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Inside Legal Blogs [By Jeff] Strap on your mukluks and grab your most-trusted Sherpa guide. Today we are going to scale the heights of snowy Law Blog Mountain. Every week we delve into the vast network of law blogs and chat boards, looking for the most informative, pertinent, and entertaining blogs so we can report back to you with legal news and opinions from around the world. Armed only with a grappling hook and a thin piece of twine, we will ascend the highest points of the law blogosphere.
Have all the modern technological
Anybody can claim to be the world’s greatest
According to legend, this list was found in an
conveniences made us lazy? In a recent article
grandpa or the world’s best lover, but there
abandoned church and dated back to the mid-
from law.com, Tricia Kasting writes that before
is still much debate about who is the world’s
19th Century. Hull casts doubts on the legend
the Internet became the primary resource
worst lawyer. Dan Hull of What About Clients
because of the word “weenie,” but the list is
for research, attorneys had to work harder.
has presented a handy list of 7 things to do
still worth contemplating.
While this might not sound that much different
if you want to become a highly ineffective
than the grandpa who spins yarns about
attorney.
having to walk six miles to school in the snow, Kasting claims that the framework of printed
1. Be risk-averse at all times. Clients have
materials also better prepares the mind for the
come to expect this from their lawyers. It’s
challenges of legal research.
tradition. Honor it.
“Print legal research has the advantage
2. Tell the client only what it can’t do. Business
of an imposed conceptual framework of
clients are run by business people who take
source materials and subject classification.
risks. They need to be managed, guided,
It takes practice and time to learn how the
stopped. Don’t encourage them.
system works, but once learned provides comprehensive research methodologies.
3. Whatever you do, don’t take a stand, and don’t make a recommendation. (You don’t want
Query searches locate and retrieve relevant
to be wrong, do you?)
documents that, in a conceptual subject framework, may not appear related. Toss in
4. Treat the client as a potential adversary at
electronic subscription databases and the
all times. Keep a distance.
World Wide Web, and the research process takes place in an open system that has a
5. Cover yourself. Write a lot to the client. Craft
flexibility print can’t match.”
lots of confirming letters which use clauses like “it is our understanding”, “our analysis is
The vastness of the Internet as a medium
limited to...” and “we do not express an opinion
doesn’t focus the brain the way old fashioned
as to whether...”
research does, according to Kasting. These kids today have it so good with their I-pods and
6. Churn up extra fees with extra letters and
their global positioning satellites. When I was
memoranda and tasks. Milk the engagement.
young, I had to use a 6-CD changer to listen to
(If you are going to be a weenie anyway, you
my music, now they’ve got it all at the touch
might as well be a sneaky weenie.)
of a button. Life isn’t supposed to be easy. It’s supposed to be long and grueling, and the only
7. As out-house counsel, you are American
way out is death. That’s what my high school
royalty. Never forget that.
guidance counselor said anyway.
Does the hectic workday of an attorney leave any room for love? Anonymous Law Student has offered up a blog entry about the hazards attorneys face in their romantic relationships. The blogger sent out a questionnaire to popular law bloggers, attorneys, and law school professors about their wives, husbands, boyfriends, and girlfriends. The responses painted a rather bleak picture for lawyers in love. The majority of the respondents claimed that the pitfalls of legal practice, particularly as a young associate, were enough to kill most romantic relationships. The long hours in the office mean less time to spend with a significant other. Most respondents claimed that criminal litigation was the worst practice area to balance with a love life, though nearly all agreed that any big law practice could suffocate a relationship. Another major complaint was about taking work home. Even when a lawyer can manage to take time away from work for a romantic dinner, they are likely to be distracted by a big case. The nature of a lawyer’s training also made sustaining a relationship challenging. Law school teaches attorneys to argue effectively. Big law firms make attorneys fiercely competitive. These traits can make for trouble in a relationship. Of course, some respondents felt that the risks of relationships for attorneys were not much different than the risks facing other professionals. Lack of communication and trust can be a problem for any couple, regardless of what they do for a living.
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Probably the best responses to Anonymous
the Hudson decision, which ruled that police
says he was horrified to learn that his work
Law Student’s questionnaire came from E. Thomas Kemp of the Kemplaw blog. He said that some people are just screwed up, attorneys or not, and they will find trouble in any relationship.
are capable of regulating themselves. Scalia
was being used to support claims opposed
quoted from Walker’s book “Taming the
to the ones in his own book. He sees Scalia’s
System: The Control of Discretion in Criminal
citation as a misuse of the quote.
Justice,” to prove that the courts don’t need oversight of police because police forces
As for me, I was happy when Reader’s Digest
have internal discipline systems. What the
published my letter to the editor about my
Some attorneys would be honored to be cited
book actually says, however, is that internal
inspirational encounter with a courageous
by a Supreme Court Justice. Professor Sam
police discipline systems were only created
kitten. I’m easy to please.
Walker, a leading criminologist, was not so
because judicial oversight forced them to do
pleased when Justice Scalia quoted him in
so. According to the Cato@Liberty blog, Walker
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