Source: http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNLJ.jsp?id=1202581805349&rss=rss_nlj
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Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Donation will bring Israeli legal scholars to Chicago
The University of Chicago Law School will host a succession of Israeli legal scholars, financed through a $1 million donation from alumnus David Greenbaum and his wife Laureine.
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
So You Say The Car Is Where?
Hey, younger drivers are going to make mistakes, especially after they've had something to drink. Here's the latest installment of "Yikes" as reported by The Hamilton Spectator (Ontario):
A Burlington teen faces careless driving charges after crashing into a home. Halton police say ‘miraculously’ no one was injured when the 19-year-old left the roadway at 10 p.m. Wednesday night.You've got to see the pictures. (Click here.)
The novice driver in a Ford Taurus and a male passenger left the west side of the roadway before crossing the front lawns of two homes. The car struck the front of a house with such impact police say the vehicle’s entire front end was lodged inside.Think the homeowner was pissed?
“I ran right to the guy (driver) and started yelling at him,” homeowner Kathy Thring told the Burlington Post. “He kept telling me he was sorry. I told him he could have hurt someone.” Thring, her husband Darrin, and two daughters, Taylor, 13, and Sutherlin, 10, were home at the time.
The car remained in the house Thursday morning. Police say main support systems of the home looked to be significantly compromised.The charges?
Mitchell Bolduc, 19 is charged with careless driving and having a blood alcohol concentration above zero. The accused is a novice driver which under the Highway Traffic Act of Ontario, restricts drivers from having any alcohol at all.Here's the source.
Source: http://rss.justia.com/~r/LegalJuiceCom/~3/_CKrqCN7My4/post_545.html
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The DRI - ‘The Voice of the Defense Bar'
DRI is considered a ‘think tank’ for defense attorneys and in-house counsel. On Ringler Radio, host Larry Cohen and Ringler colleague, Jim Early, join Attorney Matthew Cairns from the firm, Gallagher, Callahan & Gartrell, to focus on the DRI - ‘The Voice of the Defense Bar’ and talk about what defense attorneys should know about the settlement process.
Source: http://legaltalknetwork.com/podcasts/ringler-radio/2012/10/the-dri-the-voice-of-the-defense-bar/
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Future Law Office: Top Technology Trends Reshaping the Legal Field
In this video podcast of The Robert Half Legal Report, Charles Volkert, executive director of Robert Half Legal, and Robert Ambrogi, co-host of Lawyer2Lawyer on the Legal Talk Network discuss how law firms and corporate legal departments are leveraging technology to improve services and streamline workflow. They share key findings from Future Law Office, Robert Half Legal’s annual research program that examines important developments in the legal profession.
How Pro Bono can be a market strategy for Solos and Law Students
Solos and Law Students-have you considered Pro Bono as an investment? It can expand your client base and knowledge, open doors for employment and networking, and enrich your standing in the community. New Solo host, Attorney Kyle R. Guelcher, a solo practitioner and the most recent Chair of the Young Lawyers Division of the Massachusetts Bar Association discusses with Attorney Luz Herrera, Assistant Professor of Law at the Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego, California how she used Pro Bono to build her practice and strengthen her community.
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A Look Back at 2011 E-Discovery News and Hot ESI Trends for 2012
In 2012, we anticipate a riveting period of progression and change in the rapidly evolving context of e-discovery. On The ESI Report, host Michele Lange, Attorney and Director of Thought Leadership at Kroll Ontrack welcomes Magistrate Judge David Waxse from the U.S. District Court in Kansas and Alitia Faccone, partner at McCarter & English, to discuss the forecast for e-discovery in the new year and countdown to some of the hottest trends in this vibrant intersection of law and technology. In the Bits & Bytes Legal Analysis, Kroll Ontrack Legal Correspondent, Elliot Westman, looks back and navigates some of the biggest waves generated by e-discovery case law in 2011.
The BP Oil Spill Case and Large Volume E-Discovery
How do you efficiently handle large volume e-discovery in a high-profile case? Digital Detectives co-hosts, Sharon D. Nelson, Esq., President of Sensei Enterprises, Inc., and John W. Simek, Vice President of Sensei Enterprises, get expert advice from Joe Mulenex, the Regional Technical Director for Avansic, who assisted the discovery team for the Plaintiffs Steering Committee in the BP Oil Spill case. Joe discusses the biggest challenges of handling documents and the importance of project management. He also shares his biggest e-discovery take away from this case.
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Shooting Superman
As recently noted, the new diagnosis whenever someone dies following a tazing is "excited delirium," which Steve Tuttle from Taser International advised me was not their invention, even if they seized upon it as an awfully facile excuse. But there is another word in the lexicon of force to note: superhuman.
Who doesn't think it sounds pretty darned cool to be described as a "man of steel"? Except the word gets trotted out not as a compliment, but a rationalization. From Work Without Dread:
Bartholomew Williams, the unarmed African-American graduate student shot dead on Sunday night by Cal State San Bernardino campus police, showed "superhuman strength" as he struggled with them, according to police. If that sounds familiar, that's because superhumanity is a lot more common than has been thought. Roberto Laudisio-Curdi, an unarmed student killed by police in Sydney in October, also had "superhuman strength." A man on a stolen motorcycle who resisted arrest in South Carolina last September had "superhuman strength" too, although it seems to me that it was more to his advantage that he had a gun, which the deputy through superhuman strength of his own got control of. Last summer in Maryland, a guy in a shootout with police "held on to his gun" after being hit by a bullet, which led a police spokesperson to remark, "The PCP just provokes superhuman strength." And at about the same time, police in Georgia said that a delirious man that they arrested "had superhuman strength and admitted being high on bath salts." (See also State of North Carolina v. Jonathan Howard Norton, No. COA10–1544, June 2011.)
