Law in Popular Culture

Justice Ginsburg rules for Shylock in mock appeal

An appellate panel that included Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg ruled on Wednesday that Shylock should get his property back, with no need to convert to Christianity, and the imposter judge who sentenced him should be sanctioned with an order to attend law school. Ginsburg was among five judges who considered…

Jul 28, 2016 7:30 AM CDT

Which movie lawyer are you? Take our quiz

Legal movie dramas are not without their typical heroes and heroines. There’s the selfless lawyer who comes to the rescue of a client with a hopeless case; the lawyer who doesn’t let the rules stand in the way of what her or she sees as justice, or the inexperienced lawyer…

Jul 27, 2016 5:24 PM CDT

Additional ‘Making a Murderer’ episodes to air; lawyer says new evidence will be revealed

The lawyer for a Wisconsin man whose murder case was chronicled in the Netflix series Making a Murderer says new evidence will be revealed in additional episodes. Netflix announced earlier this week that it is producing new episodes of the series, which examined the murder conviction of Wisconsin man Steven…

Jul 22, 2016 7:30 AM CDT

Harper Lee Prize goes to Attica Locke’s ‘Pleasantville’

The ABA Journal and the University of Alabama School of Law have chosen Pleasantville, a novel by Attica Locke, as the winner of the 2016 Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction. Locke is the sixth winner of the prize. The prize, authorized by Lee, is given annually to a book-length…

Jul 15, 2016 3:41 PM CDT

Pokemon Go spurs lawyers to stop and consider legal issues

Pokemon characters are on the loose, and it’s your job to catch and collect them. That’s the premise of the new Pokemon Go app, which uses your phone’s GPS and clock to detect where you are and make Pokemon characters appear on your phone screens, Vox explains. The Pokemon characters…

Jul 13, 2016 8:00 AM CDT

Subject of ‘Serial’ podcast gets a new trial; judge says trial lawyer didn’t question cellphone data

An inmate whose murder case was chronicled on the popular Serial podcast has been granted a new trial because his trial lawyer provided ineffective assistance on a technology issue. A Baltimore judge granted Adnan Syed a new trial Thursday, the New York Times and the Baltimore Sun report. Syed is…

Jul 1, 2016 8:00 AM CDT

Supreme Fiction: 10 novels to get your mind off the Supreme Court nomination standoff

At the U.S. Supreme Court, a single vote can alter the outcome of the country’s most hot-button disputes—abortion, affirmative action, campaign finance, gun control and immigration, to name a few. So it’s no surprise that within minutes of the announcement of Justice Antonin Scalia’s death, members of Congress began drawing…

Jul 1, 2016 3:10 AM CDT

In ‘The Last Good Girl,’ Allison Leotta tackles the fraught subject of campus rape (podcast)

Allison Leotta's most recent book, The Last Good Girl, takes on the issue of campus sexual assault at a fictional private college in Michigan. The ABA Journal's Lee Rawles spoke with Leotta about how she shifted her career from lawyer to author; why the issue of campus sexual assault is so timely; and what's next for her intrepid heroine Anna Curtis.

Jun 22, 2016 8:00 AM CDT

Late-night comedian John Oliver buys nearly $15 million of medical debt—and forgives it

Late-night comedian John Oliver concluded a scathing review of the U.S. debt-collection industry on Sunday with a nearly $15 million giveaway of old medical debt. “It is pretty clear by now debt-buying is a grimy business, and badly needs more oversight, because as it stands any idiot can get into…

Jun 6, 2016 4:22 PM CDT

Many of the most-profitable law firms have little presence on Twitter

Some of the 10 most profitable U.S. law firms in the country have essentially no presence on Twitter. They include Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, which has no account, and Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, which apparently established an account in 2009 but has published no tweets, Bloomberg’s Big Law…

May 31, 2016 5:20 PM CDT

Documentary featuring undercover prisoners leads to firings for alleged excessive force, negligence

Five corrections officers in Jeffersonville, Indiana, have been fired following revelations in a documentary series featuring seven people who went undercover as jail inmates. Clark County, Indiana, Sheriff Jamey Noel tells the Louisville Courier-Journal that some of the officers had to be fired for excessive force and negligence in their…

May 24, 2016 9:33 AM CDT

Know what IP stands for? Then you’re ahead of a ‘Jeopardy’ contestant in recent show focused on law

Questions about law firms on a recent Jeopardy show brought in big bucks in the Double Jeopardy round of the television game program, for those who could correctly answer them. The fourth item, which was for $1,600, was: “Tops for patent litigation per U.S. News & World Report, Fish &…

May 12, 2016 12:05 PM CDT

ABA Silver Gavel award winners include ‘Making a Murderer’ and book about same-sex marriage trial

Winners this year of the American Bar Association’s annual Silver Gavel Awards for Media and the Arts include the popular Netflix television series Making a Murderer and a book about the groundbreaking federal lawsuit against Proposition 8, which sought to reverse a California Supreme Court decision that found a state…

May 11, 2016 1:00 PM CDT

Law prof ponders: If a highly advanced robot kills, is it murder or product liability?

We aren’t there yet. But a human-likerobot portrayed in the short story “Mika Model” could eventually be developed. And, if so, the central question of the story also could come to life, says law professor Ryan Calo of the University of Washington. That is, how should the legal system treat…

Apr 26, 2016 1:12 PM CDT

In letter to lawmakers, ABA defends decision not to publish book by Chinese human rights lawyer

The American Bar Association says an employee was misguided when he or she offered to publish a book by Chinese human rights lawyer Teng Biao, and the employee erred again when citing concerns about “upsetting the Chinese government” as the reason for withdrawing the offer. The ABA was “disinclined” to…

Apr 26, 2016 12:10 PM CDT