Law

A California federal judge has refused to dismiss a shareholder lawsuit against directors and officers of Countrywide Financial Corp. Judge Mariana Pfaelzer ruled Tuesday that confidential witness accounts cited in the complaint were credible and suggested “a widespread company culture that encouraged employees to push mortgages through without regard to…

Solicitor General Paul Clement has announced he will resign on June 2, but he didn’t give any indication about his future plans. Some managing partners have guessed Clement could command annual compensation at a big law firm as high as $2 million or $3 million, Legal Times…

It looks like Belle Gunness, in addition to luring lonely men to her hillltop Indiana farm in the early 1900s and murdering and dismembering them, may have killed children there, too, according to an attorney-turned-forensic anthropologist. Although DNA test results are still awaited, attorney Andrea Simmons, who is leading a…

Posting a videotape on YouTube in which he waved an AK-47 assault rifle and taunted South Florida police has cost a convicted felon another six years in prison. That's the sentence a federal judge imposed today on reputed street gang leader Rudy Villanueva, 31, who pleaded guilty in February to…

Updated: Billionaire activist investor Carl Icahn has definitely decided to lead a proxy fight for control of the Yahoo Inc. board, according to news reports, and some observers are predicting that he could win his campaign. The campaign is of particular interest to mergers and acquisition lawyers in a slow…

"If you fail to keep the link to your Blawg Review working, the terrorists have won." ~Ed.Professor Amos Guiora, who hosted Blawg Review #74 on September 11, 2006, is testifying before Congress today. The hearing is titled “The Resilient Homeland: How DHS Intelligence Should Empower America to Prepare for, Prevent, and Withstand Terrorist Attacks.”I hope they ask him what the hell happened to Blawg Review #74 hosted at Case Western Reserve University School of Law's Institute for Global Security Law and Policy. The Google has a copy in its cache.Blawg Review #74Blawg Review #74- Capturing…

Happy Anniversary to Professor James Maule, who twenty-five years ago taught his first class at Villanova. Actually, Professor Maule started teaching law a few years earlier, but who's counting?Shortly after his Silver Teaching Anniversary, Jim hosted Blawg Review #53 on his award-winning law blog, MauledAgain.Who says we can't get great law professors to host Blawg Review?

It's whistleblower week on Capitol Hill and at Blawg Review #159 hosted by the LaBovick law firm's Whistleblower Law Blog, which notes that "independent whistleblower coalitions, such as the International Association of Whistleblowers (IAW), the Make it Safe Campaign, and many other independent whistleblower coalitions, will hold a series of simultaneous but separate events in Washington, D.C.. These events are designed to lobby Congress and alert the public to the need to support whistleblower protection."

Those who have been following this blog carnival from the beginning will remember Jim Calloway's Law Practice Tips Blog, an Oklahoma based weblog about law practice management, the Internet and technology as it applies both in law practice and in all of our lives. Jim was the host of Blawg Review #49, Oklahoma Style.Now, this helpful blog, chock full of law practice tips, points us to:50 Tricks to Get Things Done Faster, Better, and More EasilyThere are literally tons of books published on increasing your productivity and improving your time management skills. There are numerous classes,…

Lawyers who love blog carnivals are in for a special treat this week.DLA Piper's David Donoghue is hosting the Carnival of Trust for May 2008 at the Chicago IP Litigation Blog, where he previously hosted Blawg Review #133.This week's Blawg Review #158 is hosted on The Mommy Blawg, where the theme is "Midwives and the Law" this International Day of the Midwife. Who knew?Don't forget, next Sunday is Mother's Day.

UPDATE: Just in, from the AP, Ohio AG Marc Dann has resigned amid the scandal of a sexual harassment investigation in his office and his extramarital affair. Dann, 46, led the state on a 10-day odyssey, at first refusing to resign despite demands by Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland and others within his party, a growing number of investigations into conduct at his office, and the filing Tuesday of articles of impeachment against him. (Find past LB coverage of the Dann scandal here and here.) Two Fridays ago, Dann admitted to a “romantic relationship” with a member of his staff, prompting…

For LB readers who share our fascination with the First Amendment, consider this novel scenario, extracted from a recent Seventh Circuit opinion: Jeffrey and Vicki Purtell owned a large RV that they could no longer afford to store, so they parked it in their front yard — much to the neighbors’ annoyance. So the neighbors persuaded the town to adopt an ordinance banning storage of RVs on residential property. The Purtells complied, albeit grudgingly, with the new ordinance, but not before expressing their contempt: In their front yard, they erected six tombstones aimed at their…

Solicitor General Paul D. Clement — who we think is the first solicitor general to really dig alternative rock — will resign on June 2, according to a press release. Prior to his 2005 confirmation, Clement (Georgetown, Harvard Law) served for over four years as the principal deputy Solicitor General, and during that period served for nearly a year as Acting Solicitor General. Clement’s tenure of over seven years in the Office of the Solicitor General is the longest period of continuous service in that office by an individual who served as Solicitor General since Samuel Phillips,…

Healthcare reporter (and LB alum), Heather Won Tesoriero, has sent along this dispatch on a Vioxx verdict: A Texas state appellate court today kicked a multimillion dollar Vioxx verdict to the curb, ruling that there was insufficient evidence linking the drug to a heart attack suffered by the plaintiff’s spouse. Two years ago, a jury awarded Felicia Garza $32 million over her husband’s fatal heart attack, a sum that was later reduced to $7.75 million under state damages caps. Another bummer for the plaintiffs: they’re excluded from Merck’s $4.85 billion Vioxx…

UPDATE: Chad Bray, our correspondent over at 500 Pearl Street in Manhattan, has informed us that Lewis, as part of her plea deal, is in fact cooperating with the government. After the hearing today, her lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, said: “Her agreement obligates her to testify if asked. At this point, we stand ready to receive direction from the government.” Agnifilo said Lewis hasn’t yet testified before the grand jury and he didn’t know if she would. He declined to address any questions regarding Eliot Spitzer. (Here’s the information, and here’s the plea…

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A novel means of processing asbestos claims was initiated in 1988, when the Johns-Manville corporation emerged from bankruptcy and established the Manville Personal Injury Settlement Trust, the first "bankruptcy trust" set up to pay out money to asbestos claimants. Unfortunately, plaintiffs' attorneys controlled the trust's claimants committee and set up procedures for the trust that were advantageous to themselves, rather than potential claimants. The trust rules minimized requirements of proof of actual injury or causation (exposure to Johns-Manville products). The trust thus paid out a lot…

Airline mechanic Arnim Ramdass, 52, allegedly "disconnected the phone line at home and forbade his stay-at-home wife, Donna Campbell, 48, to watch television, Campbell claims in a lawsuit. Eventually, however, she learned the truth: Ramdass, along with 16 other mechanics at Miami International Airport, had won a $19 million lottery jackpot." (Martha Neil, "Wife Sues Husband for Share of Secret $600K Lottery Win", ABA Journal, May 13). See Nov. 20-21, 1999 (similar case from California).