The post goes on to argue that the use of the characterization "superhuman" is the new means of dehumanizing the target of police violence.
You don't have to be Foucault to see that superhumanity functions as subhumanity; it allows the nonhuman to be eliminated while releasing the perceiver from having to answer for seeing someone as nonhuman. Like last spring's "bath salts" hysteria itself, the phrase "superhuman strength" reflects police discomfort with mental illness--or even just "irrationality"--on the one hand, and with the unaccountable phenomenon of resisting arrest on the other.
While this explanation delves deeply into the police psychology of viewing non-cops, the us-and-them mentality, as lesser humans unworthy of concern or compassion, my sense is that the description isn't so much a tacit reflection of their dehumanization as it is another in the long list of convenient words that can provide a ready excuse for the use of force. It's easy, quick and immediately explains why they had to shoot, taze, beat a person whose conduct otherwise compelled no need for force.
As is often the case, the word is used in conjunction with the underlying criminal accusation, such as the use of PCP or bath salts, playing upon public hysteria and ignorance. After all, how many people are going to rush to the aid of the dead man claiming they use PCP all the time and never had superhuman strength? On the other side, the mythology surrounding crazy, wild things that happen to people who do demon drugs plays right into a claim like this. As Judy Tenuta liked to say, "it can happen."
While police are frequently uncomfortable with mental illness or irrationality, though the latter usually reflects the peculiar police perspective that failure to immediately comply with their commands constitutes irrationality per se, the use of force isn't limited by any stretch to those who suffer from some mental impairment. With increasing frequency, it's just a matter of time and convenience, where they have the means to end an incident now, and use it, or don't feel much like chasing down a perp and just shoot instead. It's quick and easy, the only thing needed is an excuse.
The beauty of characterizing a person as having "superhuman" strength is that it not only provides a justification for the use of force that would otherwise be inexcusable, but it can't be tested later for veracity. Much like the beloved "furtive gesture," it happened only because the police officer said so, and then it's gone. In the case of furtive gesture, the result is a search. In the case of superhuman strength, there's usually a dead body.
Does anybody actually have this "superhuman" strength? No and yes. No, there is no such thing as Superman, and no one suddenly manifests abilities beyond those of mere mortals, regardless of whether they're wearing a cape. But drugs do cause disinhibition, where a person will exert his very human strength to its fullest, without any reluctance, despite doing so in the face of police force. The fact is that a person on PCP may well beat a cop in fight; cops don't necessarily have secret cop-fu that allows them to come out on top in hand-to-hand combat. They can be beaten. They can be hurt. They are not inclined to let that happen.
At the same time, use of such shorthands as "superhuman" strength build a mythology that's hard to resist. It becomes a mantra, where just saying the magic words makes whatever comes afterward perfectly understandable. What could the cop do in the face of this drugged up guy with superhuman strength? He had no choice but to shoot. And another unarmed person lies dead on the street, and there is no way to dispute it. Except it isn't real.
H/T FritzMuffKnuckle
© 2012 Simple Justice NY LLC. This feed is for personal, non-commercial & Newstex use only. The use of this feed on any other website is a copyright violation. If this feed is not via RSS reader or Newstex, it infringes the copyright.
Source: http://blog.simplejustice.us/2012/12/14/shooting-superman.aspx?ref=rss
Monday, December 17, 2012
Supreme Court Review of the Health Care Reform Law
Professor Renee Landers and Brendan Abel JD '12 of Suffolk University Law School discuss their recent article entitled, "Supreme Court Review of the Health Care Reform Law." Read the article at http://bit.ly/AdgRI4.
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Online Reputation Management for Lawyers
What are people saying about you online? What if the comments are negative? How can you protect your good name? In an environment where online reviews are common, Legal Toolkit host Jared Correia, Law Practice Advisor with Mass. LOMAP,, and Conrad Saam, Vice President of Marketing at Urbanspoon, discuss online reputation management for lawyers. Conrad and Jared cover the importance of tracking online mentions, and the methods for doing so. They also address the rising vitality of local search and the usefulness in dominating vanity search.
Source: http://legaltalknetwork.com/podcasts/legal-toolkit/2012/02/online-reputation-management-for-lawyers/
How do you talk to your lawyers about LinkedIn?
How do you win over LinkedIn skeptics? Show them the numbers.
Source: http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNLJ.jsp?id=1202581425827&rss=rss_nlj
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LawBiz® Legal Pad: The End Of Your Lease
Ed makes suggestions about what to consider when approaching the end of your lease.
Source: http://feeds.lexblog.com/~r/LawBizBlog/~3/4u1N1tzZkt0/
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Legal Talk Network Live at LegalTechNY 2012- Bob Ambrogi on Why LegalTechNY is a Top Show for Lawyers
Bob Ambrogi, co-host of Lawyer2Lawyer and longtime legal technologist, travels to LegalTechNY and explains why it is one of the pre-eminent legal technology shows. This year’s emphasis is on e-discovery, case management and cloud computing. Bob also tells us why he’s looking forward to seeing all the new and exciting tech products targeting the legal community. Be sure to watch the interview, hosted by Legal Talk Network producer, Kate Kenney.
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The AM Roundup: Right to Work, Cameron’s Gay Marriage Push, More
Law Blog rounds up the morning's news.
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Judge approves settlement in PA juvenile sentencing suit
[JURIST] The US District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania [official website] on Friday approved a settlement of almost $18 million in a lawsuit brought by juveniles who were allegedly wrongfully incarcerated by two judges. The county judges, Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan, were accused of taking bribes from Robert Mericle, a real estate developer who built youth detention centers, in exchange for wrongfully incarcerating the juveniles. The settlement Friday was only with Mericle, but both judges are named...
