Legal Rebels

Nikki Zeichner uses data to give new perspectives on parole and incarceration

In 2013, Nikki Zeichner was juggling two endeavors. As a Brooklyn criminal defense lawyer, she was representing a prisoner who had been denied parole nine times and was up for a 10th successful hearing. Representing Thornwell Richburg taught her that New York parole decisions were often based on “the nature…

Sep 15, 2015 9:20 AM CDT

Arthur Hunter Jr.: From cop to judge to fighting recidivism

If you send people to prison and do nothing to rehabilitate them, it’s not surprising that they often commit more crimes when released, says Judge Arthur L. Hunter Jr. of the Orleans Parish Criminal District Court in New Orleans. Five years ago he and fellow jurist Laurie A. White founded…

Sep 10, 2015 8:20 AM CDT

‘Prudent innovation’ in law school—Colorado moves forward

Last month, I talked about Prudent Innovation for law firms. This week, I want to talk about Prudent Innovation in law schools. The argument for Prudent Innovation is based on some simple ideas: • The world is changing pretty fast, but law is both resistant to change (so naturally changes…

Sep 10, 2015 8:19 AM CDT

Laurie White: Using lifers to help other inmates re-enter society

Inmates serving life sentences at the Louisiana State Penitentiary, commonly referred to as the fearsome Angola prison, may be seen as hardened criminals who don’t have much to offer society. But Judge Laurie A. White of the Criminal District Court of Orleans Parish, knows that some inmates have spent their…

Sep 9, 2015 8:23 AM CDT

How a program at an infamous prison helps inmates re-enter society (podcast with transcript)

What good can some men serving life sentence do for other inmates? A great deal, says Judge Laurie A. White, who co-founded a re-entry program for inmates of the infamous Angola State Penitentiary in Louisiana. In this episode of Asked and Answered, she tells the ABA Journal’s Stephanie Francis Ward…

Sep 8, 2015 8:38 AM CDT

Ray Gallo’s Leverage app automates a lot of the administrative work involved in mass actions

Ray Gallo was getting clients he didn’t even know he had. In late 2008, Gallo’s San Rafael, California, law firm was spearheading Amador v. California Culinary Academy, a putative class action alleging that a Bay Area culinary school misled its students about their job prospects. The plaintiffs argued they were…

Sep 3, 2015 8:30 AM CDT

Vivek Maru: Drawing the arc to global justice

After finishing at Harvard College and before entering Yale Law School, Vivek Maru, born and reared in the U.S., took off more than a year to live in a hut made of sticks and dung amid the poverty and pollution of India’s Kutch region, from which his grandfather came. Maru…

Sep 2, 2015 8:30 AM CDT

Salt Lake City firm Open Legal Services operates as a nonprofit, keeping hourly rates low

Making Hay the Nonprofit Way

Sep 1, 2015 8:45 AM CDT

Lawyers need to move beyond ‘access to justice’ to close the legal services gap

By many measures, lawyers’ “access to justice” initiatives are entirely ineffective: • A study (PDF) from the American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on the Delivery of Legal Services found that high-volume state courts are at “saturation level” of pro se litigants. • According to the 2012-2013 World Justice Project’s Rule…

Sep 1, 2015 8:30 AM CDT

Meet our 2015 Legal Rebels

Seventh year. Eleven new honorees. And 111 Legal Rebel profiles. That's a whole lot of change going on in what's too often called a staid profession.

Sep 1, 2015 4:40 AM CDT

Introducing the 2015 Legal Rebels

Another year of innovation has come and gone, and it’s time to add 11 more inductees to our list of Legal Rebels. It’s our seventh year of honoring men and women who are remaking their corners of the legal profession, and we’re pleased to be able to draw attention to…

Aug 26, 2015 8:45 AM CDT

3 reasons firms are starting to embrace ‘prudent innovation’

Could most law firms deliver 20 percent more useful work at 20 percent less cost on a typical matter? I think the answer is self-evidently “YES,” and we’re increasingly seeing firms mobilize to ensure they do—or risk getting left behind. Call it Prudent Innovation. Let’s look at some recent developments.…

Aug 25, 2015 8:30 AM CDT

Learn how to balance efficiency with your level of service—or miss opportunities

The field of operations management is focused on creating efficient and effective business operations. It recognizes that there are trade-offs that must be made between efficiency and service level (or other similar metrics) in any organization’s business and operations strategy. Companies, as a general rule, cannot be both highly efficient…

Aug 12, 2015 8:59 AM CDT

How lawyers can embrace mistakes

Lawyers hate mistakes. They can be career-killers if you make them as an associate. Lawyers worry that clients will fire them or sue them if they make a mistake as a more senior level. So we have created a profession that welcomes a “choose to ignore” mistakes mentality. That is…

Aug 6, 2015 8:30 AM CDT

Dentons hires former general counsel for General Mills who pushed law firms for diversity

Dentons has hired former General Mills general counsel Roderick “Rick” Palmore, a 2009 ABA Journal Legal Rebel who promoted diversity in the legal profession. Palmore will serve as a senior counsel at Dentons, where he will advise corporations on risk management and governance issues, according to a press release. Palmore,…

Jul 22, 2015 11:13 AM CDT