We're requiring you to do it, but we're also forbidding you to do it, explain the nice folks at Town Hall (Maggie's Farm, May 4, via Never Yet Melted).

* Comments on the main site are still broken, sorry. * Yesterday was one of our biggest Instalanches ever, with about 7,000 Glenn Reynolds readers coming over to visit this post. * You can see our rapidly evolving WordPress "sandbox" here. One vexing problem we'll need to fix: most of the posts from guestbloggers are being attributed to the wrong contributors. That problem is evident in this recent post, which was really authored by Jim Copland; the case names don't render properly either. The posts in the sandbox may accept comments (which may or may not survive in a reconstructed site) but…

I read with interest “Mac v. PC,” March, and I would like to weigh in. My only interest here is to make life easier for my colleagues, which should in turn help make the benefits of Macs more available for all of us.

In July 1890, the Louisiana General Assembly passed a law requiring railroads to provide “equal but separate accommodations for the white and colored races.” A citizens’ group determined to challenge the act enlisted a 29-year-old shoemaker, Homer Plessy, to initiate the effort. Plessy appeared to be white but was of one-eighth African ancestry, which made him “colored” under Louisiana’s “one drop” racial code. As planned, Plessy declared his race to a conductor; after refusing to move to a railcar reserved for blacks, he was arrested and jailed. Four years later, the U.S.

Like any public building before the crowds come, the U.S. Supreme Court at 8 on a rainy March morning is quiet as a tomb. Two janitors holding Styrofoam coffee cups roam the hallways. One clutches a folded newspaper. In the cafeteria, a man wearing a blue jacket works the cash register, as another employee approaches. She is the only person at the counter.

In Connecticut, a woman has filed a $100 claim against the city of Norwalk because her son stepped in dog shit. Kelly DeBrocky and her family were taking an excursion at the aquarium when it all went to pot, thanks to some dog shit. DeBrocky says the shit ruined her 10-year-old kid's shoe and put a damper on their day, so she wants to be reimbursed for what she spent replacing her kid's show, and for the costs of parking and admission at the aquarium. Norwalk's city attorney has denied the claim saying that "poop happens." But whatever with all that. The real reason I wanted to post this…

Killer.

I have no idea how it happened, but a couple of days ago, when I got home from a car trip where my 10-month old son was being unusually quiet in his car seat, I went to the backseat to let him out and discovered he'd somehow found a tea bag and started chewing on it. He'd only managed to ingest a few tea leaves, but man: I felt like a dipshit parent. I feel better now: Two women were arrested at a Greenfield Ponderosa restaurant after allowing a 2-year-old to smoke. According to police: The boy's 26-year-old mother and 39-year-old aunt were eating at the restaurant last week, when they held a…

If you're reading it on QL, I'm guessing you already where this is going: A Fort Worth man trying to scratch an itch on his back used a revolver and accidentally shot himself. Jorge Espinal, 44, was drinking beer and playing poker around 3 a.m. Sunday morning in his home in the 3500 block of Montague Street, when he got up from the table and walked into another room, said Fort Worth police Lt. Kenneth Dean. “He told officers he had an itch on his back and grabbed the first thing he could get a hold of, which was a revolver,” Lt. Dean said. “The gun went off." Espinal went back and told…

A big ol' counterfeit ring here in Southern Cali done gone and got themselves busted. (LAist) Wait -- so it's bad to drop your pants and ask the judge to blow you? (Above the Law) Two million bucks a year for "Happy Birthday" royalties? Holy hell, I needs to write me a stupid jingle that everyone will know and sing many times a day. (Concurring Opinions) NYC's high pot arrest rates just might be more about police deception, scams and fraud than good, hard police work. (AlterNet) A PA appellate court isn't interested in helping the asshat little league coach convicted for trying to bribe a…

What is a blogger pack?  As defined by blog consultant Michael Martine in this very insightful post called, "Create a Blog Pack to Get Blog Traffic and Increase Subscriptions," it is a loosely formed group of similarly placed bloggers providing support, links, comments, and publicity for each other.  But the key to the connection is genuine respect, liking and belief in the quality of the content or product of each of the blog participants.  In other words, one becomes part of a pack where each member is a devoted evangelist for the other because they are true…

(You can read Part I here.) I have had the amazing good fortune of becoming 'friends' with Anita Campbell of SmallbizTrends and she graciously agreed to guest post here on a topic which is dear to her heart (as a former GC), writing contracts for real people, not court. She now runs a small business at Small Business Trends (www.smallbiztrends.com How to Earn Undying Loyalty from Business Clients by Standardizing Contracts and Writing in Plain English (Part II) So, What is a Better Contract? Having told you some of my pet peeves as a small-business person around contracts, you’re probably…

This is my beautiful, wonderful mother. I categorically know but for her innate wisdom, keen intelligence, endless kindness, compassion, incredible perseverance and 'never say 'can't' attitude' I would not be the person I am today. Happy Mother's Day.         

This is a fascinating ABC news report showing us how technology allows us to cram 31 hours into a 24 hour day.  Is this a good thing or not?  I know it took me 8 days in to a 14 day vacation to actually relax.  I'm not so sure this is a good thing. I know I would rather have more time than money.  And you?  As a solo are you finding you need to create 31 hours in a day?  Do you have to or just feel like you have to?  Good time to review your time management skills, how you delegate repsonsibilities, how you create your priority lists. Let's get back to 24…

I have had the amazing good fortune of becoming 'friends' with Anita Campbell of SmallbizTrends and she graciously agreed to guest post here on a topic which is dear to her heart (as a former GC), writing contracts for real people, not court. She now runs a small business at Small Business Trends (www.smallbiztrends.comHow to Earn Undying Loyalty from Business Clients by Standardizing Contracts and Writing in Plain English Having been a lawyer for many years and later moving to the business side, I have gotten a taste of my own bitter medicine.  I have come to realize how frustrating the…

Perkins Coie Partner Al Gidari was quoted Monday in a story focusing on NeuStar, a company that runs a digital directory for telephone companies. The story explains how the FBI sought access a few years ago to one of NeuStar's databases that "contained 310 million phone numbers in the United States and Canada."

