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Help select the winner of the 2019 Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction

The finalists for the 2019 Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction have been announced, and now readers will have a chance to weigh in. The books nominated for the ninth annual award are The Boat People, by Sharon Bala; Class Action, by Steven B. Frank; and The Widows of Malabar Hill, by Sujata Massey.

May 14, 2019 10:00 AM CDT

Cartoon Poll: Which caption is the fairest of them all?

We reflected on about 100 submissions and need your help picking the fairy-tale winner. The caption that gets the most votes will appear in an upcoming issue of the magazine. Vote in the cartoon poll for one of the captions listed below: • “My client wishes to exercise its right…

May 14, 2019 9:42 AM CDT

ABA Journal wins national honors for Web News Section, news features, investigative coverage at 2019 Azbee Awards

Updated: The ABA Journal was nationally recognized as one of the Top 10 Magazines of the Year and Top 10 Websites of the Year by the American Society of Business Publication Editors on Thursday.

May 10, 2019 12:10 PM CDT

What punctuation errors have you come across in your legal career?

In this month’s Bryan Garner on Words column, lawyer-lexicographer Bryan A. Garner explains the importance of punctuation and offers a quiz. “Attentiveness to punctuation is a matter of temperament, I’ve come to believe,” Garner writes. Some people get thrilled about punctuation, while others “see a reference to placement of periods…

May 9, 2019 3:30 PM CDT

It’s time to submit your story for the Ross Writing Contest for Legal Short Fiction

June 1, the deadline for the 2019 ABA Journal/Ross Writing Contest for Legal Short Fiction, is quickly approaching. Your original work of fiction should be no more than 5,000 words that illuminate the role of the law and/or lawyers in modern culture. The winner will receive a prize of $3,000…

May 9, 2019 2:15 PM CDT

Between Hacks and Hostilities: Are the US government and private sector ready for persistent engagement?

Cybersecurity is necessarily an issue that crosses international boundaries, raising complex questions of sovereignty, jurisdiction, law and policy. In response, lawyers have struggled to find the right legal metaphor or framework to apply to cyberspace. Each of these issues concerns the American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative because the way we as a society choose to address these challenges implicates what it means to live and operate under the rule of law.

May 9, 2019 12:15 PM CDT

For law firms, the ampersand is a character worth saving

For more than two centuries, the ampersand flourished in its preferred environment: BigLaw titles. No one can dispute that the ampersand served BigLaw well, adorning the titles of virtually all the most prestigious members, says lawyer Norm Tabler.

May 9, 2019 6:00 AM CDT

The strange tale of the ‘Voodoo reverend’ and Harper Lee’s lost true-crime book

The author of To Kill a Mockingbird spent years researching and writing about this true-crime tale, with the intention of producing her own book in the style of Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood. But did she ever finish it?

May 8, 2019 7:35 AM CDT

Career of Above the Law founder and Legal Rebel takes another turn

David Lat, the former federal prosecutor who founded the blog Above the Law, has decided to become a legal recruiter. Lat will be a managing director of the New York City office of Lateral Link, he announced in an Above the Law column Monday. The new job follows Lat’s decision…

May 7, 2019 12:39 PM CDT

Lawyer who secretly changed origination credits to his benefit should be suspended, ethics panel says

An Illinois lawyer who inadvertently discovered he was able to alter origination credits on his office computer should be suspended for making changes that added more than $200,000 to his book of business, according to an ethics hearing board. Michael Joseph Shifrin should be suspended for one year for making…

May 6, 2019 7:00 AM CDT

Do you enjoy lawyer jokes? What do you like or not like about them?

Miss Manners, a syndicated etiquette column, lately took on a faux pas that hushed the room at a community event: a disparaging remark about lawyers from the master of ceremonies. Who committed the bigger error—the tactless emcee or the lawyer’s wife who confronted the speaker privately? The spouse asserted that…

May 2, 2019 12:22 PM CDT

‘Belongingness’ is important to diversity and inclusion in the workplace

In March, I was presented with the ABA Health Law Section’s Champion of Diversity and Inclusion Award. I was incredibly honored to receive this particular award. I am, indeed, a champion for diversity and inclusion, and serving as a voice for diversity is very important to me, both personally and…

May 2, 2019 6:30 AM CDT

ABA offers opportunities and resources to address collateral consequences

Expungement and sealing of records will help people with criminal records move forward with their lives, says Lucian Dervan, chair of the ABA Criminal Justice Section.

May 1, 2019 7:00 AM CDT

10 Questions: Texas attorney masters the craft of a legal-themed microbrew business

Greg McCarthy and his neighbor co-founded Legal Draft in 2015, and they’ve been successfully pouring on the legal humor to a growing audience of Texas beer drinkers ever since.

May 1, 2019 2:45 AM CDT

Straddling two identities as a lawyer and DACA recipient

Zain Sayed is an employment attorney in Illinois, one of only about 10 states that admit DACA recipients to the bar.

May 1, 2019 2:35 AM CDT

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