Actor who played DA on ‘Law & Order’ dies at 94

Steven Hill, the actor who played District Attorney Adam Schiff for 10 years on Law & Order, died on Tuesday at the age of 94. Hill, who also starred on Mission: Impossible for one season, died at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, the Associated Press reports. He had several…

Aug 24, 2016 11:24 AM CDT

Boies/Schiller Film Group finances movie based on ‘Cops’ TV show

A film finance group co-founded by Boies, Schiller & Flexner partner David Boies is financing a movie based on the Cops TV show. The Boies/Schiller Film Group was founded by Boies and Zack Schiller, the son of Boies Schiller co-founder Jonathan Schiller, Law.com (sub. req.) reports. Zack Schiller tells the…

Aug 23, 2016 3:19 PM CDT

Eddie Redmayne will play Cravath name partner in movie about Thomas Edison patent battle

Actor Eddie Redmayne has signed on to play influential lawyer Paul Cravath—who became a name partner at Cravath, Swaine & Moore—in a historical film about a battle over the patent for the light bulb. Cravath had provided legal advice to George Westinghouse in his 1880s patent battle with Thomas Edison,…

Aug 16, 2016 7:40 AM CDT

Conviction tossed for one ‘Making a Murderer’ suspect; lawyer’s conduct ‘inexcusable,’ judge says

A federal magistrate judge is citing interrogators’ coercive techniques in overturning the conviction of a Wisconsin man convicted of helping his uncle kill a woman in a murder case examined in the “Making a Murderer” Netflix series. U.S. Magistrate Judge William Duffin of Milwaukee overturned the conviction of Brendan Dassey…

Aug 15, 2016 10:21 AM CDT

Key figures behind legal TV dramas say the lines are blurring between fact and fiction

Early on during a rambling dialogue about the impact that television and other forms of entertainment are having on public perceptions of justice in the United States, David E. Kelley downplayed his role as one of the leading purveyors of TV shows about the law. “I don’t delude myself that…

Aug 5, 2016 11:05 PM CDT

Jokes and insults need to hit above the belt to not violate ethics

More than 100 lawyers and judges turned out Friday morning to listen to insults. They had some laughs; got some lessons; and learned some Shakespeare. The program’s title indicated it would be entertaining: “Thou Poisonous Bunch-Back’d Toad: Ethics of Insults Through the Centuries,” and it did not disappoint. The Litigation…

Aug 5, 2016 5:03 PM CDT

Pocket Constitution becomes a bestseller after lawyer Khizr Khan’s convention speech

Pocket Constitutions have become a best-seller after a Muslim-American lawyer, Khizr Khan, waved his copy in the air during a speech at the Democratic National Convention. A $1 pocket Constitution was Amazon’s second-best seller on Monday, the Washington Post reports. It was also among the website’s top 10 sellers on…

Aug 1, 2016 10:31 AM CDT

The 6 types of lawyer movies

Movies about our legal system tend to feature protagonists who fall into one of six different categories—for better or worse. Read this feature and check out our slideshow recently honored by the American Society of Business Publication Editors.

Aug 1, 2016 12:10 AM CDT

Justice Ginsburg rules for Shylock in mock appeal

An appellate panel that included Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg ruled on Wednesday that Shylock should get his property back, with no need to convert to Christianity, and the imposter judge who sentenced him should be sanctioned with an order to attend law school. Ginsburg was among five judges who considered…

Jul 28, 2016 7:30 AM CDT

Which movie lawyer are you? Take our quiz

Legal movie dramas are not without their typical heroes and heroines. There’s the selfless lawyer who comes to the rescue of a client with a hopeless case; the lawyer who doesn’t let the rules stand in the way of what her or she sees as justice, or the inexperienced lawyer…

Jul 27, 2016 5:24 PM CDT

Additional ‘Making a Murderer’ episodes to air; lawyer says new evidence will be revealed

The lawyer for a Wisconsin man whose murder case was chronicled in the Netflix series Making a Murderer says new evidence will be revealed in additional episodes. Netflix announced earlier this week that it is producing new episodes of the series, which examined the murder conviction of Wisconsin man Steven…

Jul 22, 2016 7:30 AM CDT

Harper Lee Prize goes to Attica Locke’s ‘Pleasantville’

The ABA Journal and the University of Alabama School of Law have chosen Pleasantville, a novel by Attica Locke, as the winner of the 2016 Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction. Locke is the sixth winner of the prize. The prize, authorized by Lee, is given annually to a book-length…

Jul 15, 2016 3:41 PM CDT

Pokemon Go spurs lawyers to stop and consider legal issues

Pokemon characters are on the loose, and it’s your job to catch and collect them. That’s the premise of the new Pokemon Go app, which uses your phone’s GPS and clock to detect where you are and make Pokemon characters appear on your phone screens, Vox explains. The Pokemon characters…

Jul 13, 2016 8:00 AM CDT

Subject of ‘Serial’ podcast gets a new trial; judge says trial lawyer didn’t question cellphone data

An inmate whose murder case was chronicled on the popular Serial podcast has been granted a new trial because his trial lawyer provided ineffective assistance on a technology issue. A Baltimore judge granted Adnan Syed a new trial Thursday, the New York Times and the Baltimore Sun report. Syed is…

Jul 1, 2016 8:00 AM CDT

Supreme Fiction: 10 novels to get your mind off the Supreme Court nomination standoff

Jul 1, 2016 3:10 AM CDT