Source: http://jurist.org/paperchase/2012/12/judge-approves-settlement-in-pa-juvenile-sentencing-suit.php
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Sunday, December 16, 2012
4 Tips To Help In-House Counsel Avoid Becoming a DOJ Target
Given their understanding of the business, high level of responsibility and role as trusted advisers of top corporate brass, in-house counsel are and will remain big targets of federal investigators. At a recent forum, experts offered guidance to their corporate peers on keeping both their companies and themselves out of trouble. One tip: Pay attention to employee complaints.
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Legal Talk Network Live at LegalTechNY 2012- Bob Ambrogi on Why LegalTechNY is a Top Show for Lawyers
Bob Ambrogi, co-host of Lawyer2Lawyer and longtime legal technologist, travels to LegalTechNY and explains why it is one of the pre-eminent legal technology shows. This year’s emphasis is on e-discovery, case management and cloud computing. Bob also tells us why he’s looking forward to seeing all the new and exciting tech products targeting the legal community. Be sure to watch the interview, hosted by Legal Talk Network producer, Kate Kenney.
The Impact of BU Law’s LL.M. Programs
BU Law has offered a post-graduate legal education leading to the Master of Laws degree for more than 125 years. In this BU Law podcast, host David Yas, a BU Law alum, former publisher of Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly and a V.P. at Bernstein Global Wealth, welcomes John N. Riccardi, BU Law’s assistant dean for Graduate and International Programs and director of the Office of Graduate and International Programs, to take a look at the School’s graduate programs for international lawyers. Later in the program, David is joined by former student Johan S. Ellefsen, who talks about his experience with the LL.M. program and where he is today.
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Legal Talk Network Live at LegalTechNY 2012-Burke & Company’s Christy Burke Talks About What’s New in Legal Industry
Christy Burke, from Burke & Company tells us about networking and shares the "latest and greatest" in legal technology. Christy also comments on exciting happenings within the legal industry including: convergence, mergers and acquisitions, and competition. Be sure to watch the interview, hosted by Legal Talk Network producer, Kate Kenney.
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Solo Sanity: How to Control the Anxiety
The largest proportion of attorneys work as sole practitioners, or within small firms and chronic stress is rampant among these attorneys, who face stress from all sides. On The Un-Billable Hour, host Attorney Rodney Dowell, Executive Director at Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers and Director of LCL’s Massachusetts Law Office Management Assistance Program joins returning guest, Attorney Eric MacLeish, principal of MacLeish & Woolverton, to cite the major stress points for sole and small firm attorneys, steps attorneys can take to reduce the impact of acute and chronic stress, and the benefits of learning to manage stress.
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Bangladesh war crimes tribunal judge resigns
[JURIST] Justice Mohammed Nizamul Huq, a judge for the International Crimes Tribunal Bangladesh (ICTB) [Facebook page] resigned from his position on Tuesday. Huq was the chairman of the tribunal's three-judge panel, and is a Justice for the High Court Division of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh [official website]. His resignation [AP report] follows recent allegations of impropriety [Economist report]. The report indicated that Huq ordered two journalists to appear before to explain how they obtained e-mails and recorded telephone conversations...
Source: http://jurist.org/paperchase/2012/12/bangladesh-war-crimes-tribunal-judge-resigns.php
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Medicare Set Aside Arrangements and Mass Torts
On Ringler Radio, host Larry Cohen is talking about Medicare Set Asides with colleague and co-host, Lynn DeMauro Clark and guest, Attorney John "Jay" F. Kearns III from the firm Kearns & Kearns. They take a look at mass torts and the facts surrounding the US v. James J. Stricker case. In addition, Jay explores the Medicare Medicaid SCHIP Extension Act of 2007 (MMSEA) and how it has created an uproar among insurers and personal injury lawyers and talks about Stricker’s overall significance to plaintiff attorneys.
Saturday, December 15, 2012
Tony Coelho: Fighting for the Disabled
On Ringler Radio, host Larry Cohen welcomes colleague Cindy Chanley, and returning guest, Tony Coelho, the past chair and member of the board of the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD) and the interim President and CEO of the Epilepsy Foundation, to share his personal journey and his ongoing fight for people living with disabilities. Tony shares his thoughts on health care, how structured settlements have benefited a person with disabilities, in addition to the AAPD’s mission for 2012 and his work with the Epilepsy Foundation.
Source: http://legaltalknetwork.com/podcasts/ringler-radio/2012/04/tony-coelho-fighting-for-the-disabled/
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EEOC briefs on line
This is pretty cool.
EEOC briefs are now on line. [Here]
They cover briefs filed in the US Circuit Courts of Appeals in which the EEOC was a party, plus amicus briefs filed in the US Circuit Courts of Appeals, District Courts, and state courts.
And there is a user-friendly search function.
Briefs filed in the US Supreme Court are not in this collection, and can be found through the US Solicitor General's collection [here].
Source: http://www.lawmemo.com/blog/2012/06/eeoc_briefs_on.html
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Seventh Circuit strikes down Illinois ban on concealed carry
[JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit [official website] on Tuesday invalidated a ban on carrying concealed weapons in Illinois, ultimately deciding [opinion, PDF] that the law is unconstitutional. Relying on the US Supreme Court [official website] decision in District of Columbia v. Heller [opinion, PDF], Judge Richard Posner opined that the Second Amendment [text] "confers a right to bear arms for self-defense, which is as important outside the home as inside," and that Illinois failed to...
Source: http://jurist.org/paperchase/2012/12/jurist-the-us-court-of-1.php
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Revisiting Citizens United in an Election Year
Since 2010, there has been great debate over the controversial ruling, Citizens United. Most recently, the Montana Supreme Court challenged the decision while Senator McCain called it "one of the worst decisions I have ever seen." Lawyer2Lawyer co-hosts and attorneys, J. Craig Williams and Robert Ambrogi welcome, Attorney Joseph M. Birkenstock, former chief counsel of the Democratic National Committee and Bradley A. Smith, Chairman and Co-Founder of the Center for Competitive Politics and former Commissioner on the Federal Election Commission, for an in-depth discussion on the impact of the ruling during an election year and its influence on the upcoming Presidential election.