The Administrator of U.S. Courts has released the 2007 Wiretap Report, and the number of wiretaps is up 20% over 2006.  But the real story is that the increase was fueled by state wiretaps; federal wiretaps actually decreased.  The Wiretap Report is published each year, and it never fails to disappoint.  Read the full post for the details....

The article, entitled "ISPs, Not Government, to be Affected by Holding," discusses the impact of the ruling in New Jersey v. Reid.

Author Declan McCullagh blogged on proposals for warrantless surveillance of the Internet presented by FBI Director Robert Mueller and Republican Representative Darrell Issa of California at a hearing on Capitol Hill. Gidari raised the issue of how such a plan will conflict with more restrictive state laws.

The Ponemon Institute has released the “Consumer's Report Card on Data Breach Notification.” This study of 1,795 people indicated that 31 percent said they terminated their relationship with the organization after learning that their personal information may have been released as a result of a data breach. 26 percent of respondents took no action after being notified and 57 percent said they lost trust and confidence in the organization. Other key findings are:63 percent of survey respondents said notification letters they received offered no direction on the steps the consumer should…

by Justin Florence, Fellow at the Georgetown Center on National Security and the LawThe Senate Judiciary Committee recently approved the bipartisan Kennedy-Specter-Leahy State Secrets Protection Act (S. 2533). The Act would provide federal courts with a set of tools to resolve civil cases in which the Government invokes the state secrets privilege. Under current practice, courts often do not have the opportunity to review key evidence before dismissing these cases, allowing the Government to avoid scrutiny of its actions. The Senate Bill, and a similar bipartisan bill in the…

Several U.S. Supreme Court justices recused themselves this week from deciding to hear an expansive class action lawsuit against U.S. companies charged with furthering the life of the former apartheid government in South Africa. The recusals let stand a federal appeals court ruling that concluded the lawsuit could proceed. The New York Times reported that four of the justices – Chief Justice John Roberts, Justices Samuel Alito, Anthony Kennedy and Stephen Breyer – recused themselves because of financial and personal ties to the companies.  A quorum of six justices is needed…

Here is this week's congressional hearings schedule, with links to the daily calendars for the House and Senate, the weekly House whip information (majority/minority), and the Senate floor schedule.Of note: On Wednesday, the House Committee on the Judiciary will hold a hearing on “Allegations of Selective Prosecution Part II: The Erosion of Public Confidence in Our Federal Justice System.” On Thursday, the Senate Committee on the Judiciary will examine a judicial nomination to the Fourth Circuit. Wednesday, May. 14, 2008Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental…

On Friday, former U.S. Senator and presidential candidate Gary Hart discussed a national security strategy for the next president at an event co-sponsored by ACS’ Connecticut Lawyer Chapter and the Council for a Livable World. Blogger Aldon Hynes described the event at Orient Lodge, and NPR interviewed the former senator. He wrote a new book entitled “Under the Eagle’s Wing.”Senator Hart has spoken at numerous ACS events, including co-chairing “Building Freedom, Building Security: America’s Challenge for the Next Five Years” with former Governor…

by Bert Brandenburg, Executive Director, Justice At StakeA new report from Justice at Stake, The New Politics of Judicial Elections in the Great Lake States, 2000-2008, shows how the Midwest has become America’s leading judicial elections battleground.  Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin are seeing a growing arms race between corporate interests, trial lawyers, ideological groups and political partisans who are committed to bending state judges to their will. For example, more than half of all television advertisements that have appeared in state Supreme Court races…

  George Washington University Law School Professor John F. Duffy has an interesting take on the last seven years of Administrative Patent Judge Appointments. According to Professor Duffy, appointment of the administrative patent judges of the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences by the Director of the Patent and Trademark Office ...

  Over the last decade and one half of preparing, filing and litigating trademark registrations, I have received several trademark registrations in various states of disarray, which had been prepared and filed either by clients themselves or by non-intellectual property attorneys. Unlike with trademarks, attorneys do not need any special certification ...

     Thanks to a little gentle nudging by one of my Twitterer Tweeps, Susan Cartier Liebel of Build a Solo Practice, Internet Guru Extraordinaire Guy Kawasaki has just added law blogs to his popular Alltop.com franchise.       Alltop provides a constant stream of blog posts from all of the best blogs ...

  The Lure of Social Media Social networking is all the rage amongst cutting edge marketing gurus.  Rather than force your message down the throats of random unreceptive consumers, social networking provides a platform whereby your best customers proselytize your message for you. Not only is having customers doing the heavy lifting ...

I have just been informed that I apparently I am K-countingly challenged. The winner of the CyberLaw contest is not Rob Glazebrook, of CSSnewbie, but instead Kurt W of Nuke1.net who was the first to leave a comment with 7 "k"s. Here is Kurt's comment: OK, I understand I am ...

Well, if the name is "Wolfgang" and you're in the restaurant business, maybe a lawsuit. Celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck, owner of the famous Spago restaurant in Beverly Hills, is taking legal action against a new neighbor. From TMZ.com: Wolfgang Puck is filing a lawsuit, claiming another Wolfgang has screwed him over....Puck claims a guy named Wolfgang Zwiener opened a rival restaurant, Wolfgang's Steakhouse, just blocks from Spago in Bev Hills. According to the suit, one of the owner's of Wolfgang Steakhouse had a license to use the Spago trademark, but that expired last year. In L.A., Wolfgang…

* In case you're not tired of the whole "laptops in the classroom" debate, watch Ann Althouse get snarky on Ian Ayres (our former contracts prof -- back in an age when only one or two students in a class would have a laptop, and there was no wireless internet). [Althouse; Freakonomics] * Tax evasion kills babies. Seriously. [TaxProf Blog] * The MSM reports what we reported last week: Schoenfeld v. Allen & Overy is settling. [Legal Week] * Obama addresses a female reporter as "sweetie." [Blogonaut] * Says our source: "I don't know what the drink-form of HLS should taste like, but an HK…

