» WORDS OF WISDOM
David J. Beck on the vanishing jury trial.
January 14th, 2014
David Beck, a former president of the State Bar of Texas and American College of Trial Lawyers published an article in the the Texas Bar Journal in December of 2013. In it, he discussed the dirty little secret in the legal world – that there is an indisputable decline in the number of jury and non-jury trials in the United States. In the article, Beck fo…
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Categories: WORDS OF WISDOM
Looking for an effective way to track time, keep on top of expenses and get invoices out? Try Freshbooks.
May 24th, 2013
In addition to the personal injury work my firm handles, I also handle some hourly litigation matters. Consequently, I have to track my time on those matters. Not good. Dating back to my early days as an insurance defense lawyer, I was never any good at billing. And they made it easy for me. The billing sheets were right there on my desk. Neatly divided into l…
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Stay in touch and the networking takes care of itself.
April 26th, 2013
Not particularly inclined to write about legal stuff over the course of the last 10 days. But while sitting transfixed, constantly checking the web and television for updates, stories started coming out, how, even in the light of horrible pain and grief, goodness prevails. Civilians, at the risk of their own safety, running toward the bomb blast to render what…
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Some helpful hints for mediators.
April 11th, 2013
Any lawyer that is involved in litigation of any type has, by now, been introduced to the concept of mediation. Mediation is an increasingly popular form of “alternative dispute resolution” which is legalese for “let’s avoid that whole trial thing”. Mediation involves the voluntary gathering of trial lawyers and parties in an effo…
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Food for thought on keeping your law practice lean.
February 8th, 2013
Saw an interesting article online the other day about a young lawyer in Brooklyn who specializes in servicing start-ups. The lawyer, Kyle Westaway, believes that certain entrenched components of the legal system are flawed and lawyers need to rethink how they do things to stay competitive. Westaway believes a new model of law is evolving – and it involve…
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Sometimes, the case has to be tried.
November 16th, 2012
When I evaluate personal injury cases, my initial assessment involves two primary questions: 1) is there a serious injury and 2) can I prove liability against the defendants. I would like to say that every injury case sitting in my file cabinets is a million dollar case. But that isn’t the case. Some of my files feature serious injuries[sadly sometimes i…
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IS A BLOG WORTH THE TROUBLE?? YOU BET.
May 2nd, 2011
I recently did an analysis of my web presence – specifically my weblog[which you are currently reading] and my website[which is dated and boring and badly needs updating]. I decided to revamp my website. The company overseeing that project advised that they could port over my blog to the website and save me some money in the process. My contract with the…
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Categories: WORDS OF WISDOM
IN PRAISE OF LAWYERS...
August 9th, 2010
Trial attorneys have taking a beating of late. The media, late night talk show hosts, Republican hacks/flacks… This video, forwarded by another Illinois lawyer is a great rebuttal. Enjoy! A World Without Lawyers – Watch more funny videos here
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Categories: WORDS OF WISDOM
SOME HELPFUL HINTS FOR JUDGES
April 12th, 2010
One of my favorites legal writers, Kenneth P. Nolan had a great Sidebar column in the April issue of the Litigation, the American Bar Association Section of Litigation Journal. The column offered some advice to judges on how to run a courtroom. The column should be read in its entirety[as all of Nolan’s columns should]. With apologies to Mr. Nolan, I off…
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NOLAN ON OPENING STATEMENT
December 28th, 2009
Kenneth P. Nolan writes a monthly column entitled Sidebar for Litigation, the monthly publication by the American Bar Association Section of Litigation. Mr. Nolan is a proud resident of Brooklyn, New York and a seasoned veteran of New York courtrooms. In my humble opinion his columns are the best part of Litigation. In his Summer, 2009 column[yeah, I’m a…
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Categories: WORDS OF WISDOM