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Are American Law Schools Failing Students?
In his new book, Failing Law Schools, Washington University Law Professor Brian Tamanaha claims the American law school system is broken. He blames many institutional practices including skyrocketing tuition, bloated faculties, and unnecessary school rankings. But is this a fair critique? Lawyer2Lawyer co-hosts and attorneys, Craig Williams and Bob Ambrogi, examine these issues and more with Professor Tamanaha and Dean Susan Poser from the University of Nebraska College of Law.
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The Best Paralegal Law Technology Trends
Paralegals need to know the latest trends in law practice and productivity technology to contribute to a successful law practice. For the hottest tech trends, Paralegal Voice co-hosts Lynne DeVenny and Vicki Voisin turn to Jared D. Correia, Esq., the Senior Practice Advisor for Massachusetts’ Law Office Management Assistance Program (MASSLOMAP). Jared shares his thoughts on everything from law practice management software, to cloud-based solutions and document management, to remote access and the benefits of social media. A big fan of legal support staffers, he explains why they are a key part of the legal team. This podcast is a must-listen for both paralegals and attorneys!
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Recommendations for a Social, Mobile and Global Legal Profession
The ABA Commission on Ethics 20/20 has released its latest recommendations so that the rules and ethics of the legal profession keep up with the incredible pace of technology. Lawyer2Lawyer co-hosts and attorneys, Bob Ambrogi and Craig Williams, get the details from the ABA Commission’s Chief Reporter, Professor Andrew Perlman, and debate these suggestions with Attorney Bradley Shear.
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Friday, December 14, 2012
Gone Clio with Attorney Anthony Reeves
On this edition of Gone Clio, Clio co-founder Jack Newton talks with special guest, Anthony Reeves of the Reeves Law Firm. Anthony talks about cloud computing and security, flexibility of using Clio for his practice and the role Internet access plays in serving his clients.
Source: http://legaltalknetwork.com/podcasts/gone-clio/2012/10/gone-clio-with-attorney-anthony-reeves/
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Texting While Driving and the Law
Texting while driving is a growing danger on American roads. Every day, people are severely injured and even killed by these distracted drivers. Lawyer2Lawyer co-hosts and attorneys, Bob Ambrogi and Craig Williams, get the legal lowdown on texting while driving laws and recent high-profile cases, including one where both parties involved in a texting conversation were sued from Attorney Matthew Weiss from Weiss & Associates, PC, Attorney Robert M. Schartz from the firm of Abrahams Kaslow & Cassman LLP and from Attorney Stephen "Skippy" Weinstein, a personal injury attorney at Stephen S. Weinstein, PC.
Source: http://legaltalknetwork.com/podcasts/lawyer-2-lawyer/2012/06/texting-while-driving-and-the-law/
What's New in the Structured Settlement Industry for 2012
On Ringler Radio, host Larry Cohen welcomes Ross Duncan, the newly appointed Chairman of the Board of Ringler Associates. Ross and Larry discuss the current status of the settlement industry and the direction Ringler Associates is headed in 2012. In addition, Ross explains how to adapt to changes in the industry, how his colleagues can benefit from Ringler's new website and his personal goals for the year.
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Transvaginal Mesh Complications and Litigation
Serious complications stemming from transvaginal mesh prompted an FDA warning and lawsuits by women against device manufacturers. On this Ringler Radio podcast, host Larry Cohen joins co-host, Heather Anderson and guest, Attorney Leigh O'Dell from the Beasley Allen law firm, to discuss the dangers, litigation, physical complications, Leigh’s role on the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee and next steps.
Special Masters in E-Discovery
In this October edition of Digital Detectives, co-hosts Sharon D. Nelson, Esq., President of Sensei Enterprises, Inc. and John W. Simek, Vice President of Sensei Enterprises, join returning guest, attorney Craig Ball, to talk about special masters in e-discovery. Craig describes how an ESI special master gets involved in a case, what a special master does to fix broken discovery efforts and how to select an ESI special master.
Source: http://legaltalknetwork.com/podcasts/digital-detectives/2012/10/special-masters-in-e-discovery/
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Choosing a Law Firm Entity Structure
On this October edition of The Legal Toolkit, Jared Correia, Senior Law Practice Advisor with Mass. LOMAP, joins Chiara LaPlume, principal of LaPlume Law, LLC and Sofia Lingos, principal of Lingos Law, to address entity choice for lawyers and law firms. Chiara and Sofia run down the options for law firms and solo lawyers (including d/b/a’s and limited liability entities), talk about why it’s essential to have a partnership agreement and relay why it may useful for an attorney to hire another lawyer to help them get incorporated.
Source: http://legaltalknetwork.com/podcasts/legal-toolkit/2012/10/choosing-a-law-firm-entity-structure/
The Best Resources for Staying Current in E-Discovery
How do you keep up with all that is going on in the world of e-discovery? On Digital Detectives, co-hosts Sharon D. Nelson, Esq., President of Sensei Enterprises, Inc. and John W. Simek, Vice President of Sensei Enterprises, welcome guest, Neil Squillante, publisher of LitigationWorld, who discusses his selection of resources for staying current in e-discovery. Neil tells us how to keep up with e-discovery developments, lists his favorite blogs and podcasts, and explains how you can benefit from the Sedona Conference and webinars.
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TAR Update: Precision, Recall, F-measure & Kleen Products Revisited
The ESI Report’s Michele Lange, Attorney and Director of Thought Leadership at Kroll Ontrack joins Ralph Losey, Partner at Jackson Lewis, as they take an in-depth look at how lawyers and experts are leveraging information science in arguments regarding the effectiveness of Technology Assisted Review, keyword search and everything in-between. In addition, on the Bits & Bytes Legal Analysis segment, Kroll Ontrack Legal Correspondent, Elliot Westman revisits Kleen Products v. Packaging Corp. of America.
