Opening Statements

Jazzing it up: Concert series benefits pro bono efforts and music students

Anyone who doesn’t have a good time at the Fairfax Bar Association’s annual fundraiser must be made of stone, suspects Northern Virginia lawyer Edward Weiner. After all, there’s plenty of Big Band music to get feet a-tapping. Weiner is the brain behind the bar’s chief fundraising vehicle, the Jazz 4…

Feb 1, 2013 10:20 AM CST

Female-Focused: Northwestern’s Center for Wrongful Convictions launches a groundbreaking project

Joyce Ann Brown spent more than nine years in prison for the aggravated robbery of a Dallas fur store during which the owner was murdered. Brown was freed in 1989 after a jailhouse snitch claiming Brown had admitted her role in the robbery was found to have perjured herself at…

Feb 1, 2013 10:10 AM CST

6th Annual ABA Journal Blawg 100 Fan Favorites

After four weeks of online voting by more than 4,000 readers, the following law blogs can claim bragging rights for winning their respective categories: Business of Law: Divorce Discourse Careers/Law Schools: Inside the Law School Scam Corporate: California Corporate & Securities Law Courts: SCOTUSblog Criminal Justice: Koehler Law For Fun:…

Feb 1, 2013 10:00 AM CST

DIY legal websites threaten to outsource Indian lawyers

First there was the outsourcing of routine legal work by American firms to Indian subcontractors. Now Indian lawyers are getting outsourced by the new trend in their country: DIY legal businesses much like Legal Zoom or Nolo in the U.S. These Indian businesses include VakilSearch and TM Guru, and they…

Feb 1, 2013 9:50 AM CST

The Visionary: In memory of Steven Keeva, 1956-2012

He and his book moved me from my unthinking practice of litigation to an intentional practice of resolution. I may owe him my life. —Jeff Bean, Seattle I met Steven Keeva at the International Alliance of Holistic Lawyers conference in 1999. Like many lawyers, until I found IAHL I thought…

Feb 1, 2013 9:39 AM CST

Nama-Stay: Lululemon Is Defending Its Turf Through Design Patents

Lululemon’s pricey and popular fitness apparel has captured the imagination of devotees, along with competitors seeking a slice of the company’s market share. But the yoga-wear powerhouse has been far from zen about protecting its turf and has been actively patenting its distinctive designs. Now the Canadian company is striking…

Jan 1, 2013 10:20 AM CST

A Huge Following? Twitter Suit Accuses Businesses of Selling Followers

President Barack Obama has more than 21 million followers on Twitter. Justin Bieber has more than 29 million. And Oprah Winfrey has about 14.5 million followers. But if a lawsuit filed by the microblogging service has any merit, a lot of those followers may not be real. Twitter is suing…

Jan 1, 2013 10:10 AM CST

Law Firm Creates Think Tank to Study Analytics

Analytics is the discovery and communication of meaningful patterns in data. With digital technology, more data is discoverable on every individual, and those who use it have methods of application, computer programming and research to produce what Martin Abrams calls “big data.” Abrams is the president of the Centre for…

Jan 1, 2013 10:00 AM CST

Texas Lawyer Sues the State over His Blog’s Name and Wins

Lubbock, Texas, lawyer John Gibson had a simple idea: Create a blog about the state’s workers’ compensation law. Luckily, “texasworkerscomplaw.com” was available, so he grabbed it. Gibson then was hit with a cease-and-desist order from the Texas Department of Insurance, which informed him that his blog violated a state law…

Jan 1, 2013 9:49 AM CST

Hearsay

WORD A few months ago our favorite grammar blog (we’re journalists, what do you expect?) asked readers their picks for the coolest word in the English language. That made us wonder: What’s your favorite legal word? We asked some lawyers and law bloggers what their picks were. In pari delicto,…

Jan 1, 2013 9:40 AM CST

Zombies-at-Law: NY Lawyer Fascinated by the Law’s Fascination with Zombies

Zombies. They’re everywhere. Just ask New York City lawyer Joshua Warren. He’s even seeing them in court opinions. Warren has been dutifully tracking the number of times zombies (the word, not the undead) has appeared in opinions and, if he has his way, he’ll also be publishing a textbook on…

Dec 1, 2012 10:40 AM CST

Stormy Weather: Senators Criticize Kozinski over Maui Conference

Harsh words from two U.S. senators over the decision to hold the 9th Judicial Circuit’s annual conference at a resort in sunny Hawaii this past summer have left the future of the event a bit cloudy. Sen. Chuck Grassley, the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, and Sen. Jeff Sessions,…

Dec 1, 2012 10:30 AM CST

Shama Llama Ding Dong: Attorney Establishes Llama Sanctuary

It’s hard to live in idyllic Ithaca, N.Y., home to scenic rolling hills, organic farms and freethinking academics, without catching the do-gooder bug. So found Robert Seibel, who along with his wife, Kathleen, began purchasing llamas in the early 1990s and raising them on 3 acres outside their home in…

Dec 1, 2012 10:20 AM CST

You Say Potato, I Say Potahto: Law Prof Creates a SCOTUS Pronunciation Dictionary

It’s been almost 45 years since Eugene Fidell graduated from law school, but he still can’t forget how one of his Harvard Law School professors pronounced the names of the parties in the Supreme Court case Hanna v. Plumer. “ ‘Plummah,’ not ‘ploomer,’ ” Fidell says of the New England-accented…

Dec 1, 2012 10:10 AM CST

Wet Behind the Ears: Chicago Aquarium Offers Legal Fellowship

Legal work often requires navigating murky waters, but DePaul University Law School student Brandon Clark never expected it would involve throwing on a pair of waders and collecting specimens in the Chicago River. But as this year’s recipient of the Georges Fellowship for Conservation at Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium, Clark was…

Dec 1, 2012 10:00 AM CST