Chicago lawyer writes about being GOAT at New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest

Jul 25, 2024 12:19 PM CDT

Supreme Court justices are writing more concurrent opinions to accompany rulings

Some legal observers believe, only partly in jest, that the court is slowly inching back to its seriatim days. The justices seem to be writing a lot of concurrences.

Jul 25, 2024 11:04 AM CDT

‘Shaping the Bar’ author says bar exam protects legal profession, not public

Lawyer and author discusses with the ABA Journal’s Julianne Hill how the bar’s history of creating a method to test minimum competency is outdated and discriminatory.

Jul 24, 2024 8:48 AM CDT

A Law Clerk’s Transition: From umpire’s apprentice to fighter in the ring

As law clerks, we learn to write with a dispassionate tone and an air of neutrality. We write to explain. As lawyers, the same rules apply, but the goal changes: We write to persuade.

Jul 17, 2024 12:00 PM CDT

After lawyers exceed status-letter limit by ‘whopping’ 70 pages, judge sees echoes of fictional Jarndyce case

The handiwork of lawyers who crafted a joint 73-page monthly status letter won’t appear on the federal docket after a magistrate judge noted last week that it was a “whopping” 70 pages over the limit.

Jul 11, 2024 10:36 AM CDT

Writing novels helps this employment lawyer avoid burnout

Brooke Tabshouri was a few years into her legal career when she experienced what she describes as “bad burnout.” She learned through therapy and mindfulness classes that she needed to do something creative when she wasn’t being a lawyer or caring for her two children.

Jul 9, 2024 9:42 AM CDT

Want to understand the logic behind a Supreme Court opinion? Focus on footnotes, says professor

Numerous books have been written about the U.S. Supreme Court, including some by justices and former justices themselves. But a new book by Peter Charles Hoffer, a distinguished research professor at the University of Georgia, looks at historic rulings through a different lens in The Supreme Court Footnote: A Surprising History.

Jun 18, 2024 8:59 AM CDT

Retired D.C. Circuit judge talks about his memoir on navigating a legal career through blindness

Judge David Tatel retired late last year after nearly 30 years on the federal appeals court. In all that time, he never saw a single piece of paper nor an attorney arguing before him. Vision: A Memoir of Blindness and Justice shares his journey.

Jun 11, 2024 8:35 AM CDT

7th Circuit has no patience for Bernhard Modern—a typeface, not a person

The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at Chicago is no fan of Bernhard Modern, a typeface used by a Chicago lawyer to the dismay of an appellate panel.

Jun 5, 2024 3:48 PM CDT

Games Lawyers Play: Word counts and spacing rules in briefs appear open to interpretation

As teenagers, some of us played a game with our writing assignments. The goal was to make an essay or report appear longer than it actually was. Why? Because our teachers specified a minimum number of words or pages, and we struggled to reach that number.

Jun 5, 2024 9:01 AM CDT

‘Like Nike’s Slogan’: Veteran litigator has some advice about trying cases—‘just do it’

Daniel Small spoke to the ABA Journal about his latest book, Lessons Learned from a Life on Trial: Landmark Cases from a Veteran Litigator and What They Can Teach Trial Lawyers, which was published by ABA Publishing in February.

Jun 3, 2024 8:47 AM CDT

In some lawyers’ hands, the lexicographer rule can run amok

As a professional lexicographer myself, I can attest that writing definitions is an extremely demanding discipline. Dilettantes invariably go awry. Yet we have this doctrine that every lawyer is a lexicographer without the need for other credentials. It’s called the lexicographer rule.

Jun 1, 2024 2:00 AM CDT

Law prof’s textbook stresses AI ethics

“All legal writing classes are a situation where students may be tempted to use these tools without really understanding them. It would be very easy for students to make the wrong decisions in terms of exercising judgment,” says April Dawson, author of Artificial Intelligence and Academic Integrity.

Jun 1, 2024 1:30 AM CDT

Artificial intelligence tools for brief writing and analysis are a small firm litigator’s new best friend

We’re in the midst of a seismic technological shift that will reinvent workflows and radically alter the practice of law. Artificial intelligence is improving at an unprecedented pace, with new legal AI tools rolling out regularly, some stand-alone and others as features built into existing legal software platforms.

May 24, 2024 10:17 AM CDT

How ghostwritten Supreme Court briefs are used as a strategy

Metadata offers a clue that a New York consumer fraud attorney who signed a U.S. Supreme Court brief was not the actual author.

May 21, 2024 12:02 PM CDT