ABA Journal Podcasts - Legal Talk Network

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ABA Journal: Asked and Answered : The pandemic has not slowed down Howard Bashman of How Appealing Mar 29, 2021

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Although the COVID-19 pandemic has caused there to be fewer court filings in some jurisdictions, Howard Bashman’s blog, How Appealing, continues to share multiple posts on a daily basis about appellate law and legal news.

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ABA Journal: Modern Law Library : 'Watergate Girl' give an inside look at special prosecution team that brought down Nixon Mar 24, 2021

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Jill Wine-Banks was barely 30 when she became an assistant Watergate special prosecutor investigating President Richard M. Nixon. In Watergate Girl: My Fight for Truth and Justice Against a Criminal President, Wine-Banks (who was then known as Jill Wine Volner) shares her experience battling political obstruction, courtroom legal wrangling and the era's sexism. Though she'd originally attended law school with the thought it would help her become a hard-news journalist, she found herself instead under the microscope of a ravenous press that dubbed her "the mini-skirted lawyer."

Her memoir, which has been optioned by actress Katie Holmes' production company to be made into a feature film, concentrates on her time in the Watergate special prosecution. She candidly shares not only the work the team was doing behind the scenes but also the difficult time she was having with her marriage and personal life.

In this episode of the Modern Law Library, Wine-Banks and the ABA Journal's Lee Rawles discuss her winding career path, which also led her to becoming the first female general counsel of the U.S. Army and the first woman to be hired as the executive director and COO of the American Bar Association.

ABA Journal: Legal Rebels : Experienced cloud-based law firm thrives during COVID-19, firm co-founder says Mar 17, 2021

Show notes

When the spread of the novel coronavirus last spring prompted traditional law firms across the country to shutter their physical offices amid much economic uncertainty, the management team at cloud-based law firm FisherBroyles had very different concerns on its radar. The team wanted to make sure that the firm was ready to quickly ramp up hiring. Kevin E. Broyles, the firm’s co-founder and managing partner, says expanding was top of mind.

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ABA Journal: Modern Law Library : Interested in infectious disease litigations? Before you accept a case, read this Mar 10, 2021

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When Davis M. Walsh and Samuel L. Tarry began assembling Infectious Disease Litigation: Science, Law, and Procedure, they had no idea that soon a pandemic was going to make the topic more relevant than ever. In this episode of the Modern Law Library, Walsh and Tarry talk about the experience of editing the book, the unique challenges of litigating infectious disease cases, their advice for attorneys looking to get into the expanding field, and how COVID-19 might have changed juries' points of view in such cases.

ABA Journal: Asked and Answered : Public defender with Patreon for FOIA lawsuits shares her thoughts on lawyers and social media Feb 22, 2021

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When she’s posting online, Beth Bourdon is not like most other lawyers, and she says that’s probably why she has more than 50,000 Twitter followers. She is a Florida public defender who represents people charged with homicide. She also helps journalists with Freedom of Information Act requests in her spare time—and that includes a Patreon account, a membership platform that provides funds for the work.

Special thanks to our sponsor, LawPay.

ABA Journal: Modern Law Library : What can Texas tell us about the rise and fall of the death penalty? Feb 17, 2021

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By the late 1960s, use of the death penalty was on the decline in the United States. But after the U.S. Supreme Court declared in the 1972 case Furman v. Georgia that the death penalty as practiced violated the Eighth and 14th Amendments, there was a political backlash. By 1976, Georgia had a new capital punishment system that did pass Supreme Court muster, and other states followed suit–including Texas.

In Let The Lord Sort Them: The Rise and Fall of the Death Penalty, Maurice Chammah examines how Texas reinstated its death penalty and quickly became the leader in the nation in number of executions. Texas has carried out 570 executions since 1976, more than quintuple the total of the next ranked state, Virginia, which has executed 113. Why does Texas stand out this way?

