Legal Talk Network - Law News and Legal Topics

Do you do a statutory interpretation of board game rules at every family gathering? Does a trip to the grocery store involve observations about slip and fall potential? And how many liability lawsuits would you have filed over the Jurassic Park debacle? Laugh along with this spirited discussion about trying to turn off your lawyer brain…..and get solid advice on what to do if you can’t. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Struggling with efficiency in your law practice? Well, go watch “The Founder” starring Michael Keaton, meditate on its entrepreneurial lessons, and you should be good to go. Jared thinks so, anyway.Next, Jared welcomes Mark C. Palmer of the Illinois Supreme Court’s 2Civility Program to discuss a variety of the ways legal ethics have evolved alongside the new developments in technology and communication. They chat about texting with clients, client portals, cryptocurrency, virtual practice, and more.Last, the Rump Roast ushers in the return of “What Would Florida Man Do?”—this time with a holiday spin! Jared offers up a series of peculiar news stories and Mark must determine whether a true “Florida Man” was involved. Mark C. Palmer is the Chief Counsel of the Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism, also known as 2Civility----Since we talked about the McDonald brothers Speedee system, and what a tool Ray Kroc was, how about some songs about food!https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7IAkSDRYzv56bUr0sPNnkN?si=77d9c717eaa540f4----Our opening track is Two Cigarettes by Major Label Interest.The music for the Legal Trends Report Minute is I See You by Sounds Like Sander.Our closing track is Low Lit Blues by Renderings. Special thanks to our sponsors TimeSolv, Clio, Scorpion, and Alert Communications. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What comes to mind when you think about ‘design thinking process’? If you’re unfamiliar with the concept, it’s about prioritizing empathy so that your client can have an excellent experience with you.How does this impact your bottom line? Because you’ll have happy clients who remember you in times of crisis, but who will also refer you to their loved ones.One of the biggest pieces to any lucrative marketing strategy is ensuring that empathy piece in every touchpoint - it’s what makes you the expert lawyer.My guest this week, Laura Hartnett, has been on both sides as the lawyer and the client. She spent almost 15 years as a management consultant, a litigation associate for national and international law firms, and an in-house counsel for a Fortune 100 company. Now she brings her experience to law firms and legal departments consulting lawyers on how to use legal design thinking to make lawyering better.We talk about: What is design thinking? Why empathy is important in building client relationships Why design thinking is an integral piece in your overall marketing strategy How empathy translates into a detail of your client intake process Why celebrating failures is a good thing, and how to use it as a redirection Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The heavy, hardback editions of Martindale-Hubbell law directories, which were published annually and had different volumes for each jurisdiction, represented an important tool for executive search consultants back in the 1980s, before internet access was common, and lawyers’ backgrounds could only be found through paper or word of mouth.Special thanks to our sponsor, LawPay. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Carl is joined by Ki Hwang and Bob Roberts of Bright Line Counsel, an Alternative Legal Service Provider (ALSP). Learn how the field is not only streamlining legal ops and more efficiently serving clients, but also creating exciting opportunities for paralegal professionals. Hear how today’s paralegals can leverage their project management and technology skills to advance their careers and focus on meaningful, rewarding work. It’s a whole new world, and paralegal professionals are at the center of it. And in the Listener’s Voice segment, Carl takes a question about getting into the field of legal operations and offers tips on making the leap. Is this the next step in your own career? If you’ve got a comment or question, reach out at Devoted2Law@gmail.comSpecial thanks to our sponsors NALA, ServeNow, and InfoTrack. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tech Toys are back! Jim and Sharon ring in the holidays with an abundance of gift recommendations for the tech-lovers in your life. Tune in for their curated list of practical and not-so-practical wishlist picks. Happy Holidays! Special thanks to our sponsors, Alert Communications, Blackletter Podcast, Scorpion, and Smokeball.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Like the legal profession, the practice of medicine in the United States is highly regulated. But it hasn't always been, and the idea that a person has the right to try the medical therapies of their choice has a much longer history. In Choose Your Medicine: Freedom of Therapeutic Choice in America, law professor Lewis A. Grossman introduces readers to a fractious history with some unexpected combatants–and comrades.From his research, Grossman discovered that skepticism towards medical authorities has been the historical attitude Americans have held through the majority of the country's history. Instead, the deviation was the confidence and trust in science that held sway in the 1930s through the 1960s. In this episode of the Modern Law Library, Grossman discusses these historical attitudes with the ABA Journal's Lee Rawles, and what these attitudes could mean for the country's public health.Grossman points out that views on medical choice don't map directly onto political views. During the AIDS crisis in the 1980s and 1990s, liberal gay activists teamed up with anti-regulation conservatives to demand the FDA change its policies and let HIV-positive people try drug treatments that hadn't yet completed the approval process. During the COVID-19 pandemic it appears conservatives are more likely to demand unproven drugs and treatments like hydroxychloroquine (touted by former President Trump) and the anti-parasitic drug Ivermectin, but there are numerous instances of vaccine hesitancy on either side of the political spectrum.Choose Your Medicine takes readers back to the time of "heroic medicine," where doctors advocated for extreme (and sometimes deadly) treatments like purgatives and bloodletting in the hope that some progress would be made towards cures. The book looks at pre-Civil War efforts to regulate the practice of medicine, and shows how they failed. It illuminates once-popular movements like Thomsonianism, practiced by followers of a 19th century herbalist named Samuel Thomson.One chapter of the book deals with the changes brought by the 1970s health movements. A cautionary tale from that time is Laetrile–a "medicine" made from apricot pits–which was touted as a wonder drug that could fight cancer. In practice, Laetrile did no such thing. But not all lobbying for alternative treatments has been a failure: Supporters of medical cannabis have been able to completely shift laws and attitudes towards marijuana over a relatively short amount of time. Other alternative treatments like acupuncture and chiropractic practices have become mainstream and successful.In this episode, Grossman–who started writing the book long before the COVID-19 pandemic began–discusses what it's been like to see a new field of battle develop over medical choice. He talks about the constitutional theories advocates have used to push for therapeutic choice. He also shares a story he tells his students at the beginning of every semester: the story of a college student named Abigail Burroughs, who was dying from cancer and seeking an experimental drug. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Joe and Chris discuss the Rittenhouse verdict and the limits of self-defense standards. Specifically, at what point can stripping a case of all its context rob it of value. Meanwhile, Sheriffs are refusing to enforce laws -- usually vaccine and mask requirements. What are the limits of prosecutorial discretion and, how in the world is it okay for an activist group to offer scholarships to law enforcement for neglecting their duties? Finally, we check in on NYU's FedSoc chapter where board members resigned after learning that the group is doing... exactly what the Federalist Society is created to do.Special thanks to our sponsors, Lexicon and Nota. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Don’t fall into the TV trap of coming in hot on every witness. You could burn your own case if the jury remembers you were mean to a witness and forgets the key points of their testimony. But you don’t want to be a pushover either, so how do you temper your approach? Amy, Liz, Megan, Mary, and Elizabeth share trial-tested tactics on when to pivot your attitude, how non-verbals can telegraph your frustration, and what you should always keep in mind when you have to cross-examine a nice person. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Part Two includes practical considerations and ideological drivers. Why are you doing this in the first place? What is the mission of your new firm? Who are your working partners outside your office? And how important is it to exit gracefully when you do decide to leave your current position? Tune in as John and Erich offer more great advice to help you start your new firm with a better chance of success. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices