[net-gold] Shoddy Legal Opinions from Maine State Agency

From: "David P. Dillard" <jwne@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: Other Net-Gold Lists -- Educator Gold <Educator-Gold@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Educator Gold <Educator-Gold@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, net-gold@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, NetGold <netgold@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Net-Gold <net-gold@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, K-12ADMINLIFE <K12ADMIN@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, K12AdminLIFE <K12AdminLIFE@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, NetGold <netgold@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Net-Platinum <net-platinum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Net-Gold <NetGold_general@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Temple Gold Discussion Group <TEMPLE-GOLD@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Temple University Net-Gold Archive <net-gold@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Health Lists -- Health Diet Fitness Recreation Sports Tourism <healthrecsport@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Health Diet Fitness Recreation Sports <healthrecsport@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, HEALTH-RECREATION-SPORTS-TOURISM@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Thu, 26 Jul 2012 15:46:16 -0400 (EDT)

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Date: Thu, 26 Jul 2012 15:19:07 -0400
From: Dwight Hines <dwight.hines@xxxxxxxxx>
Reply-To: Net-Gold@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
To: State and Local Freedom of Information Issues <FOI-L@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: "Pistner, Linda" <Linda.Pistner@xxxxxxxxx>, sadolphsen@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx,
    Net-Gold@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [Net-Gold] Shoddy Legal Opinions from Maine State Agency

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Shoddy Legal Opinions from Maine State Agency

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I?m in Maine and the state has an agency,
or quasi-agency, Maine Municipal
Association (MMA), that provides
insurance to most of the towns and cities,
as well as providing legal advice to
the selectmen and employees.   I have
read several recent opinions from the
MMA Legal Department and, to be
frank, they are shoddy.  No citations
to any case law, disorganized (one
was written by a non-attorney), no
attempt to determine what conflicting
facts existed, and no specific citations
to state statutes.   They provide
opinions but do not represent the towns
in court.

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I?m not sure about other states,
but to call these writings ?Legal
Opinions? is an insult to those folks
who have worked hard to obtain a law
degree and who work hard to provide
good legal representation.

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A secondary issue is that of antitrust  -
a state agency taking money to
provide low quality legal work not only
reduces competition from private
attorneys but it reduces innovation at
the same time ? a state agency is
not going to innovate or challenge the
laws that protect them or the towns
from being held accountable.

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Now, FOI comes in because the town
does not provide copies of documents
that are discussed in meetings, as
they are required to do, and responses
to requests are delayed, and some
times partial or incomplete.  Public
discussion at board meetings is
severely restricted.

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Question:  Does anyone know of
qualitative evaluation methods and
quantitative evaluation approaches
that will allow assignment of grades
to one page ?legal opinions??
There must be some grading systems
because law schools teach legal
writing.

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Let me hear from you because if
FOIA requests are being denied based on
shoddy or low quality legal work,
the problems need to be addressed with
the state and federal bars because
the town employees and officials are
going to read the opinions much like
people read their horoscopes, looking
for general statements that support
what they believe, regardless of the
consequences they face.

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Dwight Hines

IndyMedia

Maine

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[net-gold] Shoddy Legal Opinions from Maine State Agency

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