Law in Popular Culture

1 State Dominates National Education About Bill of Rights & Constitution

As lawyers argue about the intent of the drafters of the Constitution and judges mull the issue before deciding civil rights cases, a little-noticed phenomenon also has significant influence on the nation’s understanding of the fundamental principles underlying American law. That is the influence of the Texas State Board of…

Feb 11, 2010 8:49 PM CST

Frank Sinatra Song Blamed for Lethal Karaoke Bar Violence

Booze and karaoke has proven to be a lethal combination, in the United States and elsewhere, when a singer belts out an unpopular tune. But one Frank Sinatra song is viewed as so dangerous in karaoke bars in the Philippines that the rules of etiquette prohibit its performance, for fear…

Feb 10, 2010 11:51 PM CST

Panel OKs Total Attorneys Web Ads With ‘Very Little Margin for Error’

Updated: An Internet advertising scheme in which lawyers pay $65 per referral for names of potential clients passes ethical muster with “very little margin for error,” an attorney discipline panel says in an opinion today. Explaining its ruling (PDF) last month that the Total Attorneys Inc. advertising does not violate…

Feb 8, 2010 8:45 PM CST

3L Job App Sparks E-Mail War With ‘Patronizing & Condescending’ IT Ace

A third-year law student clearly wasn’t at the top of his job-seeking game when he e-mailed an information technology consultant seeking legal work. Apparently mistaking the Webster & Associates site for a similarly named law firm, the unidentified 3L sent an unsolicited job application. Then he responded with a threat…

Feb 6, 2010 2:13 AM CST

Is Artist’s Suit Over Photo of His Bronze-Feet Sculpture Standing on Solid Legal Ground?

A photographer in Washington state seemingly has an interesting fair-use argument to make concerning his photograph which, as he describes it, depicted “a woman dancing” on a public artwork in Seattle that features bronze footprints inlaid in concrete. His photograph, Mike Hipple says in a Mike Hipple Legal Defense Fund…

Feb 5, 2010 7:54 PM CST

Thomson Reuters Buys Super Lawyers

Thomson Reuters has purchased the Super Lawyers attorney rating system, the company announced in a press release (PDF) today. The announcement does not disclose the purchase price. The Super Lawyers service provides an annual consumer-oriented listing of leading attorneys by state and practice area, also featuring some practitioners in articles…

Feb 2, 2010 8:42 PM CST

Ambrogi Leaves Legal Blog Watch, His ‘Greatest Gig’ as a Writer

A second lawyer-blogger has left Legal Blog Watch. Robert Ambrogi wrote in a farewell post at Legal Blog Watch that his four years at the blog were “the greatest gig I ever had as a writer.” But as the blogosphere expanded, the pressure of keeping up with coverage of other…

Feb 2, 2010 12:00 PM CST

Lawyer and New York Society Novelist Louis Auchincloss Dies at 92

Within 10 years of earning a law degree from the University of Virginia and starting practice at Sullivan & Cromwell, attorney Louis Auchincloss was successful enough as an author to resign from the white-shoe New York legal partnership and make writing his full-time career. But Auchincloss soon found that he…

Jan 28, 2010 1:26 AM CST

Vinny of ‘Jersey Shore’ Says Law School Is Fallback Plan

You may have watched him on MTV. Some day, you may meet him in court. On of the reality TV stars of Jersey Shore, Vinny Guadagnino, says his grades and LSAT score are high enough to get into law school, Us Magazine reports. The Wall Street Journal Law Blog says…

Jan 27, 2010 1:46 PM CST

Madoff and His Confidants Take a Drubbing in Third Season of ‘Damages’

The television show Damages on FX has taken another case from the headlines, and this season it’s well-known: the massive Bernard Madoff fraud. Lawyer Patty Hewes, played by Glenn Close, is appointed to recover assets from a Ponzi schemer, Louis Tobin, whose fraud resembles Madoff’s, according to stories in the…

Jan 25, 2010 7:32 PM CST

Ex-Wife Who Killed Prominent Lawyer Seeks Parole 18 Years After High-Profile Conviction

Updated: Depending on which version you believe, Elisabeth Anne “Betty” Broderick was either a woman driven to murder by the relentless litigation tactics of her well-connected ex-husband, a successful California trial attorney, or a self-centered drama queen unable to come to grips with her anger over a divorce that left…

Jan 22, 2010 12:25 AM CST

Lawyer Wants to Be a Millionaire, Looks to TV Game Show for Opportunity

Lisa Dziadulewicz considers herself a professional mom at this point rather than a practicing attorney. But she’d be happy to make more money and, as something of a trivia queen, she felt that participating in a well-known television game show might prove profitable. Viewers will find out on Friday whether…

Jan 20, 2010 8:39 PM CST

Uncomfortable About Blowing Own Horn, Lawyer Talks About Electric Car in TV Ad

Uncomfortable about directly seeking clients for his auto accident practice, a South Carolina attorney and admitted car buff urges viewers to promote electric-powered vehicles on a television ad. “I think it’s awful when lawyers go on there begging for someone to have a crash,” Gary Ling tells the Post and…

Jan 20, 2010 12:41 AM CST

Martin Luther King Jr.‘s Dream Is Not Yet a Reality

Martin Luther King Jr. famously had a dream. The nation he foresaw, in which fairness and equality had triumphed and no one was judged by the color of his or her skin, is not yet a reality. But significant progress has been made towards the goals the slain civil rights…

Jan 19, 2010 10:19 PM CST

Would-Be Court Escapee Bounces Off Bulletproof Glass, Has Bond Upped to $1.5M

A defendant awaiting a court appearance in bond violation matter concerning an aggravated battery case wound up in a lot more trouble yesterday after he allegedly tried to sprint away from security checkpoint at a courthouse in suburban Chicago. A videotape shows a man identified as Travis Copeland, 19, running…

Jan 15, 2010 9:25 PM CST