Opening Statements

More Than a Quirky Name, Shpoonkle Aims to Get Legal Reverse-Auction Model Right

Shpoonkle may have a funny-sounding name, but it is no joke. The website is the latest entry into the legal reverse-auction market, where clients can post their legal woes and get bids from attorneys competing for their business. At least three other legal reverse-auction sites have come and gone in…

Jun 1, 2011 7:50 AM CDT

QR Codes Catch on as Useful Links in Marketing and Recruiting Campaigns

They’re showing up everywhere: at bus stops, on posters, in the pages of magazines. And now those little black-and-white matrix bar codes, better known as QR codes, are creeping into law firms. The Montreal-based firm Lavery, de Billy recently started using QR, or “quick response,” codes in several of its…

Jun 1, 2011 7:40 AM CDT

Spotlight On the Three States That Maintain All-Male High Courts

When Iowa voters in the last election removed three supreme court judges who supported the state’s historic same-sex marriage ruling, they made history. But it’s perhaps not the kind of history political activists might suspect. The vacancies resulted in the appointment of three male jurists to Iowa’s high court, making…

Jun 1, 2011 7:30 AM CDT

Emerging Technologies at Odds with Long-Held Privacy Tenets

A California appellate court’s reversal of a drunk-driving manslaughter conviction is one of several cases pitting new technologies against long-held privacy principles. In May 2006, driver George Xinos struck and killed a teenager crossing a San Jose street. While Xinos’ car was in storage, police on orders from the district…

May 1, 2011 9:09 AM CDT

Artist-Turned-Lawyer Highlights Typographic Detail in Legal Docs

Anyone who has seen a recent Utah Supreme Court opinion may have noticed that something is different. The court’s opinions look more readable and just may be more convincing thanks to the typographic wisdom of graphic artist-turned-lawyer Matthew Butterick. Click to see how the Utah Supreme Court opinions looked before…

May 1, 2011 9:00 AM CDT

Long-Lost Settlement Funds Are Finally (and Charitably) Disbursed

Antitrust lawyers are undoubtedly familiar with the decades-old U.S. Supreme Court decision U.S. v. Grinnell Corp. But what happened to the settlement funds derived from the resolution of the related class action lawsuit may come as a surprise. Nearly 40 years after the civil class action was settled, a portion…

May 1, 2011 8:50 AM CDT

Librarian’s Course Seeks to Entice Attorneys Who Value Rare Law Books

Many lawyers are bibliophiles, but few extend their collection to books of their profession. Mike Widener, the rare-books librarian at Yale University’s Lillian Goldman Law Library, wants to change that. This summer he will be offering a course on collecting historical law books. And while the course is not aimed…

May 1, 2011 8:40 AM CDT

SCOTUS in 17 Syllables: Houston Lawyer’s High Court Haiku

Long law articlesWore lawyer Keith Jaasma outSo he tried haiku Supreme Court Haiku, to be precise. Jaasma, an IP lawyer at Houston’s Patterson & Sheridan, started the website at supremecourthaiku.com in February 2010 with a plan to write haiku for every U.S. Supreme Court opinion. Jaasma says he didn’t even…

May 1, 2011 8:30 AM CDT

Anti-Shariah Bills Under Review

In a trend that has received widespread attention on conservative talk radio and television news programs, legislators in 20 states are considering more than 40 bills that would ban or restrict the use of Shariah in their courts. Shariah law is derived from the Quran and the sayings, practices and…

May 1, 2011 8:20 AM CDT

Comics Provide More Than Relief for the Blog Law and the Multiverse

Most comic books are full of action and intrigue but bereft of quirky legal debate. Stepping up to fill that void are attorneys James Daily and Ryan Davidson, whose blog Law and the Multiverse has developed a cult following faster than a speeding bullet. Since starting the blog last November,…

Apr 1, 2011 8:50 AM CDT

Latest Front on the Free-Speech Wars Could Be on Your Wrist

Black peace armbands, flag salutes and offensive comments on social networking sites have been the subject of free-speech fights in public schools. Now we can add breast-positive bracelets to the list. Sold by the nonprofit Keep a Breast Foundation, the rubber bracelets feature the words “I ♥ boobies.” The tongue-in-cheek…

Apr 1, 2011 8:40 AM CDT

Retired Rutgers Law Prof Gives Death its Due

Some may accuse Norman Cantor of being a bit morbid, but the retired Rutgers law professor says his new book is just a mere continuation of his nearly 40 years of study about end-of-life issues. After We Die: The Life and Times of the Human Cadaver gives detailed answers to…

Apr 1, 2011 8:30 AM CDT

‘Race to Nowhere’ Races Up the Charts

As a former Wall Street lawyer, Vicki Abeles was no stranger to success and, understandably, wanted the best for her children. Yet when her middle-school daughters were up late, studying harder than Abeles had in law school, she wondered whether success came at a price. Her oldest already had begun…

Apr 1, 2011 8:20 AM CDT

DC Lawyers Provide Boost for Legal Services, Earn Recognition in Turn

The Boy Scouts get badges. Spelling bee winners get trophies. And now Washington, D.C., lawyers can claim “platinum,” “gold” or “silver” status based on the amount of money they donate to local legal services. The status is part of the District of Columbia Access to Justice Commission’s new Raising the…

Apr 1, 2011 8:10 AM CDT

Legal Road Trip: Seattle

The legal sites of the Emerald City

Apr 1, 2011 8:00 AM CDT