bear mascots should either be real live specimens or goofy drunk versions with sweater vests, pants and gloves.
Jacobson is a "Associate Clinical Professor". The key here is "clinical". While it may also refer to his mental state,here it means long-term non-tenured, i.e. we pretend to pay and you pretend to help out with the teaching.
btw, summers here in Ithaca can be very nice, especially if they fall on a weekend.
What's he teaching at Cornell? Underwater basket weaving?
What we need here is a DOLA (Defense of Lawyers Act) in which states can retroactively decline the right of out-of-state licensed lawyers to perform any services in said state. The sanctity of Scott Brown's senate seat must be protected.
Stand Your Tort!
But wait a minute, Cornell is in New York. So isn't Jacobson illegally practicing law in Massachusetts, or New Jersey, or maybe both, by making this charge against Warren?
He's just a professor – no one actually thinks what they do is practicing law. (I wish I was kidding, but in the overwhelming number of states professors are exempt from passing the bar or doing continuing legal education as long as they don't actively practice in the state they teach in).
No, he's illegally teaching in New York.
(Well, it should be illegal to be this ignorant of the law if you're a law professor.)
It says "District of New Jersey", not "State of New Jersey" so until I see the long form and get an opinion from Sheriff Arapaio , I am sure this is a fraud. I mean just look at the font and those pixels.
If only more judges said "Ballin'!"
Agreed. Hell, I'd even settle for "Strokin'!"
Seriously. Sounds like those federal judges are a lot more laid back. I'm guessing it's the lifetime appointments.
She also took a poop on Plymouth Rock, and barfed up Sam Adams all over the steps of the North Church. But in New Jersey.
But who hasn't done that?
William Jacobson ought to practice law a little more until he gets it right.
Finally an actual example to demonstrate the "those who can, do; those who can't, teach" quip.
William Jacobson ought to practice law a little more until he gets it right.
As long as he doesn't practice it on me or any of my friends I'm jiggy with that.
I would mock Professor Jacobson, but then I realized he is stuck in Ithaca for the winter semester. Maybe former Senator Brown will bundle up and go see him.
Ithaca is best in summer, sure, but pretty good any time.
Needs more tomahawk chopping motion, not motion to admit pro hac vice.
Well, to be fair, Elizabeth Warren’s mother told her she had a Massachusetts law license. So it was part of her heritage.
What is it with Cornell? Ann Coulter AND William Jacobson?
I'd swear, you'd think it was some agricultural college in farm country or something…
Bill Mahre AND Carl Sagan?
Keith Olbermann too and even HE admits its a shite school.
Ithaca is gorges, however.
I was poking fun (and alluding to) the backdoor entrance into Cornell thru the SUNY campus attached to it.
Mrs. Docterry too, but she never gave them a dime in contributions because of the elitist assitude.
Not enough of them throw themselves into the gorge, unfortunately.
Warren to Jacobson: "So sue me."
Geography is not necessarily one of these people's strengths.
Exactly! He's a law professor, not a geographist, or whatevs.
The answer is that William Jacobson is a "clinical professor". Clinical professor are not actual professor. They give "practical instruction" to lawyers-in-training, teaching them stuff like how to bend the truth, attempt to apply it to the law without knowing the law, and not to get caught.
THAT BEAR IS NOT WEARING PANTS!!!!!!!!
But the face is familiar.
So… People actually pay to go to this Cornell law school place?
I think we've just discovered the difference between "one of the best law schools" and "the best law school."
"High above Cayuga's waters,
There's an awful smell.
Some say it's Cayuga's waters,
Some say it's Cornell."
I was thinking of getting a Google Voice number in San Francisco so when I give opinions over the phone they sound like they carry more weight.
And Haight?
Cornhole University? Where the hell is that? Nebraska? Iowa?
A lot of people confuse Cornell College (an expensive liberal arts madrassa in Mount Vernon Iowa) with Cornell University (a giant land-grant state university in Ithaca New York). These people, as a rule, are not very smart.
The weather sucks in both places, which may explain some of it.
Ann Coulter got her degree in cornholeing? If so, she's a bigger dick than I thought.
She's jealous that O'Donnell's putting it to pretend girlfriend Tamron Hall, instead of her. Even said so on the teevee the other night.Granted, the choice couldn't have been difficult…
Wait. We talking Lawrence or Rosie O'Donnell?
Now now, the broad plains of New York grow corn, too. The corn is as high as an immigrants eye.
And that's just the right height. For picking.
What do you call 10,000 lawyers at the bottom of the ocean?
A good start.
Thank you. Thank you. I'll be here all night.
What are 2 empty seats on that boat? 2 missed opportunities.
