Pennsylvania Fiduciary Litigation : Pennsylvania Trusts and Estates Lawyer & Expert Witness : Patti Spencer Law Firm : Fiduciary Litigation, Planning : Lancaster, Harrisburg, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

The Trust Advisor Blog posted this excellent interview with Jonathan Blattmachr about the future of Estate Planning:  Visionary Predicts Future of estate Planning

Blattmachr on virtual law practice of "remote law":

"The next generation’s estate planners may serve a global clientele, without ever meeting a single client face to face.

More and more firms are already marketing to prospects and keeping their leads on the line by providing a rich experience through their website: an online newsletter, a blog, even a Twitter feed.

Down the road, Blattmachr sees these sites merging with the computerized decision-making software that is already helping mass-market clients write their wills.

“The law firm’s software will analyze the client’s responses and then advise the client whether he or she is an appropriate candidate for the strategy and state why,” he explains.

“Presumably, there will be an offer to meet with the client or prospective client to implement the strategy if that is what the client or prospect wishes to do,” he adds.

In effect, the estate planner will be providing basic advice — via the automated system — from anywhere in the world. As a result, Blattmachr expects a lot more work-at-home lawyers to do good business over the next decade.

And while many U.S. professionals are worried about having their jobs outsourced to India, there’s a secret to outsourcing, Blattmachr says.

“No lawyer in India is going to work as cheaply as a computer,” he adds. “So outsource yourself to the computer and keep the money.”

Of course, servicing clients outside of the lawyer’s own jurisdiction may require knowledge — whether derived from computer software) or affiliation with a lawyer in the client’s own jurisdiction — to adequately serve the client’s interest."

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If the employer has the right to view the e-mails that were sent to the client at the place of employment, that could destroy the privilege. 

Randall Ryder reports for Lawyerist.com: 

"The California Court of Appeals recently found that a client’s e-mail to her attorney, regarding her plans to sue her employer, was not privileged. The court said her e-mail was the equivalent of consulting her attorney in her employer’s conference room using a loud voice and leaving the door open. Notably, this e-mail exchange occurred on the company’s servers, through the client’s work e-mail address.

In New Jersey, a court held that emails sent from a Gmail account, or another web-based account, were still private and confidential."

Read more here.

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Jack Hough writes for SmartMoney:

"Douglas Shulman says he uses a hired tax preparer because the U.S. tax code is so complex. That's a bad sign. He's the I.R.S. commissioner."

Read more: Tax System: Too Complex To Be Constitutional? - SmartMoney.com

"Consider the following two sentences from different sources:

1. "[A] statute which either forbids or requires the doing of an act in terms so vague that men of common intelligence must necessarily guess at its meaning and differ as to its application, violates the first essential of due process of law."

2. For purposes of paragraph (3), an organization described in paragraph (2) shall be deemed to include an organization described in section 501(c)(4), (5), or (6) which would be described in paragraph (2) if it were an organization described in section 501(c)(3).

The first sentence comes from a 1926 Supreme Court decision that helped establish the right of citizens to known what laws mean. The second comes from the tax code."

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Death of Female Partner Puts Cozen Firm in Center of Same-Sex Marriage Comity Case

Law partner in Philadelphia firm dies and her parents and wife to whom she was legally married in Toronto in 2006 fight over her profit-sharing account.

See Martha Neil's article in the ABA Journal online:  Death of Female Partner Puts Cozen Firm in Center of Same-Sex Marriage Comity Case

See Gina Passarella;s article in New York Law Journal:  Fight Brewing Over Dead BigLaw Partner's Benefits

COMITY - definition

Courtesy; respect; a disposition to perform some official act out of goodwill and tradition rather than obligation or law. The acceptance or adoption of decisions or laws by a court of another jurisdiction, either foreign or domestic, based on public policy rather than legal mandate.

In comity, an act is performed to promote uniformity, limit litigation, and, most important, to show courtesy and respect for other court decisions. It is not to be confused with full faith and credit, the constitutional provision that various states within the United States must recognize the laws, acts, and decisions of sister states.

Comity of nations is a recognition of fundamental legal concepts that nations share. It stems from mutual convenience as well as respect and is essential to the success of international relations. This body of rules does not form part of International Law; however, it is important for public policy reasons.

Judicial comity is the granting of reciprocity to decisions or laws by one state or jurisdiction to another. Since it is based upon respect and deference rather than strict legal principles, it does not require that any state or jurisdiction adopt a law or decision by another state or jurisdiction that is in contradiction, or repugnant, to its own law.

Comity of states is the voluntary acceptance by courts of one state of the decision of a sister state on a similar issue or question.

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