Witness Preparation – When May The Witness Show Anger?

09 Monday Jun 2014

Posted by in Paralegals/Legal Assistants, Trial Tips and Techniques, Witness Preparation, Witnesses

≈ Comments Off on Witness Preparation – When May The Witness Show Anger?

Tags

, , , , , ,

Witness Preparation Tip: When Is It Appropriate For A Witness To Show Anger? by Merrie Jo Pitera, Ph.D. – CEO, Litigation Insights Blog

http://tinyurl.com/ma4hps8

Many years ago, I was working on witness preparation with a corporate HR Director who was being deposed. It was quickly apparent from the moment that he walked in the room that he was not happy to be there. During his own mock direct examination, when the questions were clearly “friendly fire” from his own attorney, he was angry and aggressive. He was so mad that he was getting out of his seat and pointing at his own attorney with his finger when answering simple questions. What was worse, he was getting progressively more emotional and belligerent as the questioning continued. And we hadn’t even gotten to mock cross examination yet! It was clear we needed to take a break and pull him aside for a heart-to-heart discussion. In his current emotional state, he was the antithesis of an HR Director, and his display of anger was inadvertently reinforcing the plaintiff’s claims that the company did not care about his complaints of racial discrimination. An additional complication was that the HR Director thought his strong, angry reaction was helping his employer’s case.

While extreme, this witness’ reaction to testifying is not unusual. It is no secret that no one looks forward to being deposed. . . .

Paralegal Regulation Chart State-By-State.

09 Monday Jun 2014

Posted by in National Exams, Regulation

≈ Comments Off on Paralegal Regulation Chart State-By-State.

Tags

, , , , ,

Paralegal Regulation, State by State, posted by The National Federation of Paralegal Associations (last updated May 2012)

REGULATION_CHART_5-12final.docx

A non-partisan chart of state-by-state by the paralegal profession., and created by The National Paralegal Association. 

If you have trouble opening the link – or if you are aware of updated information, please contact The National Federation of Paralegal Association at http://www.paralegals.org/default.asp?page=103. -CCE

Nine Top Tips for Paralegals Preparing for Trial.

09 Monday Jun 2014

Posted by in Adobe Acrobat, Animations, Bates Numbers, Legal Technology, Paralegals/Legal Assistants, PowerPoint, Presentations, Trial Notebooks, Trial Tips and Techniques, Witness Preparation

≈ Comments Off on Nine Top Tips for Paralegals Preparing for Trial.

Tags

, , ,

9 Critical Steps for Trial Preparation, by David J. Dempsey, Paralegal Today Magazine (formerly Legal Assistant Today)

http://paralegaltoday.com/issue_archive/features/feature1_ja03.htm

I suspect that any paralegal with significant trial experience would have other things to add to this list. But it’s still good advice and a good start. -CCE

[P]aralegals play an indispensable role in the trial preparation process. It’s imperative that, in conjunction with the lead counsel, you design and adhere to a plan to make sure your energies — and those of the entire support team — are focused on the tasks that will contribute most to the success of the trial.

As the final phases of intense trial preparation approach, paralegals can wear many hats: coordinating schedules, monitoring deadlines, helping prepare witnesses and documents, organizing files and exhibits, preparing subpoenas and working with all members of the support team, including expert witnesses, outside vendors, and other legal assistants and attorneys involved in the trial.

Every trial attorney will use the talents of a paralegal in different ways. In my practice, I tend to rely heavily on paralegals and delegate a considerable amount of responsibility to them.

While the following guidelines will not work for every trial team, these are nine critical steps I believe paralegals can take to help make sure when the opening gavel falls at trial, your team is prepared to prevail. . . .

Two 2014 Pivotal Supreme Court Cases on Personal Jurisdiction And Their Lasting Impact on Civil Litigation.

08 Sunday Jun 2014

Posted by in Civil Procedure, Class Actions, Federal Civil Procedure, Jurisdiction, Litigation

≈ Comments Off on Two 2014 Pivotal Supreme Court Cases on Personal Jurisdiction And Their Lasting Impact on Civil Litigation.

