Pro se litigant Kyle Greene, like many pro se litigants before him, felt put upon by the judicial system. Determined to do something about it, he filed a “Motion for Disclosure of Chamber of Papers,” demanding U.S. District Court Judge Patrick Schiltz’s bench memo because he “suspect[ed] he was the victim of a law clerk usurping the function of an Article III judge.”
It didn’t work. In his opinion (PDF), Judge Schiltz explained:
Greene has not cited — and the Court has not found — a single statute, regulation, rule, or judicial opinion holding that a litigant has a right of access (under the First Amendment, the common law, or anything else) to communications between a judge and his or her law clerk, including draft opinions and orders. Rather, all of the authority of which the Court is aware is to the contrary.
(Thanks, Deb and Jess!)
It’s election year! (You probably noticed.) Now that the primaries are all but over and the GOP presidential candidate has been (barring unexpected events) determined, the fun is about to really begin.
So as the public interest in the race starts to climb, lawyers may find themselves asked (in particular by friends and family who fall into that middle-of-the-political-spectrum undecided group that determines the outcome of every election) to shed some light on the issues of the day. People think we know something about this stuff.
And we do. That’s we should all see ourselves as part-time pro bono civics instructors.
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Public speaking is a necessary skill for many attorneys. But alas, attorneys are only human. And like many humans, many attorneys have a fear of public speaking. Whether it’s motions court or a jury trial, attorneys have to speak in public regularly. Thorin Klosowski of Lifehacker spoke with a comedian and came up with some public speaking tips lawyers can use to ditch their stagefright.
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Are you a good lawyer? Competent, at least? Maybe. But if you think you are, the fact that you see yourself that way may not bode very well for your client.
We were all taught growing up that confidence in our own abilities is a key to success. If you don’t believe in yourself, who will, right? It’s still happening—I attended my seven-year old’s school concert last night. The whole show was based on the principles of behavior the school tries to teach. So the kids spent weeks learning and practicing songs about, among other attributes, self-confidence.
There’s just one problem. The more highly you regard your own level of competence, the more likely you are to make a complete mess of things.
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One of the best things about being a law clerk is getting to be in court every day. Clerks get to learn what to do when they are standing on the other side of the bar. Almost more importantly, trial court clerks get to see first hand what not to do while representing someone. During my two years as a trial court clerk I’ve seen lawyers do some crazy things, but there are three that stand out due to their regularity.
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A new LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell survey reveals that Canadian law firms are far more likely than other international firms to ask for client feedback , but many of those firms remain unsure of the return on investment for doing so. Perhaps that’s because they aren’t doing much, if anything, with the information they receive.
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Every year, the ABA promotes Law Day as a day to learn about The Courts! Justice! Freedom! I don’t mean to poke fun; this is important. But the suggested lesson plans focus on a tiny slice of law — courtroom litigation — and don’t really portray that slice accurately. Instead, I think students and teachers ought to read Jordan Rushie’s A Day in the Life of a Young Lawyer, which is a much more accurate view of courtroom practice, and modify the ABA lesson plans accordingly.
In a few years, a generation of kids who apparently can’t pay attention long enough to read to the end of this sentence will find themselves sitting in jury boxes. Keith Lee at Associates Mind says “You have to provide [millenials] their panem et circenses whether you like it or not.” In response, Scott Greenfield throws up his hands: “it’s unclear whether the nature of a criminal trial offers the defense any solution.”
Are we really in for a horde of jurors with twitching thumbs ghost-typing as they snooze through a trial? I’m not so sure millenials are as inattentive as all that. A recent Pew survey (HT: The Panic Virus) found that “across the board, people who use the internet and other digital devices — such as cell phones, tablet computers, and e-book readers — are more frequent readers than non-users.”
It’s not directly on point, but I think reading probably correlates well with attention span. If that’s true, maybe it’s not all doom and gloom for the trial lawyers of the future.
When evaluating lawyers, particularly litigators, we make the same mistake over and over again when we more highly value attorneys who strike us as “aggressive” compared to those who seem calm, cool, and confident. The facts tell us the calm lawyers do at least as good a job, or better. But the myth continues.
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The Hunger Games opened a little over a week ago to huge box office success. With the exception of a few racists, the movie got good reviews. I saw it opening weekend and enjoyed it quite a bit. But what I really enjoyed is how the lessons from the movie apply to lawyers.
This post contains spoilers of the book and the movie. You’ve been warned.
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