ABA Journal

Podcasts

shutterstock_legal tech_600px

Legal Rebels Podcast

What’s the forecast for generative AI in 2025?

Welcome to 2025! The ABA Journal's Legal Rebels Podcast is not usually in the business of making prognostications. Let’s face it: If we were, we’d be playing the lottery or putting bets on sports games and the stock market and not doing this. But it seems like a safe prediction to say generative artificial intelligence will dominate 2025—just like it did in 2024.

Read more ...


The Modern Law Library

‘Vice Patrol’ examines how police and courts enforced anti-gay laws before Stonewall

A red tie. Manicured nails. Bleached hair. Loafers. The width of a person's hips. These are just a few of the things cited by vice patrol cops as indicators of someone's sexual preferences in the 1930s through the 1960s.

Asked and Answered

A year after his COVID-19 recovery, Above the Law founder David Lat makes some big changes

In May 2020, lawyer and author David Lat was starting his recovery from a life-threatening bout with COVID-19. A little over a year later, Lat, founder of Above the Law, decided to leave his job as a legal recruiter, go back to writing full time, and leave New York City for the New Jersey suburbs with his husband and their 3-year-old son. The COVID-19 pandemic influenced those changes.

The Modern Law Library

Little-known chapter of labor history is illuminated in union attorney’s new book

When Mark A. Torres was researching his first novel, A Stirring in the North Fork, he came across a piece of local history that he'd never known. Starting during the labor shortages of World War II, Long Island, New York, had been home to dozens of camps for several decades, some of which kept migrant workers in deplorable—and often deadly—conditions.

Legal Rebels Podcast

New AI-powered legal writing tool aims to help lawyers craft winning briefs

Shortly after Jacqueline Schafer entered the courtroom for the final hearing in an asylum case that she was litigating several years ago, she sensed that the judge was not sympathetic to the claims of her Honduran clients.

The Modern Law Library

Are you good in a crisis? There may be a growing practice area for you

When they were putting together their new book, Crisis Lawyering: Effective Legal Advocacy in Emergency Situations, editors Ray Brescia and Eric K. Stern didn't know that the world would soon be gripped by a pandemic. But they knew that being ready for crises large or small could benefit lawyers.

Asked and Answered

The pandemic brought this lawyer to legal commentary, and the work includes sponsorship deals

Emily D. Baker wanted a diversion from 2020, so she started doing her own legal commentary about pop culture, with topics including a pair of "Satan Shoes" associated with rapper Lil Nas X and the conservatorship of Britney Spears.

The Modern Law Library

Sen. Mazie Hirono discusses Kavanaugh hearings, the January insurrection and how her immigrant family’s experiences impacted her

Democratic U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono's newly released book, Heart of Fire: An Immigrant Daughter's Story, is part political memoir and part love letter to her family and the state she represents.

Legal Rebels Podcast

How one firm is trying to convince technology clients to embrace subscription pricing

When Joyce Tong Oelrich and her former Microsoft Corp. colleague Zohra Tejani discussed starting their own law firm two years ago, the experienced in-house lawyers agreed that they should take a subscription-pricing approach with clients.

The Modern Law Library

Increasing revenue while cutting down on billable hours? ‘AI for Lawyers’ says it’s possible

As the founders of a company that provides AI-powered contract analysis software, Kira Systems' Noah Waisberg and Alexander Hudek are used to facing skepticism, fear and doubt from attorneys. Will AI steal their jobs? Would using it violate ethics rules? How can it be good for a business model that relies on the billable hour to cut down on the amount of time that it takes to review a contract?

Asked and Answered

The pandemic has not slowed down Howard Bashman of How Appealing

Although the COVID-19 pandemic has caused there to be fewer court filings in some jurisdictions, Howard Bashman’s blog, How Appealing, continues to share multiple posts on a daily basis about appellate law and legal news.

The Modern Law Library

In ‘The Watergate Girl,’ Jill Wine-Banks gives an inside look at the special prosecution team that brought down Nixon

Jill Wine-Banks was barely 30 when she became an assistant Watergate special prosecutor investigating President Richard M. Nixon. In The Watergate Girl: My Fight for Truth and Justice Against a Criminal President, Wine-Banks (who was then known as Jill Wine Volner) shares her experience battling political obstruction, courtroom legal wrangling and the era's sexism.

Legal Rebels Podcast

Experienced cloud-based law firm thrives during COVID-19, co-founder says

When the spread of the novel coronavirus last spring prompted traditional law firms across the country to shutter their physical offices amid much economic uncertainty, the management team at cloud-based law firm FisherBroyles had very different concerns on its radar. The team wanted to make sure that the firm was ready to quickly ramp up hiring.

The Modern Law Library

Interested in infectious disease litigation? Before you accept a case, read this

When Davis M. Walsh and Samuel L. Tarry began assembling Infectious Disease Litigation: Science, Law, and Procedure, they had no idea a pandemic was soon going to make the topic more relevant than ever.

Asked and Answered

Public defender with Patreon for FOIA lawsuits shares her thoughts on lawyers and social media

When she’s posting online, Beth Bourdon is not like most other lawyers, and she says that’s probably why she has more than 50,000 Twitter followers.

The Modern Law Library

What can Texas tell us about the rise and fall of the death penalty?

By the late 1960s, use of the death penalty was on the decline in the United States. But after the U.S. Supreme Court declared in the 1972 case Furman v. Georgia that the death penalty as practiced violated the Eighth and 14th Amendments, there was a political backlash. By 1976, Georgia had a new capital punishment system that did pass Supreme Court muster, and other states followed suit—including Texas.

Legal Rebels Podcast

Virtual onboarding has provided some unexpected benefits, firm shareholder says

Virtual trivia nights and happy hours are among the activities that Wolf, Greenfield & Sacks has hosted in recent months to help welcome new hires into the fold amid a remote working environment.

The Modern Law Library

Why do barristers wear wigs? ‘Dress Codes’ explores fashion and the law

Ask any attorney about the most outlandish clothing they've seen worn in a courtroom, and most will have a colorful story. But what determines the appropriateness of any outfit?

The Modern Law Library

How your firm can use technology to build business and keep clients

As a longtime technology consultant to law firms, Heinan Landa knows that lawyers are cautious customers who can be resistant to change. But the old expectations around client service no longer exist, he says, and meeting the new standards requires a shift in the way law firms do business.

Asked and Answered

Law prof focuses on positives from the COVID-19 pandemic

Rather than focus on the restrictions of teaching via Zoom, Peter H. Huang zeroed in on how he could use the platform in innovative ways. This summer, the University of Colorado Law School professor enjoyed the creativity involved with thinking about different ways to conduct class, and he got pleasure from brainstorming with colleagues on efficient ways to navigate change.

The Modern Law Library

‘White Fright’ author discusses historical lynch mobs and the attack on the Capitol

Historian Jane Dailey was saddened by the events in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, but the riot at the U.S. Capitol did not seem unfamiliar to her.

Read more ...