Tags

, , , , , , , , , ,

Rhodes and Robertson on the New PJ Decisions, by Robin Effron, Civil Procedure & Federal Courts Blog

http://tinyurl.com/kbepuyd

Interesting implications for both state and federal civil litigation. This article deserves thoughtful study. -CCE

Charles “Rocky” Rhodes (South Texas College of Law) and Cassandra Burke Robertson (Case Western) have posted Toward a New Equilibrium in Personal Jurisdiction to SSRN.

In early 2014, the Supreme Court decided two new personal jurisdiction cases that will have a deep and wide-ranging impact on civil litigation in the coming decades: Daimler AG v. Bauman, 134 S. Ct. 746 (2014), and Walden v. Fiore, 134 S. Ct. 1115 (2014). Bauman eliminates the traditional “continuous and systematic” contacts test for general jurisdiction, and Walden significantly retracts the ability of courts to exercise personal jurisdiction over out-of-state defendants whose actions have in-state effects. Taken together, both cases will make it significantly more difficult for plaintiffs to exercise control over where lawsuits are filed. In some cases — such as large-scale class actions — the new decisions may make it impossible to identify a single forum where multiple defendants can be sued together, and will therefore shift the balance of litigation power from plaintiffs to defendants.

This Article examines the effect that these decisions will have on future litigation and suggests solutions to the problems that will arise in the wake of these decisions. It analyzes how the Court’s new jurisprudence has shifted the balance of power in the jurisdictional framework, and it explores areas of future litigation. . . .

Proposed Amendments to Federal Civil Procedure Rules Are Close to Approval.

08 Sunday Jun 2014

Posted by in Court Rules, Courts, Depositions, Discovery, E-Discovery, Federal District Court Rules, Federal Rules of Discovery, Interrogatories, Preservation, Requests for Admissions, Requests for Production

≈ Comments Off on Proposed Amendments to Federal Civil Procedure Rules Are Close to Approval.

Tags

, , ,

Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure (“Standing Committee”) Approves Proposed Amendments to Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, by K&L Gates, posted in FEDERAL RULES AMENDMENTS, NEWS & UPDATES.

http://tinyurl.com/myroxzm

The amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure will be finalized sometime in September. -CCE

Last week, the Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure (the “Standing Committee”) approved proposed amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, including the “Duke Rules Package,” addressing Rules 1, 4, 16, 26, 30, 31, 33, and 34 and a rewritten version of Rule 37(e), addressing preservation.  The proposed amendments were approved with only two revisions to the proposed Committee Notes for Rules 26(b)(1) (encouraging consideration and use of technology) and 37(e) (clarifying the role of prejudice in subsection (e)(2) of the proposed rule).  Meeting minutes reflecting the precise changes to the Committee Notes are not yet available, although the text of the rules as adopted was published in the Standing Committee’s meeting Agenda Book, available here.

The next stop for the proposed amendments is the Judicial Conference, which will consider the proposed amendments at its meeting in September.

Best Brief Writing Checklist.

08 Sunday Jun 2014

Posted by in Bad Legal Writing, Brief Writing, Citations, Footnotes, Legal Analysis, Legal Argument, Legal Writing, Legalese, Plain Language, Proofreading, Quotations, Readability, Spell Checking, Statement of Facts, Summary of the Argument

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , , ,

“Briefly Speaking,” Brief Writing – Best Practices, Washington State Court of Appeals, Division I, CLE

 http://tinyurl.com/lsrzxjy

This is the essence of writing a persuasive and winning brief. Each section is important. Ignore the guidance here at your peril.

The icing on the cake is the advice from the Hon. Patricia M. Wald, Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, taken from her article, “19 Tips from 19 Years on the Appellate Bench,” The Journal of Appellate Practice and Process, Vol. 1, No. 1 (Winter 1999).  She is right – this is your opportunity to tell your client’s story. Short and to the point is always more persuasive than long-winded recitations of fact and case law.

Make this your brief writing checklist. -CCE

8th Circuit Motions of Limine and Offers of Proof.

07 Saturday Jun 2014

Posted by in Appellate Law, Evidence, Legal Analysis, Legal Writing, Motions, Motions in Limine, Rule 103

≈ Comments Off on 8th Circuit Motions of Limine and Offers of Proof.

