Lawyers Need to Keep Up with the News

The news is difficult to watch and read given all the tragic events regularly covered. I used to avoid watching the local and national news because it caused me stress and anxiety. But as I get closer to taking the Bar and practicing law, I am starting to follow the news more closely.

Lawyers must keep up with current events, not just new laws, court decisions, and regulatory changes. This post is inspired by a case I read in my Trusts & Estates course, Matter of Ryan, 140 N.Y.S.3d 682 (2021). In this case, the decedent, Mr. Ryan, was very ill and wanted to execute his will with the help of an attorney, Mr. Gorton. Because Mr. Ryan was hospitalized and the COVID-19 pandemic was ongoing, Mr. Gorton’s firm arranged for a social worker to go to the hospital and livestream the execution of the will using a phone. Since the signing of the will was livestreamed, Mr. Gorton and the witnesses watched and communicated with Mr. Ryan the entire time. After Mr. Ryan signed the will, it was given to Mr. Gorton’s law firm, where the witnesses signed. As you can imagine, this was not how wills were traditionally executed.

What surprised me the most about this case was that Mr. Gorton admitted that he was not familiar with an executive order that allowed the remote execution of wills during the pandemic. How can an attorney who is preparing wills for clients not know about such an executive order? An attorney creating wills for clients should have been aware of such an executive order. A simple search on the Governor’s website would have found the executive order. Many things were changing during the pandemic relating to the practice of law and the court system, and attorneys should have kept up with such changes.

There are a few reasons why attorneys need to be aware of current events. First, attorneys need to know if the law changes. An attorney may incorrectly advise a client if he or she is not aware of changes in the law, and that may lead to a malpractice suit. Next, if an attorney is involved in a high-profile case, he or she needs to know how their client is being perceived in the media. While jurors are not supposed to consume media discussing the case they are serving on, society at large will consume such media, and that may cause the client to look bad in the eyes of the public. Although attorneys are limited in what they can discuss with the media during an ongoing dispute, they can correct misinformation that has been published in the media assuming it does not violate attorney-client confidentiality. Additionally, lawyers need to know if there are changes in procedural or evidentiary rules. Not following the proper procedural rules could cause an attorney to file a document late, thus harming a client. Not following the proper evidentiary rules could lead to significant evidence not being used in court, further harming the client.

There are many organizations that specifically publish news related to the legal system. Attorneys and law students should frequent these websites to know what is occurring in the profession. Here is a list of places law students and lawyers can find legal news:

• Bloomberg Law
•  LexisNexis Legal News Hub
•  Law360
•  The ABA Journal
•  Legal Talk Network

Some of these organizations require subscriptions to access. An attorney should budget for these costs because of how important it is to be aware of current events.

Some legal news can also be accessed for free on traditional media sites, such as the Associated Press, NBC, ABC, and CNBC. These media organizations may not have the best legal news, but significant events will likely be covered.

Regardless of where you decide to get your news, it is important to be aware of current events.