Two months ago, the State Bar of Arizona ran a lame contest via Instagram to encourage voters to “Finish the Ballot!”
Voters here aren’t particularly fond of playing “eeny, meeny, miny, moe” to figure out who to vote for among scores of judges up for judicial retention elections. The numbers can run upwards of 50 to 60 — even 70. Unfortunately, most of the populace has never heard of the candidates. And for Red State Arizonans, it’s even tougher since judicial elections aren’t partisan.
So in lieu of throwing darts at a list or visiting the judicial performance review website, which 99% of the time rubber-stamps its approval anyway — many voters take a pass. They either vote “No” on everyone or they don’t vote altogether for the judges.
Just the same this wasn’t the contest to do it, not by any stretch. Assuming anyone paid attention, the contest was purely a sop for those crying out for something — anything to stem the tide of persistent problematic ballot roll-off.
The sole prize for the winning video entry was supposed to have been a $250 Visa gift card. But since the November election, it’s been a minor mystery on whether or not the Bar received any contest video entries or whether anybody actually won. I’ve seen no pronouncements from our friendly state bar, which is highly unusual since this stands in stark contrast to all the email announcements ballyhooing the start of the contest. Odd, too, as the local Bar is quite fond of filling up lawyer inboxes with unsolicited email newsletters, redundant CLE advertisements and just today, an especially unwelcome “time to pay your State Bar of Arizona’s annual dues” email.
At least for now, it appears mum’s the word on “Finish the Ballot,” which naturally prompts the question whether or not the Bar ever plans to “Finish the Contest.” To be clear, I don’t actually care a rat’s hindquarters about the contest. This is merely my snarky segue into posting more FREE CLE offerings for lawyers still trying to “Finish the CLE” by year-end. The usual disclaimers on content; continued availability; and jurisdictional approval apply.
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FREE CLE
First American Exchange Company
http://firstexchange.com/webinars
1031 Exchanges and
Commercial Real Estate
Thursday, December 4th, 2014
11 AM Pacific / 2 PM Eastern
50 minutes
Topics will include:
- Current Trends
- Allowable Closing Costs
- Recapture of Depreciation
- How Reverse Exchanges Can Save a Transaction
- Exchange Deposit Accounts
- State Regs for QIs
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Wolters Kluwer
Alternative Entities — Navigating New Choices for Business Formations Webinar
December 9, 2014 – 1:00PM(ET)
1.0 CLE credit hours in California, Illinois, Missouri, NALA, New York, Pennsylvania and Texas and other jurisdictions under reciprocity.
Topics:
- Series LLC
- Benefit Corporations
- Low-Profit LLC
- Unincorporated nonprofit associations
- Limited cooperative associations
- Master Limited Partnership
Attendees will learn:
- What new entities are now available
- How they are different from and similar to traditional entities such as the corporation or LLC
- Where they can be formed
- How they are formed, maintained and terminated
| REGISTER NOW |
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LexisNexis® Presents a Complimentary CLE-eligible Webinar: Ethical Concerns Conducting Research via the open Web
2 – 3:35 P.M. ET (11 A.M. PT)
Duration: 95 minutes
Earn 1.5 CLE credits
• Risks of legal research on the open Web
• Developing a firm policy on utilizing the open Web
• Preserving information found on the Internet
• Protecting your own Internet content
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Photo Credits: 214/365, at Flickr by Morgan via Creative Commons attribution.