Tags

, , , , , , ,

Renewal Notice: 8th Circuit Finds No Offer of Proof Needed Based on Prior Definitive Ruling, by Colin Miller, Evidence ProfBlogger, EvidenceProf Blog

http://tinyurl.com/pk2vzlt

As amended in 2000, Federal Rule of Evidence 103(b) reads as follows:

(b) Not Needing to Renew an Objection or Offer of Proof. Once the court rules definitively on the record — either before or at trial — a party need not renew an objection or offer of proof to preserve a claim of error for appeal.

So, assume that a party files a motion in limine seeking to exclude evidence before trial. If the judge makes a definitive ruling deeming the subject evidence inadmissible, does the proponent need to make an offer of proof at trial? In Smith v. Hy–Vee, 622 F.3d 904 (8th Cir.2010), the Eighth Circuit answered this question in the affirmaive. In Lawrey v. Good Samaritan Hosp., 2014 WL 2489076 (8th Cir. 2014), however, the same court answered the question in the negative. . . .

Use Reflector App to Display Your iPhone or iPad on Your Computer.

07 Saturday Jun 2014

Posted by in Apple, Apps, Cell Phones, iPad, iPhones, Legal Technology, Mac, PC Computers

≈ Comments Off on Use Reflector App to Display Your iPhone or iPad on Your Computer.

Tags

, , , , ,

App of the Week: Reflector – Display Your iPhone or iPad on a Computer, by Lisa Pansini, Legal Productivity Blog.

http://tinyurl.com/loqy8ek

Please note the related posts at the end of this article by Ms. Pansini. –CCE

If you’ve ever tried to display your mobile device on a big screen without wires or an Apple TV, you know how complicated it can be. Enter, the Reflector app. Reflector is an AirPlay receiver that allows you to display your mobile device on a big screen without any hullabaloo. . . .

Interesting Analysis of Federal Patent Appeal

07 Saturday Jun 2014

Posted by in Appellate Law, Intellectual Property, Patent Law, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, U.S. Courts of Appeal

≈ Comments Off on Interesting Analysis of Federal Patent Appeal

Tags

, , , ,

Federal Circuit: In Order To Appeal USPTO Post-Grant Decision, Third Party Requestor Must Show “Injury In Fact” by Dennis Crouch, Patently-O Blog

http://patentlyo.com/patent/2014/06/circuit-decision-requestor.html

Consumer Watchdog v. WARF and USPTO (Fed. Cir. 2014)

The Patent Act provides for a variety of administrative review proceedings that can be filed by any third party wanting to challenge the validity of an issued patent. The statute also provides the third-party requester with a right to appeal any adverse judgment to the Court of Appeal for the Federal Circuit. Following these statutory guidelines, Consumer Watchdog requested review (inter partes reexamination) of WARF’s patents covering human embryonic stem cells. When the USPTO sided with WARF, Consumer Watchdog appealed. But Consumer Watchdog has a major problem with its appeal – standing. Consumer Watchdog is a public interest group who is not being directly impacted by WARFs patents other than the general indignity felt by all of us.

As the appeal was pending, the Supreme Court decided Already v. Nike and reminded courts that, under the Constitution, they only have power over actual cases and controversies. At Patently-O, we used that case as a springboard for questioning whether the statutory appellate authority was sufficient to satisfy the demands of the Constitution, and the Court immediately called for Consumer Watchdog and WARF to brief the question of standing. . . .

“Must Have” Plain Language Tips and Tools.

04 Wednesday Jun 2014

Posted by in Legal Writing, Plain Language, References

≈ Comments Off on “Must Have” Plain Language Tips and Tools.

Tags

, , , , ,

Tips and Tools, PlainLanguage.gov

http://www.plainlanguage.gov/howto/index.cfm

Take a good look. Links to Quick Reference Tips, Word Suggestions, Dictionaries, Thesauruses, Style Guides, and Grammar Sites. -CCE

Do You Write Like A Tool? Here’s One Way To Find Out.

04 Wednesday Jun 2014

Posted by in Bad Legal Writing, Legal Writing, Legalese

≈ Comments Off on Do You Write Like A Tool? Here’s One Way To Find Out.