Why does NJ have the most landfills and California the most lawyers? NJ picked first.
This is really first-day-of-work paralegal stuff. Any "legal professional" who doesn't under pro hac vice should stick to getting coffee for the senior partners.
Huh. "Getting coffee." Is that what the cool kids are calling it these days?
Jeebus, Jacobean. If you're gonna get dirt then get good dirt that people (and by people I mean me) can fap too. Like if Lizzie Warren were in a lesbian sex cult or something.
Otherwise, you're being a bureaucratic ass…. but I thought wingnuts hated bureaucracy…
The things a law professor will do to get that hunk Scott Brown's attention…
Assistant Law Professor
Teaching assistant?
Really, we don't expect actual truth or facts from this election season, DO WE????
Right now on the Diane Rheem show they're seriously debating the possibility that this recent "fact checking" trend is maybe not an entirely good thing. Jesus. Journalists can't take a step forward without pausing to gaze at their navels.
Ah, I am listening to that as well. When not interupted by the crew.
Look, no one in US America is going to honor any treaty for blankets and muskets signed by Warren.
Why start now….
The takeaway from this, I assume, is that we can discount the legal opinions of all law professors. Thus President Obama's experience as a law professor as well as his editorship of the Harvard Law Review, is completely discredited and null and void. See — clearly he never went to college, and thus should be impeached.
He has an obligation– nay, a duty– to resign immediately
Which reminds me.
Is President Obama able to practice his Presidenting outside of DC, or, I presume, Illinois?
I think we should be told.
Not all the law professors. Just the ones we don't like.
Law professors, as a rule, don't know their ass from an application to appear pro hac vice.
Summa cum laude.
Summa cum quietly.
But the overarching legal question is, if Warren is a Native American, is she even allowed to practice in the U.S.??—A. Scalia, et al from Dissenting Opinion in Warren vs. U.S. Supreme Court, 2012.
Only if she sports a Mohawk and shakes her tail feather.
Clarence Thomas uses the name Al?
That's his nickname which references his favorite black entertainer, Al Jolson.
Well, they don't let Injuns practice law do they? That would be total disrespect for Custer.
But what Exit in New Jersey?
7A
Great Adventure? Really?
Well, you can get most anywhere from 7A.
I'd heard that about the hookers in Jackson
Anywhere except out of Jersey, that is.
Hey! I know what that means now! I love colloquialisms!
memorize the number 63.
You know they charge New Yorkers to cross the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge into Staten Island, NJ, then NJ proper.
I think it's to discourage us from dumpster diving and bringing their shit back to the Empire State. And in particular, Brooklyn.
Wait, isn't that the other way around? You have to pay to get onto Staten Island, no matter which direction you travel?
I always figured that was a mob scam, that the bridges are actually free but the cops won't bust them because they get a cut at the precinct.
I wonder sometimes which mobster it is that enjoyed a cement bath in the Brooklyn support tower of the bridge?
Either way, I believe charging to enter Staten Island is certainly an effective deterrent to me, and I live on the Brooklyn side of that bridge. I mean, $13!! Seriously discouraging, even if it isn't necessary.
Cornell: Very accepting of furries.
~
I'm not an English major, but:
'The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers'
Ol' Willie o'Stratford/Avon said that before Barry and his hero, Abe Lincoln, were born.
Then again, there's Nixon…
And by the way, that is a complete list of the POTUSes who've been lawyers. Must mean something, but it's hard to say what.
King Henry the Sixth, Part II
"The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers". – (Act IV, Scene II).
Also, Clinton.
Disbarred for perjury, but yes. Knew I'd forgotten one.It was a bum rap anyway. What he really said was, “I did not have sex with relatives of that woman, Monica Lewinsky.”
Is it legal that someone in New York can write somthing about a person in Massachusetts practicing law for clients in New Jersey?
Totally illegal. Violates the Mann Act. Transporting Gulls across State Lions for Immortal Porpoises.
It's sad that Cornell's mascot looks a lot like Pedobear.
That's not the masturbating bear from the Conan O'Brien show?
I was expecting to see this in the first few comments.
Physically being in state A and representing a client in state B counts as the practice of law in state B. This is why a lawyer on vacation can still get contacted by their supervising partner at 3 in the morning
Screw that.
"WTF is this?? I AM ON VACATION." — Jack Stuef, Tokyo, 2011
As many here know: some vacation plans get botched up by the craziest things..
I miss Ginger Jackie. Isn't he up in the rotation of "Redheads Who Come Back To Wonkette"?
Does showing up at the New York Wonkette Drinky Thing count?
How does pro hac vice work? Let’s write a short vignette!
