On the Record

In my story Monday about Baltimore County Circuit Court, I mentioned that foreclosure filings have inundated clerks’ offices at courthouses around the state, and that Prince George’s County has led the state in foreclosures for at least two years.

Unfortunately, I was unable to obtain foreclosure statistics from the clerk’s office in Prince George’s County by my deadline. But I received the data yesterday, and it’s startling.

In 2006, the clerk’s office received 4,148 filings. (That’s more than Baltimore County has ever received.)

In 2007, the clerk’s office in Prince George’s received 7,019 foreclosure filings.

In 2008, the clerk’s office received 8,237 filings.

This year, through Sept. 30, the clerk’s office has received 9,389 filings - and they are projecting 12,000 for the entire calendar.

Obviously, on an individual and family level the increase in foreclosure filings is bad news. But what does it say about the economy as a whole? Are we flushing out all of the toxic mortgages on the road to recovery? Or has news of the recession’s demise been greatly exaggerated?

While much of the state’s government will be shut down on Friday by Executive Order 01.01.2009.11, the courts will be up and running under Chief Judge Bell’s Administrative Order Pertaining to Temporary Salary Reduction etc.

The distinction might seem clear enough, but as Julie Bykowicz writes in today’s Sun, lots of the lawyers who will be expected to appear in court on Friday are state employees, including those in the offices of the public defender, attorney general and the state prosecutor.

Deputy State Prosecutor Thomas M. McDonough says he’ll be in court Friday, since the Paterakis arraignment is on the schedule. Granted, if it’s anything like Helen Holton’s arraignment on Wednesday, that will amount to about a nickel’s worth of time on a parking meter — but it’s still his own nickel.

If you look at the Judiciary’s Administrative Order, McDonough’s just being prudent. In no uncertain terms, Chief Judge Bell warns:

Persons with business before a court shall not be excused because of the Executive Order.

The Executive Order, though, is equally clear:

F.  An employee may not work during furlough time except that in the event of an emergency the appointing authority may revoke furlough time and the employee shall be paid for that time. An employee whose furlough time is revoked due to an emergency shall be required to take the furlough time on another day.

It’s possible an emergency was declared and McDonough’s furlough was revoked, or that whatever procedure is required to make that happen will, in fact, happen before he puts in his timecard. I sure hope so.

I’d hate to see an ethics prosecutor brought up on a payroll technicality, let alone for refusing to follow a direct order from the chief.

Happy sweltering Monday, everyone! Here are a few law links to start your week:

• Baltimore needs a criminal justice research center to scientifically study new initiatives, Page Croyder says.
• Hooray for economic recovery! Now when is it going to reach the law market?
• An Illinois judge sent a spectator to jail for yawning loudly as his cousin, the defendant, was sentenced. Black Robe-itis much?
• A Florida man says his cat downloaded child pornography by jumping on his keyboard. My cat once walked across my keyboard, changing the system language to Finnish, and we had a tough time figuring out how to change it back. But this one stretches my credulity.
• People are still succumbing to Nigerian e-mail scams. Who are these gullible folks? (HT: Crime Report.)

The surviving horses that were taken from Hilton and Donna Silver are well on their way to recovery,  a Baltimore County animal control official said Wednesday.

“They are doing phenomenal,” said Brooke Birman-Vrany, assistant director at Days End Farm Horse Rescue in Woodbine, which has housed the horses since April.

Birman-Vrany’s testimony was blocked by the judge after the Silvers pleaded guilty Tuesday to neglecting their stable of three. District Court Judge Robert J. Steinberg ruled that she would essentially be giving a victim impact statement on behalf of the horses, one of whom had to be euthanized.

Reached Wednesday, Birman-Vrany said the two surviving Arabians are exiting the “critical care stage” of their training program, with physical rehab that includes round-the-clock care and a strict feeding plan. They are now entering the “maintenance” stage of the program to re-learn how to handle a rider and generally be a horse for a new owner.

Birman-Vrany estimated the horses would be adopted by this time next year, based on the average horse’s stay at Days End Farm Horse Rescue.

The nonprofit organization currently cares for nearly 60 horses, almost all taken in through animal control offices around Maryland. The organization also in some cases takes in horses private owners can no longer care for, which is a growing problem in the current economy; Birman-Vrany said her office receives three calls a day from private owners.

“We’ve had a real increase in horse issues,” she said.

Birman-Vrany praised the work of Baltimore County prosecutors and animal control officers in the Silvers’ case, saying it has a set a precedent for horse neglect cases.

“I was very grateful for everyone who stood up for these horses’ welfare,” she said.

Note: Photo at top left is file art.

Happy Monday!