Thursday, December 13, 2012
NLRB Member Terence Flynn resigns
NLRB Member Terence F. Flynn submitted his resignation to the President and to NLRB Chairman Mark Gaston Pearce on May 26.
His resignation is effective July 24, 2012. He has immediately recused himself from all agency business and has asked that the President withdraw his nomination for Board Member of the NLRB.
The NLRB’s Inspector General recently issued two reports on allegations of improper conduct by Member Flynn during the period when he was serving as a Chief Counsel to Member Peter Schaumber.
Flynn was sworn in as a Board Member on January 9, 2012, following a recess appointment by the President.
Flynn's resignation leaves the Board with four Members - three Democrats and one Republican.
Source: http://www.lawmemo.com/blog/2012/05/nlrb_member_ter.html
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The Last Word
The United States House of Representatives voted 398 to 1, with 36 congressmen unable to find their way to the chamber, to eliminate a word. The single nay vote came not from disagreement in substance, but focus.
© 2012 Simple Justice NY LLC. This feed is for personal, non-commercial & Newstex use only. The use of this feed on any other website is a copyright violation. If this feed is not via RSS reader or Newstex, it infringes the copyright.
The lone “no” vote was cast by Representative Louie Gohmert, Republican of Texas, who said in a statement that “not only should we not eliminate the word ‘lunatic’ from federal law when the most pressing issue of the day is saving our country from bankruptcy, we should use the word to describe the people who want to continue with business as usual in Washington.”
Yes, the word "lunatic" has been stricken from the laws of the United States of America, the Senate having approved the measure last May. No longer is anyone in America a federal lunatic. Your state may vary.
This comes on the heels of the eradication of the phrase "mental retardation," eliminated two years ago because of its hurtful connotation, where school boys called each other "retard" and neo-conservative media personalities figured out the if you replaced "re" with "lib," they could get a belly laugh out of their followers. At the same time, 58% of Republicans believe that man was created by God less than 10,000 years ago, when they walked the earth alongside dinosaurs.
Given the meaning and derivation of the word "lunatic," that people would suffer transitory insanity based on movement of the moon, it's just as well that it's gone. But the meaning of mental retardation, that a person's intelligence, based upon IQ, was below a score of 70, is more of a problem. A medical phrase was eliminated because it was abused by jerks and turned into an epithet. When this happened, there were two options. The first was to speak out and return it to its original meaning. The second was to make it disappear. The first required people to think. The second did not. The second prevailed.
A while back, there was a huge dispute, a very angry dispute, about the word "niggardly." On the one hand, reasonably well-educated folks understood its meaning to be "cheap" or "miserly." On the other, it was just too damn close to a hated word to ignore. David Howard, D.C.'s head of the Office of Public Advocate, was forced to resign for using this "racist" word, not because it was racist but because people felt it was. It had no connection whatsoever with the racial slur, but so what? It's gone.
As lawyer and blawger, I use a lot of words. They are useful to convey the correct meaning whenever possible, in the hope that readers or listeners will get the message that I am trying to send. Each day, it gets more difficult to accomplish.
Political correctness has caused us to eliminate words from our lexicon that hurt people's feelings or have taken on disparaging meanings or connotations. In the process of eradicating "hate speech" from the language, we ignore definitions in favor of how words make us feel. But it hasn't stopped at the edge of hurtfulness. It's dribbled over to positive characterizations, empowering people to ascribe attributes and credibility to themselves at will.
In a recent exchange, a marketer argued his "belief" about why he was a professional. His argument was that he felt entitled to do so, and at no time did a definition of the word come into play.
There have been similar arguments about one of our favorite words, "justice," a word of such vague meaning that we can all embrace it, own it, define it to support whatever we believe.
"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in a rather scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less."
"The question is," said Alice, "whether you can make words mean so many different things."
"The question is," said Humpty Dumpty, "which is to be master - that's all."
—Through the Looking Glass, Lewis Carrol (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson)
We cannot communicate with each other if each of us is a Humpty Dumpty to ourselves. The problem is not solved by the elimination of words because they cause some people to feel badly, especially when the feeling bears no actual connection to the word. As we eliminate hurtful words, a new word will be adapted to its use, as we still need words to denigrate each other. Then that word will be eradicated from the lexicon as well.
Some people think that we can achieve an Orwellian Utopia by only having happy, supportive words, and thereby end that branch of language that can be used to hurt people's feelings or express ideas that some believe should never be expressed. My guess is that will never happen, even if you think it's a good idea.
What may well happen in the process, however, is that the sharp edges of definition will be dulled and rounded, so that the precision of words gives way to an amorphous mass of nice-sounding utterances that are interpreted by each of us in whatever way suits our desires and beliefs. We will be able to talk among ourselves and agree or disagree without every having the slightest clue if we are talking about the same thing or making any headway in explaining our position.
There doesn't appear to be any harm in the elimination of the word "lunatic" from the United States Code. It was probably a poor choice of words in the first place, reflective of common usage rather than definition. If it were up to me, however, the word "justice" would also be on the chopping block, as it's one of the most hurtful words around to the wrongly convicted.
Yes, you know exactly what justice means. You and Humpty Dumpty. You lunatic.
© 2012 Simple Justice NY LLC. This feed is for personal, non-commercial & Newstex use only. The use of this feed on any other website is a copyright violation. If this feed is not via RSS reader or Newstex, it infringes the copyright.
