Earlier in my career, I was cross-examining a detective during a jury trial. The investigation, he conducted, was one-sided. He had zeroed in on his suspect, and everything that followed was simply an attempt to support his narrative.
For far too long, legal departments have been considered the slow-moving arm of the business. This presumption is true for many reasons—chief among them the fact that the legal department’s primary role is to balance risk with opportunity. Such responsibility often requires endless hours spent analyzing massive amounts of contract data to forecast potential gains and minimize losses.
Predictions for the coming year are always tempting, but in hindsight often seem foolhardy. No one in December 2019 could have anticipated the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020. And in December 2023, no one could have envisioned the political roller coaster of 2024. Although there is much that cannot be anticipated, the following seem realistic questions as we anticipate the new year.
In 80 countries around the world over the past 30 years, the ABA Rule of Law Initiative (ROLI) has worked with lawyers, judges and civil society to promote the rule of law.
The last year at the U.S. Supreme Court confirmed what has been clear since President-elect Donald Trump selected three justices between 2017 and 2020: It is a very conservative court. Those who are conservative celebrate this, and those who are liberal decry it. But no one disputes that when the court is ideologically divided, it is virtually always a 6-3 decision with a conservative result. This was certainly true in 2024, and it is likely to remain that way for many years to come.
I have always been interested in mistakes, also known as errors, blunders or, in my best legalese, boo-boos. I am especially interested in historical iconic mistakes. I just read that the city of Bologna, Italy, has two towers, “le due torri,” both closed to visitors because they also are now…
’Tis the season for the staple of classic Christmas movies. They leave lasting memories for everyone—and for some judges, that includes calling them back for assistance when deciding cases.
The year 2024 was one of change. In the midst of a largely unpopular back-to-office push, technological innovation and development occurred at a rapid clip. Legal professionals approached technology with a newfound curiosity and appreciation gained as a result of pandemic-era remote work experimentation. The increasing demand for generative artificial…
Ari Kaplan recently spoke with the following CEOs in his annual Ari Kaplan Advisors CEO roundtable about the opportunities of 2024 and the expectations for an industry in perpetual change in 2025.
The culture wars come to the Supreme Court Dec. 4 when it hears oral arguments in United States v. Skrmetti, which involves the constitutionality of a Tennessee law that prohibits gender affirming care for transgender youths. Twenty-six states have adopted such laws. An estimated 118,000 transgender teenagers, about 40% of transgender youths, live in states with bans on gender-affirming care.