• An innocent man from Baltimore has been in prison for more than 25 years, writes Dan Rodricks.
• Should jurors get to ask questions at trial?
• Are you an unemployed attorney? Sue your law school!
• New projections say the legal market has stabilized and will grow 3 percent next year.
• This sounds like a distasteful and offensive way to market your legal services, but does it merit sanctions?
• Slate’s Dahlia Lithwick summarizes each Judiciary Committee member’s vote on Sotomayor–in haiku. Awesome.

Since most of the legal employment-related news has been bad lately, what with all the layoffs and deferrments, I figured I’d share an e-mail I received recently about a job opening to add to the few but proud that are hiring.

The Homeless Persons Representation Project Inc. in Baltimore is looking for a director for its Pro Bono Program, which has seen the ranks of volunteers quadruple since 2007. HPRP runs a community-based intake program at local shelters and soup kitchens; specialized task forces that focus on legal issues affecting the state’s homeless population; and systemic advocacy projects where solutions to homelessness are pursued.

The organization is looking to expand its Pro Bono Program in Baltimore during the next three years. For more details, click here. 

With big firms shedding lawyers left and right, do you think the legal services field could be the route to go in these economic times?

For my story today about lawyers getting paid slowly or not at all, I spoke to Sonya Smith-Valentine, a Greenbelt consumer rights attorney. According to Smith-Valentine’s (admittedly unscientific) analysis of what kinds of cases she is working on now, the economy’s going to get a lot better in short order.

She said the type of work she gets at any given time serves as something of a leading indicator. When things are about to get bad, she starts seeing more clients who want to get debt collectors off their backs. When the economy is about to get better, she starts getting more people who need her to help them with credit issues; they are about to make a big purchase, such as a house or car, and want to get their credit in order.

“For awhile, all my calls have been about debt issues,” Smith-Valentine told me. “They’ve started to switch back to credit issues.”

I spoke too soon.

In a post on Friday, I wrote that to the best of my knowledge, no firm with a big presence here had yet canceled its summer associate program for 2010.

Now Ballard Spahr, which has 40 lawyers in Baltimore and nine in Bethesda, has done just that. (The report first surfaced today on Above the Law.)

A Ballard spokeswoman e-mailed me the following statement:

“In view of our obligation to manage our firm in a responsible way, we have decided not to have a Summer Associates Program in 2010. We are very pleased to have a new class of associates that will join us in the fall of 2010 and will make offers to this year’s summer associates to start in 2011. It would be unfair to have a Summer Associates Program next year in light of the people to whom we have made commitments. If there are exceptional needs in a non-Philadelphia office, we will consider appropriate hires. This decision reflects what we believe is in the best interests of the firm.”

In nearly every social setting I found myself in this past holiday weekend, the latest in The Continuing Story of Alaska Sarah came up, and the theories of why she abruptly quit as governor were as various as they were numerous. Here’s one the legal community can understand: her legal bills forced her hand. (And speaking of, er, atypical Alaskans, I wonder what this judge has to say about Palin’s resignation.)

How bad have law firm layoffs been this year? Here’s the latest on the recent rash of retrenchments. (HT: Above The Law)

Have you heard about The Chicago Tribune’s series of stories examining the controversial admissions practices at the University of Illinois? Well there’s now controversy about the newspaper’s coverage, too, and a group of law professors at the University want everyone to know their school isn’t unique. (Hat tip: ABA Journal, et al.) Are they right?

Leah Ward Sears, the just-retired Chief Justice of the Georgia Supreme Court — and a one-time candidate to become dean of the University of Maryland School of Law — sounded off last week on no-fault divorces. (Hat tip: Maryland Family Law Blog)

Finally, everybody has word-choice pet peeves, and one of mine is the use of ‘verbal‘. As that word comes from the Latin for ‘word,’ I think it should be used in contrast to ‘numerical’ or ‘gestural’ when manner of expression is the subject at issue. But instead, ‘verbal’ is often used in contrast to ‘written’, which while legitimate according to lower-listed dictionary definitions, I think should be subbed out for ‘vocal‘. (By the way, this mini tirade — wait, can you have a typed tirade? — was triggered by today’s “Say What?!“). What do you think?

I’ll admit, what made me click on the link in this blog post was the line:”This reminds me of the brilliant Scooner [sic] Tuna solution at the end of Mr. Mom.”

My love of Mr. Mom aside, I was intrigued when I was directed to LexisNexis’s “Lend a Hand” program Web site. Recently laid-off attorneys — from firms with 50 or more lawyers — can sign up for the program and receive free six-month profiles on Lawyers.com and martindale.com along with six months of free access to Martindale-Hubbell Connected and the Martindale-Hubbell Career Center.

That’s almost as good a deal as receiving fifty cents off your can of tuna.

Hat tip: Above the Law.