Source: http://blog.simplejustice.us/2012/12/09/the-last-word.aspx?ref=rss
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Hiring Your First Employee
Hiring your first employee can feel like jumping off a cliff, but in some circumstances it can lead to more efficiency and profits. On The Un-Billable Hour, host Attorney Rodney Dowell, Executive Director at Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers and Director of LCL’s Massachusetts Law Office Management Assistance Program joins Lee Rosen, founder of the Rosen Law Firm, a North Carolina family law firm, blogger and practice management guru and Attorney Scott Stewart, from The Law Offices of Scott David Stewart out of Arizona, to talk about how to make the first hire a successful hire.
Source: http://legaltalknetwork.com/podcasts/un-billable-hour/2012/03/hiring-your-first-employee/
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Convicting The Innocent, A Symposium
At Concurring Opinions, Danielle Citron is hosting a symposium on Virginia lawprof Brandon Garrett’s Convicting the Innocent: Where Criminal Prosecutions Go Wrong (Harvard University Press 2011). Coming on the timely heels of a 60 Minutes segment about Chicago being the mother lode of false confessions, it's certainly a timely topic.
Added to the mix are some other recent books by academics.
So you're probably delighted about this, exciting scholars discussing issues of great importance to those of us who toil in, or care about, the criminal law arena, right? Before you make the popcorn, consider this quote from Steven Bibas, whose book about the Machinery of Criminal Justice will be part of the mix.
One of the recurring themes is that the failure of the system isn't due to overzealous, lying prosecutors and judges who refuse to enforce the Constitution, but criminal defense lawyers who fail to win and, instead, rush to plead their innocent clients. They tend to hate pleas and love trials, which tells me that they have either never tried a case as a defense lawyer or have conveniently forgotten what it's like when the other side holds all the cards. They adore the absurd fallacy of a trial being a search for the truth rather than a one-sided inquisition.
Danielle Citron, taking a breather from her moribund cyber civil rights quest, speaks to her own concern, stemming from her days as a Trial Preparation Assistant at the New York County District Attorneys Office.
The justice system failed us? It's understandable that Citron would make this gross misstatement, given that as a TPA, her expertise at the time was more limited to the efficient use of copy machines and where to find the cheapest coffee cart on Hogan Place, What she should have said is that the system failed five young men, and that Liz Lederer, who prosecuted them with a viciousness rarely seen, such that she never considered for a moment that she and her beloved detectives were absolutely dead wrong.
While I am deeply interested in what comes out of this symposium, as it frames the legal academy's discussions about criminal law issues and drives tenure-hungry academics to write books to meet with its approval, I am also deeply concerned and skeptical that it will do more good than harm. These exciting scholarly symposia tend to have two fundamental flaws.
First, they discuss criminal law based on theory relative to Supreme Court decisions. Such discussions couldn't be more distant from reality in the trenches, where they speculate as if trial judges apply the rules of law in the same sanitized reality as the factual background appears in an appellate decision. Even the lawprofs who once graced the table on the far side of the room from the jury box forget that brilliant motions are met with a terse "denied" by a bored judge who assumes everyone is guilty anyway.
Where is the recognition of innocent defendants facing lifetimes in prison with cops trained to lie, judges who play the odds, prosecutors who can't distinguish Brady if it bit them on the ass and identifications that everyone swears are just perfect? The system is broken? Sure, that's easy to say. But to understand how it's broken requires one to understand not only how it's supposed to work, but how it actually happens. They either don't, or won't admit to it, because it would be impolite to call their former prosecutor brethren mean names for their role in the failure.
Second, the title of the Symposium reflects a fundamental academic misapprehension of the problem. Obviously, convicting the innocent is a terrible thing, but it's a tiny slice of the broken machine. What about the guilty? What about the guilty defendant whose confession is coerced? What about the guilty defendant whose charges are trumped up to force a plea? What about the guilty defendant whose constitutional rights are trampled because (take note, Bibas) everybody knows he's guilty? The system either works for everybody or nobody, because the innocent and guilty defendants all look alike at the beginning.
While lawprofs get to play a game where, after the DNA proves innocence, they can parse the details and see what went wrong, the disease occurs in the trenches where a system is geared toward making sure defendants are swiftly broken and convicted. Will any of the lawprofs know this? Will any of them discuss this? I hope so, though their discussions never seem to resemble any aspect of the criminal justice system I've ever experienced. But then, I'm no exciting scholar.
© 2012 Simple Justice NY LLC. This feed is for personal, non-commercial & Newstex use only. The use of this feed on any other website is a copyright violation. If this feed is not via RSS reader or Newstex, it infringes the copyright.
Added to the mix are some other recent books by academics.
The books and topic will be discussed by "an exciting group of scholars," five words I never expected to see. I tried to leave a comment to that effect, but it appears I remain banned from commenting at Co-Op as an undesirable.Along with Garrett’s book, we will be discussing three new books that intersect well with the problems he tackles in Convicting the Innocent: Stephanos Bibas’s The Machinery of Criminal Justice (Oxford University Press 2012), Daniel S. Medwed’s Prosecution Complex: America’s Race to Convict and its Impact on the Innocent (New York University Press 2012), and Dan Simon’s In Doubt (Harvard University Press 2012).
So you're probably delighted about this, exciting scholars discussing issues of great importance to those of us who toil in, or care about, the criminal law arena, right? Before you make the popcorn, consider this quote from Steven Bibas, whose book about the Machinery of Criminal Justice will be part of the mix.
Few would argue that the criminal justice system is a well-oiled machine, but Bibas' solution is to make it more transparent and democratically accountable for its failures. Not leveling the playing field, nor invigorating constitutional protections, but increasing the "quality of convictions" by exposing factual and moral injustices.In short, our criminal justice system is a broken machine running almost on auto-pilot. It needs to be more transparent and democratically accountable for its failures. We cannot abolish plea bargaining, as we need its ability to handle staggering caseloads. But we can hope that the exposure of factual and moral injustices can prompt rethinking, forcing us to slow down the assembly line, to increase the quality of convictions and punishments even if that means reducing the quantity and doing more triage. Books like Brandon’s, Dan’s, and Dan’s can, I hope, prompt more oversight and public involvement to ensure both factual and moral justice.