Tags

, , , ,

Small Firms, Big Lawyers: 20 Ways to Write Like a Tool, by Jay Shepherd, Above The Law Blog

http://tinyurl.com/6zxgxy8

Ever see Fight Club? Yeah, me neither. The 1999 Brad Pitt movie was more of a cult film than a commercial success, although it did make back its costs. But the movie did have a line that became something of a meme, and was once recognized by Premiere magazine as the 27th greatest line in movie history (which seems dubious, but whatever):

The first rule of Fight Club is you do not talk about Fight Club.

If only lawyers had the same rule.

You see, being a lawyer is like being a member of an elite club. OK, maybe not as elite as we like to think; there are more than a million members in the US. But elite enough. And the problem is, too many of us are dying to show off to others that we’re members of law club. And one of the ways we do it is by trying to sound like a lawyer when we speak, and especially when we write. This is a problem because sounding like a lawyer is the same as sounding like a tool.

I’ve come up with 20 lawyerisms that do nothing to advance the message you’re trying to send, but instead show that you’re a member of law club. And that you sound like a tool.

How many of the 20 do you use? . . .

No Insurance Coverage = No Bad Faith.

04 Wednesday Jun 2014

Posted by in Bad Faith, Insurance Coverage, Insurance Law, Pennsylvania Superior Court

≈ Comments Off on No Insurance Coverage = No Bad Faith.

Tags

, , , , ,

Here’s a Thought: If There Ain’t No Coverage, There Ain’t No Bad Faith, by Daniel E. Cummins, TORT TALK

http://tinyurl.com/phwn6cv

In their recent ‘non-precedential’ decision (why do they mark them ‘on-precedential’ on occasion?!) in the bad faith case of Yera v. Travelers Ins. Co., of Am., 1398 EDA 2013 (Pa. Super. April 22, 2014)(Ford Elliott, P.J.E., Ott, J., Strassburger, J.) (Opinion by Ott, J.)(Concurring and Dissenting Op. by Strassburger, J.), the Pennsylvania Superior Court affirmed a trial court’s finding that the homeowner’s insurance  carrier for the Plaintiff did not act in bad faith by waiting six (6) months to deny the Plaintiff’s fire loss claim as there could be no bad faith claim where there was an underlying decision that the carrier need not afford any coverage under the policy in any event. . . .

The ITS Style Guide – Put This One In Your Legal Writing Toolbox.

02 Monday Jun 2014

Posted by in Legal Writing, Proofreading, Spell Checking

≈ Comments Off on The ITS Style Guide – Put This One In Your Legal Writing Toolbox.

Tags

, , , , , , ,

ITS Style Guide, The University of Texas at Austin

http://www.utexas.edu/its/style/written/misused.php

Easy Peasy. Definitely worth a bookmark. -CCE

The ITS Style Guide is an online reference for the Information Technology Services (ITS) department at The University of Texas at Austin. It promotes consistency in ITS publications with a focus on technical communications. The Guide covers correct writing styles, word usage, capitalization, punctuation, and other issues that arise in written communications.

Indiana Ethics Opinion Doesn’t Like Legal Start Ups.

01 Sunday Jun 2014

Posted by in Attorney Discipline, Legal Ethics, Technology

≈ Comments Off on Indiana Ethics Opinion Doesn’t Like Legal Start Ups.

Tags

, , , , , ,

An Indiana Ethics Opinion That May Kill Legal Start Ups, by Carolyn Elefant, myShingle.com

http://tinyurl.com/llpdhd4

Via the Legal Profession Blog, comes a recent Indiana ethics decision reprimanding a lawyer who’d practiced 41 years without incident for participating Law Tigers, a site that helps members of the public find a motorcycle attorney.  Trouble is, in pursuit of a single Tiger that may purportedly cause harm to the public, the Indiana Supreme Court now has the entire fledgling industry of legal matchmaking platforms by the tail.

Here’s the background. The American Association of Motorcycle Injury Lawyers (AAMIL) operates the Law Tigers website – one of dozens of  lead gen platforms like the Nolo Law Directory  Total Attorneys that direct website visitors and prospective clients to participating lawyers who pay to receive leads within a designated geographic area. Naturally, to encourage site visitors to seek legal services, the Law Tigers website boasts ‘Exceptional Results: Settlements and Verdicts’ and links to glowing client testimonials.  However, the respondent lawyers website, which could be accessed through a link on the Law Tigers site, included a disclaimer that a firm could not advertise past settlements or results. . . .

