Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan is in Day 3 of her confirmation hearings, and has reportedly held up well thus far. The Christian Science Monitor reports that in particular, Kagan’s sense of humor has been on full display during her Supreme Court confirmation hearings this week. (For example: Sen. Graham — "I just asked you [...]

I don’t know that it’s worth a special trip, unless you’re having a really slow summer, but if you happen to be in Denver two weeks from yesterday, either because you’re lucky enough to live in that beautiful city, or because you’re getting ready to file a suit challenging the University of Colorado’s concealed weapons [...]

Here are today’s three burning legal questions, along with the answers provided by the blogosphere. 1) Question: A mall Rent-a-Cop is trying to detain me for shoplifting even though I just explained that I am a freelance reporter and I was stealing the item for an assignment I’m doing "on the side." Isn’t this covered [...]

In today’s installment of "Seriously?" I present the story of Patrick Fousek and Samantha Tomasini: The two were arrested Wednesday in Salinas, Calif., for trying to sell their 6-month old baby outside a Walmart store. (If only they had made it inside the store, I’m sure they would have been prominently featured here.) Fousek demanded [...]

I have seen two posts recently on the topic of the value of one’s work that I think are interesting in the context of the legal profession. Seth Godin argues here that there is a big difference between what people will pay for "hourly work" versus "linchpin work." He defines linchpin work as work performed [...]

Recommind, a software vendor with several e-discovery products, last week released the results of a survey showing that collaboration and communication between corporate legal departments and IT departments is on the wane. The press release doesn’t specify how many companies, or what kind of companies, were surveyed, other than to say that respondents were "senior [...]

I’ve posted here several times recently to pass along the blogosphere’s ongoing tips for better legal writing. I’d characterize most of those tips as Legal Writing 101 — tips for avoiding truly "bad briefs," tips from brief-writing rockstar Justice John Roberts, and so on. Now let’s move on to Legal Writing 102. The (new) legal [...]

IF you’ve pleaded guilty to child abuse, and IF you’re lucky enough to be sentenced only to probation (a travesty in and of itself in my opinion), it’s probably a pretty bad idea to threaten to kill a judge, the judge’s children, and the parenting-skills and anger-management instructor you’re seeing pursuant to court order. Via [...]

Here are today’s three burning legal questions, along with the answers provided by the blogosphere. 1) Question: I have a brilliant plan to rob people at ATMs. It’s low-cost, too. All I need are some squirt bottles and some liquid feces. Sound good? Answer: Sounds terrible. And not even that original. (CBC News, Feces-squirting thieves [...]

Anybody can read "The Brethren" or "The Nine" and call himself a court aficionado. But if you’re really hardcore — and/or live and practice law in Kentucky — you should get your hands on a copy of "Secrets of the Ky. Supreme Court" by retired Justice Donald Wintersheimer. The book appears to have been self-published. [...]

Here are today’s three burning legal questions, along with the answers provided by the blogosphere. 1) Question: I’m working the register at Dunkin’ Donuts. I’m pretty sure this guy just said "Give me the money, I have a gun." But he may have said, "Give me a honey bun." Now what? Answer: Your call. When [...]

From this morning’s New York Law Journal comes a report on a case decided by a New York trial court, holding that Zipcar, the "car-sharing" service currently operating in 50 cities and 100 universities around the country, is shielded from vicarious liability for accidents involving its vehicles. The decision, Minto v. Zipcar (.pdf), is notable [...]

Here are today’s three burning legal questions, along with the answers provided by the blogosphere. 1) Question: I need a divorce but I really don’t feel like spending much time with the lawyers. Can’t I just do this all on my iPhone? Answer: Not quite, but the new DivorceApps will get you started. (LawSites, Getting [...]

Here are today’s three burning legal questions, along with the answers provided by the blogosphere. 1) Question: I am a nun living in a convent. What is this weed growing in our garden and why do the pigs like it so much? And why are our porters being arrested? Answer: Sometimes police find an acre [...]

The trial of former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich is just two days old and already it’s looking like one to keep a close eye on. First, Judge James Zagel ordered Blagojevich not to tweet post to Twitter yesterday as his corruption trial got underway. USA Today reports that this Twitter ban appears to have been [...]

I (sort of) watched my first (and second) episodes of the latest biggest-thing-since-sliced-bread prime time show, "Glee," last night. Chalk it up to extenuating circumstances. I admit that it didn’t once occur to me to ponder the copyright implications of a bunch of high school kids singing and dancing along to some of the most [...]

Our own Bruce Carton has been dutifully maintaining the "Legal Blog Watch Checklist for Bank Robbers" since last December. In the first installment, he included this suggestion: Acknowledge your physical limitations: Let’s face it, not all wannabe bank robbers are spring chickens. But that doesn’t have to stop you. If you are 70 or 80 [...]

Mark Bennett, on his Defending People blog, posted yesterday about a Houston Chronicle interview with Erica Rose, a rising 3L at the University of Houston Law Center. Ms. Rose (pictured, left) is no ordinary law student, however. She’s a Houston socialite, offspring of a well-known local plastic surgeon, and already has two reality shows under [...]

Law firms — particularly big law firms — tend to be conservative with their websites. Although listing all of a firm’s lawyers on the site and providing their bios is now pretty standard, these listings tend to be limited to name, rank and serial number, usually accompanied by a conservative photo (or no photo at [...]

If some guy named "Jimmy" called you at your office and said he had found an envelope addressed to you from the New York State Insurance Fund on the subway or in the back of a cab, would you tell him to bring it right over and reimburse him for his cab fare, with a [...]