Sunday, May 20, 2007 9:15 AM
Blawg's Sunday Paper, a quick spin through the blawgosphere and the week that was.
Tom Goldstein at SCOTUSBlog wrote an Analysis: The Court and the 2008 Election:
As the presidential campaign season gets an unprecedented early start, it is not too early to start the hyperbole on the importance of the election for the future of the Court and, as a consequence, the future of American law.
The most important caveat to predictions like these is that no one actually knows; this is speculation. The Justices don’t disclose their retirement plans, and those plans they do have are subject to change. What I say below is simply my sense personally, informed by a number of conversations that I think are reliable.
Francis G.X. Pileggi at the Delaware Corporate and Commercial Litigation Blog, noted that the Delaware Supreme Court Rules: Creditors Have No Direct Claims Against Directors Of Corporation in Zone of Insolvency:
In North American Catholic Educational Programming Foundation, Inc. v. Gheewhalla, (Del. Supr., May 18, 2007), read opinion here, the Delaware Supreme Court upheld the Chancery Court's determination that creditors of a Delaware corporation do not have a direct claim against directors of an insolvent corporation, or one in the zone of insolvency, for breach of fiduciary duty. Professor Bainbridge comments on this important decision here. This decision will be of great interest to both corporate lawyers and litigators as well as bankruptcy lawyers.
The Illinois Trial Practice Weblog asked: Legal Writing: Is Shorter Really Better?
You've heard the conventional wisdom. When writing a brief, make it short, because shorter is better.
But is it really? Based on the briefs I regularly see in my own practice, many lawyers don't seem to think so. Even in courts that have imposed page limits on briefs, lawyers routinely include motions with their overlong opuses seeking relief from the court's guidelines.
What are the reasons for long briefs? Since I too have struggled with page limits, both as a defense lawyer and a plaintiffs' lawyer, I have a few ideas. Click Legal Writing: Is Shorter Really Better? to see those ideas
DailyWrit offered up 2006 Term Cases: Updated, a compilation of U.S. Supreme Court cases:
I updated my Term Case Index by adding the cases that are currently before the Court. I’ve included a hyperlink to the oral arguments as well as the Questions Presented Document which lists the key questions to be answered by the Court. I also included information about the general topics, case number, and date argued. I’ll be updating a few basic things like the formatting to both tables, but the information there is likely to stay the same.
Larry Bodine reported in his post Helms Mulliss & Wicker Unveils Branded Vehicle that Helms Mulliss & Wicker, a 130-lawyer firm in North Carolina, rolled out its new branded delivery vehicle. It is believed to be the first law firm in the country to utilize the latest technology in vehicle branding. For the curious, the post includes a picture, click link above to see it.
Inside Sarbanes-Oxley reported Just Days Away: The Fate of 404:
After nearly five years of hearing concerns about uncertainty regarding management's responsibilities under 404 and complaints about burdensome audits under its companion auditing standard, the Securities and Exchange Commission may formally make the first change to the provision before Memorial Day weekend. In back-to-back meetings, the SEC will vote on its proposed management guidance for complying with the internal-control rule on May 23, and the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board will decide whether to adopt its new companion auditing standard on May 24.
In the post Water Privatization in Indonesia, Mohamad Mova Al 'Afghani at Indonesian Law Reporter pointed out a recent op-ed piece he wrote regarding water law.
In his post Legal Newswire for Thomson-Reuters?, Tim Stanley at Justia offered some interesting predictions in the wake of the news that Thomson will acquire Reuters: ...I believe that Thomson will use some of their education division sale money to purchase American Lawyer Media. We will see... in the mean time, I am taking bets.
Rees Morrison, writing at Law Department Management, suggested Income and intelligence: profits per partner shouldn’t cause in-house insecurity:
Underpaid in-house lawyers who retain highly-paid partners marvel at whopping figures of profits per partner (See my posts of March 6, 2006 on international comparisons; and Aug. 26, 2006 about “Law firms make too much.”). Aside from income envy, many people attribute high intelligence to those with high earnings. That’s not so smart.
Jack Vinson at Knowledge Jolt with Jack is Compiling academic KM programs. Contact him if you know of any he has missed.
Monica Bay at The Common Scold continued her "Food Chain" postings with news that DATACERT BUYS CORPRASOFT.
Neil Squillante at TechnoLawyer Blog wrote Truly Media Truly Savvy About Marketing Its Animated Demonstrative Evidence Services.
And, finally, leave it to Legal Juice to point out this odd bit of news: You bet (while you still can!) Better get down to Louisana and catch a cockfight before it's too late. It's the only state that still allows cockfighting, but not for long. See Cockfighting Is Still Legal?
Have a great Sunday...