Preparing for Expert Witness Depositions.

01 Sunday Jun 2014

Posted by in Cross-Examination, Depositions, Discovery, Expert Witness, Trial Tips and Techniques

≈ Comments Off on Preparing for Expert Witness Depositions.

Tags

, , , , ,

Preparing for Expert Depositions by Looking Ahead to the Cross-Examination at Trial, by Evan Schaeffer, The Trial Practice Tips Weblog

http://tinyurl.com/kl6857f

Your preparation for depositions will generally be much easier if you think about the ways the testimony will be used at trial. This tip applies to most pretrial discovery: it’s almost never an end in itself, but something that will be used later in front of a jury. It’s no accident that the ins-and-outs of pretrial discovery often make more sense after a lawyer has witnessed some actual trials. When trials are scarce, even reading trial transcripts helps.

The looking-ahead-to-trial tip can be especially useful for deposing your opponent’s experts. If you often rely on outlines prepared by other lawyers, this method will also help you understand why it’s important to ask the questions lawyers typically ask when deposing experts. . . .

When You Share Files, Are They Secure?

31 Saturday May 2014

Posted by in Clouds, Confidentiality, Cybersecurity, Dropbox, Emails, Encryption, Legal Ethics, Legal Technology, Technology

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , ,

File Sharing by Lawyers Largely Insecure, Survey Suggests, by Robert Ambrogi, Robert Ambrogi’s Law Sites

http://tinyurl.com/pr3apcc

If I were to leave a document on a table entitled, ‘My Deepest, Darkest Secrets,’ under which I wrote, ‘Please do not read this unless you are someone I intended to read this,’ how securely would you think I’d protected myself?

That, effectively, is all the majority of lawyers do to protect confidential documents they share with clients and colleagues, according to a LexisNexis survey published this week. . . .

An Unique Response to Texas Center for Legal Ethics’ Opinion 642.

31 Saturday May 2014

Posted by in Law Office Management, Legal Ethics, Management, Marketing

≈ Comments Off on An Unique Response to Texas Center for Legal Ethics’ Opinion 642.

Tags

, , , , ,

The Depths T’Which Ethics Reaches: or, The Origin of Opinion 642, by Greg Lambert, Three Geeks And A Blog

http://tinyurl.com/oz7hb6v

 Inspired by recent events.

Dewey said to Cheatum, ‘What ever shall we do?
Our book is getting slimmer and I haven’t got a clue
How to run a proper business, you know, one that still makes money?
We can’t just raise our rates… stop your laughing. It’s not funny!’

‘Silly Dewey, how you worry!’ chortled Cheatum through his drink.
‘There’s no problem we can’t tackle with a good and proper think.
We’re the brightest and the smartest and by far the best paid too,
We’ll just put our heads together and we’ll figure what to do.’ . . .

The Secret Of How To Ask For What You Want.

31 Saturday May 2014

Posted by in Closing Argument, Cross-Examination, Direct Examination, Jury Persuasion, Legal Argument, Legal Writing, Opening Argument, Oral Argument, Trial Tips and Techniques, Voir Dire

≈ Comments Off on The Secret Of How To Ask For What You Want.

Tags

, , , , ,

Ask For What You Want, posted by Elliott Wilcox, Trial Theater Blog

http://tinyurl.com/kkrtqwo

Mr. Wilcox’s suggestions on how to verbally ask for what you want can also be translated into a persuasive legal writing technique. The logic works either way. -CCE

How many times a day do you ask judges, clients, or co-workers to do something or to give you something? During any given week, you probably make hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of requests. You ask your co-worker to work on a project, you ask your assistant to handle a client issue, you ask your kids to help with the dishes. . . . The number of requests that you make each week is staggering. But how many of those requests are actually granted? Have you ever had a problem with someone not doing not what you asked?

Why?  You’re a lawyer. Shouldn’t you be the master of persuasion who can get what you want, when you want it, and how you want it, every single time?

