Podcast: ABA Annual Meeting 2018: State Attorneys General and Federalism in the Obama/Trump Eras

An interesting podcast from the 2018 ABA Annual Meeting consisting of legal heavyweights Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum, former Virginia Solicitor General William Hurd, Wisconsin Solicitor General Misha Tseytlin and Northwestern Law School dean Dan Rodriguez. And me.

Is “The Devil’s Advocate” a Great Legal Film?

At the ABA Journal, our most popular web post of all time is our “Top 25 Greatest Legal Movies” feature from 2008. I haven’t seen the stats, but apparently, it’s number one by a country mile. Kind of like how The Matrix is, far and away, the best movie in its trilogy or how Alec Baldwin is, without question, the most talented actor in his family.

So, to commemorate the 10-year anniversary of our most popular feature of all time, the lead feature of this month’s issue is an updated look at the list of greatest legal movies. Some movies from the last decade to be included are Spotlight, The Post and Marshall, while movies like Legally Blonde, Primal Fear and Michael Clayton made the cut this time after missing out on the original list. Also, some movies from the original list dropped out, including Philadelphia, Presumed Innocent, Chicago, In the Name of the Father, and the Al Pacino tour-de-force And Justice for All.

All of this got me thinking about a different Pacino legal drama. The Devil’s Advocate (1997) may not be remembered as his greatest film (if we’re being honest, it’s probably not even in the top half of his filmography), but it’s a fun, creative take on lawyers, law firms and the legal profession.

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Award Season

 

 

I won a Gold and Silver award at the recent ASBPE Upper Midwest Regional AZBEES Awards. Thanks to my colleagues at ABA Journal for making me look so good! 

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“Nixon in New York:” A new book looks at how a law firm stint revived his political and presidential prospects. (ABA Journal excerpt)

An excerpt of Nixon in New York that was published in the May issue of ABA Journal. Thanks to my wonderful colleagues at the Journal for running it!

How the Radical Movements of the 1960s Changed the Law and Challenged the Status Quo (Podcast)

I got the opportunity to host this month’s episode of “Asked and Answered.” I interviewed attorney and activist Paul Harris about his work stretching back to the 1960s. Harris, one of the radical “movement lawyers” featured in the cover story for the August issue of the ABA Journal, spoke about his work defending high-profile clients like Huey Newton, Leonard McNeil and others.

Coverage of 2017 Avvo Lawyernomics Conference

Here are the stories that came out of my live coverage of the 2017 Avvo Lawyernomics Conference (my fourth such conference – time flies!):

8th annual Lawyernomics conference will encourage attendees to bet on themselves.

Lawyers: Don’t be afraid to double down on data.

When should lawyers bet on themselves? Sometimes clients will give you the answer.

Podcast: What Lawyers Can Learn From Accountants

I really liked the intro the Legal Talk Network folks wrote for this podcast, so I’m just going to quote from it:

For a long time data had shown that law firms generally generated more revenue than accounting firms overall. However, that trend has shifted within the last eight years with accounting firms enjoying greater fiscal success. What changes did the accounting world make that allowed them to surpass legal market revenue? In this report from On The Road, host Victor Li talks with Intuit small business ecosystem evangelist David Leary about the impact that embracing technology, adopting the cloud, and business innovations can have on legal industry earnings.