In this episode of the Modern Law Library, Chammah shares what he learned; how he researched this book; and how and why the surge of death penalty cases in the 1980s and 1990s dropped after the peak in 2000. He discusses elements of Texas history–including the use of lynching–that contributed to the use of the death penalty. He also shares with the ABA Journal's Lee Rawles some speculation about what the publicity surrounding the resumption of federal executions after a 17-year hiatus at the end of the Trump administration might mean for death penalty abolition efforts.

ABA Journal: Legal Rebels : Virtual onboarding has provided some unexpected benefits, firm shareholder says Feb 10, 2021

Show notes

Virtual trivia nights and happy hours are among the activities that Wolf, Greenfield & Sacks has hosted in recent months to help welcome new hires into the fold amid a remote working environment. John Van Amsterdam, a shareholder at the Boston-based intellectual property law firm, says the events hosted via video conferencing platforms because of COVID-19 have provided a surprisingly effective avenue for building personal connections.

Special thanks to our sponsor Alert Communications and Nota.

ABA Journal: Modern Law Library : Why do barristers wear wigs? 'Dress Codes' explores fashion and the law Feb 03, 2021

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Ask any attorney about the most outlandish clothing they've seen worn in a courtroom, and most will have a colorful story. But what determines the appropriateness of any outfit?

In Dress Codes: How the Laws of Fashion Made History, Stanford law professor Richard Thompson Ford looks at why we wear what we wear; how that has changed over the centuries; and the laws that were codified around what could be worn and in what situations. For example, in the legal profession, fashion is generally quite conservative compared to some other industries. But why are wigs worn by judges and barristers in the United Kingdom, but not in the United States? Why is it a power move in Silicon Valley to wear a T-shirt and jeans? How can your fashion choices wind up getting you charged for murder–or acquitted of those charges?

In this episode of the Modern Law Library, Ford answers all these questions posed by the ABA Journal's Lee Rawles. They also discuss how Ford's own father trained as a tailor, and the ways it influenced how he himself views fashion.

Ford also discusses how researching the book made him change his mind about a particular employment law, and shares the fashion-ating controversy of Elena Kagan and the morning coat. Lastly, for the young attorney just compiling their professional wardrobe, Ford offers advice–and a cautionary tale from his own days as an associate.

ABA Journal: Modern Law Library : How your firm can use technology to build business and keep clients Jan 27, 2021

Show notes

As a longtime technology consultant to law firms, Heinan Landa knows that lawyers are cautious customers who can be resistant to change. But the old expectations around client service no longer exist, he says, and meeting the new standards requires a shift in the way law firms do business.

In this episode of the Modern Law Library, Landa tells the ABA Journal's Lee Rawles that he intends his new book, The Modern Law Firm: How to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Technological Change, to help ease lawyers' anxiety about this upheaval by helping them identify their firms' "Technology Operational Maturity Level." By identifying a firm's current maturity level, Landa hopes to provide attorneys with a road map of next steps.

While The Modern Law Firm was written with midsized firms with 10-100 lawyers in mind, Landa says that with adjustments of scale, the advice can also be relevant to solos and to BigLaw attorneys. Whether or not your firm has the resources to hire a full-time chief technology officer, Landa would encourage all attorneys to take an interest in emerging trends, and he suggests a number of ways to make it a manageable part of one's work life.

Landa also discusses the ways that COVID-19 has accelerated the need for technology adoption, and walks through what he has identified as "the Four Pillars of Exceptional Customer Service" to help firms keep and build business.

ABA Journal: Asked and Answered : Law prof focuses on positives from the COVID-19 pandemic Jan 25, 2021

Show notes

Rather than focus on the restrictions of teaching via Zoom, Peter H. Huang zeroed in on how he could use the platform in innovative ways. This summer, the University of Colorado Law School professor enjoyed the creativity involved with thinking about different ways to conduct class, and he got pleasure from brainstorming with colleagues on efficient ways to navigate change.

Special thanks to our sponsor, LawPay.

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