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Monday Morning Headlines
Mon, 02 Jun 2008 09:47:55 GMT
Interesting Headlines Across the Blawgosphere this Morning... Ten New Law Schools In The Works! - Adjunct Law Prof Blog Mankiw Makes the Case for McCains Corporate Tax Cut - Truth on the Market The "Early Show" addresses internet prescriptions - poorly - Internet Pharmacy Law Lawdable Quotes: Immanuel Kant - Fastcase - Accelerated Legal Research Democratic Rules Committee Decides Florida, Michigan - Wise Law Canadian Blawg Britany Spears mentally incompetent to appear in probate court - Wills, Trusts & Estates Prof Blog Common Good "Boundaries of Litigation" forum - Point of Law Technorati Tags: blawgosphere headlines,blawgosphere
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Blawg Book Highlighter #31: Making Your Case: The Art of Persuading Judges
Sat, 24 May 2008 14:04:34 GMT
Blawg Book Highlighter #31: Making Your Case: The Art of Persuading Judges The conservative wing of the U.S. Supreme Court seems to be spreading its wings these days in a surprisingly public fashion: by penning books. It?s rare when we, the people, hear from the nine men in black. Typically, they prefer to keep silent and let their judicial writings do their talking. Thus, we?ve had to rely on a few journalistic attempts to get even a glimpse of what goes on behind their chambers. Bob Woodward and David Montgomery?s ?The Brethren: Inside the Supreme Court,? was the first of these inside-peak books and it has since spawned Edward Lazarus? ?Closed Chambers: The Rise, Fall, and Future of the Modern Supreme Court,? Mark Tushnet?s ?A Court Divided: The Rehnquist Court and the Future of Constitutional Law,? and, most recently, Jeffrey Toobin?s ?The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court.? One has to wonder what is happening now when not just one but two of the supposedly secretive nine have come out of the shadows and into the public spotlight as authors of best-sellers. Just last fall, Clarence Thomas broke his silence about his contentious nomination in 1991 and other matters in his remarkably candid memoir, ?My Grandfather?s Son.? Now it is Thomas?s conservative brother-in-arms, Antonin Scalia, who is making the book publicity rounds with ?Making Your Case: The Art of Persuading Judge,? which he co-authored with Bryan A. Garner, editor in chief of ?Black?s Law Dictionary.? No, you weren?t hallucinating, that was Scalia, the same justice who has had a contentious relationship with the electronic media, yapping it up about his new book last month on ?60 Minutes.? It is amazing how they warm to the media when it serves their own purposes, like making money off of a book. So what?s Scalia?s book about? It?s about persuasion, which, as Slate?s Dahlia Lithwick noted, is highly ironic coming from the likes of Scalia, who has, in the past, claimed that his colleagues can?t be persuaded of anything. The book is described as sort of a how-to manual on the art of writing and advocacy. While the Blog of Legal Times finds some of the advice ?beyond obvious? or ?a bit stuffy,? it ultimately praises it as ?a must-read for any lawyer whose job entails arguing, in writing or in person, before a judge.? Lithwick, one of the Supreme Court?s press corps, isn?t sold, however. She?s ?admittedly charmed but decidedly not persuaded by Scalia?s argument.? If you want try a sample before running out to the bookstore, the ABA Journal has excerpts of the book here: http://www.abajournal.com/magazine/making_your_case Note that I?ve violated the authors? admonition against the use of contractions many times in this write-up. If you need CLE credit, the Scalia-Garner will be teaching from their new book at the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts in July. The ?quick-paced, five-hour CLE? will cover legal reasoning and argument, brief-writing, and oral argument. Each participant will receive a copy of the book and all profits from the seminar will be donated to Legal Aid. You can register online at http://www.lawprose.org/kennedy.html ************************************************************************************ Randy Richardson is an author, humorist, former journalist, and a lawyer. His fiction debut, Lost in the Ivy, a murder mystery set against the backdrop of Chicago's storied Wrigley Field, won the Writers Marketing Association's ?Fresh Voices? Book Award and the Illinois Woman's Press Association's Mate E. Palmer Communications Contest. He writes the Dad Libs column for SanityCentral.com and is a frequent contributor to Chicago Parent magazine. In his day job, he is an attorney for the Social Security Administration?s disability appeals branch. At night and during lunch breaks, he serves as president of the Chicago Writers Association (chicagowrites.org) and works on his second novel while a 4-year-old tugs on his legs. Visit his website at www.lostintheivy.com. ***********************************************************************************
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Blawg Book Highlighter #30: The Whole Truth
Sat, 17 May 2008 16:16:16 GMT
Blawg Book Highlighter #30: The Whole Truth
David Baldacci would be on most any short list of best-selling lawyer-writers. Right up next to Scott Turow, Lisa Scottoline, John Grisham and Phillip Margolin.
