Opening Statements

Behind Bars: Elderly Prison Population Expected to Triple by 2030

In 1981, there were 8,853 state and federal prisoners age 55 or older. Today that number stands at 124,900. By 2030, experts predict the number of prisoners age 55 or older will be more than 400,000, which will be more than one-third of the prison population in the U.S. The…

Sep 1, 2012 9:10 AM CDT

The Convert: Houston Lawyer Spearheads Pro Bono Advocacy for Child Immigrants

Call Richard Horstman the poster child for pro bono programs. For more than 34 years, Horstman has worked in Houston-based Marathon Oil’s corporate legal department, where he now oversees all international legal operations. Until five years ago, he didn’t give a second thought about doing pro bono legal work. “I…

Sep 1, 2012 9:00 AM CDT

Legal Road Trip: Albany

The legal sites of the Cradle of the Union

Sep 1, 2012 8:50 AM CDT

A Bite Worse Than Its Bark: Maryland Puts Pit-Bull Owners on Liability Notice

After sending strong signals for more than a decade, the Maryland Court of Appeals told pit bull owners—and their landlords—they can be held strictly liable for dog attacks on people. (For now, the ruling has been stayed, pending the outcome of a motion for reconsideration.) Not surprisingly, pit bull owners…

Sep 1, 2012 8:49 AM CDT

Name That Domain: Generic Top-Level Domains Get the Green Light

In January, ICANN, the governing body that regulates the Internet’s domain name system, announced that it would approve the use of generic top-level domains—those letters after the dot in a URL. Under the new rules, words like cars or house could end a Web address, not just com or net…

Sep 1, 2012 8:40 AM CDT

Wanna Buy Some Boots? Online Counterfeiters Get the Message—Don’t Mess with These Brands

Thanks to the Internet, the days of buying counterfeit products at seedy flea markets and obscure discount stores are long over. Now, with the click of a mouse, consumers—unsuspecting or not—have direct access to counterfeiters. And for the first time, luxury brands are fighting back and publicizing their victories. “In…

Aug 1, 2012 8:50 AM CDT

Deductive Reasoning: Documentary Filmmakers Get a Boost, as IRS Deductions Ruling Gets the Boot

Eager young people may have joined Up with People to change the world, but Lee Storey says her motives for making a documentary about the famously ebullient singing troupe were purely financial. The Internal Revenue Service, however, accused the Phoenix attorney of nobler objectives. Calling her project a “labor of…

Aug 1, 2012 8:40 AM CDT

Risk Averse: Insurance Firm Looks Askance at ‘Pot Lawyers’

When Denver attorney Ann Toney opened a letter from her malpractice insurance carrier, she was met with an unpleasant surprise: “Firm does not meet current underwriting guidelines because of the following risk factors: area of practice involving medical marijuana” read a portion of the nonrenewal notice she received from Hanover…

Aug 1, 2012 8:30 AM CDT

A Personalized Issue: 1st Amendment Lawyer Fights for His Right to a Vanity Plate

The Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration sure picked the wrong guy to tangle with when trying to revoke a vanity license plate. Three years ago, Accokeek, Md., lawyer John Mitchell received his request for a vanity license plate. Mitchell’s choice of the Spanish mierda, or shit, for his tags was a…

Aug 1, 2012 8:20 AM CDT

Cataloging Wrongful Convictions: New Registry Looks Beyond DNA

Perjury, eyewitness mistakes, a failure to use available DNA evidence and outright fabrications are among the reasons why more than 2,000 people have been exonerated in the United States over the past 23 years after being wrongfully convicted of crimes like murder, rape and robbery. In an effort to raise…

Aug 1, 2012 8:10 AM CDT

Legal Spirits: Attorney Distills His Legal Acumen to Steer Career Shift

Plenty of lawyers decide to make career changes and leave the legal world behind, but few use their legal backgrounds to help them do it. Patent attorney Paul Hletko is in that minority. Hletko started production at Few Spirits—a craft distillery that makes white whiskey, rye, gin and bourbon—in his…

Jul 1, 2012 9:20 AM CDT

How Much Is That Doggie in the Window? Texas Courts Weigh Pets’ Sentimental Value

For years, courts have widely accepted that photographs of pets and their owners have “sentimental value.” but those same courts refuse to recognize that the pets themselves have anything more than market value in damage lawsuits. The Texas Supreme Court is reviewing a case that animal law experts say could…

Jul 1, 2012 9:10 AM CDT

Strategies for Cutting-Edge Cases: Guide to Transgender Family Law Fills Case Law Gap

Few families know what to do when children want to live as a gender different from the one they were assigned at birth. And if the decision ends up in court, few attorneys have the resources to help a sway a judge. GLAD—the Boston-based Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders—recently…

Jul 1, 2012 9:00 AM CDT

What the 1L?! Readers Assess 66-Year-Old’s Michigan Law Grad’s Retirement Plan

In April we told our online readers the heartwarming story of John Graves. Graves, now 66, had been accepted to the University of Michigan Law School some 40 years ago, but money and family obligations kept him from enrolling. At the time, the university promised accepted students, many of whom…

Jul 1, 2012 8:50 AM CDT

Milking It: Raw Milk Advocates Lose the Battle But Win the War

Constitutional questions involving personal liberty are at play on a very public stage in the “Obamacare” case pending before the U.S. Supreme Court, but the issue also is playing out on a much smaller scale involving milk. That’s right, milk. Two years ago, a little-known group called the Farm-to-Consumer Legal…

Jul 1, 2012 8:40 AM CDT