Mark Rubin

Pardon Me, say Famous People

June 1, 2018
Mark Rubin

Pardon Me, say Famous People

pardon

What a Pair!

The Pardons

President Donald J. Trump has exercised the pardon powers vested in him by Article Two, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution four times. And the recipients of his munificence? Joseph Arpaio, I. Lewis Libby, John A. Johnson aka Jack Johnson, and Kristian Mark Saucier. And the paperwork which evidences these full and unconditional pardons? Right here, from the U.S. Department of Justice website.

In addition to the four recipients, recent reporting informs us that Dinesh D’Souza has been pardoned, and that Rob Blagojevich and Martha Stewart might be. So, seven maybe.

The Editorial Board of the New York Times—oh, excuse me, the Failing Times, with

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Hurrah, Hurrah: Rubin & Bernstein PLLC

May 24, 2018
Mark Rubin

Hurrah, Hurrah: Rubin & Bernstein PLLC

We’re Here … Finally!

382 S. Convent Ave.

382 S. Convent Ave.

Well, gentle readers, you’ve certainly gotten teasers, here and here. (Candidly, I thought there were more.) Rubin & Bernstein PLLC is, like, the real deal! As of May 29th we’re located at 382 S. Convent Ave., with an annex office at 307 S. Convent. The picture shows 382, and we’ve got lots of parking. (Moving today, May 24!)

The Lawyers

Leigh Bernstein—my partner—devotes herself to the needs of elderly people and those who surround them in their later years. She provides estate planning services for people of all ages. Her practice also includes guardian/conservatorship cases involving people with dementia or mental illness. She handles trusts

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A Paucity of Prospects

May 20, 2018
Mark Rubin

A Paucity of Prospects

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Mark Rubin

The Problem

Steve Brill—who created The American Lawyer and Court TV—wrote a fine piece for Time, published a few days ago, titled How Baby Boomers Broke America. (He adapted the article from Tailspin, which is available on May 29.) Mr. Brill aptly describes how my generation—Boomers, but he’s older and richer than I am, and the Boomer period encompassed Americans born between 1946 and 1964—has done well and pulled up the ladders as we wrap it all up. We got ours, and to hell with anyone else.

Matthew Stewart, a philosopher, has written a fabulous piece which you can read on line. (It will appear in The Atlantic’s June

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Real Attorneys, Working

May 5, 2018
Mark Rubin

Real Attorneys, Working

Rudy

Rudy Giuliani

From time to time I write about subjects, even though I lack a deep, personal knowledge base. G-d bless the Internet, which provides ready access to reliable sources. (Yes, I believe the MSM. Working journalists—people, mostly underpaid relative to societal value, who seek truth—get the story right, mostly.) With a functioning brain which can string together sentences and organize them into paragraphs, I write posts people read. And I sleep well, comfortable that I am not offering Fake News.

Then there are those moments when I write with first-hand knowledge. Like, about real attorneys, working.

So, what do we—working attorneys—do all day? Lots. My days include telephone conferences with clients and other, along

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Textualism and the Courts

April 26, 2018
Mark Rubin

Textualism and the Courts (A Wee Bit Wonky)*

textualism

Justice Antonin Scalia, Textualist

The Book

I finished The Justice of Contradictions: Antonin Scalia and the Politics of Disruption by Richard Hasen recently. Dealing with complex matters, Mr. Hasen offers lucid analysis and a fine read!

Straightaway, Mr. Hasen tells readers he has not written a Scalia biography, or a “comprehensive examination of all of [Justice] Scalia’s opinions and ideas.” Instead, he promises “an examination of [Justice Scalia’s] jurisprudential theories of textualism and originalism, his inimitable and caustic tone in dealing with his adversaries on and off the Court, and his key areas of modern American law.” And he delivers, in plain English!

I’m focused here on textualism, the legal

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Attorneys Addicted to Attention

April 25, 2018
Mark Rubin

Attorneys Addicted to Attention

attorneys

Mark Rubin

Attorneys—some, anyway—live in heady times. I follow some blogs and nearly every story touches matters legal. Unfortunately, in too many instances I find myself embarrassed and ashamed of too many fellow attorneys.

Before I go forth, let me clarify what I mean by attention. I’m not focused on attorneys doing good deeds. Writing principled, illuminating articles. Representing their clients well. The attention which bothers me involves television interviews. Press releases. And, yes, sometimes even statements made during book tours.

I’ve written lately—and often—about client confidentiality. Fundamentally, confidentiality and attention—as I have defined it—mesh poorly. We’re supposed to do our jobs quietly and, when we speak, we should be trying to illuminate, and we ought

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Confidentiality and Hannity the Client

April 17, 2018
Mark Rubin

Confidentiality and Hannity the Client

New York’s version of ER 1.6 of the Rules of Professional Conduct got shredded yesterday. Oh well … but for the fact that confidentiality represents a core aspect of the attorney-client relationship.

Some background might be helpful. Search warrants, executed last Monday, generated a bunch of material from Michael Cohen. He’s an attorney who works for President Donald J. Trump. And Everett Broidy. And one more client, Sean Hannity.

The government and Judge Kimba Wood needed to know who Mr. Cohen represented. Why? To determine the scope of the claimed attorney-client privilege. The privilege only applies to communications between Mr. Cohen and his clients; whither, the need to know the identity of

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Search Warrants, Confidentiality, and More

April 15, 2018
Mark Rubin

Search Warrants, Confidentiality, and More

That Client

That Client

In Donald J. Trump, Goner I promised some “basic facts about attorney-client privilege and attorney confidentiality issues.”* The promise grew out of the extraordinary search warrants directed to premises controlled by Michael Cohen, an attorney who does work for President Donald J. Trump.

Extraordinary search warrants? Yes. Mr. Cohen does have a license to practice law, and the warrants relate broadly to that client of his I mentioned previously.

Judges issue search warrants. Routinely.** Judges reject warrant requests rarely and, only slightly more often, they will modify them. So, the fact that warrants issued does not, alone, make them extraordinary.

So, why extraordinary? Mr. Cohen’s law license, and that client I mentioned.

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Donald J. Trump, Goner

April 13, 2018
Mark Rubin

Donald J. Trump, Goner

donald j. trump, goner

I have a PredictIt account. PredictIt offers legalized betting on political events. Fun it is, and it’s legal because smart people study the predictive power of crowds.

Whether “Donald Trump shall be president of the United States at 11:59:59 p.m. (ET) on December 31, 2018” is the bet, and I have the No position. (The rules are very precise.) If I cashed out now my profit pays for most of a night on the town with LB, which includes drinks, shared fish and chips, tax and the large tip at our neighborhood bar. And If I hang on and he’s gone by the time the ball drops next in Times Square I’ll be the smiling guy,

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Action by Anecdote

April 2, 2018
Mark Rubin

Action by Anecdote

anecdote action

Our Fearless Leader tweets … still! For a few days last week we enjoyed quietude, or what passes for calmness in Epochus Trumpus. (Dramatic? For sure, but we’re 437 days into the Trump Administration, and if you’re not feeling like it’s been an Age you’re not paying attention!)

Immigration

The Twitter blasts returned on Easter morning, with sound and fury signifying nothing. The subject? Immigration. DACA. Dumb immigration laws. Blah, Blah, blah! The prompt? Huge Immigrant Swarm Prompts Trump Tweets on DACA.*

OMG, a huge swarm. Traveling through Mexico as a caravan. How many people? 1000. Wait. What? More than 1000 people? OK. Whatever will we do about the swarm of more than 1000 people?

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