Marc Dann's had a good run on ATL. Last month, he was our Lawyer of the Day. That led to our Party is Over post, when heads started rolling in the Ohio AG office. Yesterday, we bid him Hasta La Vista, when rumors of his resignation hit the press as the Ohio General Assembly threatened impeachment. Well, now it's really over. Dann has finally resigned as Ohio's AG. Dann the man may not know how to run the AG office, or how to keep it in his pants, or how to choose staff, but he does know how to draw out a resignation for all it's worth. Over at the Volokh Conspiracy, Professor Jonathan Adler…

This is really political rather than legal news, so we will keep our commentary to a minimum. But it's big news that we thought you'd like to know right away. Of course, all three of the involved candidates / ex-candidates -- Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, and Barack Obama -- are lawyers. And John Edwards, whose endorsement was coveted by the candidates and assiduously pursued, was a very successful practicing lawyer -- one of the country's top trial lawyers -- and not just a politician with a law degree. So there is a sufficient legal nexus here. Edwards to endorse Obama [CNN / Political…

The federal government's chief advocate before the Supreme Court, Paul D. Clement, is stepping down as U.S. Solicitor General. The brilliant and affable Clement was confirmed as Solicitor General on June 8, 2005; his last day as SG will be June 2, 2008. (Prior to his confirmation, he served as SG in an acting capacity.) A superstar of the Justice Department and the Supreme Court bar, Clement was discussed as a possible replacement for Alberto Gonzales as Attorney General. Widely praised for both his prowess as an appellate advocate and his leadership of the SG's office, Clement was named to…

The trial of Geoffrey Fieger is coming to a head in MoTown.  This is the one where Gerry Spence, the lawyer who has never lost a criminal case, stands under the spotlight as the last hope of the regular man against the vast might of the government.  Mind you, Fieger's not exactly the poster boy for the "regular man."Regardless of whether you're a big Spence fan or not, he is most assuredly a living legend amongst criminal defense lawyers.  Enough so that my pal Norman, who has followed this trial and posted about it on a daily basis, decided to pick his tired old butt off the…

The other day, Houston Criminal Defense Lawyer Mark Bennett, the Texas Tornado, posted about voir dire in a federal case.  It was a short post.  That was all he needed: A judge’s voir dire is calculated to get jurors to promise to follow the law while a lawyer’s voir dire is calculated to find those who might have difficulty following the law. A judge’s voir dire is calculated to get jurors to agree with the judge while a lawyer’s voir dire is calculated to find those who disagree. A judge’s voir dire is calculated to qualify more jurors while a lawyer’s voir dire is…

A couple of years ago, I was asked to give a CLE on the use of technology in trial preparation.  At the time, I had just finished a trial where the complaining witness had a website, which I found and used to emasculate his perjurious testimony.  It was a great cross-examination, if I do say so myself.That made me competent to talk about the subject back then.  In retrospect, the idea of an old codger like me (meaning anyone over 30) talking about technology is laughable.  Today, if you haven't tried any of the tech ideas that appeared online in the past 30 minutes, you're…

From the New York Lawyer, an article about a statement released by the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct directed at the state's 1300 underpaid judges telling them . . . what? In warning the judges of the potential ethical repercussion of recusals, the judicial conduct commission noted that it was acting in the wake of "recent published reports that at least some judges are encouraging or engaging in acts of recusal" out of a purported "frustration over the compensation issue." Did the Commission actually "warn" the judges?  Let's take a look.  This is what the…

Liptak came up with something interesting yesterday.  He should get a bonus.  His New York Times piece tells about a California Supreme Court decision which, though cautioning prosecutors to "try their case in court," reversed a lower appellate court's recusal of the prosecutor on a death penalty case.Before going any further, it is critical to note the name of the defendant first:  Jesse James Hollywood.  I kid you not.  This kid was destined for trouble.  What was his mother thinking?So here's what happened: The case asserting a cinematic conflict of…

HARASSMENT CLAIMS: $200,000 - $300,000. NEGLIGENCE/PERSONAL INJURY CLAIMS: $50,000 - $75,000. WATCHING ANDY EAT IT IN THE SAND PIT: Priceless. It is truly my honor to take over this blog for my good friend, Julie Elgar. She has provided us all with great practical and legal tips over the past year, and we will miss her. Though big shoes to fill, I promise to do the same, and I guarantee that we’ll all have fun. As a former HR professional myself, I understand the importance of humor in the face of our daily challenges. Well, this week’s episode gives me the opportunity to talk about HR…

LITIGATION VALUE: $450,000 (if Stanley ever quits or is fired) It is with great sadness that I announce that I am leaving “That’s What She Said.” I have taken a new job and am leaving the private practice of law. But don’t despair. Our beloved blog will continue. I have passed the torch to my colleague Troy Foster, who is not only one of the funniest people I know but who is also a huge fan of the show. At least the writers made my last post an easy one: tonight’s episode was full of Dunder Mifflin management missteps. Had Stanley really been fired (or if he had just quit in disgust…

This week’s episode raises some interesting issues for employers. The one that first comes to mind is whether an employer should host internal social networking websites for their employees. Frankly, I’ve got mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, social networking websites are great for recruiting, communicating information, answering employee questions, and allowing employees to get to know colleagues in far off places. A virtual water cooler if you will. But (and this is a large “but”) they also have some significant downsides if not maintained properly. Internal social…

LITGATION VALUE:  $6,000 - $10,000   Despite what you might think, Michael’s demand that all employees provide him with candidates to serve as the mother of his children does not violate any major employment law.  After all, Michael made the demand of all employees and not, for example, only female employees or employees of a particular race.  Continuing to employ an incompetent manager isn’t illegal.  Yet.    That being said, allowing managers to require their subordinates to act as match-makers as a term and condition of their continued employment isn’t a good idea.  In fact,…

LITIGATION COST: Paying lawyer to review corporate ethics policy: $1,500; paying Michael severance: $5,000; avoiding corporate scandal: priceless. Does any company really want its regional manager to hit up subordinates for money? Does it matter that he did it in his condo rather than his office? The answer to both of these questions is, quite simply, no. While Michael’s conduct may not technically violate the law, it surely violates Dunder Mifflin’s code of ethics. That is, if they have one. An effective workplace ethics policy deters employee misconduct, avoids conflicts of interest,…