Unless your name is ‘Svengali the Master Manipulator,’ chances are that many of your requests are not being granted, or at least not being carried out exactly the way you’d like to see them handled.  But it’s not because your requests are falling on deaf ears.  In fact, your listeners are probably hearing exactly what you’re saying.  The problem is that you’re asking for the wrong thing. . . .

Plain Language Jury Instructions.

31 Saturday May 2014

Posted by in Jury Instructions, Legal Writing, Legalese, Plain Language

≈ Comments Off on Plain Language Jury Instructions.

Tags

, ,

Plain Language and Jury Instructions, PlainLanguage.gov

http://www.plainlanguage.gov/examples/before_after/jury.cfm

Most jury instructions — long winded collections of complex sentences, arcane definitions and Talmudic distinctions — are all but impenetrable to lay people. So bad are some jury instructions that Court TV Anchor and former Prosecutor Nancy Grace reports having seen jurors turn to one another while listening to instructions and mouth the question, ‘What are they saying?’

Echoing such observations was a recent description in The National Law Journal of a judge who told jurors that a murder conviction required ‘malice aforethought.’ Unfortunately though, the jury interpreted this instruction to mean that the murder had to be committed with a mallet.

Many studies support anecdotal criticism of legalese jury instructions. For example:

• Forty percent of capital jurors wrongly believed that their jury instructions required them to accompany a conviction with a death sentence, according to a study by the Northeastern University’s Capital Jury Project.

• More than fifty percent of jurors defined ‘preponderance of the evidence’ as a ‘slow and careful pondering of the evidence,’ according to a study of Washington DC jurors. The same study found that more than 50 percent of jurors could not define ‘speculate,’ and about 25 percent did not know the meaning of ‘burden of proof,’ ‘impeach’ or ‘admissible evidence.’ . . .

Primer and Comment on The Defense Trade Secrets Act.

31 Saturday May 2014

Posted by in Defense Trade Secrets Act, Intellectual Property

≈ Comments Off on Primer and Comment on The Defense Trade Secrets Act.

Tags

, , , ,

Guest Post: Defend Trade Secrets Act — A Primer, an Endorsement, and a Criticism, Guest Post by David S. Almeling (partner of O’Melveny & Myers LLP, specializing in patent and trade secret litigation), Patently-O Blog

http://tinyurl.com/kdmurjf

It’s been an exciting month for trade secret law. Senators Christopher Coons (D-Delaware) and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) introduced the Defend Trade Secrets Act, a bill that would, for the first time, provide a federal right of civil action for trade secret theft. And the Judiciary Committee held a hearing during which speakers expressed support for the DTSA, including Eli Lilly’s VP and General Patent Counsel, Douglas Norman, who stated that the DTSA ‘will establish the gold standard for national trade secret laws globally.’

The DTSA is a game changer. If enacted, it would constitute the most dramatic rethinking of trade secret law since 1979, when the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws approved a model statute called the Uniform Trade Secrets Act. Since then, 48 states have adopted the UTSA in some form, replacing their common-law regimes with statutory ones.

The DTSA isn’t perfect — I’ll explain why in a moment — but it’s the best bill of its kind introduced to date, and it should be enacted. . . .

Mailtracker – A New iPhone App That Monitors Email Analytics.

28 Wednesday May 2014

Posted by in Apple, Apps, Cell Phones, Emails, iPhones, Law Office Management, Legal Technology, Link Rot

≈ Comments Off on Mailtracker – A New iPhone App That Monitors Email Analytics.

Tags

, , , , , , , ,

App of the Week: Mailtracker – See When and Where Your Email Was Read, by Lisa Pansini, Legal Productivity Blog

http://tinyurl.com/nwctft6

‘Hey, did you get that email that I sent you?’

With the Mailtracker app from Answerbook, you’ll never have to utter those words again.

It’s not a mail client in itself, but rather a tracking application for monitoring email analytics. It integrates with the native mail app on your iPhone, so it doesn’t impede your current email sending/receiving workflow. The service is compatible with emails sent via Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook.com and iCloud (with additional account support on the way!).

The Mailtracker app will deliver real-time analytics directly to your phone. You’ll be notified as soon as an email had been read. You can also see how many times the email was viewed, how much time was spent reading the email, the recipient’s location information, and device details. . . .

Lowering the Bar Calls for Deposition Transcripts.

