Firms with blogs have seen increased revenue; is there a correlation? (video)

Kevin O’Keefe, founder of the social media company LexBlog, says that his company’s annual State of the AmLaw 200 Blogosphere report is showing that AmLaw 200 firms with blogs are reporting more revenue growth. “But is it blogging, or is it the behavior that brought about the blogging that’s bringing…

Jun 6, 2013 4:00 PM CDT

Language gives us ways to remain honest and tactful–and to preserve client confidences

Jun 1, 2013 8:10 AM CDT

Letters: Magical Thinking

May 1, 2013 9:59 AM CDT

Law prof Chemerinsky offers a syllabus on how the high court can polish its publicity

May 1, 2013 8:30 AM CDT

For the Word Lovers: A look at linguistic phenomena

May 1, 2013 8:00 AM CDT

‘Big-firm mediocre’ style of legal writing is oddly consistent, ‘curmudgeon’ writes

The former big-firm lawyer Mark Herrmann turned his critical eye—along with a scalpel in one hand and an axe in the other—on lawyering and legal writing some years ago, laying out much of it in his 2007 book, The Curmudgeon’s Guide to Practicing Law, which was addressed to law firm…

Apr 8, 2013 8:51 PM CDT

What judges really think about the phrase ‘May it please the Court?’

Apr 1, 2013 7:58 AM CDT

Legal journalist dies near 50th anniversary of the case he chronicled in ‘Gideon’s Trumpet’

Former New York Times reporter Anthony Lewis has died at the age of 85, just one week after the 50th anniversary of the Supreme Court case he chronicled in the book Gideon’s Trumpet. Lewis died on Monday as a result of complications from renal and heart failure, the New York…

Mar 25, 2013 4:41 PM CDT

Why lawyers can’t write

Mar 1, 2013 9:00 AM CST

Around the Blawgosphere: Pool of trained associates will eventually dry up, blogger warns

The pool is drying up To an extent, in-house law departments and “New Normal” law firms are benefiting from the investment that “old normal” law firms make in training new associates. “My recollection of the stat is that after five years only two out of ten new associates will still…

Feb 1, 2013 2:45 PM CST

Lawyer-lawmaker blames poor writing for bill that would criminalize abortions by rape victims

A New Mexico lawmaker says the critics misinterpreted her proposed bill that appeared to criminalize abortions by victims of rape and incest. The bill said procuring abortions in cases of rape and incest could constitute tampering with evidence, a crime meriting a sentence of up to three years in prison,…

Jan 28, 2013 12:00 PM CST

Is it ‘pleaded’ or ‘pled’?

An ABAJournal.com reader recently questioned the publication’s editorial judgment when a story told of two women who pleaded guilty to criminal charges. “This may be a hanged versus hung question,” said the reader using the name OKBankLaw, “but shouldn’t pleaded in the fourth paragraph be pled?” That much-debated question is…

Jan 17, 2013 11:29 AM CST

Argument Talk: Tips for Litigators on Raising, Answering and Dropping Points

Jan 1, 2013 8:50 AM CST

What’s an Error in Language?

What constitutes a language error? Interesting question—and one that lawyers, as professional rhetoricians, should have a keen interest in. It plunges us straightaway (should that be straightway?) into the middle of what the late David Foster Wallace, in his collection of essays Consider the Lobster (2006), called “the seamy underbelly…

Dec 14, 2012 8:15 PM CST

Is ‘Benchslap’ Worthy of Black’s Law Dictionary? Editor Tweets Question

The next edition of Black’s Law Dictionary could include the word “benchslap” if editor Bryan Garner can be persuaded. Garner raised the issue in a tweet, Above the Law reports. “How old is ‘bench slap’?” Garner wrote. “Should I put it in Black’s Law Dictionary? How would you define it?”…

Dec 3, 2012 12:15 PM CST