ISBA’s ‘Member Mark’ program unveiled
 Want
to promote your membership in The Iowa State Bar Association to clients and
potential clients?
You
can do that with the ISBA’s Member Mark program, approved by the Board of
Governors at its quarterly meeting in December.
"I’m
very passionate about this program and the use of the phrase ‘PROUD IOWA
LAWYER,’” President Guy Cook told the governors.
The
mark (see illustration) conveys to the public and to fellow attorneys that you
are a proud Iowa lawyer and an active, participating member in the
8,400-plus-member association. Use of the mark is available to any active ISBA
member who completes the ISBA Member Mark License Agreement.
Firms
may also display the member mark under the same terms and conditions as
individuals by certifying that all members of the firm are active members of
the ISBA.
Details
about the program, including how the member mark can be used -- i.e. business
cards, letterhead, etc. – and other frequently asked questions can be found on
the ISBA website here.
The license agreement can be found here.
New webpage designed to connect rural
practitioners and students
 A
new webpage on the ISBA’s website will make it easier for rural practitioners
who are willing to hire a law student for the summer to view information about students
who are interested in a summer clerkship opportunity. The page is also designed
for practitioners to post information about their practices and their
communities for students to view.
The
goal is to streamline the process of connecting students with rural
practitioners who are interested in participating in the ISBA Rural Practice
Committee’s Summer Clerkship program.
Started
two years ago, the program is designed to match 1L and 2L students from Iowa’s
two law schools and Creighton University’s School of Law with rural attorneys
to acquaint students with the practice of law in rural areas. The ultimate goal
is to have students move to rural areas to practice once they graduate and are
licensed.
Check
out the webpage at this link.
Melby decision has potential impact
for attorneys in estate planning
A
reader pointed out that last week’s Iowa Supreme Court decision in the matter
of the estate of Arnold Melby, deceased, would appear to give the state more
leeway in its ability to recover assets from estates and trusts of decedents
who received Medicaid assistance during their lifetimes.
The
Melbys, a farm couple, created irrevocable trusts in 1991 and transferred farm
real estate into the trusts. The trusts rarely generated income during
their existence. Many years later, both Melbys received Medicaid
assistance.
The
issues in the case included when the debt arose and whether assets of the
irrevocable trusts were available for recovery by the State of Iowa, says Josh
Weidemann, chair of the ISBA’s Probate, Trust and Estate Planning Section. The
Melby case resolves the issue of timing of creation of the Medicaid debt by
finding that it arises at the time of the provision of the services. It
also expands on the Court’s reasoning in Barkema and Gist to find
that the Melbys had an interest in the corpus of the irrevocable trusts at the
time of their respective qualification for Medicaid assistance and their
subsequent deaths, he said.
Iowa
State University’s Center for Agricultural Law and Taxation (CALT) also issued
a report on the Melby case. The overview to the report states: "The Iowa
Supreme Court has reaffirmed the extensive reach of the Iowa Medicaid recovery
program, stressing the Medicaid program’s ‘broad purpose’ of ‘providing for
care for those in need’ and ‘allowing for recovery by the state’ to free ‘more
funds for the provision of future services.’”
Read
the full
decision. Read the CALT
report.
Pro Bono
Publico Award nominations now open
 Nominations
for the 2014 ABA Pro Bono Publico Awards are now open and will be accepted
through February 28.
Each
year the ABA’s Standing Committee on Pro Bono and Public Service presents five
awards to individual lawyers and institutions in the legal profession that have
enhanced the human dignity of others by improving or delivering volunteer legal
services to our nation's poor and disadvantaged. The awards are presented
during a luncheon at the ABA Annual Meeting in August.
For
more information on the Pro Bono Publico Award, including nomination criteria and
forms, please click here.
Free
upcoming Fastcase webinars offer CLE credit
 Fastcase, an ISBA member benefit, provides free live training
webinars so that ISBA members can learn how to use Fastcase, right from the
comfort of their own computer. Not only are these webinars free of cost, they
have also all been approved for one hour of state CLE.
What is Fastcase?
Fastcase is the leading next-generation legal research service that puts a
comprehensive national law library and smarter and more powerful searching,
sorting, and visualization tools at your fingertips. Fastcase’s libraries
include primary law from all 50 states, as well as deep federal coverage
including cases, statutes, regulations, court rules, and constitutions.
More
than 500,000 lawyers have access to Fastcase, making it one of the world’s most
trusted research services. Twenty-one state bar associations, including the
ISBA, have purchased Fastcase subscriptions for all of their members
"If you haven’t tried
Fastcase, I encourage you to take advantage of this tremendous benefit of ISBA
membership,” suggests ISBA President Guy Cook.
The free webinars available include Introduction to Legal Research
on Fastcase, Advanced Tips for Enhanced Legal Research, Introduction to Boolean
(Keyword) Searches, and Introduction to Legal Research on Fascase for
Paralegals. Click here for webinar dates, times, event handouts, and
registration links.
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