In Dallas yesterday, a jury came back with a verdict in the "Holy Land Foundation" trial. They were mostly deadlocked, but they acquitted one of the six defendants of all charges and acquitted two others of most charges. U.S. District Judge Joe Fish polled the jurors. Three didn't agree with the verdict (Dallas Morning News article). The judge sent them back out to resume deliberating, and when

In response to my post on lower-tier law schools being the better bet for aspiring solos, law student Zeb wrote: I'm a second year student at the University of Baltimore, a supposedly 4th tier school (that just happens to supply the bulk of trial lawyers in Baltimore). Mr. Bennett's intial post has inspired me to post this comment seeking advice. I have an interest in a criminal

It's Monday; time for another verse from the Tao Te Ching. If you overesteem great men, people become powerless. If you overvalue possessions, people begin to steal.Who is "you"? Obviously, a person who overvalues possessions might steal, but I think the "you" who is the subject of the verse is us. If we overvalue possessions, some of us begin to steal. If we overesteem great men, people

After you have decided on the narrow field on which you will cross-examine the State's doctor, what next? Go to pubmed.com, where you can search a database of medical journal articles. Pick out the keywords from the premises that you want to investigate, and search for these keywords in every combination you can think of. Try variations: sex assault reveals 977 results and sexual assault reveals 2016;

At Lawyer for Profit today Michael Sherman posts, riffing on this post by Susan Cartier Liebel at Build a Solo Practice, LLC, about law schools' failure to teach students how to hang a shingle. Susan quotes Ryan Alexander, a Harvard law grad who started his own practice: I hope HLS will eventually offer a seminar in running your own practice to open up students' eyes to the

Nicole Black, in her Sui Generis blog is polling blog readers on the best New York Blawg and Blawger. The results so far are here. 51 people think the Reproductive Rights Prof Blog is the best; 36 think the Feminist Law Professors blog is the best. I would describe Reproductive Rights Prof Blog as a news-clipping blog, light on original content -- not what I'm looking for

I mentioned here my contention that the only way to cross-examine an expert witness about his conclusions is to know at least as much, if not more about the narrow subject of his testimony that hurts you than he does. It's my position that, while I will probably never know as much about pediatrics than the State's expert, I can know more about hymenal notching than him

Unlike my New York alter ego, Scott Greenfield, I don't mind the calls from people who want advice. Often I have the correct answers to their questions and can provide them some assistance, which is a) a fair return for the gifts I have been given; and b) why I am a lawyer. Usually, though, the caller has some question that couldn't possibly be answered by a

To my colleagues who moderate the comments on their blawgs: What are you afraid of?

If you get a chance to talk to the State's expert witness before trial (if you're allowed to, try; the best experts often see themselves as neutral, and will explain their conclusions to you), your last question should be: "What book should I read to learn about this topic myself." Get the book; it'll be a learned treatise that you can mine for cross-examination material. In a