I can’t make up my mind about whether unhappiness is a fundamentally lonely or social experience. On the one hand, it’s the most collective of all human emotions, the one true commonality. No matter who we are, how we grew up, or where we live on the planet, we’re all susceptible to the same fears, desires, and wants — translation: we’re all pretty tight with misery and suffering. On the other hand, we all seem to concoct our own unique brew of unhappiness, everyone wallowing in the isolation of his or her own special woe. His divorce is the world’s worst…

This piece also appeared in The Huffington Post. A month ago, I woke up feeling peaceful for the first time in months. I’m 29, I had just closed on my first apartment, and I was leaving a five-year relationship that, despite my dogged hopes of marriage, had become a stew pot of resentment and anger. While scores of articles eagerly inform me that unmarried men are as scarce as a renewable energy source, I’ve stubbornly refused to write the last five years off as a colossal failure. Instead, I’ve been throwing all my energy toward taking responsibility for my part in the…

We like to give generations plenty of labels. It’s a little absurd, slapping a sticker on millions of people that just happened to be born in the same time range and proclaiming that they’re somehow all alike. But we do it anyway, and then spend our time finding examples of how our designated labels are true (and, let’s be honest, sometimes they are - though whether it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy is an open question). There’s the Baby Boomers - I won’t even go into all the labels they carry, Lord knows there are enough of them who’ll be more than…

We tend to do things for reasons. We need to pay the bills, so we go to work. We need sustenance, so we hit Dunkin Donuts in the morning. We want to keep our jobs, so we sneak in up the freight elevator and through the back hall when we’re running late. In fact, when it comes down to it, just about every action I take can be explained by a reason: I don’t want to end up with live ebola strains on my hands, so I don’t touch railings on the Subway. I know Cat likes to hack up hairballs under my bed at 3 AM, so I shut her outside when I go to sleep. I want to keep my muscles…

I’m great at developing relationships in my life. Most of them are meaningful, involved, and require a lot of time and effort. Granted, they aren’t all with actual human beings, but that’s somewhat beside the point. Take Cat, for example. We have a complex and dynamic bond, mostly consisting of her making her needs known and me rushing to accommodate them. She’s the only creature on Earth I feel comfortable relating to in an entirely servile way - I will drop anything, at any time, to get her a dried turkey treat or change the odor filter in her litter box, and never…

Having never been to North Dakota, I have no comment--no comment--whatsoever regarding this lawyer's statement during a deposition--this is especially so if you, dear reader, happen to hail from this fine, fine state:A: There are very few production places in North Dakota. ATTORNEY: Generally speaking, there are very few places in North Dakota.

Another lawyer joke:A guy walks into a post office one day to see a middle-aged, balding man standing at the counter methodically placing "Love" stamps on bright pink envelopes with hearts all over them. He then takes out a perfume bottle and starts spraying scent all over them. His curiosity getting the better of him, he goes up to the balding man and asks him what he is doing. The man says "I'm sending out 1,000 Valentine cards signed, 'Guess who?'" "But why?" asks the man. "I'm a divorce lawyer," the man replies.

Hat tip:  Quizlaw via Non Sequitur

We know we're not reporting anything new, but here is the list of Skadden's new partners (effective April 1, 2008):David P. Armstrong, Banking & Institutional Investing (Toronto)Michael Beinus, Tax (Los Angeles)Michal Berkner, Corporate (London)John M. Caccia, Investment Management (New York)Margaret R. Cohen, Mergers & Acquisitions (Boston)William B. Conway Jr., Energy Regulatory (Washington, D.C.)Peter J. Coulton, Banking & Institutional Investing (London)Steven J. Daniels, Mergers & Acquisitions (Wilmington)Daniel Dusek, Mergers & Acquisitions (New York)Adam M. Endick,…

Happy birthday to us, happy birthday to us, happy birthday dear Skadden, happy birthday to us! Yes, April 1 is the Firm's birthday (or anniversary as some say).From Executive Partner Bob Sheehan:Congratulations to all of us on the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Firm [April 1, 1948], and thanks to Marshall Skadden, Les Arps and John Slate for having the temerity to launch what has come to be the finest law firm in the land.We all know about the big 60th bash to be held in June on Ellis Island, but we hear there is a fancier party planned for the partners in the coming weeks at one of…

Damn, we feel like we were called to the Vice Principal's office today and had our knuckles wrapped. In case you don't know what we mean, read what all US lawyers received via e-mail from Henry P. Baer:The Firm recognizes that blogs are prevalent in today's culture and that blogs about Skadden are to be expected. Nonetheless, we believe that the "contests" on one of these blogs is inappropriate and does not reflect our values and standards of behavior. Numerous attorneys at the Firm have expressed their concern and, in some cases, embarrassment at such contests. We urge the authors of the…

Here's another nice story about Jim Passe, the IP lawyer and accomplished magician. Tip of the top hat to David Ortman.

Remember that Yankee stadium "curse" brought on by the David Ortiz jersey? The team's owners spent time and money digging up the area where a construction worker buried it, and found it. Success! Curse avoided! They donated it to the Jimmy Fund, which auctioned it off to the tune of $175,000; the high bidder was a car dealer named Kevin Meehan, who says he'll display his prize in one of his dealerships. He also got a new Ortiz jersey and a bunch of other valuable stuff. Said the Yankees, "“As we said, what was intended to be a dastardly act has turned into something…

Reader David Ortman of Seattle, Washington notes that Athens, Ohio, attorney Rusty Rittenhouse is also an accomplished magician. Here's a link to an article from the Athens Messenger that discusses his skills.

Jay Dougherty, one of the contributors to the Law and Magic volume, is quoted in this thr.com article about the "Harry Potter Lexicon" lawsuit. He points out that a crucial question is the transformative nature of the use of the original materials. In determining whether use of copyrighted materials is "fair use" a court looks at four factors: the purpose and character of the use the nature of the copyrighted work the amount and substantiality of the portion taken, and the effect of the use upon the potential market. Has Mr. van der Ark "transformed" or created…

In a Volokh Conspiracy post, Jonathan Adler addresses those bills that purport to grant academic freedom to high school teachers who wish to present alternatives to the theory of evolution. Citing a Wall Street Journal article on the subject of various bills wending their way through state legislatures, Professor Adler concludes, Unlike some critics of "Intelligent Design" and other creationist theories, I am not convinced that teaching alternatives to evolution necessarily violates the Establishment Clause. That said, these bills make for horrible public policy, as there is nothing…

Ron Paquette at More Partner Income has a 3-part series: " Partner Cost And Client Profitability".

