Over the years, I've heard many lawyers tell stories of bosses—senior lawyers—who were explosively hostile, abrasive, cruel and dogmatic. They seemed to derive self-satisfaction from dominating, intimidating and humiliating their…
Jul 1, 2016 2:20 AM CDT
Illustration by Sam Ward
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For would-be lawyers, the two- or even three-day, nerve-wracking bar exam is just one hurdle. The other step is often underappreciated but can make all the difference in a graduate's…
Jun 1, 2016 2:20 AM CDT
Illustration by Sam Ward
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I'm looking at a letter to the Department of Justice that relates to a highly sensitive antitrust matter. It's written on behalf of a major corporation that seeks to merge…
Jun 1, 2016 2:10 AM CDT
Illustrations by Sam Ward
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For years I was a runner/jogger. I logged 20-30 miles a week and did some of my best law work on runs. Unfortunately, my middle-aged knees and hips gave out…
Jun 1, 2016 2:00 AM CDT
Illustration by Lars Leetaru
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In legal ethics, like so many other fields, it's not easy to address all the possible applications of a rule on the first try. And the task becomes even tougher…
May 1, 2016 2:20 AM CDT
Illustration by Sam Ward
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When in 2004 Google announced its ambitious project of scanning all books ever printed and amassing the information into a huge database, perhaps nobody understood the full ramifications of the…
May 1, 2016 2:10 AM CDT
Illustration by Sam Ward
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Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. begins
his dissenting opinion from a denial of cert in
Pennsylvania v. Dunlap this way:
May 1, 2016 2:00 AM CDT
Illustration by Brenan Sharp
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The organized bar is feeling pain from a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that a regulatory board for the dental profession in North Carolina doesn't have state-action immunity in a Federal…
Apr 1, 2016 3:00 AM CDT
Illustration by Sam Ward
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"Originalism," so called, is perhaps the single issue for which Justice Antonin Scalia, my co-author on two books, was most controversial. I'll never forget his ire—it was full-blown anger—when I…
Apr 1, 2016 2:50 AM CDT
Fascinated by the word soothsayer, Scalia took
a photo of the fortune-teller’s sign. But he refused Garner’s urging to have his fortune read. Photograph Courtesy of Bryan Garner.
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Recently I had the privilege of serving on a jury in a malpractice case. And I think I saw something you can use.
Apr 1, 2016 2:40 AM CDT
Illustration by Sam Ward
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As more individuals handle their cases pro se or hire lawyers to represent them on a limited basis, lawyers representing other parties in those matters often are left in a…
Mar 1, 2016 2:40 AM CST
Illustration by Sam Ward
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Recently I had the opportunity to sit down with the great Samuel Johnson (1709–1784)—or rather with his books—to see what he had to say about lawyers, their profession and their…
Mar 1, 2016 2:30 AM CST
Illustration by Sam Ward
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"In a real sense all life is interrelated. All men are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects…
Mar 1, 2016 2:20 AM CST
Rhonda V. Magee. Photograph Courtesy of University of San Francisco School of Law.
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A federal district court has ruled that a Florida Bar prohibition against individual lawyers and law firms stating on their websites that they are specialists or experts in a practice…
Feb 1, 2016 2:30 AM CST
Illustration by Sam Ward
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The moral of the story: Statutes, ordinances and rules are largely a mess in this country—and often highly misleading. Now for the story.
The year is 2012.…
Feb 1, 2016 2:20 AM CST
Illustration by Sam Ward
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