Legal Talk Network - Law News and Legal Topics

What is a constitutional crisis? For some, a constitutional crisis is when the president defies the Supreme Court, for others it is when a president simply defies a federal judge’s order. Under the reign of President Trump and his administration, the country has dealt with a number of incidents where judicial orders have been disregarded. Kilmar Abrego Garcia, Rümeysa Öztürk, Mahmoud Khalil are three individuals who have taken center stage in the battle between the courts and the Trump administration, and the quest for due process. In this episode, Craig is joined by professor Kent Greenfield, the Dean’s Distinguished Scholar at Boston College Law School. Craig & Kent discuss whether the country is currently in a constitutional crisis, the Trump administration's defiance of a Supreme Court order involving the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia to the United States,  the power of  judicial vs. executive branches, and the consequences for defying the rule of law.Mentioned in this Episode:Bipartisan Letter Coordinated by Kent Greenfield, Professor and Dean’s Distinguished Scholar at Boston College Law School, and the American Constitution Society Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Wealth Counsel’s robust estate planning drafting software has united with LEAP’s sleek automations to create a powerful end-to-end solution for estate planning and administration. Dan Lear talks with Ari Bulmash to discuss the combination of these technologies, along with other examples of merging tools in the legal technology sphere. They also look ahead to consider the implications of developments in AI and legal tech for attorneys and the future practice of law. Ari Bulmash is Director of Estate Planning and Administration at LEAP Legal Software US. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Recorded live at the ABA Techshow, Zack Glaser interviews Cole Popkin, a digital forensics senior analyst at Proven Data, to shed light on the increasingly relevant field of digital forensics for legal professionals. Cole shares how understanding the basics of digital forensics can benefit lawyers in all practice areas, from litigation to transactional work and firm management. Cole explains the types of information that can be recovered from digital devices, even after deletion, and addresses common misconceptions surrounding encryption. He also reveals the potential for unintentional data leaks and provides practical, actionable steps lawyers can take to enhance their digital security and protect client confidentiality. You'll also hear Cole explain the direct relevance of digital forensics to specific legal scenarios, such as how deleted text messages and metadata analysis can be crucial in personal injury and family law cases.  So, join us for this episode, recorded live at the ABA Techshow, and get a realistic and accessible overview of digital forensics that will empower you to be more informed and secure in your use of technology, all without needing to become a forensics expert.  Listen to our other episode about data security:  #512: Tech Things You Should Know but Are Too Afraid To Ask, with Zack Glaser Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Lawyerist  #481: Getting Clients into the Cloud, with Laura Kaminski from ShareFile(Sponsored) Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Lawyerist   Have thoughts about today’s episode? Join the conversation on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and X!  If today's podcast resonates with you and you haven't read The Small Firm Roadmap Revisited yet, get the first chapter right now for free! Looking for help beyond the book? See if our coaching community is right for you.  Access more resources from Lawyerist at lawyerist.com. Chapters: 0:00 - Introduction: Digital Forensics Beyond Litigation  3:08 - Real-World Applications: Building Timelines & Location Data  4:35 - The Unexpected Data in Your Car: Vehicle Forensics  6:33 - Uncovering Information on Phones: Beyond Text Messages  8:55 - Protecting Yourself and Your Clients: Security for Attorneys 11:57 - Surprising Discoveries: Height Analysis from Video & More  14:35 - The Evolution of Digital Forensics   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Qualified Member expert service provider Dan Thompson from DeeGee Rehabilitation Technologies, Ltd.  addresses determining reasonable value in medical malpractice cases. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Guest Huascar Matos is a paralegal professional and the new president of the International Practice Management Association (IPMA). He has a varied background including a degree in Spanish and time in the fashion and art industry. After an unusual and unexpected path, he has found himself as a director of paralegals at the firm of Foley & Lardner. It’s an exciting time for the IPMA as members consider international expansion, the “elephant in the room” of artificial intelligence, and the evolution of a constantly changing profession. AI may shake up the game, but Matos reminds us the legal profession is never static, enduring the shift from paper to e-discovering, the addition of computer capabilities, and other technologies. Paralegals, Matos says, will adjust and adapt as they always have. Being part of an organization such as IPMA helps paralegals understand new trends and learn new skills. Robots are not going to take over your job, but AI could help you do it better. Hear about Matos’ own career path and the advice he has for those new to the profession. Stepping up, volunteering for new duties, and learning as you go will build your career and get you noticed. Don’t put yourself in a box. Be a “legal MacGyver.”  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

And the world continues to melt.-----We've got key financial data from the top law firms and the takeaway is that it's good to be a big firm. The Am Law 100 this year revealed that more and more firms have joined the super rich and things look bright for Biglaw. Unless someone triggers a global depression or something. We also discuss what it means to be "bipartisan" in an environment where the intellectual stars of the conservative legal movement are ALSO lining up to call out the Trump administration as a threat to the rule of law. Finally, we flag a troubling law school story about scholarships getting cut when admissions gets blindsided by applications. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Execution by lethal injection is seen by many Americans as a less barbaric alternative than older methods like hanging, firing squads and electrocution. It is easy to assume that the process must resemble euthanasia procedures for terminally ill people or pets. The reality is very different, says Corinna Barrett Lain, a law professor and death penalty expert. Lain didn’t initially intend to make the death penalty her primary area of study, she tells the ABA Journal’s Lee Rawles in this episode of the Modern Law Library. A former prosecutor in Virginia, Lain did not begin her work out of opposition to the death penalty. But the more she discovered about the realities of the administration of lethal injections, the more she was compelled to demystify the process. In Secrets of the Killing State: The Untold Story of Lethal Injection, Lain upends a lot of conventional wisdom about lethal injections. For example, the three-drug protocol used by most states was not a drug cocktail arrived at through scientific research. Rather, in 1977, after the U.S. Supreme Court allowed executions to resume after a 10-year hiatus, Oklahoma medical examiner Dr. Jay Chapman was asked by a state legislator to come up with an alternative to the state’s rickety electric chair. Though Chapman admitted he was “an expert in dead bodies but not an expert in getting them that way,” he proposed combining sodium thiopental, pancuronium bromide and potassium chloride. “You wanted to make sure the prisoner was dead at the end, so why not add a third drug,” the book quotes Chapman as saying. “Why does it matter why I chose it?” In contrast, an overdose of a single drug, pentobarbital, is what is commonly used by veterinarians in animal euthanasia. “Lethal injection is not based on science,” Lain writes. “It is based on the illusion of science, the assumption of science.” In this episode, Lain and Rawles also discuss botched executions, shady sources used by states to procure the drugs used for lethal injections, and how Lain’s scholarship has impacted her views of capital punishment as a whole. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There’s a new pair of Heels in the Courtroom. Get to know Katie St. John and hear about her path to plaintiff’s law and recent trial success stories. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dan Lear talks with Jordan Turk of Smokeball about her career and how she moved on from her work as an attorney to get involved in legal tech companies. Jordan offers realistic tips for lawyers on how to be creative in your career path and venture into new arenas. Later, they chat about Jordan’s many CLE class offerings for lawyers and which topics are currently top of mind, including AI, fee agreements, cross-examinations, and much more.  Jordan Turk is Director of Education and Attorney Development at Smokeball. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Experts discuss improving housing stability through collaboration between landlords, legal aid and other partners on Talk Justice. This panel discussion was recorded at LSC’s April 9 Access to Justice forum. LSC recently released a research brief on this topic, “Beyond Eviction: Landlords as Essential Partners in Housing Stability.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices