Sunday, June 10, 2007 8:44 AM
Blawg's Sunday Paper, a quick spin through the blawgosphere and the week that was.
Richard Sander wrote a very interesting post, Some Good News About Women in Law, at Empirical Legal Studies. Among his findings:
Traditionally, men and women lawyers have been at least somewhat segregated in two ways: the type of employer they go to work for, and the area in which they specialize. Women have tended to be overrepresented in government and non-profits; men have concentrated in private firms, especially (compared to women) in smaller firms. Within firms, women were more likely to work in family law or probate; men dominated many of the commercial and "big business" fields.
That seems to be changing.
Visit Some Good News About Women in Law for more.
In the post, Another Law School??, Mitchell H. Rubinstein at Adjunct Law Prof Blog read that Wilkes University was going to hire a legal education leader to develop plans for establishing a law school.
Cindy Chick at LawLibTech pointed out her recent article, Law Librarians in the New Millennium, in her post Knowledge Management for Librarians:
Law librarians frequently complain that attorneys are terrible at knowledge management because they're just not willing to share. That may be true, but I'm not so sure librarians are much better. We have to ask ourselves if WE are good at collecting and sharing our knowledge with other librarians and library staff. See Knowledge Management for Librarians for more.
Mary Flood, writing at Legal Trade, highlighted a story in her paper, the Houston Chronicle concerning the diabetes drug Avandia: Drug doubts put lawyers, pharmaceutical companies in motion. In her post Avandia - the birth of a mass tort, she suggests that:
When Avandia, a popular diabetes drug, came under attack in a medical journal last month, lawyers quickly prepared a major attack on the drug maker itself.
In this story in today's paper, we look at how advertising lawyers who troll for clients got to work with ads on the Internet, TV and in newspapers. Meanwhile drug maker GlaxoSmithKline ran ads in the nation's largest papers, including the Chronicle, to calm their customers.
Ms. Flood continued by noting the various methods lawyers use to find potential clients, from 1-800 numbers to internet advertising. Perhaps most telling, was one lawyer mentioned in the article, who said while he hated all the ads on TV and ads on the Internet...he can't argue with the results.
Filewrapper offered a brief summary of last week's Senate hearings on the Patent Reform Act of 2007:
Of most interest was the testimony of Director [Jon W.] Dudas, as it represents the views of the USPTO on the currently-proposed patent reforms. Possibly the most troubling aspect of his testimony was his view that virtually all applicants should be required to go through the hoops required by the accelerated examination program, such as the examination support document, a prior art search, as well as the various other requirements (more detail about the requirements can be found in this post).
Martin George wrote about The Dangers and Benefits of Facebook for Universities.
Steven Merican at Illinois Appellate Lawyer Blog posted about Decaro v. M. Felix, Inc., No. 1-05-2460 3/9/07, noting that the First District Illinois Appellate Rules Appeal From Denial Of Injunction Can Wait Until End Of Case.
Bob Carroll at Tampa Bay Personal Injury Attorney was recently reminded of the McDonald's hot coffee case:
I was in the Tampa International Airport last week waiting to board a flight, and I stopped in the terminal Starbucks to check my email and grab a cup of coffee.
While I was sitting there, a woman who had just purchased one of those five-step drinks (triple, half, whip something or other) dropped her beverage on the floor as she was getting it off the counter. The piping-hot drink didn't get on anyone in the accident, but the spill brought the obligatory jokes about the McDonald's coffee case throughout the crowded store.
It's been 15 years, and the McDonald's case still stands as the model for "frivolous" lawsuits. I thought it would be a good time to revisit the facts. The American Association of Justice, a group of attorneys dedicated to protecting the rigths of citizens, provides a thorough look at the case, including a look at the verdict
See Mr. Caroll's post The McDonald's Hot Coffee Case Revisited for more, including links to additional materials on the subject.
Michael J. Hassen at California Class Action Defense Blog reported that Labor Law Class Action Cases Reclaim Top Spot Among New Class Action Filings In California State And Federal Courts
Ed Poll at LawBizBlog said Increase your legal fees in one easy step!: Collecting Your Fees: Ethically Getting Paid from Intake to Invoice will be offered by the ABA on June 21st at 10 a.m. PT.
Stan Rule at Rule of Law wrote about Statutory Declaration in Canada by way of example in his post Singh Estate v. Shandil.
Howard Bashman at How Appealing, offered some updated links to articles related to Guantanamo.
Stephen Seckler at Counsel to Counsel pointed out an interesting article by Carey Bertolet in the post Law Firm Associates as Luxury Items?
Appellate Law & Practice has all the links to the Libby Letters for those so inclined.
Kenneth W. Davis at Manage Your Writing noted Long words make you look stupid.
Daniel J. Solove at Concurring Opinions wrote about a topic recently in the headlines: Google's Street View and Privacy.
Finishing, as always, with something from the lighter side, thanks to Legal Andrew for pointing out the Elmer Fudd Google Search (just in case you want to search for that wascally wabbit) and other Fun Google Easter Eggs.
Have a great Sunday...