“An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind." That quote, often attributed to Mahatma Gandhi, kept running through my head as I read social media reactions related to the plea deal of Bryan Kohberger, who was charged with the 2022 murders of multiple students at the University of Idaho.
We all know that lawyer. You know the one. The lawyer who has built their entire practice on the back of a handful of referrals. It looks easy when they do it, real “no big deal” type of stuff. But if it truly is that easy—how is that lawyer so good at it when you don’t even know where to start?
Should a Supreme Court ruling on its emergency docket be deemed binding precedent in the lower courts? Until recently, I would have thought no, the law would not allow it. Rulings on the emergency docket are without the benefit of full briefing or any oral argument. Often there is little or even no explanation from the court.
On the surface, ILTACON 2025, the International Legal Technology Association’s largest annual legal technology event, had all the makings of a great conference. But despite the thought-provoking sessions and keynotes, networking opportunities and PR fanfare, I couldn’t shake the sense that we were in the midst of a seismic shift in legal tech, surrounded by the restless energy of a boomtown.
Many corporate legal departments and law firms have gone “all in” on alternative fee arrangements, while others have chosen not to adopt them at all. After more than a decade in common use, only an average of 23% of legal work is performed under an AFA despite wide acknowledgement of their benefits. Why does this divide exist? It's not just about financial risk but also execution.
“If you ever wanted to kill somebody, just take 'em on a cruise … because you’ll never get caught.” I disagree with the blanket truth of this statement made by “cruise safety advocate” Jamie Barnett during the new Netflix true crime documentary, Amy Bradley Is Missing, so I’ll modify it to fit the reality of actual practice: There’s potentially a smaller chance that you’ll get caught.
As always, the end of the U.S. Supreme Court’s term was filled with important cases that received a great deal of media attention. On June 27 alone, the high court handed down rulings ending nationwide injunctions, creating a constitutional right of parents to opt their children out of material that they find to be objectionable on religious grounds, upholding a Texas law that required age verification for websites with sexually explicit content, and rejecting a challenge to a federal law as being an excessive delegation of legislative power.
