Equity Is Swell

Chief Judge Few, of the South Carolina Court of Appeals, gave this commencement speech to the graduating students of the Charleston School of Law on December 16, 2012. With so much relentless criticism today of the legal profession, it is especially nice to consider this speech. As Judge Few reminds us - at its very best – law can be a highly honorable field and individual lawyers and judges really can make a true meaningful difference in this world. Thanks, Judge Few, for sharing this recent commencement speech with all of us and permitting me to post it on the Equity is Swell blog. Naturally, I always invite comments on anything that is posted here.

Spitz

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 4,400 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 7 years to get that many views.

Click here to see the complete report.

To have every new post on Equity is Swell emailed to your email address, do the following. At the Equity is Swell site, click on the floating box in the lower right-hand corner that says “Follow.”

In the box that comes up, fill in the email address and click “Sign me up.”

This student paper, titled Unclean Hands: Residential Real Estate Loan Modifications in South Carolina and the Unauthorized Practice of Law, was written for my Spring 2012 Equity class by Ricky Thomas, Gary Patterson, and Corey Smith.

Last December, I was lucky enough to attend the Charleston School of Law December Commencement Graduation Ceremonies. The Commencement Speaker was one of the Associate Justices on the South Carolina Supreme Court, the honorable Justice John Kittredge. He is very kind and has permitted me, at my request, to post that talk on Equity is Swell. I think this is a really wonderful speech for law student graduates (and many others — including many lawyers) to read and reflect upon its content. An aside, Justice Kittredge was at first quite reluctant to let me post this talk because, as he quickly pointed out to me, it was written to be delivered orally and was never intended to be read. Nonetheless, with the qualification in mind, I have the privilege of passing it along just the way he wrote it. I frankly predict you will find it truly worthy of reading and I greatly appreciate his honor permitting me the privilege of posting it here. Thanks, Justice Kittredge.

Spitz / February 14, 2012

October 18, 2011

Last Friday,  I was lucky enough to be in attendance and be a speaker, at the Equity Bench Bar CLE in Columbia put on by the South Carolina Bar. One of the topics, that I personally found so very interesting, is the rules surrounding when an attorney can be a witness and when an attorney is forbidden to be a witness. The speaker, was a very well-known South Carolina lawyer, John Nichols, Esq. and he was kind enough after the seminar to tell me that he would have no problem with me posting his materials on this website. So, I pass along John’s outstanding legal talk and his legal research on a topic that is always of some interest — when can an attorney become a witness? This question is far from academic as it regularly comes up in equity courts in mortgage foreclosures where there has been a default by the opposing party. Of course, it also comes up in other contexts as well as John’s materials discuss. I sincerely want to thank John for his granting me permission to share his excellent legal materials with others who could not attend the seminar.

Spitz

Recently, someone sent me a comment looking for some personal advise about a pending legal matter. I am genuinely sorry — but the purpose of this blog is not to engage in legal counsel to anyone.

My purpose is merely educational — to pass on some possibly interesting student papers / my own and some student power point presentations / and sometimes to even post some interesting lower court orders in South Carolina that have been completed, finished, and not on appeal, that may be of value to lawyers and other judges and law students someday. I teach the course Equity and Equitable Remedies at the Charleston School of Law and hope these types of materials may be of use someday.  Although I always welcome comments, suggestions, or even criticism of what is posted – in general, I have to draw the line when it comes to giving any formal or informal legal counsel or advise to anyone.

There are a lot of reasons for this particular stopping point –  merely to mention one obvious one: creating an attorney client relationship is truly a private, personal matter and simply cannot be done on the internet (at least in my own personal opinion) as a private, confidential attorney client relationship is impossible on a public blog.  

At all events, I ask all future readers, to again respect this limitation, and not post future requests of a personal nature dealing with pending legal matters.  

With the very kindest personal regards, I remain,

Very truly yours,

Professor Stephen Spitz
Charleston School of Law
Charleston, S.C.

The late Honorable Louis E. Condon was the Master in Equity for Charleston County, South Carolina. He was a close personal friend, a superb judge, and a very nice person.

I have taken the liberty of attaching, as I thought some people who read the Equity is Swell Blog might find it of genuine interest, his obituary that ran in the Charleston Post & Courier Newspaper. I have also attached my own very brief remarks at his funeral, which took place this past weekend.