Hillary Duff to Play Teen Lawyer on TV

Move over, Glenn Close. There’s a new female TV lawyer in town. Hillary Duff, who appealed to tweens as Lizzie McGuire, will star as a very young lawyer in an NBC comedy called Barely Legal, the Hollywood Reporter reports. The show is based on real-life lawyer Kathleen Holtz, who passed…

Jan 13, 2009 1:40 PM CST

Torture Tactics of ‘24’ Examined by Human Rights Group—and Show’s Characters

Tough-guy Jack Bauer of the FOX TV program 24 never thought twice about hardball tactics that included shootings, beatings, mutilations and electroshocks. He and his colleagues did whatever was needed to battle terrorism and save the innocent. But in the new season of the show, Bauer, played by Kiefer Sutherland,…

Jan 12, 2009 7:30 PM CST

‘Gideon’ Sounds Off on Connecticut Criminal Issues, Anonymously

When his co-workers tired of hearing his views about issues related to his job and the law in general, an anonymous public defender in Connecticut found an alternative. He adopted the screen name Gideon and started his own law blog, which has generated as many as 5,000 hits a week,…

Dec 23, 2008 8:44 PM CST

In Real ‘Wonderful Life,’ James Stewart Might Have Gotten 2 to 7 Years

Considered classic holiday fare with an uplifting message, the schmaltzy It’s a Wonderful Life actually remains well worth seeing because of the gritty reality it portrays to those with a cynical mindset, a New York Times critic writes. The 1946 Frank Capra movie accurately points out, for instance, the perils…

Dec 18, 2008 11:55 PM CST

LaBeouf to Star in John Grisham Legal Thriller

Those with a hunger for anything BigLaw-related will be excited to know that Paramount Pictures has set Shia LaBeouf in the title role of John Grisham’s forthcoming legal thriller The Associate. LaBeouf will play 3L at Yale Law School who is manipulated into accepting a job at a prestigious law…

Dec 2, 2008 8:32 PM CST

‘Heller Drone’ Outs Himself, Authors New ‘Thelen the Pain’ Blog

The creator of the Heller Highwater blog that kept the troops of Heller Ehrman informed as their law firm moved toward dissolution this fall has been outed. Heller Drone outed himself and says he is techie Thomas MacEntee in an introductory message on a new law blog. (It is Thelen…

Nov 18, 2008 5:32 PM CST

Keeping it Simple Can Win at Trial, N.J. Lawyer Reports in Farewell Issue

Keeping it simple at trial can help win the case, seasoned practitioners say, in what is apparently one of the last articles to be published by New Jersey Lawyer before it ceases publication. “The New Jersey Law Journal, an Incisive Media publication, and the New Jersey State Bar Association today…

Nov 18, 2008 12:05 AM CST

More Attorneys Tweet in Twitterverse

Answering the question ‘What are you doing?’ (in 140 words or less) on a regular basis throughout the day obviously can blur the line between personal and professional life. But doing so on the Twitter.com social networking website is helping a growing number of attorneys build their law practices, reports…

Nov 12, 2008 9:07 PM CST

Law Firm Funds Controversial Phila. ‘Justice’ Mural

A proposal to put a 38-foot mural promoting the theme of American justice on the side of a building in an upscale neighborhood in Philadelphia has proven controversial. Apparently concerned that the art work being sponsored by the Spector Gadon & Rosen Foundation at the law firm for which attorney…

Nov 10, 2008 4:56 PM CST

Tax Law Profs Create Political Issue: Did Sarah Palin Pay All Tax Due?

Tax law professors are taking center stage in the latest political issue concerning Sarah Palin’s candidacy for vice president on the Republican ticket. Among the questions they are raising about her recently released 2006 and 2007 tax returns is whether she reported all the taxable income she received for her…

Oct 6, 2008 10:41 PM CDT

Rick Eid: How I Quit the Law to Write for ‘Law & Order’

Becoming an associate at Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom was initially a dream job for Rick Eid. And much of that dream came true, Eid writes in a Forbes. He made partner—not at Skadden, but at Manatt Phelps & Phillips, in Los Angeles. And when he decided to make…

Oct 2, 2008 3:28 PM CDT

Hilary Swank’s Next Movie Based on Law Student’s Fight to Exonerate Brother

A high-school dropout and single mother who was inspired to get her high school equivalency diploma and put herself through college and law school by her brother’s 1983 murder conviction will be played by actress Hilary Swank in an upcoming movie. The woman whose true story will be portrayed in…

Oct 1, 2008 6:18 PM CDT

Great Article, But How Could You Have Overlooked ... ?

Oct 1, 2008 1:00 PM CDT

14-Year-Old Florida Killer Copied Movie Characters, Expert Says

A South Florida teen who admittedly killed a middle school classmate in 2004, when both boys were 14, allegedly modeled his behavior on the movies. An expert for the defense testified yesterday that Michael Hernandez identified with the serial killers in movies including American Psycho and The Silence of the…

Sep 23, 2008 6:24 PM CDT

‘Stolen Lives’: Mom’s Search for Abducted Adult Daughter

For more than six years, Susana Trimarco has been searching for her daughter, Marita Veron, in a saga that has taken her to seamy areas amidst potentially dangerous people. Then 23, the young woman left home on April 3, 2002 for a doctor’s appointment, telling her mother she would be…

Sep 22, 2008 7:58 PM CDT