A 2010 Update: What Every Entertainment Lawyer Needs to Know - How to Avoid Being the Target of a Legal Malpractice Claim or Disciplinary Action

There is significant risk today that lawyers will become the target of a disciplinary or legal malpractice action, especially given the complexity of the law and advances in technology that reduce the amount of time that lawyers have to reflect about client matters. This risk is heightened by the increased competition in the bar to deliver legal services in a cost-effective manner, the sophistication of clients who expect competent, efficient and reasonably priced services, and the litigious nature of consumers. The risk is further exacerbated by the ever-changing methods and rules for electronic communication and the storage of information. The magnitude of the risk is underscored by the prediction that law school graduates “will be the subject of three or more claims of legal malpractice before finishing a career.” This article examines some good practice standards that minimize the risk that a lawyer will become the target of a legal malpractice or disciplinary action. These standards should also reduce the risk of a lawyer becoming the object of a disqualification or Rule 11 motion. This article discusses these standards in the entertainment law context but they also apply to a variety of practice areas

The Changing Landscape of Intercollegiate Athletics—The Need to Revisit the NCAA\u27s No Agent Rule

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the primary governing body for intercollegiate athletics, promulgated its “No Agent Rule” in 1974 prohibiting advisors of student- athletes from communicating and negotiating with professional sports teams. As part of a core principle of amateurism, the NCAA adopted this rule, in part, to delineate between professional athletes and student athletes. However, through economic and societal evolution, this policy is antiquated and detrimental to the personal and professional development of college athletes. This Article argues in favor of expanding the recent Rice Commission’s recommendation, adopted by the NCAA, to grant an exception from the No Agent Rule for Men’s Division I elite basketball players to all college sports and levels of competition. The NCAA’s landscape for governing college athletics has undergone many recent changes, some of which strengthen the notion that all student-athletes would benefit from earlier access to agent advice and assistance. The Changing Landscape of Intercollegiate Athletics—The Need to Revisit the NCAA’s “No Agent Rule” discusses this need by first detailing the evolution of NCAA governance, followed by an analysis of the Gatto decision and its impact on the Rice Commission’s report promoting an exception to the No Agent Rule for Division I Men’s elite basketball players. Finally, this article recommends that because of the changed and ever-evolving landscape of college sports, the NCAA should abandon its No Agent Rule in favor of a Modified Agent Rule (MAR). The MAR would enable all student-athletes to contract with sports agents subject to some NCAA oversight to protect student-athletes from agent abuse and to support the NCAA’s commitment to amateurism. The MAR promises to alleviate some of the stress and challenges that hinder all student- athletes, especially gifted athletes, when assessing how and by what means to enter the professional sports level

Population Structure and Genetic Diversity among Isolates of Coccidioides posadasii in Venezuela and Surrounding Regions

Coccidioides posadasii is a pathogenic fungus that causes coccidioidomycosis in many arid regions of the Americas. One of these regions is bordered by the Caribbean Sea, and the surrounding landscape may play an important role in the dispersion of C. posadasii across South America through southeastern Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala, and Venezuela. Comparative phylogenomic analyses of C. posadasii reveal that clinical strains from Venezuela are genetically distinct from the North American populations found in (i) Arizona and (ii) Texas, Mexico, and the rest of South America (TX/MX/SA). We find evidence for admixture between the Venezuela and the North American populations of C. posadasii in Central America. Additionally, the proportion of Venezuelan alleles in the admixed population decreases as latitude (and distance from Venezuela) increases. Our results indicate that the population in Venezuela may have been subjected to a recent bottleneck and shows a strong population structure. This analysis provides insight into potential for Coccidioides spp. to invade new regions.IMPORTANCE Valley Fever is a fungal disease caused by two species of fungi: Coccidioides immitis and C. posadasii These fungi are found throughout the arid regions of North and South America; however, our understanding of genetic diversity and disease in South America is limited. In this report, we analyze 10 new genomes of Coccidioides posadasii from regions bordering the Caribbean Sea. We show that these populations are distinct and that isolates from Venezuela are likely a result of a recent bottleneck. These data point to patterns that might be observed when investigating recently established populations.NIH/NIAIDUnited States Department of Health & Human ServicesNational Institutes of Health (NIH) - USANIH National Institute of Allergy & Infectious Diseases (NIAID) [R21AI28536]; NIH/NIGMSUnited States Department of Health & Human ServicesNational Institutes of Health (NIH) - USANIH National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) [R01GM121750]Open access journalThis item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]

17th Century Variola Virus Reveals the Recent History of Smallpox

Smallpox holds a unique position in the history of medicine. It was the first disease for which a vaccine was developed and remains the only human disease eradicated by vaccination. Although there have been claims of smallpox in Egypt, India, and China dating back millennia [1-4], the timescale of emergence of the causative agent, variola virus (VARV), and how it evolved in the context of increasingly widespread immunization, have proven controversial [4-9]. In particular, some molecular-clock-based studies have suggested that key events in VARV evolution only occurred during the last two centuries [4-6] and hence in apparent conflict with anecdotal historical reports, although it is difficult to distinguish smallpox from other pustular rashes by description alone. To address these issues, we captured, sequenced, and reconstructed a draft genome of an ancient strain of VARV, sampled from a Lithuanian child mummy dating between 1643 and 1665 and close to the time of several documented European epidemics [1, 2, 10]. When compared to vaccinia virus, this archival strain contained the same pattern of gene degradation as 20th century VARVs, indicating that such loss of gene function had occurred before ca. 1650. Strikingly, the mummy sequence fell basal to all currently sequenced strains of VARV on phylogenetic trees. Molecular-clock analyses revealed a strong clock-like structure and that the timescale of smallpox evolution is more recent than often supposed, with the diversification of major viral lineages only occurring within the 18th and 19th centuries, concomitant with the development of modern vaccination.Peer reviewe

THE CHANGING LANDSCAPE OF INTERCOLLEGIATE ATHLETICS— THE NEED TO REVISIT THE NCAA’S “NO AGENT RULE”

THE CHANGING LANDSCAPE OF INTERCOLLEGIATE ATHLETICS— THE NEED TO REVISIT THE NCAA’S “NO AGENT RULE

The Cost of Humanitarian Assistance: Ethical Rules and the First Amendment

For many Americans, the choice between affording legal assistance--a luxury item--and covering basic living expenses appears to represent a choice in name only. Most states prohibit lawyers from providing clients with financial assistance to cover these living expenses. In a few states, lawyers may help clients with living expenses by advancing or guaranteeing financial assistance. Given accurate information about the availability of legal services, poor people may find themselves able to protect important legal rights. In Part I, this Article reviews the origins of and reasons for the ban on lawyer advancement of living expenses to clients when litigation is pending or occurring. It describes the current regulatory regimes governing the issue and the majority rule that prohibits lawyers from advancing living expenses to clients involved in litigation. Part I also examines some of the key reasons for the majority rule and concludes that they do not justify the current ban. Part II reviews the approach of a minority of states and the District of Columbia, which permit lawyers to advance living expenses. Most of these jurisdictions limit the ability of lawyers to communicate or advertise information about the expenses they provide. Part III examines the recent history of lawyer advertising and the current state of the law regarding the advertising of living expenses. It argues that existing limitations on advertisements of advances violate the First Amendment and should be discarded. The Article concludes by recommending that the American Bar Association (ABA) and all states adopt a rule permitting attorneys to advance living expenses to clients when litigation is pending or occurring. It also contends that the First Amendment protects lawyers who advertise financial assistance in states that currently allow lawyers to advance living expenses