After Going from BigLaw to ABC News, Author of ‘Exit Interview’ Witnessed Seismic Changes

Sep 10, 2012 1:35 PM CDT

The Onion: Supreme Court Ditched Former Agent Responsible for Dull Docket

The Supreme Court’s high-profile docket hasn’t escaped notice of an online humor publication. A headline in the Onion proclaims, “Supreme Court’s New Agent Already Getting Them Better Cases.” The “story” contains a purported quote by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. attributing the court’s ability to hear the health-law case…

Sep 7, 2012 11:19 AM CDT

Hip-Hop at Law: Course Samples Hip-Hop’s Bottom-Up Critique of the Law

Back in 1989, when Chuck D and Flavor Flav exhorted Public Enemy fans to “Fight the Power,” it’s likely that they never envisioned their anti-establishment anthem would be deconstructed and analyzed as part of an innovative law school curriculum. But the lyrics and discographies of Public Enemy and other hip-hop…

Sep 1, 2012 9:40 AM CDT

The Rule of Law Is at Work in Opera and the Supreme Court

Opera, like great litigation, involves powerful storytelling, which evokes a variety of audience emotions. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg spoke about her love of both mediums at the ABA Annual Meeting in Chicago in August during the CLE program “Arias of Law.” The panel, moderated by Chicago lawyer…

Sep 1, 2012 5:40 AM CDT

Around the Blawgosphere: Why the Law Doesn’t Suck; Judge Alex Kozinski on the Big Screen

Bloggers write to win This week at Simple Justice, in honor of finding himself in possession of a copy of Writing to Win by Steven Stark, New York City solo Scott Greenfield decided to have a writing contest on his blog to give it away. The challenge? Finish this sentence:…

Aug 31, 2012 1:30 PM CDT

Denied Parole After Fame from True-Crime Book, ‘Onion Field’ Killer of Police Officer Dies in Prison

Despite having committed a chilling crime, Gregory Ulas Powell might well have been granted parole were it not for a former Los Angeles police officer who became a best-selling author. Instead Powell died, at age 79, in a California prison hospice on Sunday, the Associated Press reported. Joseph Wambaugh’s true-crime…

Aug 13, 2012 7:28 PM CDT

Man With Low IQ Is Executed in Texas; Appeals Court’s ‘Of Mice and Men’ Reference Irks Author’s Son

Clarified: A 54-year-old man with a low IQ who reportedly couldn’t handle money and sucked his thumb was put to death Tuesday in Texas for the 1992 murder of a police informant. Although Marvin Wilson had an IQ of 61, and was considered mildly mentally retarded, the U.S. Supreme Court…

Aug 9, 2012 3:00 PM CDT

Judge Postpones Attempted Murder Trial So Juror Can Attend ‘Law & Order’ Tryout

Real-life courtroom drama and a popular crime-solving TV show intersected on Friday as a New York judge postponed opening statements in an attempted murder trial for five hours so a juror struggling to find work could attend an audition for Law & Order. “Good luck. We’ll be looking for you…

Aug 6, 2012 11:48 AM CDT

Justice Ginsburg Talks About Arias, the Law and the Most Famous Plea Bargain in Opera

Opera, like great litigation, involves powerful storytelling, which evokes a variety of audience emotions. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg spoke about her love of both mediums Friday at the ABA Annual Meeting in Chicago, in a CLE program titled, “Arias of Law: The Rule of Law at Work…

Aug 5, 2012 1:20 PM CDT

So You Want to Write a Novel? Legal Training Is a Plus, Legal Author Tells ABA Audience

Yale law professor and author Stephen Carter is often asked why so many lawyers write fiction, particularly thrillers and mysteries. He has a ready answer: It’s the Socratic method. “That process, which virtually every law student despises, gets us to begin thinking about the ‘what ifs,’ ” Carter said at…

Aug 4, 2012 5:45 PM CDT

Tears Flow at Screening of Film on Pro Bono Fight to Free Woman Convicted of Her Abuser’s Murder

CLE programs don’t often cause seasoned lawyers to cry, but many of the two dozen attending Thursday afternoon’s showing of the documentary Crime After Crime openly shed tears. The 90-minute film tells the story of California prison inmate Deborah Peagler, her two pro bono lawyers, and their decade-long effort to…

Aug 3, 2012 1:22 AM CDT

The Theater’s 12 Greatest Courtroom Dramas

Lawyers love the stage. They may not care for the theater, but they love what it represents: the issues, the words, the conflict, the rhetoric, the liturgy, the drama. It’s almost trite to note the similarities between the stage and the courtroom. Lawyers, in their own way, are actors and…

Aug 1, 2012 10:20 AM CDT

Deductive Reasoning: Documentary Filmmakers Get a Boost, as IRS Deductions Ruling Gets the Boot

Eager young people may have joined Up with People to change the world, but Lee Storey says her motives for making a documentary about the famously ebullient singing troupe were purely financial. The Internal Revenue Service, however, accused the Phoenix attorney of nobler objectives. Calling her project a “labor of…

Aug 1, 2012 8:40 AM CDT

Gallery Featuring 12 of Theater’s Greatest Courtroom Dramas

Click the link to read about all 12 stage plays and see their Playbills in gallery format. Visit this link to read about seven more plays that didn’t make the final dozen and to see bios of the jury members who selected our top 12.

Jul 27, 2012 5:53 PM CDT

What Is Your All-Time Favorite Legal Novel?

This week, Michael Connelly’s legal thriller The Fifth Witness was named the winner of the 2nd Annual Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction. The book features recurring Connelly character Mickey Haller (aka “The Lincoln Lawyer” and the inspiration for that 2011 film), a maverick Los Angeles lawyer who after having…

Jul 18, 2012 8:22 PM CDT