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September 2018 Newsletter
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Jon Setzer
GCBA President 2018-19 |
President's Corner
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By Jon Setzer
At the end of last month, my oldest son began his first soccer season. He's playing in the under-5 age group, and, as customarily happens, the coach is a parent volunteering his or her time. Naturally, when the email came out indicating that the club where he plays was woefully short on volunteers for his age group, I replied.
I bring up this anecdote to suggest that leadership roles come in so many forms. It's been such a joy for me to have had so many opportunities in my life to step up and take on roles of responsibility. While many times taking on those roles has left me stretched for time or stressed out or both, I wouldn't trade these opportunities. In fact, I've been fortunate that I've been trusted with such responsibilities.
Last month, I discussed what the Bar Association could do for you, and in turn what you could do for the Bar Association. Involvement can be as simple as attending one of our monthly luncheons held on the third Friday of each month. Or, involvement can be much more. However you choose to become involved, though, I hope that you will do so in a way that helps our Bar Association become a better steward for our community.
In that regard, I encourage you to look forward to next month's Law Enforcement Appreciation Day Picnic at Rhodes Jordan Park on October 13. Each year, I bring my family to help support our law enforcement personnel as they serve our community. It's a great day of fellowship and entertainment for a vital part of our legal community. It's also a great way to be involved by doing as much as volunteering or donating or as little as simply attending and enjoying some barbecue.
Thanks,
Jon
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We hope you did not miss our first Speaker of the year,
Professor Robert Schapiro, former Dean of Emory Law!
He provided an overview of the current United State Supreme
Court
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Friday September 21, 2018 12:00pm
The 1818 Club
6500 Sugarloaf Parkway #300
Duluth, GA 30097
Our guest speaker will be announced shortly
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For more information contact:
David S. Walker
P.O.Box 871329, Stone Mountain GA 30087
770-972-3803
CLICK
HERE AND
HERE FOR SPONSORSHIP FORMS
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Show your appreciation for local law enforcement!
Each year the Gwinnett County Bar Association, in cooperation with the Gwinnett Chiefs Association, sponsors the Law Enforcement Appreciation Picnic which is well-attended by local officers and their families. The picnic is one of the larger projects sponsored by the Bar. This year, the picnic will be held at Rhodes Jordan Park in Lawrenceville on
Saturday, October 13, 2018.
Please consider donating either your time or money (or both) to make the picnic the success it has been in years past. The Bar collects monetary donations which are then used to purchase door prizes for the officers and their families. Your donations will help us make this year's prizes the best ever!
If you are able to donate money, please make the check payable to the GCBA and send it to the attention of Dana Pagán or Julie Potts in the Solicitor's Office.
If you wish to volunteer your time at the picnic, please email Dana Pagán at [email protected]. Thank you for helping make this year's picnic a great success!
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| GCBA NEWS AND SECTION UPDATES |
Mark Your Calendars!
This Year's Monthly Meetings:
- September 21
- October 19
- November 16
- January 18
- February 15
- March 15
- April 19
- May 17
Other Events:
- October 13 Law Enforcement Appreciation Day (LEAD) Picnic
Rhodes Jordan Park
Berkeley Hills Country Club
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Renew Your Mem
bershipTODAY:
Send dues and applications to:
Gwinnett County Bar Association, P.O. Box 576, Lawrenceville, GA 30046
OR
GCBA works to ensure all of its member lists and referral lists are kept as up to date as possible.
Please feel free to contact
Donald Lee
for any membership queries, to update your contact information or
for any questions regarding the attorney referral lists.
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CRIMINAL DEFENSE SECTION UPDATE:
by Morris Margulis, GCCDB Communications Director
The criminal defense section meets the first Friday of every month. At our monthly meetings,
we serve a catered lunch and have a featured speaker. In addition, we offer a two-day CLE every
March.
The Gwinnett County Criminal Defense
Bar held its September 2018 monthly
meeting at the Gwinnett Justice &
Administration Center. The speaker,
Zack Kowalske, a forensics expert with
Delta 5 Labs in Roswell, GA, discussed
crime scene reconstruction and other
forensic evidence techniques.
2018 GCCDB Slate of Officers:
Sean Goldstein,
President
Richard Armond,
President-elect
Jessica Towne,
Vice president
Drew Mosely,
Treasurer
Morris Margulis,
Communications
Join the Section!
