How clients’ backgrounds may shed light on their motivation for litigation

Sep 1, 2015 2:10 AM CDT

How trials are more like plot-driven movies than character-driven novels

Character is crucial in most popular storytelling practices. Most especially, it is at the core of the modern novel. The late literary critic and novelist John Gardner observed that at "the center of all great literature is character."

Aug 1, 2015 6:50 AM CDT

The Bluebook’s 20th edition prompts many musings from Bryan Garner

About 10 years ago, I was finishing a book for a friend of mine in London, the late Sir Robert Megarry, when in his mid-90s his health began to fail. The book was his New Miscellany-at-Law (2006)—the third in a series of humorously erudite books that he began in 1955.

Aug 1, 2015 6:45 AM CDT

Ethics panel backs judges’ letters asking lawyers to consider community service

Aug 1, 2015 3:10 AM CDT

DC prosecutors must now follow stricter standards for disclosing information to the defense

In a series of decisions starting with Brady v. Maryland in 1963, the U.S. Supreme Court carved out a rule stating essentially that prosecutors violate the due process clause of the 14th Amendment if they withhold evidence from the defense in criminal cases that, if disclosed, likely would have been…

Jul 1, 2015 6:40 AM CDT

How should you handle a bad news client?

Is there anything you wouldn't do for a paying client? Whether you are a solo practitioner or a lawyer in a firm, the realities of the legal business cause money to loom large in your thought process. Clients whose personalities or line of business might have sent up red-flag warning…

Jul 1, 2015 6:35 AM CDT

Lawmakers should work toward adopting strong, standardized language in criminal statutes

American criminal statutes, both state and federal, use various wordings to prohibit certain conduct and to impose punishments. It is therefore natural for the legislative drafter to be concerned with knowing what the prevailing methods are, and which ones might be best. If a standard is possible, using it consistently…

Jul 1, 2015 6:10 AM CDT

Savvy trial lawyers create sensory experiences to help jurors perceive witnesses’ stories

Last summer I attended an intensive, weeklong postgraduate writing workshop at Vermont College for Fine Arts given by the novelist and memoirist Andre Dubus III (House of Sand and Fog and Townie). Not surprisingly, of the six participants I was the only lawyer. We met daily to discuss our writing.…

Jun 1, 2015 6:00 AM CDT

New ABA annotation may help courts and lawyers navigate attorney sanction process

Jun 1, 2015 3:20 AM CDT

Goodwill is a precious resource for you and your clients, so follow the Golden Rule

Jun 1, 2015 3:00 AM CDT

First impressions endure, even in brief writing

We have a long history of judges saying that (1) little errors in a brief betoken bigger mistakes, (2) less is more, and (3) good briefs demand little physical or mental effort from the reader. Even so, briefs in most courts are astonishingly ill-proofread, they are rarely tight, and lawyers…

May 1, 2015 6:45 AM CDT

Earning respect comes with the way you handle certain situations

The late, great Rodney Dangerfield always used to complain: "I don't get no respect." He then proceeded to make fun of himself for this little problem, like this: "When I was born, I was so ugly the doctor slapped my mother." Or this: "When I played in the sandbox, the…

May 1, 2015 6:00 AM CDT

Malpractice concerns spark heightened scrutiny of lawyers switching firms

As law firms have become more wary about ethics considerations in making lateral hires, experts say the process of switching legal employers has become more complex. "It's generally more difficult to get hired than it was in previous years," says Sabina Lippman of the global legal recruiting firm Lippman Jungers.…

May 1, 2015 5:55 AM CDT

Are legalistic labels a bad habit or a necessity?

Sometimes you'll study a point of technique, experiment some, steep yourself in the literature relating to it, experiment some more, and finally arrive at a strong conviction about what's almost invariably the best approach—often with the help of teachers. I once did that with the golf grip, and I had…

Apr 1, 2015 6:06 AM CDT

Cyber liability insurance is an increasingly popular, almost necessary choice for law firms

Apr 1, 2015 3:20 AM CDT