As early as the 1930s, presidents were considering putting the first woman on the U.S. Supreme Court. So, who were these other candidates on the short list, and why did it take until 1981 for Sandra Day O'Connor to become the first female justice?
May 20, 2020 11:51 AM CDT
Andrew Guthrie Ferguson says that near the end of every school year, he has law students come into his office "usually in tears." They tell the professor that if they'd only known at the start of the year what they'd figured out by the end of the year, they'd be so much further ahead.
May 6, 2020 9:25 AM CDT
When Michael Segal first approached longtime Chicago journalist Maurice Possley about writing about his case, Possley was not interested. Segal’s 2002 arrest and subsequent federal trial had been big news…
Apr 22, 2020 9:08 AM CDT
Julie Fershtman has developed a niche practice helping people who love horses deal with the particular joys and challenges that come with equine businesses. She is one of the nation's best-known lawyers serving many facets of the horse industry.
Apr 8, 2020 8:30 AM CDT
With a barrage of information and misinformation about COVID-19 coming our way, it can be hard to evaluate what sources are trustworthy and where to go for reliable medical news. So for this new episode of the Modern Law Library, the ABA Journal's Lee Rawles called her friend Mary Lancaster, an epidemiologist for the federal government.
Mar 25, 2020 4:04 PM CDT
Public speaking is a crucial part of working as a lawyer. It is especially important for female lawyers who are claiming their vocal authority in speaking roles in courts.
Mar 11, 2020 9:32 AM CDT
The riots in South Los Angeles in 1992 may be nearly three decades old, but in the present day, two families in the novel Your House Will Pay will find that the events from that time are far from over.
Feb 26, 2020 9:31 AM CST
The Constitution of the United States has been amended multiple times since it was written to expand the franchise of voting from the original beneficiaries, white male landowners. But the story of voting rights in the United States is not just one of expansion; there have been periods (such as after Reconstruction) where voting rights that had once been exercised were blocked off, extinguished and suppressed.
Feb 5, 2020 9:30 AM CST
A lawyer’s duties do not begin and end at the courtroom door. They extend beyond the courtroom to the proverbial court of public opinion. In this era of instantaneous exchanges, there should always be an effective litigation communications plan in place before a case is filed, or worse, it goes awry.
Jan 22, 2020 6:00 AM CST
When considering our New Year’s resolutions, we all want to be more resourceful with our time, especially with our workdays. We don’t realize how much time meetings can take up if they are conducted in an inefficient manner.
Jan 8, 2020 6:00 AM CST
If you're traveling this holiday season—or just enjoying some end-of-year downtime—you might be in need of some good book recommendations. With that in mind, in this episode of the Modern Law Library, the ABA Journal's Lee Rawles brings you a glimpse at what we've been reading around the ABA offices. Staff recommendations run the gamut from romance to horror to self-help to historical fiction.
Dec 18, 2019 10:02 AM CST
We rarely hear how a judge determines an appropriate sentence for a person who has been convicted of a crime. This process is invisible to the lawyers in a case, the public and even to the criminal defendant being sentenced.
Dec 4, 2019 6:00 AM CST
One year after Brett M. Kavanaugh's tumultuous nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court, questions that arose during the nomination hearings still linger.
Nov 27, 2019 11:38 AM CST
The jury selection process can be one of the most challenging aspects of jury trial, and it is often the least-known trial lawyer skill. During this important process, trial lawyers…
Nov 6, 2019 6:00 AM CST
Tens of thousands of people worked at ground zero after the World Trade Center attacks in 2001—looking for survivors, sifting for human remains, and breathing in the dust of the pulverized buildings. Their actions were heroic and lauded at the time. But as the months and years passed, many began to become gravely ill.
Oct 30, 2019 6:00 AM CDT
According to the World Economic Forum, “In the next 10 years, the ‘internet of things’ revolution will dramatically alter manufacturing, energy, agriculture, transportation and other industrial sectors of the…
Oct 9, 2019 6:00 AM CDT
Ed Scott was the first-ever nonwhite owner and operator of a catfish plant in the nation. The former sharecropper-turned-landowner was part of a class action lawsuit that resulted in one of the largest civil rights settlements in U.S. history. With the settlement of Pigford v. Glickman in 1999, almost $1 billion has been issued to more than 13,000 African American farmers to date.
Sep 25, 2019 6:00 PM CDT
We often associate the #MeToo movement with the entertainment industry, but sexual harassment is a widespread problem in all industries. The hierarchical nature of the workplace influences victims’ fear that reporting harassment will result in retaliation, and they do not feel protected by the very systems that are in place to protect them.
Sep 11, 2019 6:30 AM CDT
In 2009 and 2010, two ships packed with refugees fleeing the Sri Lankan civil war arrived on the shores of Canada. Those refugees inspired Sharon Bala's debut novel, The Boat People, which won the 2019 Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction.
Aug 28, 2019 9:46 AM CDT
When it comes to working with an expert or expert witness, there can be a lot of moving parts to keep track of. You have to determine how an expert…
Aug 8, 2019 1:16 PM CDT