Interested in joining the section or want to RSVP for a monthly meeting? Please
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EPPS UPDATE:
Future Meetings and Volunteer
by Melody A. Glouton
The Gwinnett Estate Planning and Probate Section (EPPS) is pleased to host State Bar of Georgia,
Deputy General Counsel Jenny Mittelman
on
Tuesday,
September 11. The meeting will be at
12:00 noon at Dominick's Italian Restaurant on the Square, 197 W Crogan Street, Lawrenceville, GA 30046
. Please email
Melody Glouton if you plan to attend. Jenny will discuss ethics issues and the Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct.
Please note that you do not have to be a member of the section to attend the meetings (please feel free to forward the message or bring a friend!). If you are interested in joining the section, or simply being added to the section email list, please email
Melody Glouton or
Lauren Bryant.
FUTURE MEETINGS:
November 13, 2018
Please remember our Volunteer Opportunities:
Probate Court Pro Bono Clinic - Monthly
Who should volunteer: Attorneys with probate and/or guardianship experience (need not be an expert, but some experience is required to assist attendees)
What: Provide guidance to pro se petitioners with their filings in probate court
Where: Gwinnett Justice and Administration Center
When: Third Thursday of each month from 1:30pm - 4:30pm
Why: To help our citizens and the Probate Court in processing petitions more efficiently and effectively
How: Please contact
Elizabeth Strupe
with questions or to sign up for the Probate Court Pro Bono Clinic
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GWINNETT PRO BONO AUGUST VOLUNTEERS
Pro Bono Representation
Cha'Ron A. Ballard-Gayle
Andrea J. David-Vega
Dawn C. Deans
Vanessa I. Kosky
Albert F. Nasuti
Macklyn A. Smith
Gloria Smith-Grimes
Mark L. Wells
Probate Clinic
Raymon D. Burns
Walter J. Clarke
Dawn C. Deans
Sherley Joseph-Roper
John L Welsh II
Consumer Law Clinic
Michael A. Arndt
Craig W. Sherrer
Family Law Information Class
Vanessa I. Kosky
Thank you!!
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Cracking the Code
with Parag Shah
Criminal and Civil Law CLE
- PRACTICE BOTH CRIMINAL & CIVIL?
- LOOKING TO TRANSITION PRACTICE AREAS?
- TIRED OF DRIVING TO ATLANTA FOR EVERYTHING?
LOOK NO FURTHER THAN YOUR OWN BACKYARD!
Walton County Attorneys, join me at the Walton County Courthouse on September 21, 2018, 9:00 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. where you'll receive 6 CLE credit hours learning about criminal sentencing, plea negotiations, the civil process from Complaint to the Pretrial Order, handling Rambo litigators and sharpening your knowledge on hearsay, character and electronic evidence. Check out the Brochure for more details.
SPACE IS LIMITED SO REGISTER NOW!
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A collection of leather-bound law books is available for sale as a bulk offering. We are liquidating an office that is closing. This is perfect for a new firm that wants access to dozens of volumes or, with one purchase, would like to make an impressive statement on its shelves for clients.
This will all go as a lot, and
any serious offers will be considered
and will be applied to the cost of a funeral.
- A complete collection of "Georgia Jurisprudence" from West Group and Lawyers Cooperative Publishing.
- A complete collection of "West's Legal Forms Revised Second Edition"
- Glickman's "Franchising" volumes 1-3.
- A complete set of "Family Law Litigation Guide with Forms" from Hampton, Moskowitz, and Silderberg.
- A complete set of Alberty's "Advising Small Businesses" (1-3)
- A complete set of "Damages in Tort Actions" by Minzer, Nates, Kimball, Axelrod, and Goldstein.
- A complete set of "Southeast Litigation Guide" that covers Florida, Georgia, and Alabama.
- A complete set of "Code of GA, Annotated (1994)"
- A complete set of "Official Code of Georgia, Annotated (1989)" (41+ volumes)
- And many others.
The selection fills three book cases that have four shelves, 36" wide
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LAWYER JOKES
The attorney was arguing his case before the judge.
"
Your Honor, I think the officers were a bit hasty in their assessment of my client's condition, while it's true that my client had been drinking and was intoxicated, he was not
inebriated"
"I accept your explanation counselor," said the judge, "so instead of fining him a thousand dollars, I only fine him a grand."
_
Then there was the defense attorney who tried to argue that the SUV-stealing gang members were all civic-minded citizens because they carpooled.
