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Psychology for Lawyers
May 3, 2015
Law professors Jean Sternlight and Jennifer Robbennolt explain how, through various psychology techniques, you can become...
May 3, 2015
Law professors Jean Sternlight and Jennifer Robbennolt explain how, through various psychology techniques, you can become...
Contemplating Academic Analytics for Law Schools
May 3, 2015
There is a recent trend in higher education to standardize assessment of faculty’s academic achievement across disciplines. For example, a company called Academic Analytics markets itself as providing university administrators “with objective data that administrators can use . . . as a method for benchmarking in comparison to other institutions.” As its website explains, it measures productivity and excellence by quantifying: the publication of scholarly work as books and journal articles citations...
May 3, 2015
There is a recent trend in higher education to standardize assessment of faculty’s academic achievement across disciplines. For example, a company called Academic Analytics markets itself as providing university administrators “with objective data that administrators can use . . . as a method for benchmarking in comparison to other institutions.” As its website explains, it measures productivity and excellence by quantifying: the publication of scholarly work as books and journal articles citations...
Judge: It’s OK to Serve Divorce Papers Via Facebook
May 3, 2015
Defriending apparently isn’t the harshest blow that can be dealt on Facebook. A New York judge ruled that divorce papers can be served through a Facebook message. The ruling by Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Matthew Cooper allows a lawyer for 26-year-old nurse Ellanora Baidoo to serve the divorce summons to Victor Sena Blood-Dzraku through a private message from her Facebook account, the New York Daily News reported Monday. Blood-Dzraku is apparently hard to get a hold of. When he spoke...
May 3, 2015
Defriending apparently isn’t the harshest blow that can be dealt on Facebook. A New York judge ruled that divorce papers can be served through a Facebook message. The ruling by Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Matthew Cooper allows a lawyer for 26-year-old nurse Ellanora Baidoo to serve the divorce summons to Victor Sena Blood-Dzraku through a private message from her Facebook account, the New York Daily News reported Monday. Blood-Dzraku is apparently hard to get a hold of. When he spoke...
Dentons and McKenna Long Agree to Merge
May 2, 2015
The world’s largest law firm is still growing. In January, Dentons said it is merging with Chinese law firm Dacheng to create a law firm with more than 6,500 lawyers and professionals. Now Dentons is announcing a merger with McKenna Long & Aldridge, report the Am Law Daily (sub. req.), the Wall Street Journal Law Blog, Bloomberg Big Law Business and the Atlanta Business Chronicle. A press release is here.
May 2, 2015
The world’s largest law firm is still growing. In January, Dentons said it is merging with Chinese law firm Dacheng to create a law firm with more than 6,500 lawyers and professionals. Now Dentons is announcing a merger with McKenna Long & Aldridge, report the Am Law Daily (sub. req.), the Wall Street Journal Law Blog, Bloomberg Big Law Business and the Atlanta Business Chronicle. A press release is here.
Amazon Launches Home Services
May 2, 2015
Amazon started out as an online bookstore, but has since expanded into selling almost any physical goods you can think of. But the company believes a lot of the stuff people buy on Amazon are things they could actually use help assembling, installing, or learning to enjoy. "We have 85 million Amazon customers who have shopped for products this past year that often require a service afterwards," said Peter Faricy, vice president for Amazon Marketplace. "Things like TVs, toilets, and sinks." Today,...
May 2, 2015
Amazon started out as an online bookstore, but has since expanded into selling almost any physical goods you can think of. But the company believes a lot of the stuff people buy on Amazon are things they could actually use help assembling, installing, or learning to enjoy. "We have 85 million Amazon customers who have shopped for products this past year that often require a service afterwards," said Peter Faricy, vice president for Amazon Marketplace. "Things like TVs, toilets, and sinks." Today,...
Law at the Speed of Technology
May 2, 2015
ZT: Do judges need to become comfortable using the technology that's increasingly coming before them to rule on it? Do judges need to be on Twitter, on Facebook, wearing a FitBit? JF: Judges unquestionably have to be technologically adept and understand an intricate technology. That is easier if you use these devices yourself. I think a judge can conquer the technology, even if she doesn't understand Twitter and Facebook by using it, because there are other ways to learn about it. But obviously...