I wish we still did actual shunnings. This guy is so ridiculously wrong that one doesn't even have to say, no, you are wrong, you fucking idiot, your whole premise is wrong, and you are stupid. There is also a backup plan, where as even if your witch-huntery had any basis in fact, we could show you how you are still wrong.
Also, the fact that Elizabeth Warren is a kinda sorta New Jersey lawyer who doesn't even practice law, but does consumer protection stuff, just made her that much even more hotter than I already thought she was. The lady, she is a badass.
You have to go read the comments over there. And then someone needs to drop a link to this piece for all to see.
Thats fucking funny, what a coincidence, my specialty, consumer financial regulations and consumer protection (UDAP, Consumer Fraud,), damn, I has things in common with this lady.
You don't saaaay.
TILA, FCRA, reg z and reg m, GLB and Privacy Safeguards red flags and alllllllllllllll the shit they was gonna shift from OCC and the Federal Reserve and the FTC to the CFPB. I coulda totally gone to work for her if she just got the fucking job. Being a fellow NJ Lawyer and all.
Oh, how fun would Massachusetts or DC be? (DO NOT piss me off and tell me terrible things about Massachusetts or DC now, I am being sweet and supportive) and OH GOD how hot would you be if you worked for EW? Goodness gracious.
I bet you pick up aaaalll the chicks with that kinda talk.
So you've defrauded consumers?
I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. ECOA class actions off the shoulder of Orion. I watched FTC injunctions glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate. All those moments will be lost in time… like tears in rain… Time to die.
Yes, but have you ever seen the rain? I wanna know.
To be fair, if witch hunts are going to play well any in any particular state race, it'd be Massachusetts.
And yup, like Jesse said, the place you practice is the court you are appearing in (whether by paper or personally). I am not practicing law in Aruba if I write a brief sitting on the beach there and mail it to the Trenton Bankruptcy court. What a motherfucking dumbfuck is this "professor." Man some poor saps need to sue to get their tuition back.
This is why when I want a legal opinion I always look to Sarah Palin.
As much as I like Warren, you are misrepresenting Jacobson's accusation. He never says she was not allowed to file a motion in federal court in New Jersey. He is saying that she didn't have the proper business permit to run a law office in Massachusetts. If he is right, then the level of her offense is similar to that of a licensed barber who cuts people's hair for extra money in their kitchen without paying the state or local business permit fees, not someone who is practicing law without the proper qualifications.
You're new here, aren't you?
Jacobson's motivation for focusing on minutia? Yep. Still a hack.
Vincent LaGuardia “Vinny” Gambini won a double murder trial in Ala-fucking-bama pro hac vice.
Alabama, of all places!
What's wit da utes taday?
Veni propter ecce sporobolus!!!!!!!
Veni, weedie, vici?
sic transit cannibus!!!!
In the Court of Greater Wingnuttia, people get to make up their own rules about legal ethics, you see.
I too practice "pro hace vice", i.e. I like to put the heads of hacks in a vice.
I’m counting on the good people of Ithaca to show this law professor the hippie equivalent of a curb stomping. I believe this involves shaking one’s head and referring to the offender as a drag.
When he goes to Ragmann's, no broccoli cheddar soup for him!
Plus this filing was in Federal fucking court. Even if it had been in the District of Massachusetts, any lawyer admitted in any state court can be admitted to practice before any Federal court (and not just pro hac vice – some actually make you join to make any appearances). You only have to join the state bar if you practice regularly in the state, which means being physically there taking on clients based there and practicing in state proceedings. Even then, most states have exemptions for in-house counsel and other situations where the practice is either only occasional or limited to a single employer entity.
Between that and the goofy fact that teaching at a law school is not considered the practice of law by most states (or exempted from the requirement of bar membership if done on a full time basis), the upshot of it all is that almost no one on HLS' faculty is admitted in Massachusetts, just like almost no one on Cornell's is admitted in New York. Most professors passed one bar exam wherever their first job was, and never practiced once they joined the academy.
It is too bad State Bar Associations and State Supreme Courts do not have "rules" which they "write down" so that people practicing law in a court in another State will know whether Massachusetts rules or the court's (or other State's) rules will apply. Oh wait, they do!
Rule 8.5(b) Choice of Law. In any exercise of the disciplinary authority of this jurisdiction, the rules of professional conduct to be applied shall be as follows:
(1) for conduct in connection with a matter pending before a governmental tribunal, the rules of the jurisdiction in which the tribunal sits, unless the rules of the tribunal provide otherwise;
Comment 4 to that Rule goes on to discuss it, to make it simpler and more easy for those unable to "read":
[4] Paragraph (b)(1) provides that as to a lawyer's conduct relating to a proceeding pending before a government tribunal, the lawyer shall be subject only to the rules of the government tribunal, if any, or of the jurisdiction in which the government tribunal sits unless the rules of that tribunal, including its choice of law rule, provide otherwise. By limiting application of the rule to matters before a government tribunal, e.g., a court or administrative agency, parties may establish which disciplinary rules will apply in private adjudications such as arbitration.
Boo, this emerica, english only, puhleeezz.
Gosh, lawyers got lots of rules and stuff.
Yes, and some of us can read them. Some of us, on the other hand, are law professors at Cornell.
Wonder if Jacobson is admitted to practice law in New York? Prior to taking up being a professor twit, he had a practice in Rhode Island. I'm just guessing here but I'd put my $10 bet down that he is not a licensed lawyer in the state of New York.
I am struck by the (apparent) number of (apparent) lawyers or legal professionals who are regular contributors to Wonkette.
While I am honored to correspond and trade ideas with such a venerable group — WTF?
Don't you people have lawyerin' to do???
Yeah, but for me it's more fun to snark on the Wonket than to engage in actual lawyerin'.
Fuck that, it's Thursday!
Biilables are up.
I am not a practicing lawyer, but I play one on TV.
I would chew my arm off i I woke up in bed practicing law, no, wait, that doesn't work, I would, umm, I would fucking just fucking die a thousand metaphorical deaths if I ever had to hear the term "billable hours" again.
Cornell law professor William Jacobson isn't just a law professor (specializing in securities law). He also has an awesome career as a conservative pundit. He has provided commentary on legal and political issues in The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Fox News, CBS Evening News, The Washington Times, The Providence Journal. Politico, and Newsday, among others. (Info taken from Wikipedia)
It's a wonder he had time to teach at all.
A conservative pundit who doesn't mind lying. Who'd 've thunk it.
Oh, sweet Jesus. The comments over there are just fucking amazing.
My favorite is someone saying that Warren's mention that "she hadn't used her NJ license in years" somehow has bearing on a case from 2002, a decade ago.
I am admitted in NJ and I haven't used my NJ license since 2002. I guess that means I am a stone cold Unethical lawyer and will be disbarred, permanently, from every jurisdiction in which I'm admitted, the end.
I saw that! Man, they sure caught her.
Motion for idiots to grasp at straws granted! GAVEL GAVEL
"Legal Insurrection"? For what's basically "whiny ill-informed complaints about people we don't like"?
Perhaps Wonkette should rename itself "Lady Liberty's Screaming Eagle Warblog" to keep up.
"Shut up, Wesley!" — Captain Picard
He can't even read. At no time does she represent anyone in this case–it is filed by a New Jersey firm, and they are paid the compensation.
She was retained as an expert in the case, the same way a trustee can retain an accountant , appraiser, auctioneer or any other professional.
The professor has a serious case of the stupids.
WTF? why the assault on elizabeth warren? i would think the repubs would have more urgent senate races than this one.
like, oh, MO.
course then again, scott brown was their poster boy for the great teabagging revolt of 2010. guess it would be a huge symbolic loss.
Yeah, well, we had a lawyer once, who was perfectly competent, and I later found out she was sanctioned for forging documents and being crazy and shit!
I don't know what that has to do with this. Carry on.
Cornell law professor William Jacobson has a huge hard on for Elizabeth Warren.
(That's just an expression. Cornell law professor William Jacobson has a tiny penis and suffers erectile dysfunction).
Decentcitizen once practiced law and realized upon commencing said practice that law professors as a rule did not understand the practice of law.
A New Jersey case involving asbestos — took my breath away.
More important question is: what is Jacobson's ethnicity. I just wanna know if he's trustworthy.
You made Andy Bernard sad.
Can't comment on this until I have fully examined the kerning on that document for Marxist or Islamofascist serifs … a project I expect will be complete as early as 2017.
You sure the prof doesn't teach at Cornell's justly famous Brothel Management Program?
William Jacobson doesn't usually give legal advice, but when he does, he gets it completely bass-akwards. He is…….the most uninteresting legal hack in the World.
Why am I envisioning Lionel Hutz?
Haha, backdoor entrance. Haha. The SUNY specialty.
Where men are men and sheep are nervous, as the saying goes.
Or was that Dartmouth? I can't keep my Ivies straight. And neither can they.
I presume you can shove Cornell where the SUNY don't shine?
It is referred to as "Cornhole" in some quarters.
Like the other chapters of my fraternity.
It ain't me, I ain't no fortunate son.
Xtine?
Stop cockblocking my fantasies, please.
Born on the bayou, were ye?
Better than being stuck in Lodi, again.
It works on the only one that matters.
So I see!
Hopefully, payday never comes for Jacobson.
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