28 Wednesday May 2014

Posted by in Depositions, Discovery, Litigation

≈ Comments Off on Lowering the Bar Calls for Deposition Transcripts.

Tags

, , ,

Call for Transcripts, by Kevin Underhill, Lowering the Bar Blog

http://www.loweringthebar.net/2014/05/call-for-transcripts.html

I doubt your clients would approve of sharing a deposition transcript from their case with Kevin, regardless of how hilarious it might be. Don’t worry. Kevin already has quite a collection. -CCE

Last month the New York Times did a fantastic video reenactment of some truly ridiculous deposition testimony. See ‘What Is a Photocopier? (Deposition, Dramatized),’ Lowering the Bar (Apr. 28, 2014) (direct link here). They are looking for more of that kind of thing, which I think is great news, and they asked me for help, which I also think is great. The posts linked below are the ones I recommended as mentioning possible candidates for reenactment, although I unfortunately don’t actually have all of the transcripts. . . .

ProPublica Update Report On Guns In America.

28 Wednesday May 2014

Posted by in Appellate Law, Gun Control Laws, Second Amendment, Stand Your Ground Law

≈ Comments Off on ProPublica Update Report On Guns In America.

Tags

, , , , , , , ,

The Best Reporting on Guns in America, by Blair Hickman, Lois Beckett, Cora Currier and Suevon Lee, ProPublica

http://tinyurl.com/k9defcv

Update: With last weekend’s shootings in Santa Barbara, this collection, first published July 24, 2012, unfortunately seems relevant again. We’ve re-organized our roundup and added new reporting about guns and gun violence in America—looking at mass shootings and mental health, as well as other kinds of gun violence.

Please include your suggestions of other stories in the comments.

Are Mass Shootings Increasing? Depends on How You Count Them

Criminologists have made the same point again and again: the number of mass shootings in America is not increasing. Experts told the Los Angeles Times that mass shootings represent only a small fraction of the annual deaths due to gun violence, and that police data indicate that the overall count of mass shootings per year has not shown any significant increase over time. This conclusion is based on the FBI’s broad definition of a mass murder: four or more people murdered in the same incident, typically in the same location. . . .

U.S. Supreme Court’s New Pleading Standards For Qualified Immunity.

27 Tuesday May 2014

Posted by in Appellate Law, Excessive Force, First Amendment, Governmental Tort Claim Act, Qualified Immunity, United States Supreme Court

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , , ,

SCOTUS Decision in Wood v. Moss: Guidance on Pleading Standards?, by Adam Steinman, Civil Procedure and Federal Courts Blog 

http://tinyurl.com/pvgjemj

Today the Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision in Wood v. Moss, with Justice Ginsburg authoring the opinion for the Court. As covered earlier here, Wood v. Moss is a Bivens case brought by plaintiffs who had been protesting against President George W. Bush during his 2004 visit to a restaurant in Oregon. The plaintiffs claim that the defendants, who were secret service agents, violated their First Amendment rights by moving them farther away from the President than a similar group that was expressing support for the President.

In today’s decision, the Court unanimously rules that the defendants are protected by qualified immunity. To most, this conclusion did not come as a surprise. For many proceduralists, however, the case was of particular interest because of its potential effect on pleading standards in the wake of Twombly and Iqbal. . . .

Best Strategies for Arbitration.

27 Tuesday May 2014

Posted by in Arbitration

≈ Comments Off on Best Strategies for Arbitration.

Tags

, , ,

The Best Strategies to Present Your Case In Arbitration, by Derek Ryan, Cogent Legal Blog

http://tinyurl.com/kpoutzw

Arbitrations are a great forum for the use of the graphics, animations and trial technologies. Depending on the arbitrator(s)’ familiarity with technologies, attorneys can often submit briefs, exhibit lists and other critical documents electronically.

Consider, too, the fact that arbitrations are usually held in meeting rooms smaller than most courtrooms. Having 70 boxes of exhibits in the arbitration room will make you feel surrounded by paper. The more you can digitize and display this material electronically, the better.

This post walks you through steps that will help you prepare and succeed at arbitration. The advice is based on my decade-plus experience working with attorneys and neutrals in mediation and arbitration. . . .