Hearing "Blackleg Miner", a 19th century Northumberland, England folk song, could make a serious, union-hating industrialist drink too much, give all his money away to orphans, and buy up all the Pete Seeger recordings in Palo Alto. Especially this version with video. Via the UK site White Rabbit:

Like other Midwestern U.S. cities with manufacturing roots, it has tried to diversify. In recent years Cleveland lost TRW, Office Max, BP, and Oglebay Norton to acquisitions, mergers and re-structurings. But it's still headquarters to National City Bank, American Greetings, Eaton Corporation, Sherwin-Williams, Parker-Hannifin and Aleris International. It's become a go-to city for biotechnology and fuel cell research, led by Case Western and the Cleveland Clinic. Jones Day (in our view one of the few functional mega-law firms still out there, along with Skadden and a few others) started in…

The Economist: America's Patent System: Methods and Madness. "The federal court charged with hearing patent appeals has hinted that it may use a case [Bilski, argued at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in DC last Thursday with 200 people present] to cut back the scope of patent protection for business methods." [more]

It's Rule Eight from WAC?'s rules. "A profit is a reward for being efficient. And until a lawyer, paralegal or staffer gets that, she or he will never know how a client--or a law firm partner--thinks."

"Supreme Court ruling on same-sex marriage due": Today in The San Francisco Chronicle, Bob Egelko has an article that begins, "More than four years after San Francisco defied state marriage laws by allowing nearly 4,000 same-sex couples to wed at City Hall, the state Supreme Court is set to decide today whether gays and lesbians have a constitutional right to marry in California." Yesterday, I had this related post previewing the ruling, which is scheduled for release at 1 p.m. eastern time today.

Available online from law.com: Tony Mauro reports that "Clement Resigns as Solicitor General." And an article headlined "2nd Circuit Splits Over Scope of Class Action Fairness Act" reports on this ruling issued today.

Available online from National Public Radio: This evening's broadcast of "All Things Considered" contained an audio segment entitled "Former Justice Asks Congress for Alzheimer's Aid." And yesterday's broadcast of "Talk of the Nation" contained an audio segment entitled "Supreme Court Clears Path for Apartheid Lawsuits" featuring Law Professor Jeffrey Rosen. RealPlayer is required to launch these audio segments.

"Fieger's ex-aide says FBI agent bullied her": This article appears today in The Detroit Free Press.

"Government's top Supreme Court attorney resigns": Lara Jakes Jordan of The Associated Press provides this report.

No, I wouldn't normally think of them together either. Catherine McCoubrey and her boyfriend did, though. As reported in the Winnipeg Free Press: ... the couple had been drinking alcohol and were engaged in so-called “rough sex” when the boyfriend asked McCoubrey to carve a heart-shaped symbol on to his chest. One small problem. Instead of cutting a heart into his chest, she actually cut his heart. Although her boyfriend almost died, he made a full recovery. Maybe he shouldn't have introduced her to "body modification?" Ms. McCoubrey pleaded guilty to assault. How much time did she get?

It would appear that Maryland District Court Judge Bruce S. Lamdin had a lot of bad days. The excerpts below are from the opinion released yesterday by the Court of Appeals of Maryland. As stated in the opinion, "... Judge Lamdin expressly admitted that he made each of the comments attributed to him and that those comments violated specific Canons of the Maryland Code of Judicial Conduct..." As to State v. Crook, #C 00239557, Judge Lamdin, in a case in which defendant entered a guilty plea to possession of paraphernalia and driving without a license, admitted that he made the following…

Certainly it's natural to want to maximize one's real estate investment. But we are still, for the most part, a nation of laws. San Francisco landlords Kip and Nicole Macy apparently didn't care much about the law. They were trying to clear out a 6-unit building they bought in San Francisco. As reported in The San Francisco Chronicle: When one of the tenants, Scott Morrow, successfully fought eviction, the couple allegedly told workers in September 2006 to cut the beams that supported his apartment's floor. They also shut off Morrow's electricity, cut his phone line and had workers saw a hole…

I don't think Michael Spillman, Jr., of Mansfield, Ohio, will be stealing anything anytime soon. He was at the home of Jacqueline Champion and Bernard Demuth when they left for a funeral. When they came home, Spillman was gone, and so was $2,200 in gaming equipment. As reported in The Mansfield News-Journal: "[Ms. Champion] got onto his MySpace page and invited him to a cookout," the detective said. "Their plan was to call the police so we could arrest him." Hey, plans change. After leading Spillman to the basement, Demuth reportedly clubbed him in the back of the head with a leather-covered…

Daniel Ranallo can tell you, because he did it in Phillipsburg, Pennsylvania, and got busted. As described by Judge Pursel, per The Morning Call: This is a bizarre case where the defendant was wandering around with a gun looking for someone and firing the gun in a public place. So what do you get for that? A scolding? Community service? No such luck for 21-year-old Mr. Ranallo. He got oe year in jail. You can read more (just a tiny bit) here.

Guess he was all out of teeth to pull. From AP:COLUMBUS, Ohio --Ohio's attorney general has resigned amid the scandal of a sexual harassment investigation in his office and his extramarital affair. Marc Dann has been under pressure of possible impeachment and announced he was stepping down on Wednesday. The 46-year-old Democrat at first refused to resign, despite demands by Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland and others within his party.More from Reuters, and WSJ Law Blog. As of 6:15 p.m., his official website is still up. With Dann gone, whom will the New York Times now pick as the next Eliot…

Per exactly the grounds I predicted, a Texas appellate court has reversed in its entirety the $32 million verdict/$7.75 million judgment in Garza v. Merck (Apr. 23, 2006; Apr. 21, 2006; Aug. 8, 2006 NY Sun op-ed), holding that the expert specific causation evidence was lacking under Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc. v. Havner, 953 S.W.2d 706 (Tex. 1997). (Merck & Co. v. Garza (Tex. App. May 14, 2008) and WSJ via Beck). The Ernst oral arguments recently occurred, and one can expect a similar reversal there in the long run. Garza was one of the plaintiffs intentionally omitted from the Vioxx…

Rep. Shadegg has introduced the Enumerated Powers Act, H.R. 1359, which will require that all bills introduced in the U.S. Congress contain "a concise and definite statement" setting forth the specific constitutional authority "relied upon for enactment." The idea is to encourage Congress to engage in more debates upon the scope of its constitutional authority before passing legislation, though with no Democratic co-sponsors, one imagines it is unlikely Rep. Conyers will let the House Judiciary Committee let it get to the floor. Sen. Coburn will introduce parallel legislation in the Senate.

