After serving a single term in the U.S. House of Representatives as a member of the Whig Party, Abraham Lincoln returned to Springfield, Ill., in the spring of 1849 and resumed his law practice. Lincoln was away from home for long stretches, as he joined other members of the bar…
The issue at the heart of the Civil War always was slavery. But at the start of the conflict, neither side was ready to acknowledge that reality. In the 11 Southern states that left the Union between December 1860 and June 1861, leaders talked vaguely about the need to preserve…
Abraham Lincoln’s presidency was in crisis from the very start. By the time he was inaugurated on March 4, 1861, seven Southern states already had seceded. And with the firing on Fort Sumter in Charleston, S.C., on April 12, 1861, President Abraham Lincoln faced a rebellion “too powerful to be…
The Civil War marks a turning point in U.S. Supreme Court history. During that time, the bench became far more assertive, both judicially and politically. In just two years, between 1862 and 1864, President Abraham Lincoln appointed five new justices—Noah Swayne, Samuel Miller, David Davis, Stephen Field and Salmon Chase.…
As the United States lurched into civil war during the winter and spring of 1860-61, the primary cause of the crisis was clearly on the minds of political leaders. While many today think of the Civil War as a dispute over states’ rights, most Americans at the time understood that…
From May 12 until June 29, 1865, a military commission sitting in Washington City (as Washington, D.C., was then known) heard evidence against seven men and one woman. All were charged with conspiring to murder President Abraham Lincoln. All were found guilty. Four were sentenced to hang (and were executed…
Florida lawyer Frank Sheppard can’t recall when he first learned that a disgruntled litigant had put up a website attacking his firm, but he won’t easily forget the embarrassment it caused. An Internet search for Rumberger, Kirk & Caldwell also displayed Lying Scumbags, a site created by pro se plaintiff…
What do a cellphone and a cigarette package have in common? Both can be found on someone during an arrest, and law enforcement may open them up without a warrant and see what’s inside, says the California Supreme Court. The January opinion involves a Motorola Razr phone found in the…
Exxon Mobil Corp. has been involved in some pretty big lawsuits. The oil giant has been regularly painted as the bad guy in connection with events like the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill off the Alaskan coast and states’ claims that it has stolen billions of dollars in mineral rights…
It's no secret that the business of practicing law has changed—and continues to change—in ways that are both subtle and dramatic.
We've covered that transformation over the years in these pages: technology-driven efficiencies, niche practices developed around social change, new challenges to the profession dictated by both gut-wrenching recession and fundamental industrial change.
But while our reporting on this metamorphosis has been solid, even at times prophetic, it's been based in great part on the tools of journalism: anecdote, instinct and the oft-competing wisdom of any experts we can find.
With this issue, however, the ABA Journal is offering our readers a new—and we believe different—view of the business and the profession.
