ABA Journal

Grammar nerds, meet your ‘Comma Queen’ (podcast)

Related links: The New Yorker: “Mary Norris: Comma Queen” (video series) Slate: “The Corrections: A delightful memoir by a New Yorker copy editor” New York Times: “‘Between You & Me,’ by Mary Norris” NPR: “The Comma Queen Will See You, Now”

Apr 30, 2015 4:20 PM CDT

In your experience, do new lawyers have the necessary skills to be ready to practice?

In its first annual survey of law students, professors and practitioners, the BARBRI Group reports that one of the key findings was this: “Law students, and particularly 3L law students, assess their own readiness to practice law more positively than do attorneys who work with recent law school graduates.” The…

Apr 30, 2015 2:40 PM CDT

Cartoon: Do you have perfect caption for this court-themed cartoon?

Submit your proposed caption for a chance to win our May contest and see your caption and credit printed in an upcoming issue of the ABA Journal. Submit the caption you think best fits the above cartoon by sending an email to captions[at]abajournal[dot]com with “May Caption Contest” in the subject…

Apr 28, 2015 8:30 AM CDT

Georgetown’s Iron Tech competition grows in audience and interest

Georgetown University Law Center’s fourth annual “Iron Tech Lawyer Competition—Access to Justice Edition,” has grown a bit. The event, held Wednesday, included small teams of students that developed apps to help consumers, nonlawyer advocates and public-interest lawyers navigate complex areas of the law with simple, streamlined tools. This year, to…

Apr 24, 2015 9:53 AM CDT

What is your office doing to be eco-friendly?

In celebration of Earth Day, we want to find out what lawyers and law firms are doing to go green. One firm that seems to be going above and beyond is the London-based firm Olswang. They converted their rooftop into a garden with flowers, fruits and vegetables—and 80,000 bees. Olswang…

Apr 23, 2015 12:10 PM CDT

Earth Day ‘Reflections’ from 1972 ABA Journal archives

On this Earth Day, we bring to you a poem from our archives. The poem is in response to a dissent by Justice William O. Douglas in the seminal environmental standing case Sierra Club v. Morton. It was published in the August, 1972, American Bar Association Journal, and was penned…

Apr 22, 2015 12:22 PM CDT

Weaver inspires layout and art for domestic violence feature

When we began thinking about how to present the story of a pilot project in which Indian tribes are finally able to prosecute non-Native perpetrators of domestic violence, we first looked for images depicting abuse and the solitary landscapes common to many tribal regions. Then something unique caught our eye;…

Apr 22, 2015 10:38 AM CDT

Our 10 favorite #ABATechshow freebies

Hands down, the best part of visiting the ABA Techshow expo floor are the people: old and new friends, business contacts, and reps from companies that can help connect us with products to that can save time and money. Then there’s the swag. Those freebies vendors use to lock us…

Apr 17, 2015 2:33 PM CDT

What’s the biggest time suck in your day?

What are the biggest roadblocks to productivity in your day? Earlier this week, we reported on an consultant who has advised attorneys to stop checking their email as soon as it comes in and to delegate as many routine tasks to assistants as possible. But there are other things that…

Apr 16, 2015 11:30 AM CDT

Attorneys tout the benefits of having a paperless law practice

Having a truly paperless office will increase efficiency safeguard important client data–but getting there is often the hardest part. In a packed conference room at ABA Techshow on Thursday at the Hilton Chicago, Bryan Sims of Sims Law Firm in Naperville, Ill., and Jim Calloway, practice management advisor for the…

Apr 16, 2015 11:22 AM CDT

Georgetown Law teams up with 2 firms to create ‘low bono’ law firm

When Sheldon Krantz, a retired DLA Piper attorney and adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law Center, published his book, The Legal Profession: What Is Wrong and How to Fix It, in 2013, one of the biggest problems he identified was that there’s a large swath of low-income individuals and families…

Apr 16, 2015 9:00 AM CDT

Cartoon Poll: A lawyer walks into a forest ...

ABA Journal staffers have sifted through more than 150 entries, many alluding to the Big, Bad Wolf and whether a tree can be heard falling in a forest. Now it’s your turn to pick the caption that will appear in an upcoming issue of the ABA Journal’s monthly magazine. Vote…

Apr 14, 2015 8:35 AM CDT

Going to TechShow? Meet up with us at Beer for Blawggers

Join the ABA Journal and our friends at LexBlog for our 8th year of celebrating law blogging and law bloggers at our annual Beer for Blawggers meetup Friday evening at ABA Techshow 2015. Techshow attendees as well as law bloggers in town are welcome to raise a toast to the…

Apr 13, 2015 6:01 PM CDT

Help the Journal win a 2015 Webby Award!

You can help us win the Internet’s most prestigious honor. The ABA Journal’s website is one of five nominees for a Webby Award in the Law category. You can vote for us at this link. ABAJournal.com was named a finalist for the prestigious award judged by the International Academy of…

Apr 9, 2015 1:15 PM CDT

Would your practice be prepared if something happened to you? (podcast with transcript)

Do you know what would happen if you–or one of your colleagues–should suddenly die or become incapacitated? The ABA Journal’s Stephanie Francis Ward speaks with two experts about tools and systems you can put in place to give you and your clients peace of mind.

Apr 9, 2015 10:20 AM CDT