Shannon Brownlee and Jeanne Lenzer write for Slate and bemoan that Peter Pitts, a former FDA official, and head of Center for Medicine for the Public Interest, was able to speak on a program broadcast on many NPR affiliates that failed to mention his ties to industry. Brownlee and Lenzer identify nothing that Pitts said that was scientifically inaccurate; they just object to the fact that CMPI receives funding from pharmaceutical companies. (In contrast, they lionize the Center for Science in the Public Interest, though CSPI apparently colluded with the plaintiffs' bar in support of bogus…

BNA (subscription required) reports that the grievance committee of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York has suspended Kristan Peters from the court despite the fact that she has appealed the judge's sanctions order that led to the disciplinary proceeding (In re Peters, S.D.N.Y., No. M-2-238, 4/10/08). The court found the evidence of her misconduct overwhelming, and the basis for her appeal to be frivolous. Peters, who was ead counsel for plaintiff Wolters Kluwer Financial Services in a suit against Scivantage, had been sanctioned by Judge Harold Baer for using what…

"Nothing was ever created by two men. There are no good collaborations, whether in art, in music, in poetry, in mathematics, in philosophy. Once the miracle of creation has taken place, the group can build and extend it, but the group never invents anything. The preciousness lies in the lonely mind of a man." —John Steinbeck, East of Eden

What if every day you showed up to work, eager to do something really good? Something meaningful. What if you came up with ideas on how to do things better? Not at first, but only after you felt confident that you understood the point of the work and all of the subtle forces surrounding it. What if, upon hearing your suggestions, your boss rejected them without much consideration? What if he made you feel small, suggesting that you were distracted? Your boss directs your attention to the goal: "do it this way," he says. The "goal" is to do it by a certain method. There is nothing subtle about…

In a few days I'll be speaking at the Louisiana State Bar Association’s Solo and Small Firm Conference, which will be held at the New Orleans Hilton Riverside Hotel. The conference is this Thursday and Friday (May 8–9th). Dane Ciolino and I will talk about how to develop a paperless law practice, and I’ll join a panel talking about how lawyers can be more mobile. Top-notch legal tech folks from around the country will offer valuable advice on using technology more effectively; if you want to beef up your practice now's the time to do it. More details about the seminar are available…

The festival got some rain a couple of days, but not when I was there.

That's the thing Ed Rollins, a political strategist (read: "inside the beltway box thinker"), says no one has figured out yet. I have this weird suggestion: read this book called Dreams of my Father. In it Obama explains a lot about himself; he even answers Ed's concern about being a "community organizer in Chicago, whatever that means." Hmmm, sounds suspicious. I wondered what it meant too. SPOILER ALERT At first Obama didn't know what it meant either; he was told to go into impoverished communities and engage some pastors to help raise awareness about loss of manufacturing jobs. And at the…

A New York law firm has taken a leaf out of the legal playbook of celebrities by filing a preemptive suit against a secretary who allegedly demanded $9 million in return for not going public with a rape allegation.

As the U.S. resumes lethally injecting Death Row inmates after a brief hiatus, “The Execution of Willie Francis” is a timely reminder of the absurdity of the capital punishment system.

An African-American author who claimed that Penguin Group "segregated" her debut romance novel in bookstores appears to have settled her unusual discrimination suit against the publisher.

Food and sex do not mix –- at least according to a Pennsylvania appeals court which ruled that “semi-public sexual activity” between patrons is not a "customary and incidental" form of entertainment at a restaurant.

An Ohio judge has given medical examiners around the country a shock by ordering a coroner to remove any reference to Tasers in its autopsy reports on three men who died after police officers shot them with the stun guns.

Solicitor General Paul Clement announced today that he's resigning effective June 2. “Paul Clement is one of the nation’s finest appellate lawyers,” said Attorney General Michael Mukasey in a statement. “I am deeply grateful to Paul for his service to...

The BTI Consulting Group released its 2008 Survey of National Market Awareness today. The new study evaluates the link between market differentiation and law firm revenue. BTI defines market differentiation as a measure of how many corporate counsel have an...

Willkie Farr & Gallagher scored three new litigators for its Washington office this week from Foley & Lardner. Gregory Bruch and Elizabeth Gray join Willkie as partners, and Julie Smith joins as of counsel. The trio has practiced together for...

Craigslist vs. eBay: On the heels of eBay’s lawsuit against Craigslist for diluting the online auction Web site’s 28 percent stake in the company, Craigslist lodged a lawsuit of its own. Craigslist attorneys, from Perkins Coie, claim that eBay's Kijiji,...

Retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor testifies this morning on Capitol Hill before the Senate Special Committee on Aging at a hearing looking into the "breakthroughs and challenges" of Alzheimer's disease. Check here for a link to webcast of...

Recently major changes have happened wherein my daughter's acting detached, having deteriorating school report, and disinterested in extra curricular school activities. At her age, it seems very ideal for her not to switch homes every few days. What do you suggest I submit to court as far as a modification in custody? Also, what are the chances of me modifying custody agreement?

In the state of Florida, do minors have the right to decide to change custody and live with a non-custodial parent?

My daughter is now 19 years old. Here father and I were never married and I did not pursue Child Support from him. She has been in contact with him over the last few years. He continually tells her how well his business is doing, but when she asked for a small amount of money he became ballistic with her. I want her to be able to get some money from this man, is there anyway that she can do that?

I need to supoena the video tape from a state trooper's patrol car during the time I was ticketed. The alleged Infractions were in a construction zone so the patrol car's lights were constantly on which is the trigger for the video to begin recording. I'm totally lost as to how to get this video.

Can a judgment in a civil complaint be turned into a lein against an insurance policy that the accused (one who judgment is against) owns?