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Forcing an Employee Who Requests Intermittent Leave to Take a Continuous Leave of Absence May Violate His Rights under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
By Lisa B. Golan
Can an employer force an employee to take more medical leave than he requests or desires?
FMLA regulations provide that an employer "may not require an employee to take more leave than is necessary to address the circumstances that precipitated the need for leave." 29 C.F.R.
§
825.205(a). The ADA provides that an employer cannot force an employee to accept an accommodation that he does not want. 42 U.S.C.
§
12201(d).
In Brown v. Gestamp of Ala. LLC, 2018 U.S. Dist. Lexis 119520, 2018 WL 3455687 (N.D. Al. 7/18/18), Gestamp required employee George Brown to go out on leave because it alleged that Brown's doctor's FMLA certification showed he could not perform his essential job functions.
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The job is killing them: Family lawyers experience threats, violence
After lawyer Sara Quirt Sann was murdered at work, her husband evoked Ephesians 6:10-20, a Bible passage about the armor of God, to describe her.
"She had to put her armor on every day and fight for those who needed representation," Scott Sann wrote on Facebook. "Make no doubt in your mind that she was a warrior."
Sann, 43, was a solo lawyer, and she did a lot of guardian ad litem and family law work in Wausau, Wisconsin. In early 2017, that included representing Naly Vang in her divorce from Nengmy Vang. It wasn't going smoothly; Nengmy Vang was pressuring his wife to speed up the process by using a traditional Hmong divorce, in which their clan elders split their property and custody of their seven children. But Naly thought the American court process would better protect her.
It all came to a head on March 22, 2017, when Nengmy stormed into the bank where Naly worked and demanded that she sign divorce papers that didn't exist. Two of Naly's colleagues hustled her out the back door-and Nengmy shot them. He then drove to the law firm Tlusty, Kennedy & Dirks, where Sann rented an office, and forced an employee at gunpoint to show him where Sann worked. That employee told the police she then heard a scream, two gunshots and the sound of someone running down the stairs. Nengmy would go on to kill a police officer before officers fatally shot him....
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WHAT IS A CERTIFIED PROCESS SERVER?
By Craig Brazeman, Licensed Private Detective and Certified Process Server
In 2010, O.C.G.A.§ 9-11-4.1 of the Official Code of Georgia was passed and later, in 2015, was modified to define a "certified" process server. The intent was to allow trained, tested, bonded, and sworn "private" process servers the ability to operate throughout Georgia without having to be appointed on a case by case basis. A certified process server would be a private process server with an I.D. card issued by the Georgia Sheriffs' Association.
Aside from certified process servers, many Georgia counties have an appointed process servers list which identifies private process servers authorized by an Order signed by a Judge and filed with the county Clerk. These lists are approved and filed on an annual basis, unlike a certified process server who would renew his or her certification every three years, and keep the Court in control of who serves.
Pursuant to § 9-11-4.1(b)(2), a sheriff has the authority to approve an applicant to act as a (certified) process server in Georgia. While the Georgia Sheriffs' Association recognizes certified process servers as persons who have completed the required training, passed a test, have obtained a bond, and have been sworn, local sheriffs have united to not authorize persons to act as per § 9-11-4.1(b)(2), a criteria for a "certified" process server.
Being said, the defining code section has not gone wasted. Some counties have adopted some of the criteria necessary for becoming a certified process server for approval to be on their appointed process servers Order.
Profiles Investigations
office 404.365.6995
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To Have and then to Have Not?
Award of Attorney's Fees:
The
BOLEY v. MIERA Case
by: Margaret Gettle Washburn
In this very interesting case, arising out of Gwinnett County Superior Court, the Father petitioned the Court to reduce his child support obligation and the Mother counterclaimed for an increase in child support. The Father's child support obligation was reduced, however, the Court awarded attorney's fees to the Mother. The Father appealed.
Presiding Judge Chris McFadden, authored the Opinion for the Court of Appeals, finding that the Father was the prevailing party and the Mother could not be awarded attorney's fees pursuant to OCGA § 19-6-15 (k) (5).
The Court of Appeals found that: "under the plain language of the statute, the trial court may award fees only to the prevailing party". The Court also rejected the Mother's argument that since the parties had agreed to submit the issue of attorney's fees, that the Court was then authorized to disregard the statute...
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Articles and Updates Welcome!
If you would like to contribute to the GCBA Monthly Newsletter,
e-mail submissions by the 5th of each month to Editor
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