May 2, 2015
ZT: Do judges need to become comfortable using the technology that's increasingly coming before them to rule on it? Do judges need to be on Twitter, on Facebook, wearing a FitBit? JF: Judges unquestionably have to be technologically adept and understand an intricate technology. That is easier if you use these devices yourself. I think a judge can conquer the technology, even if she doesn't understand Twitter and Facebook by using it, because there are other ways to learn about it. But obviously...
How Wearable Devices Are Disrupting the Insurance Industry
May 1, 2015
Nearly 50 years after Captain Kirk began using his wrist communicator on the television show, Star Trek, wearable technology is taking hold. From Fitbit and Nike Fuelbands to Google Glass and Golden-I, the technology is influencing how people live and work. While there are many benefits to utilizing wearable technology in the insurance industry, along with the innovation comes risks, according to experts. * * * Wearables can also capture data and provide feedback about the wearer. Benton...
May 1, 2015
Nearly 50 years after Captain Kirk began using his wrist communicator on the television show, Star Trek, wearable technology is taking hold. From Fitbit and Nike Fuelbands to Google Glass and Golden-I, the technology is influencing how people live and work. While there are many benefits to utilizing wearable technology in the insurance industry, along with the innovation comes risks, according to experts. * * * Wearables can also capture data and provide feedback about the wearer. Benton...
After Laughing, People More Willing To Share Personal Details
May 1, 2015
As a theatrical improviser, I’ve experienced workshops and shows where, after initial horseplay, people who hardly know each other share intimate autobiographical details, sometimes on a brightly lit stage. Where does this striking willingness to be vulnerable arrive from? New research suggests that part of the answer may be that the act of laughter encourages personal disclosure: we chuckle out our secrets. At the start of Alan Gray’s study, groups of four participants watched a video to influence...
May 1, 2015
As a theatrical improviser, I’ve experienced workshops and shows where, after initial horseplay, people who hardly know each other share intimate autobiographical details, sometimes on a brightly lit stage. Where does this striking willingness to be vulnerable arrive from? New research suggests that part of the answer may be that the act of laughter encourages personal disclosure: we chuckle out our secrets. At the start of Alan Gray’s study, groups of four participants watched a video to influence...
Innovative Bankruptcy Mediation Program Goes Live
May 1, 2015
The United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey launched an ambitious presumptive mediation program on May 1, 2014. The genesis of the new mediation program was an evaluation of the preexisting mediation program, which was found to be rarely, if ever, used. The hope of the new program is that, by making mediation presumptive for all adversary proceedings, mediation will be utilized extensively to benefit litigants and the court through swifter, less costly resolution. The program...
May 1, 2015
The United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey launched an ambitious presumptive mediation program on May 1, 2014. The genesis of the new mediation program was an evaluation of the preexisting mediation program, which was found to be rarely, if ever, used. The hope of the new program is that, by making mediation presumptive for all adversary proceedings, mediation will be utilized extensively to benefit litigants and the court through swifter, less costly resolution. The program...
Time Pressure Improves Decision Making
April 30, 2015
A new simulation of a complex, realistic disaster event suggests that time pressure facilitates better decision-making among emergency responders. The two-day training exercise, overseen by Liverpool’s Centre for Critical and Major Incident Psychology, looked at the impact of a hypothetical aeroplane crash over a city. Nearly two hundred professionals were split into different rooms based on the agency they belonged to (14 agencies in all, including police, transport, health and science advisors),...
April 30, 2015
A new simulation of a complex, realistic disaster event suggests that time pressure facilitates better decision-making among emergency responders. The two-day training exercise, overseen by Liverpool’s Centre for Critical and Major Incident Psychology, looked at the impact of a hypothetical aeroplane crash over a city. Nearly two hundred professionals were split into different rooms based on the agency they belonged to (14 agencies in all, including police, transport, health and science advisors),...