[JURIST] A Texas appeals court Wednesday overturned [opinion text] a jury verdict [JURIST report] that found pharmaceutical giant Merck [corporate website] liable for the death of a 71-year-old man who died from a heart attack within a month of taking Merck's painkiller Vioxx [Merck Vioxx Information Center website; JURIST news archive]. The jury had ordered Merck to pay $32 million in damages to

[JURIST] A Polish judge ruled on Wednesday that prosecutors must amend their indictment against former communist leader General Wojciech Jaruzelski [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] and other former communist officials to present a greater range of evidence against the defendants. Jaruzelski was charged [JURIST report] in March 2006 with "organizing crimes of a military nature" and "carrying out

[JURIST] The Danish government said Wednesday that it would propose new legislation to ban sitting judges from wearing religious dress [JURIST news archive], including Islamic headscarves, in court. Also Wednesday, Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen [official website] criticized Immigration Minister Birthe Roenn Hornbech for writing a newspaper editorial [text, in Danish] published

[JURIST] The UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) [official website] announced Wednesday that it will conduct a public inquiry [MOD press release] into the death of Baha Mousa [BBC report; JURIST news archive], an Iraqi hotel receptionist who died in British military custody in 2003. Mousa's death allegedly occurred as the result of abuse at the hands of British troops who had arrested him and nine other

[JURIST] The Indiana Court of Appeals [official website] Tuesday ruled [opinion, PDF] that a 2006 state law [Indiana Code 35-42-4-11 text] barring convicted sex offenders from living within 1,000 feet of a school, public park or youth center is unconstitutional as applied to offenders who purchased their homes before the law went into effect. The ruling upholds a lower court decision finding that

It is my great pleasure to present an interview with Debra Synovec, a Seattle-based mediator who specializes in mediating cases involving parties having a relationship, including divorce, small businesses, estate planning and workplace cases.Q: What is the best way for a party to prepare for mediation?A: People only come to mediation if they have issues that they care about. Mediation empowers people because they have direct input into decisions reached concerning what they care about, the empowerment comes through dialogue that occurs between the parties rather than relying on another…

(This is the eleventh in a series of posts on preparing for mediation.)Hopefully, in advance of the mediation you will have communicated with your mediator as to the process that will be used. (This will be the subject of a later post.) Whether you know in advance there will be a joint session or not, preparing for one just makes good sense. The mediation process can be flexible. Joint sessions might take place initially, episodically, or near the end of a mediation.Early in my mediation practice, I met a lawyer at a cocktail party and we started talking about mediation. He said, in horror,…

I am honored to present an interview with international mediator Ken Cloke, who has just published his 10th book: Conflict Revolution: Mediating Evil, War, Injustice, and Terrorism (Janis Publications), a book which takes the constructs of mediation and writes them large upon the world. Ken is a founding member and President of Mediators Beyond Borders.Q: Why do you call this the “riskiest” book you have written?A: I had to approach this book with genuine humility, yet also with (for me) unbelievable audacity. It was risky trying to write about how mediation might contribute to saving the…

(This is the tenth in a series of posts on preparing for mediation.)Most lawyers tend to think of the settlement of a lawsuit as cutting up a fixed pie. The bigger piece my client gets, the smaller piece your client gets, and vice versa. The size of the pie is fixed. In game theory, this is known as a zero sum game. If the settlement is $1.5 Million, where my client paid $1.5 M and your client received $1.5 M, that’s a zero sum, because $1.5M minus $1.5M equals zero.Here’s the classic example of creating value. Two sisters are arguing over who gets an orange. They are very positional and…

I'm off this morning to Charlottesville for my 30th law school reunion. I'm looking forward to visiting with old friends, walking around the grounds, playing a little softball and searching for a late night "grills with." Back to blogging sometime next week.Update: The Law School All Stars narrowly defeated the Class of ’78, 7-6. The alums led until the 6th inning, when our defense became too porous. The added bats of North Grounds Softball League co-founders Gordon Hylton, '77, and Fred Vogel, '77, were not enough to overcome the students’ lead, as the alums fell one run short in the…

Now here's an innovation worth copying. The California Supreme Court announced a day in advance that it will make news in a particular case -- its ruling on whether a ban on same-sex marriage violates the state constitution. The notice of the impending ruling, at 10 a.m. tomorrow, gives reporters ample time to line up experts and participants in the cases to quote, to bone up on the case history, and to put their best available people on it. I don't know if that court routinely does this (I saw no other notices of "forthcoming filings" on the site). I'm not aware of other courts -- most…

USA Today's Joan Biskupic and ABC's Jan Crawford Greenburg both cashed in on their relationships with former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor to produce pieces today advancing O'Connor's public testimony about her husband's Alzheimer's. Biskupic, who wrote a biography of the justice three years ago, snagged a copy of O'Connor's written testimony, but no interview. Greenburg, whose reporting for her 2007 book on the Court included interviews with O'Connor, goes one better, with an on-camera interview aired on Good Morning America (Greenburg provides a text story on her Legalities blog…

The usually fabulous Jerry Mitchell has a scoop in yesterday's Clarion-Ledger in the Dickie Scruggs case, but it's marred by two problems. First, Mitchell's sourcing is opaque. He declares in his lede that "Justice Department officials now are looking at racketeering as a possible next charge to pursue against the legendary trial lawyer." No attribution, and no additional explanation that might shed light on the many qualifiers in that phrase ("are looking at" a "possible" use of RICO). Mitchell is a reliable scoop artist, so it's obvious that authoritative sources have told him this. It's a…

Benjamin Weiser's piece today in the Times goes off half-cocked. Weiser examined more than 1,000 cases in which a convicted felon was caught with a gun and whose case was transferred to federal court. He found 20 cases where judges distrusted cops' testimony enough to toss the evidence. Rather than make that the story -- despite past scandals over "testilying" and overly aggressive stop-and-frisk tactics, judges deemed most searches legal and believed New York cops' testimony in the vast majority of cases -- Weiser and the Times take the opposite tack. Their angle is too wobbly to make sense.

NPR's "Fresh Air" features Adam Liptak in a discussion about his "American Exception" series, which I've raved about here and here. Mostly it's a stroll through the many topics Liptak explored in the series, starting with his latest installment, on imprisonment rates. But in the final two minutes of a 25-minute interview, guest host David Davies of the Philadelphia Daily News talks to Liptak about his transition six years ago from in-house lawyer at the Times to reporter:Davies: Were