His latest, The Whole Truth, debuted at No. 1 in the New York Times Best Sellers List and currently stands at No. 2.
Although Baldacci was a lawyer before he was a best-selling author, he?s not best known for writing legal thrillers in the vein of Turow or Grisham. Rather, he?s primarily known for his political thrillers centered around Washington, D.C., near where he practiced law for nine years.
In The Whole Truth, Baldacci expands his fictional world into the realm of a global conspiracy thriller about war and truth ? or the perception of truth ? that has obvious parallels to current times and politics.
The book?s antagonist, Nicolas Creel, heads up the world?s largest defense contractor, The Ares Corporation.
?Dick, I need a war,? Creel says to Dick Pender, the man he retains to ?perception manage? his company to even more riches by manipulating international conflicts.
From there on, it is a classic Robert Ludlum-style race to save the world with only one man who goes only by the name Shaw able to do it.
Reviews of the book have been mixed. While his hometown Richmond Times-Dispatch calls it ?wickedly brilliant? and declares Baldacci to be in contention for ?Thinking Man?s Thriller Writer,? others have not been so enthusiastic. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch gave Baldacci points for highlighting the dangers of perception management and how easily campaigns of mistruth can spread in the age of the Internet, but found the plot to be ?wildly improbable? and some of the writing ?banal.?
Visit Baldacci?s website to read an excerpt from the book, download a copy of the promotional bookmark, or to listen to a promotional interview with the author. http://www.davidbaldacci.com/web/content/view/208/1/
Baldacci is also doing an ?online book signing? for until May 23, 2008. http://www.davidbaldacci.com/web/content/view/121/1/
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Randy Richardson is an author, humorist, former journalist, and a lawyer. His fiction debut, Lost in the Ivy, a murder mystery set against the backdrop of Chicago's storied Wrigley Field, won the Writers Marketing Association's ?Fresh Voices? Book Award and the Illinois Woman's Press Association's Mate E. Palmer Communications Contest. He writes the Dad Libs column for SanityCentral.com and is a frequent contributor to Chicago Parent magazine. In his day job, he is an attorney for the Social Security Administration?s disability appeals branch. At night and during lunch breaks, he serves as president of the Chicago Writers Association (chicagowrites.org) and works on his second novel while a 4-year-old tugs on his legs. Visit his website at www.lostintheivy.com.
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Technorati Tags: david baldacci,baldacci,the whole truth,blawg book highlighter,randal richardson,randy richardson
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Legal Research in Canada
Fri, 16 May 2008 12:30:43 GMT
Hat tip to Legal Writing Prof Blog for pointing out a slick "how-to" guide for performing legal research in Canada recently posted to LLRX. Doing Legal Research in Canada, written by Ted Tjaden, is an online guide to doing legal research in Canada. The guide provides information and links to print and online resources and is aimed primarily at researchers outside of Canada needing an overview of Canadian legal research. There are six major sections: Introduction: The Canadian Legal System Canadian Primary Legal Resources Canadian Secondary Legal Resources Canadian Legal Organizations (law libraries, law schools, . . .) Canadian Legal Publishers (including online vendors) Canadian Legal Research: By Topic Link: Doing Legal Research in Canada
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Headlines Across the Blawgosphere - May 12, 2007
Mon, 12 May 2008 10:17:50 GMT
Some recent headlines across the blawgosphere...