One of the recurring themes is that the failure of the system isn't due to overzealous, lying prosecutors and judges who refuse to enforce the Constitution, but criminal defense lawyers who fail to win and, instead, rush to plead their innocent clients. They tend to hate pleas and love trials, which tells me that they have either never tried a case as a defense lawyer or have conveniently forgotten what it's like when the other side holds all the cards. They adore the absurd fallacy of a trial being a search for the truth rather than a one-sided inquisition.
Danielle Citron, taking a breather from her moribund cyber civil rights quest, speaks to her own concern, stemming from her days as a Trial Preparation Assistant at the New York County District Attorneys Office.
In reading Garrett’s book, it was hard for me to shake my own memories of the Central Park Jogger trial in 1990-91. I was a trial preparation assistant at the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office for the bureau next to the one in charge of prosecuting the case. In the mornings when delivering files to the various courtrooms, we’d witness the march to the courthouse: prosecutor Liz Lederer’s team, the defendants’ family members, their lawyers, activist Al Sharpton, and Bill Tatum, editor of the New York Amsterdam News. Public conversation was divisive. The mainstream media cast the defendants as a “wilding” mob of black teenagers who descended on the petite white jogger; the Amsterdam News decried the arrest and prosecution as racial injustice. Even though forensic evidence exonerated the defendants (the FBI lab conclusively ruled out the semen found on the victim’s sock did not belong to any of the defendants), the jury convicted them. The justice system failed us: we convicted the innocent.
The justice system failed us? It's understandable that Citron would make this gross misstatement, given that as a TPA, her expertise at the time was more limited to the efficient use of copy machines and where to find the cheapest coffee cart on Hogan Place, What she should have said is that the system failed five young men, and that Liz Lederer, who prosecuted them with a viciousness rarely seen, such that she never considered for a moment that she and her beloved detectives were absolutely dead wrong.
While I am deeply interested in what comes out of this symposium, as it frames the legal academy's discussions about criminal law issues and drives tenure-hungry academics to write books to meet with its approval, I am also deeply concerned and skeptical that it will do more good than harm. These exciting scholarly symposia tend to have two fundamental flaws.
First, they discuss criminal law based on theory relative to Supreme Court decisions. Such discussions couldn't be more distant from reality in the trenches, where they speculate as if trial judges apply the rules of law in the same sanitized reality as the factual background appears in an appellate decision. Even the lawprofs who once graced the table on the far side of the room from the jury box forget that brilliant motions are met with a terse "denied" by a bored judge who assumes everyone is guilty anyway.
Where is the recognition of innocent defendants facing lifetimes in prison with cops trained to lie, judges who play the odds, prosecutors who can't distinguish Brady if it bit them on the ass and identifications that everyone swears are just perfect? The system is broken? Sure, that's easy to say. But to understand how it's broken requires one to understand not only how it's supposed to work, but how it actually happens. They either don't, or won't admit to it, because it would be impolite to call their former prosecutor brethren mean names for their role in the failure.
Second, the title of the Symposium reflects a fundamental academic misapprehension of the problem. Obviously, convicting the innocent is a terrible thing, but it's a tiny slice of the broken machine. What about the guilty? What about the guilty defendant whose confession is coerced? What about the guilty defendant whose charges are trumped up to force a plea? What about the guilty defendant whose constitutional rights are trampled because (take note, Bibas) everybody knows he's guilty? The system either works for everybody or nobody, because the innocent and guilty defendants all look alike at the beginning.
While lawprofs get to play a game where, after the DNA proves innocence, they can parse the details and see what went wrong, the disease occurs in the trenches where a system is geared toward making sure defendants are swiftly broken and convicted. Will any of the lawprofs know this? Will any of them discuss this? I hope so, though their discussions never seem to resemble any aspect of the criminal justice system I've ever experienced. But then, I'm no exciting scholar.
© 2012 Simple Justice NY LLC. This feed is for personal, non-commercial & Newstex use only. The use of this feed on any other website is a copyright violation. If this feed is not via RSS reader or Newstex, it infringes the copyright.
Source: http://blog.simplejustice.us/2012/12/10/convicting-the-innocent-a-symposium.aspx?ref=rss
Experience User-Friendly Systems
Good usability and user interface design are keys to ensuring that law department staff embrace your department’s technology investments. In this edition of Tech Experts, join usability expert, Yusuke Morita, Associate Principal Developer at Datacert, for a window into the thought process behind the design of a really user-friendly application. Learn what design elements create "ease-of-use" so you can better identify systems your staff will readily adopt and enjoy using.
Source: http://legaltalknetwork.com/podcasts/tech-experts/2012/10/experience-user-friendly-systems/
Best Billable Hour Practices for Paralegals
Are you looking for answers when it comes to billable hour practices? Paralegal Voice co-hosts Lynne DeVenny and Vicki Voisin join Jennifer Karns, Legal Professional Training Manager for Snell & Wilmer L.L.P., as they discuss billable hour practices. Jennifer emphasizes the importance of meeting billable hour goals and adding value to time entries. She also shares essential tips for improving your billing descriptions and capabilities.
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An Empirical Study of Predispute Mandatory Arbitration Clauses in Social Media Terms of Service Agreements
Michael Rustad, Thomas F. Lambert Jr. Professor of Law & Co-Director Intellectual Property Law Concentration at Suffolk Law, discusses his study on the use of mandatory arbitration clauses in social media. Read the article at: http://bit.ly/Kn6kKc.
