In Law Day activities, citizens serve and learn while leaders remember Magna Carta

Throughout the country, lawyers, judges, bar associations and others celebrated Law Day with a wide variety of activities. In Cumberland County, North Carolina, the day was an opportunity for members of the bar to talk to schoolchildren or volunteer to help fix up homes and other buildings for needy residents…

May 1, 2015 5:16 PM CDT

Tech-based problem-solving movement spreads to lawyers

May 1, 2015 4:00 AM CDT

Line started on Friday for gay-marriage arguments in SCOTUS; what does a place sitter cost?

The cost of securing a seat for Supreme Court oral arguments on gay marriage today is $50 an hour. That’s how much money it costs to hire a service to hold a place in line for arguments in Obergefell v. Hodges, Slate reports. The first 14 people in line were…

Apr 28, 2015 7:50 AM CDT

Judge rebuked for posting on Facebook about trials she was overseeing says ethics panel got it wrong

At least one mistrial resulted because a Texas judge posted on her Facebook account about trials she was overseeing, a judicial ethics panel noted in its decision rebuking her for the practice. However, 405th District Judge Michelle Slaughter says she did nothing wrong by discussing the cases on her Facebook…

Apr 27, 2015 2:55 PM CDT

Harper Lee’s hometown loses right to produce ‘Mockingbird’ play

Volunteer actors in Harper Lee’s hometown of Monroeville, Alabama, have been staging the play based on To Kill a Mockingbird for 27 years, but the show will come to an end after this year. The company that licenses the play, Dramatic Publishing Co. of Illinois, has instead awarded the rights…

Apr 24, 2015 7:57 AM CDT

9th Circuit judge opens courthouse doors to public for free movie night

Shocked years ago to learn that many of the clerks for the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had never seen 12 Angry Men, Judge Alex Kozinski arranged a screening of the classic film, starring Henry Fonda as a holdout juror. That was the beginning of a free public movie…

Apr 23, 2015 12:30 PM CDT

Sons charged with stealing from best-selling true-crime author Ann Rule

For decades, author Ann Rule has written one best-selling true-crime novel after another about people victimized by those they loved. Now it appears that Rule may have become a crime victim herself. King County prosecutors have filed theft charges against two of her sons, Andrew and Michael Rule, 54 and…

Apr 22, 2015 2:45 PM CDT

Landmark NYC courthouse opens doors for free exhibit after 40 years of being closed

Closed in 1977, the former Bronx Borough Courthouse will open its doors again on Thursday for a free art exhibit. Meanwhile, Gothamist toured the landmarked building and has posted dozens of photos online. A statue of Lady Justice remains outside, but much of the interior is now a shell, the…

Apr 22, 2015 12:15 PM CDT

Weaver inspires layout and art for domestic violence feature

When we began thinking about how to present the story of a pilot project in which Indian tribes are finally able to prosecute non-Native perpetrators of domestic violence, we first looked for images depicting abuse and the solitary landscapes common to many tribal regions. Then something unique caught our eye;…

Apr 22, 2015 10:38 AM CDT

Ginsburg makes Time’s list of most influential people; Scalia explains why

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has made Time magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people, and she deserves to be there for two of her career paths, according to the Time summary by her friend and colleague Justice Antonin Scalia. “Ruth Bader Ginsburg has had two distinguished legal careers, either…

Apr 16, 2015 10:55 AM CDT

Polluted town championed by Erin Brockovich is largely gone despite $333M settlement

Fifteen years after a movie helped make legal assistant Erin Brockovich famous for her role in helping win a $333 million settlement over environmental pollution in Hinkley, California, the small farming community town is largely gone. Pacific Gas & Electric Co., which agreed to the settlement concerning elevated levels of…

Apr 14, 2015 11:10 AM CDT

Defense lawyers follow popular Serial podcast’s lead, are publishing sequel to client’s online story

Defense lawyers representing Adnan Syed in the appeal of his murder conviction are following the lead of a journalist who produced the wildly popular Serial podcast about his case. Their new podcast, Undisclosed: The State v. Adnan Syed, will debut Monday. “The remarkable success of the podcast Serial, which brought…

Apr 10, 2015 3:35 PM CDT

Should female justices be recognized with an ice cream flavor by Ben & Jerry’s?

A petition at change.org is urging Ben & Jerry’s to recognize more women by naming a flavor after Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The flavor would be called “Ruth Bader Ginger,” the Blog of Legal Times reports. The ice cream would consist of brown sugar cinnamon ice cream mixed with gingersnap…

Apr 10, 2015 7:06 AM CDT

See the top 3 ‘Game of Peeps’ dioramas for 2015

Congratulations to the creative minds and get-out-the-vote spirit behind the sugary Peeps dioramas that drew the most votes in our 7th annual Peeps in Law diorama contest! We saw fewer entries this year, but the off-beat, lighthearted take on the law, legal history and legal news more than met our…

Apr 7, 2015 8:30 AM CDT

Harper Lee probe is closed with no finding of abuse

Alabama’s probe of Harper Lee’s ability to make decisions has closed with a finding of no abuse or neglect. Lawyers for Lee, 88, said they were notified of the finding by the primary investigating agency, the Alabama Department of Human Resources, report the New York Times and the Wall Street…

Apr 6, 2015 7:05 AM CDT