I have practiced law in Kentucky for 40 years, and I write this today to warn you about reaching the point of no return should you ever determine, as I did in January 2023, that death is a better option than life. Here is why I am sharing this: People are more vulnerable to being mentally shattered, given certain life crises, than they sometimes can appreciate. I do not want anyone I can influence—lawyer or not—to descend into an unstoppable spiral to the point of no return.
Dress code expectations for lawyers are evoked in the name of professionalism and steeped in tradition. But advocates say that centuries-old grooming dictates have negatively impacted people of color, women, those with disabilities and LGBTQ folks and need to evolve. Many question their necessity.
Forensic veterinary investigations are a growing force in animal law, with vets working at the intersection of law and veterinary medicine. On any given case, the scope of the vet’s work runs from crime scene investigations, lab work, animal autopsies and report writing to serving as an expert witness in court.
“The tide is definitely changing on the perception of the importance of investigating animal cruelty,” says Martha Smith-Blackmore, president of Forensic Veterinary Investigations in Boston. “Crimes against animals do not exist in a vacuum.”
Media law experts say they are seeing several developing trends in libel and defamation cases. Those trends include forum shopping, having an increasingly political component, adding allegations unrelated to the defamation claim, increasingly naming individual reporters as defendants and demanding huge damage awards.
In terms of big life choices, deciding where to attend law school may be in the top 5 for aspiring attorneys. Most face the prospect of taking on significant debt to pay tuition and living expenses, along with the stress of selecting a school they think will lead to the best job opportunities and not knowing if it will be easy to make friends where they land.
In formal foster care, child protective services agencies annually separate more than 250,000 children from their parents and place them in their state’s legal custody under the oversight of a family court judge. By some estimates, agencies separate the same number of children through hidden foster care but do so by suggesting parents transfer physical custody to a kinship caregiver, such as a grandparent or aunt.
Many films and shows have imagined the future and how technology both helps and hurts society. When it comes to some parts of the legal system, it’s clear that the future is now.
ChatGPT represents a dizzying leap in the capabilities of generative AI, which can create original content based on the dataset the technology draws upon. But while some in the industry are exploring its potential to aid in legal research, contract review, communications and litigation strategy, there is plenty of hand-wringing about how it could make lawyers obsolete.
With the popularity of social media platforms like Facebook, TikTok, Reddit, Twitter and YouTube, online armchair detectives have been able to help authorities in some cases by offering tips. But there also have been instances of misinformation, fake experts and unsupported theories being presented as fact and of innocent people being targeted.
Just one phone call accusing someone of child abuse, whether it turns out to be true or not, can mark that person for life, slapping them with a host of collateral consequences outside of the criminal justice system.
The ABA Journal wants to host and facilitate conversations among lawyers about their profession. We are now accepting thoughtful, non-promotional articles and commentary by unpaid contributors.
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