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Patent Pilot Program Could Cut Litigation Costs
May 26, 2014
In 2011, Congress created a program designed to streamline district court patent cases. One aim of the Patent Pilot Program was to reduce the high cost of patent litigation. The idea was to foster a greater level of specialization in technical and procedural issues unique to patent matters among certain judges. The rationale was simple: judges who more regularly hear patent cases will be better equipped to efficiently and correctly resolve complex issues—such as the meaning of technical terms...
May 26, 2014
In 2011, Congress created a program designed to streamline district court patent cases. One aim of the Patent Pilot Program was to reduce the high cost of patent litigation. The idea was to foster a greater level of specialization in technical and procedural issues unique to patent matters among certain judges. The rationale was simple: judges who more regularly hear patent cases will be better equipped to efficiently and correctly resolve complex issues—such as the meaning of technical terms...
A General Release Is a Release by Any Other Name
May 26, 2014
Be sure you know what you’re giving up when signing a general release. As Zuckerman Spaeder partner Jason Knott explains in Suits by Suits, general releases “mean what they say even if employees and employers later disagree as to whether they actually meant to give up their claims.” Take the case of Mattatall v. Transdermal. Debourah Mattatall once owned DPM Therapeutics Corporation, which she sold to Transdermal. Knott says DPM’s minority shareholders sued her to prevent the sale,...
May 26, 2014
Be sure you know what you’re giving up when signing a general release. As Zuckerman Spaeder partner Jason Knott explains in Suits by Suits, general releases “mean what they say even if employees and employers later disagree as to whether they actually meant to give up their claims.” Take the case of Mattatall v. Transdermal. Debourah Mattatall once owned DPM Therapeutics Corporation, which she sold to Transdermal. Knott says DPM’s minority shareholders sued her to prevent the sale,...
The Great Disruption: How Machine Intelligence Will Transform the Role of Lawyers in the Delivery of Legal Services
May 24, 2014
Professor John O. McGinnis of Northwestern University and Professor Russell G. Pearce of Fordham University have published The Great Disruption: How Machine Intelligence Will Transform the Role of Lawyers in the Delivery of Legal Services, Fordham Law Review, 82, 3041-3066 (2014). Here is the abstract: This Article argues that machines are coming to disrupt the legal profession and that bar regulation cannot stop them. Part I describes the relentless growth of computer power in hardware,...
May 24, 2014
Professor John O. McGinnis of Northwestern University and Professor Russell G. Pearce of Fordham University have published The Great Disruption: How Machine Intelligence Will Transform the Role of Lawyers in the Delivery of Legal Services, Fordham Law Review, 82, 3041-3066 (2014). Here is the abstract: This Article argues that machines are coming to disrupt the legal profession and that bar regulation cannot stop them. Part I describes the relentless growth of computer power in hardware,...
Justice Scalia Rejects 2-Year Law School, Skills Training
May 24, 2014
Antonin Scalia, Commencement Address at William & Mary Law School,Reflections on the Future of the Legal Academy (May 11, 2014): What I want to discuss with you briefly—and I promise to be brief—is whether (to be blunt about it) you have essentially wasted one of your three years here, and could have done the job in two. It is a current proposal for reformthat law students should be permitted to sit for the bar exam and otherwise be eligible to practice law after only two years of study....
May 24, 2014
Antonin Scalia, Commencement Address at William & Mary Law School,Reflections on the Future of the Legal Academy (May 11, 2014): What I want to discuss with you briefly—and I promise to be brief—is whether (to be blunt about it) you have essentially wasted one of your three years here, and could have done the job in two. It is a current proposal for reformthat law students should be permitted to sit for the bar exam and otherwise be eligible to practice law after only two years of study....
Running Your Legal Business Like Nate Silver
May 23, 2014
In the ELM world, legal analytics can provide law firms, corporate law, and claims litigation departments with the data that they need as a foundation for their most critical decisions. Years of professional experience and wisdom do not fly out the window when you implement fact-based decision making. Good instincts are supplemented by concrete, real-world information that helps to hone those instincts for even better results. For example, Dawn the corporate attorney might have a general sense,...
May 23, 2014
In the ELM world, legal analytics can provide law firms, corporate law, and claims litigation departments with the data that they need as a foundation for their most critical decisions. Years of professional experience and wisdom do not fly out the window when you implement fact-based decision making. Good instincts are supplemented by concrete, real-world information that helps to hone those instincts for even better results. For example, Dawn the corporate attorney might have a general sense,...
Suja Thomas on Declining Jury Trials
May 23, 2014
Suja Thomas (Illinois) has posted to SSRN Blackstone's Curse: The Fall of the Criminal, Civil, and Grand Juries and the Rise...
May 23, 2014
Suja Thomas (Illinois) has posted to SSRN Blackstone's Curse: The Fall of the Criminal, Civil, and Grand Juries and the Rise...
Judge Sanctions Insurer $50K Because its Lawyer Couldn’t Settle Dog-Bite Case for $750K
May 23, 2014
Attorney Peter Neumann, who represents Moberly, was close to a $750,000 settlement on April 30 with defendants James, Dianne...
May 23, 2014
Attorney Peter Neumann, who represents Moberly, was close to a $750,000 settlement on April 30 with defendants James, Dianne...
No Retroactive Application to Arbitration Agreement Says Sixth Circuit
May 23, 2014
The Sixth Circuit held that an employee does not have to arbitrate a claim that was already pending in court when he entered...
May 23, 2014
The Sixth Circuit held that an employee does not have to arbitrate a claim that was already pending in court when he entered...
Why Universities Should Bail Out Their Law Schools
May 23, 2014
Boston Globe op-ed: Bail Out Law Schools – But With Strings Attached, by Paula Monopoli (Maryland): When I joined the legal academy more than 20 years ago, American law schools were the cash cows of higher education. Revenue flowed from law schools to central administrations, and campuses were happy to let law schools oversee themselves. New programs sprang up by the dozens. Lots of new hires each year became the norm, and expensive symposia the order of the day. It never occurred to us that...
May 23, 2014
Boston Globe op-ed: Bail Out Law Schools – But With Strings Attached, by Paula Monopoli (Maryland): When I joined the legal academy more than 20 years ago, American law schools were the cash cows of higher education. Revenue flowed from law schools to central administrations, and campuses were happy to let law schools oversee themselves. New programs sprang up by the dozens. Lots of new hires each year became the norm, and expensive symposia the order of the day. It never occurred to us that...
Judge Posner Sarcastically Applauds ‘New Form of Arbitration’ After Garner’s Expert Evaluates Tiff
May 22, 2014
Legal Times published Posner’s response in a second article. “Please convey my congratulations to Bryan Garner on inventing a new form of arbitration,” Posner wrote in an email to Legal Times. “Two parties have a dispute; one appoints an arbitrator to resolve the dispute; the other disputant is not consulted.” “How beautifully that simplifies arbitration!” Posner continued. “No need for the parties to agree on an arbitrator, or for the American Arbitration Association to list...
May 22, 2014
Legal Times published Posner’s response in a second article. “Please convey my congratulations to Bryan Garner on inventing a new form of arbitration,” Posner wrote in an email to Legal Times. “Two parties have a dispute; one appoints an arbitrator to resolve the dispute; the other disputant is not consulted.” “How beautifully that simplifies arbitration!” Posner continued. “No need for the parties to agree on an arbitrator, or for the American Arbitration Association to list...
