Ari Kaplan recently spoke with Jeroen Plink, the chief operating officer of the Legaltech Hub, a board member at Casetext and the former CEO of Practical Law; and Jeroen Ketting, the founder and CEO of the Lighthouse Group, a provider of management and trade support to Western companies doing business in Russia and Ukraine.
Is law school learning always practical? According to Albert Einstein, “Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school.”
Whether we like it or not, automated, driverless vehicles are quickly becoming a reality and a norm in our society. Along with all the benefits the technology and associated services provide, there are also detriments—for civilians and law enforcement alike.
Most people pursuing careers as attorneys enter the legal field because they are motivated by an event that demonstrates the world’s many injustices. And while these motivations are usually virtuous, for most future attorneys, they have nothing to do with aspirations of one day owning and operating a business.
Over the last half-century, the U.S. Supreme Court and Congress have significantly restricted the availability of habeas corpus. The Warren Court expanded the ability of those convicted in state court to raise constitutional issues in federal court on habeas corpus, but since then, the court has created numerous restrictions. These have included imposing strict exhaustion requirements, limiting habeas corpus to already existing constitutional rights, preventing Fourth Amendment claims from being relitigated on habeas corpus and precluding raising issues that were not litigated in state court.
In March 1975, Jay Bergen stepped off an elevator on the seventh floor of the Dakota, New York City’s famed luxury co-op on the Upper West Side. He was met by a young man who escorted him into an apartment. Bergen was in John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s living room. A white Steinway grand piano sat across the space. The view of Central Park was spectacular.
I just finished a jury trial last week. It didn’t go quite the way I wanted, but the client was happy. The prosecution dismissed the case after a little over a day. I felt we had a good chance of walking away with multiple acquittals, but the client was thrilled to have the dismissals before the case reached the jury. I had to put my pride and ego aside and remember that this business is about what’s best for my clients and not my “win-loss” record.
I’ve watched clips of Johnny Depp's defamation trial with interest. The proceeding offers a fascinating view into the lives of the rich and famous and also is a prime example of how court will likely be conducted post-pandemic. This trial is notable not only because it is televised, but also because it includes testimony from many in-person witnesses and several others via videoconference. Of those participating remotely, some testified live and the testimony of others was pre-recorded.
The COVID-19 pandemic has shifted much about what we once considered business as usual. It has created unmatched levels of flexibility across industries—many of which had very few flexible options pre-pandemic.
