Associate's Mind

  The use of computer automation and software continues to make its presence felt in the legal industry. Much of it is actually rather banal or inconsequential; Twitter for lawyers or some other silly thing. But there is a gradual, continued push to actually develop software that helps streamline the time it takes lawyers to find [...]

  I do. I own the law. www.whoownsthelaw.com  If this makes no sense to you (which it really shouldn’t), go look at all the tweets regarding the #reinventlaw conference that is going on now. Or just follow me on Twitter, if you want to see more hashtag, conference-hijacking shenanigans.

  The 21st century hasn’t exactly been rainbows and ponies for the legal industry. As has been pointed out frequently here and nearly everywhere else, lawyers are facing unprecedented pressures on the profession. This has led to new lawyers adapting and performing in ways that were not anticipated while in law school. In a paper entitled Practicing Theory: [...]

I was looking through some old  law review articles I’ve downloaded (don’t judge – I’m not the only one) and I came across an interesting survey and results on judges’ preferences regarding writing styles entitled: PERSUADING JUDGES: AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF WRITING STYLE, PERSUASION, AND THE USE OF PLAIN ENGLISH by Sean Flammer. The article rightly points out that [...]

  In case you’ve been living under a rock for the past – mmm, five years – the legal industry is not doing so hot right now. And as a result, law schools and firms have come under a large degree of scrutiny. This past week a number of mainstream medis outlets discussed the problem. [...]

  In the wake of the horrific tragedy of the Newtown shootings, President Obama is set to unveil new firearm control tomorrow. Firearms evoke a wide rage of opinions from people. Many people favor stricter regulations on the availability of firearms. Others feel as though firearm ownership is regulated enough. And neither side is apt [...]

Interesting study was just released in the International Journal of Obesity entitled The Influence of a Defendant’s Body Weight on Perceptions of Guilt. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the influence of a defendant’s weight on simulated jurors’ perceptions of guilt. DESIGN AND METHODS: Participants were 471 lean and overweight adults (mean body mass index: 25.34±5.91) who read a vignette describing a [...]

  Here is an email I just received, contact information redacted: Keith, I am writing to introduce myself as the new media contact for Lawyers.com, the leading legal website for consumers and small businesses. A division of LexisNexis, Lawyers.com has useful information on all legal topics, connects consumers with lawyers in their area for their legal [...]

  This is one of the best sentences that I never expected to read in a judge’s Order:   A receivership is necessary to ensure justice to the parties and to preserve the Funkadelic master sound recordings.     See the full thing below. H/T: Bret Moore Clinton Funk

  Last Thursday, federal prosecutors charged two former stockbrokers (and recent law grads), Thomas Conradt of Denver and David Weishaus of Baltimore, with running an insider trading scheme. The nitty gritty of the details can be found in the complaint here. Where did they get this information? A friend of a friend. A lawyer. A new [...]