The Looming Polar Bear War - Earth Jur 1.0
San Diego Lawsuit Brings Attention to Food Contamination - San Diego Injury Lawyer Blog
Option Backdating: A Flawed SEC Complaint Raises Questions About the Enforcement Program And Its Direction - SEC Actions Blog
Happy Mothers Day - Legal Writing Prof Blog
Case o' The Week: It Pays to Discover, Chapman - Ninth Circuit Blog
Romney Speech on Religion 2.0 - Blog From The Capital
When Is a Water District Not a Municipality? - New York Zoning and Municipal Law Blog
Tax Havens: Renegade States in the International Tax Regime? - Suo Tempore
New Scribble-in-Law at LawComix.com - Scribble-in-Law
Technorati Tags: blawgosphere,blawgosphere headlines,law blog news
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Client Profitability
Tue, 06 May 2008 11:05:57 GMT
Ron Paquette, an analyst at Redwood Analytics, recently penned an interesting two-parter which has been posted to More Partner Income: Client Profitability: What Is The Cost Of Partner Time? and Partner Cost and Client Profitability (Part II)
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Blawg Book Highlighter #29 - Terror and Consent: The Wars for the 21st Century
Sat, 03 May 2008 12:27:40 GMT
Blawg Book Highlighter #29: Terror and Consent: The Wars for the 21st Century Columbia University law professor Philip Bobbitt is a rare breed of Democrat. While he, like many of his Democratic counterparts, supported the invasion of Iraq in 2003, he is different than most in that his support hasn?t wavered. He still thinks it was the right thing to do. He just thinks it was done the wrong way. In his new book, Terror and Consent: The Wars for the 21st Century, Bobbitt doesn?t take sides and he doesn?t mince words. He is in no way pro-Bush, concurring with most of his fellow Democrats that the Bush administration bungled the war on terror. But he doesn?t outright dismiss Bush, either, and, in fact, mostly agrees with the neocon principles of pre-emptive war and even the necessity for curtailing many civil liberties. Where Bobbitt finds fault with the Bush administration is for thumbing its nose at the law and for, at least initially, trying to define the war on terror in the same way that wars in history have been defined. ?We need to change our ideas about terrorism, war, and even victory itself,? he argues. The Bush administration?s failure was that it tried to fight a war ? a war that Bobbitt agrees is a real war and one that needs to be fought ? by circumventing the law rather than working with Congress to change the law and by not preparing the American public for a long, drawn-out war. As Harvard law professor Niall Ferguson writes in his review of the book for the New York Times, ?The administration?s fatal mistake was its failure to understand that these things could be achieved by appropriate modifications of the law. By doing what indeed was needed, but doing it outside the law, the administration undermined the legitimacy of American policy at home as well as abroad. Bobbitt is emphatic: all branches of government must act in conformity with the Constitution and the law.? Ferguson is an unabashed convert to Bobbit?s position, calling Terror and Consent ?quite simply the most profound book to have been written on the subject of American foreign policy since the attacks of 9/11 ? indeed, since the end of the cold war. I have no doubt it will be garlanded with prizes. It deserves to be.? Other leading reviewers have also heaped praise. Publishers Weekly calls the book: "[A] complex and provocative analysis of the West's ongoing struggle against terrorism. Terror and Consent merits wide circulation and serious consideration." And Booklist says, "Bobbitt aims for the big picture and succeeds . . . Not just another book about terrorism, this is a complete theory of constitutional evolution and a sophisticated set of far-reaching policy prescriptions." Bobbitt?s debut, The Shield of Achilles, won the Robert W. Hamilton Book Award and was selected as one of the best books of 2002 by The Times Literary Supplement, The Economist, and The Guardian. In addition to being a Professor of Law at Columbia University and Distinguished Lecturer and Senior Fellow at the University of Texas at Austin, Bobbitt has served in a number of posts in the U.S. government, including as associate counsel to the President, legal counsel to the Senate Select Committee on the Iran-Contra affair, the counselor on international law at the State Department, and several senior positions at the National Security Council. ************************************************************************************ Randy Richardson is an author, humorist, former journalist, and a lawyer. His fiction debut, Lost in the Ivy, a murder mystery set against the backdrop of Chicago's storied Wrigley Field, won the Writers Marketing Association's ?Fresh Voices? Book Award and the Illinois Woman's Press Association's Mate E. Palmer Communications Contest. He writes the Dad Libs column for SanityCentral.com and is a frequent contributor to Chicago Parent magazine. In his day job, he is an attorney for the Social Security Administration?s disability appeals branch. At night and during lunch breaks, he serves as president of the Chicago Writers Association (chicagowrites.org) and works on his second novel while a 4-year-old tugs on his legs. Visit his website at www.lostintheivy.com. *********************************************************************************** Technorati Tags: randy richardson,blawg book highlighter,phllip bobbitt
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Headlines Across the Blawgosphere
Wed, 30 Apr 2008 10:05:21 GMT
If your feed reader is anything like mine, it is increasingly jammed with interesting posts on myriad subjects.
