Shaping the Future of Law: Legalweek 2023 recap and analysis

During the recently completed Legalweek 2023, artificial intelligence dominated the conversation. Not everyone agreed on how legal professionals should—or could—use it. But no matter who you talked to, one thing was certain: The legal landscape will undergo a significant transformation due to the recent and rapid advancements in AI. Generative AI AI took center stage … Read more

Stanford Law’s free speech teachable moments

By Stuart N. Brotman I am a lawyer, First Amendment scholar and an endowed journalism and electronic media enterprise and leadership professor at a major research university. Given these multiple professional identities, my thoughts on a recent headline-grabbing incident at Stanford Law School cannot be summarized by a pithy tweet, which is the coin of … Read more

Alex Murdaugh and whether to testify in your own defense

As a criminal defense attorney with my fair share of trial experience, it’s always interesting to see how other practitioners litigate their cases. After all, the legal profession enjoys playing Monday morning quarterback with its analysis. I personally try not to cast stones; I’m far from flawless in trial. But that’s the beauty of the … Read more

A real defense of fake trials and a love letter to my family

I knew that arming teenagers with the ability to understand the difference between hearsay exemptions and exceptions would boomerang on me as a parent already locked in daily arguments about truth-telling. And yet, that’s what my husband and I did once our children were old enough to participate in high school mock trial competitions. Our … Read more

Preventive Law: Helping your clients before push comes to shove

By Karl A. Slaikeu Rare is the client who looks to litigators, alternative dispute resolution specialists or even corporate counsel as the “go to” persons for providing services that will prevent disputes. Most attorneys serve their clients by representing them in disputes that are already or soon to be underway, with a focus on billable … Read more

What makes for unhappy lawyers?

Hey, lawyers! Is everybody happy? If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands. Many of our colleagues are not exactly thrilled while practicing law. As Nanki-Poo in Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Mikado might say, the best way they could express their joys of law practice would be “modified rapture.” I Googled “unhappy lawyers,” … Read more

Is this a court of record or ‘Nothing But Trouble’?

I’ve always been a fan of those movies that are so bad they’re good. They come in various forms. Sometimes it’s your standard low-budget “B-movie” that owes its appeal to the fact that, despite its low budget, a great deal of effort was put into the production only to yield a subpar result. The 2003 … Read more

Chemerinsky: Student loan relief cases will have lasting effects whatever Supreme Court decides

U.S. Supreme Court No matter what the U.S. Supreme Court does in the cases involving the Biden administration’s student loan relief plan, there is sure to be a major effect on many people’s lives and on the law. On Tuesday, Feb. 28, the court heard oral arguments in two cases—Biden v. Nebraska and Department of … Read more

‘Rust’ and a look at criminal liability on movie sets

No profession is free from potential tragedy. It can come in various shapes and sizes to some degree or another, but the notion of someone dying while on a typical job is far from the realm of expectations. While these tragedies are always, well, tragic, death seems to hit on a different level when it … Read more