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Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Inside BU Law’s Housing, Employment, Family and Disability Clinic
Law students who participate in the Civil Litigation Program's Housing, Employment, Family and Disability Clinic work for credit under the supervision of four full-time BU clinical faculty. They can represent anyone from tenants in eviction defenses in housing court, to parties in divorces in probate court. Host David Yas, a BU Law alum, former publisher of Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly and a V.P. at Bernstein Global Wealth, sits down with Professor Robert G. Burdick, director of the Civil Law Clinical Program, to talk about how the clinic works, and the real life training that students gain by participating in this clinic.
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Predictive Coding: A Rose by Any Other Name
One of e-discovery’s hottest topics today is predictive coding. So what exactly "is" predictive coding? On Digital Detectives, co-hosts Sharon D. Nelson, Esq., President of Sensei Enterprises, Inc. and John W. Simek, Vice President of Sensei Enterprises, welcome guest Dan Gallivan, one of the founders and Chief Technology Officer for Gallivan Gallivan & O’Melia , to discuss technology-assisted review, also known as predictive coding. Dan shares his thoughts on this new technology replacing keyword search, common areas of misunderstanding and Judge Peck’s role as a flag bearer for predictive coding.
The Legal Trade Show Survival Guide
Learn how to make the most of your next legal trade show experience when The Legal ToolKit host and Senior Law Practice Advisor with Mass. LOMAP, Jared Correia, chats with Andrea Cannavina, the Founder and CEO of LegalTypist, Inc. Andrea and Jared explain how to decide which events to attend, how to network, the benefits of getting involved in conference planning, and much more.
Source: http://legaltalknetwork.com/podcasts/legal-toolkit/2012/07/the-legal-trade-show-survival-guide/
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Drilling for Business
In this special report, we examine the potential impact of new energy law legislation for law firms, as well as legal issues related to safeguarding the pipeline infrastructure, and applying new corporate compliance regulations to the energy industry.
Source: http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNLJ.jsp?id=1202580719620&rss=rss_nlj
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Recommendations for a Social, Mobile and Global Legal Profession
The ABA Commission on Ethics 20/20 has released its latest recommendations so that the rules and ethics of the legal profession keep up with the incredible pace of technology. Lawyer2Lawyer co-hosts and attorneys, Bob Ambrogi and Craig Williams, get the details from the ABA Commission’s Chief Reporter, Professor Andrew Perlman, and debate these suggestions with Attorney Bradley Shear.
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Legal Talk Network Live at LegalTechNY 2012-LexisNexis’ Loretta Ruppert on Launch of Firm Manager
Loretta Ruppert, from the Business of Law Software Solutions within LexisNexis, which represents software that helps law firms with their business challenges, talks about the launch of Firm Manager. Be sure to watch the interview, hosted by Legal Talk Network producer, Kate Kenney.
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Tony Coelho: Fighting for the Disabled
On Ringler Radio, host Larry Cohen welcomes colleague Cindy Chanley, and returning guest, Tony Coelho, the past chair and member of the board of the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD) and the interim President and CEO of the Epilepsy Foundation, to share his personal journey and his ongoing fight for people living with disabilities. Tony shares his thoughts on health care, how structured settlements have benefited a person with disabilities, in addition to the AAPD’s mission for 2012 and his work with the Epilepsy Foundation.
Source: http://legaltalknetwork.com/podcasts/ringler-radio/2012/04/tony-coelho-fighting-for-the-disabled/
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Accelerate Your Use of Metrics
Corporate law departments want to improve their use of data and reporting to make smarter, more strategic business decisions - the question is, "how?" In this edition of Tech Experts, join Rashad Porter, Director of Business Intelligence Strategy & Solutions at Datacert, for a discussion of the Legal Business Intelligence Maturity Model. Rashad uses this tool to help you realistically evaluate where your department’s reporting stands now and outline actionable steps you can take towards becoming more strategic in your use of metrics to manage.
Source: http://legaltalknetwork.com/podcasts/tech-experts/2012/08/accelerate-your-use-of-metrics/
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
SJC Ruling on Foreclosures
Kathleen C. Engel, law professor and Associate Dean for Intellectual Life at Suffolk Law School, discusses the Massachusetts foreclosure crisis and actions being taken against four major banks. Learn more about Dean Engel at http://bit.ly/hBaALX.
Source: http://legaltalknetwork.com/podcasts/suffolk-law/2012/03/sjc-ruling-on-foreclosures/
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American Bar Association Updates Technology Ethics Rules
In this August edition of Law Technology Now, host Monica Bay, editor-in-chief of ALM’s Law Technology News, joins attorney Michael Arkfeld, principal of Arkfeld and Associates, and John Barkett a partner at Shook, Hardy & Bacon, to discuss pending changes to the ABA’s Model Code of Professional Conduct, addressing technology, and lawyers’ responsibilities to understand and use technology to best serve clients. Monica continues the discussion with attorney Bob Ambrogi, who focuses on social media.
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No, You Couldn't Just Burgle The Joint ...
The Juice yearns for the good old days, when robbers and burglars used to just rob and burgle. Alas, it appears we shan't be returning to those days. Previously, we learned about the Beanie Baby robber. Today, it's the fish-killing robbers. Per the TribLocal:
Three goldfish were killed when a burglar poured hot sauce, mustard, ketchup and spices into a fish tank and stole a BB gun among other items from an Arlington Heights apartment, police said Wednesday.You bastards! You killed ... the goldfish! [South Park reference]
The front door of an apartment on the 2100 block of South Goebbert Road was pried open sometime between Jan. 22 and Jan. 24, and burglars made off with a Nintendo game system, CD player, 30 games, 30 DVDs, a Daisy BB gun with extra BBs, jewelry and a 50-pound fire safe containing personal papers and pictures, police said.Here's the source.
Source: http://rss.justia.com/~r/LegalJuiceCom/~3/C1_F8yoV_E8/no_you_couldnt_just_burgle_the.html
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