Here are some headlines that have caught my eye this week:
SEC's Corporation Finance Recommends Changes to Cross-Border Tender Offer Rules - Securities Law Prof Blog
Wikipedia Ethics Event, May 15 at SCU - Technology & Marketing Law Blog
Rethinking Waiver Provisions - AdamsDrafting
$24.2 Million Verdict in Asbestos Suit Against Honeywell International - Products Liability Prof Blog
Conflict Coaching Podcast - mediator blah...blah...
Creating an effective IP and trade secret protection program -The Trade Secrets Vault
Military Religious Freedom Case Gains Attention - Blog From The Capital
Prepare for Exams with Library Study Aids! - LexLibris
Eric Posner on Ledbetter Act -Point of Law
Technorati Tags: blawgosphere
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Justice Scalia Speaks
Mon, 28 Apr 2008 10:12:51 GMT
CBS has posted 60 Minutes' Lesley Stahl's interview of United States Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, including some video snippets. See Justice Scalia On The Record. The Wall Street Journal Law Blog commented on the interview last night in its post Scalia to Stahl: End of Term ?Usually a Disappointment? . Meanwhile, the Blog of the Legal Times, spent some time Delving Into Scalia's New Book. Technorati Tags: antonin scalia,justice scalia,united states supreme court,u.s. supreme court,lesley stahl
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Blawg Book Highlighter #28: The Law of Second Chances
Sat, 19 Apr 2008 16:29:14 GMT
Blawg Book Highlighter #28: The Law of Second Chances
Florida seems to be a breeding ground for alligators and crime fiction writers.
John D. MacDonald. Carl Hiassen. Randy Wayne White. Tom Corcoran. Bob Morris. Tim Dorsey. All have helped to paint with words a dark side to the Sunshine State.
James Sheehan is one of the newer entrants into the increasingly competitive field of Florida crime fiction.
Sheehan writes from experience. He?s been a practicing attorney in Tampa/St. Petersburg, Florida, for 28 years, which of course means that he writes legal thrillers.
His 2005 debut, The Mayor of Lexington Avenue, came out to rave reviews. Booklist declared it a ?top-notch legal thriller? and a ?genuine literary achievement.? The Chicago Tribune called it ?powerful,? saying it ?reads like To Kill a Mockingbird on steroids.? Marilyn Stasio, writing for The New York Times Book Review, said, ?Sheehan writes with bleak clarity when he?s sharing the dirty tricks of his trade in the harrowing trial scenes, but there?s a touch of the poet in his voice.?
It was in Lexington Avenue that Sheehan introduced Jack Tobin, a Florida trial lawyer ?committed to justice for the innocent.?
Sheehan?s follow-up is appropriately titled, The Law of Second Chances. This time Tobin is presented with a death row case and he isn?t sure if he should take it. Why? Because he?s not so sure that the convict didn?t do it.
As the clock ticks on the convict?s life, a backstory develops out of a small-time robbery gone bad that brings Tobin?s past into play.
Says Karen Haymon Long of the Tampa Tribune: ?Luckily, (Sheehan) thinks like a lawyer and writes like a writer. His stories roar along, transporting readers at a galloping pace.?
Sheehan used to write a blog called Slow Moving Dreams. In 2005, shortly after the release of his first book, Sheehan wrote: ?In any writing you have to be true to yourself. There?s an old saying ? write about what you know. I think that?s true.?
Read at excerpt from Second Chances at
http://us.macmillan.com/BookCustomPage.aspx?isbn=9780312366308#Excerpt
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Randy Richardson is an author, humorist, former journalist, and a lawyer. His fiction debut, Lost in the Ivy, a murder mystery set against the backdrop of Chicago's storied Wrigley Field, won the Writers Marketing Association's ?Fresh Voices? Book Award and the Illinois Woman's Press Association's Mate E. Palmer Communications Contest. He writes the Dad Libs column for SanityCentral.com and is a frequent contributor to Chicago Parent magazine. In his day job, he is an attorney for the Social Security Administration?s disability appeals branch. At night and during lunch breaks, he serves as president of the Chicago Writers Association (chicagowrites.org) and works on his second novel while a 4-year-old tugs on his legs. Visit his website at www.lostintheivy.com.
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Technorati Tags: law of second chances,blawg book highlighter,randy richardson,james sheehan
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