Category Archives: Reform

More On Judicial Transparency

Posted on July 26, 2014 by The Legal Reformer

We’ve written a number of times about the benefits of judicial transparency.  In an interview published in the July 2014 issue of the ABA Journal, U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit Judge Richard A. Posner weighs in.  Judge … Continue reading →

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STFU? Does Judicial Blogging Harm The Legal System?

Posted on July 10, 2014 by The Legal Reformer

Senior U.S. District Court Judge Richard Kopf and author of the blog, Hercules and the Umpire, recently made national headlines for his post titled, Remembering Alexander Bickel’s passive virtues and the Hobby Lobby cases.  In the post, Judge Kopf addressed the political … Continue reading →

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If All Lawyers Spent Time As Clients . . . Maybe The System Would Be Better

Posted on June 20, 2014 by The Legal Reformer

We stumbled on an article about a doctor’s eye-opening experience spending time as a patient, and it got us thinking: what if all lawyers spent time as clients?  Perhaps the best way to see how the system affects those who … Continue reading →

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Legal Reform Needs More Than Law Firm Innovation

Posted on June 14, 2014 by The Legal Reformer

In 2009, a virtual law firm named Clearspire emerged onto the legal scene with the plan to provide clients an alternative to BigLaw.  Clearspire touted high-end attorneys at lower hourly rates by eliminating physical law offices and partner profits, and … Continue reading →

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“When Judges Err”

Posted on June 7, 2014 by The Legal Reformer

When judges realize their written opinion contains a mistake, should they publicly acknowledge the mistake and the correction?  U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit Judge Andrew D. Hurwitz answered that question in the affirmative in his recent essay for the … Continue reading →

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LPR’s 100th Post – Dedicated to Dr. Maya Angelou

Posted on May 30, 2014 by The Legal Reformer

This is LPR’s 100th post, and we want to thank everyone who follows our blog.  We thought it fitting that we honor the late Maya Angelou at this milestone, given her recent passing. Dr. Angelou was a larger-than-life human being, … Continue reading →

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Can Visual Law Services Lower Fees?

Posted on May 16, 2014 by The Legal Reformer

Legal research can be a time-consuming and thus expensive part of a legal matter. When one brings a legal matter to an attorney, often the attorney will need to research the relevant law, which can be evolving or changing, and can influence … Continue reading →

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It’s Not Just The Lawyers And Judges . . .

Posted on May 3, 2014 by The Legal Reformer

When we blog about the legal system needing reform, we tend to focus on issues involving lawyers and judges, but the whole system needs reform.  Illustrating this is the revocation of a New Jersey psychologist’s license after being found to have influenced … Continue reading →

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Can Judges Reduce Litigation Costs?

Posted on April 26, 2014 by The Legal Reformer

It’s a familiar scenario – a lawsuit on the evening of trial suddenly settles after years of litigation and seemingly innumerable dollars spent preparing the case.  Most clients wonder whether anything could have been done along the way to settle the case earlier … Continue reading →

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One Judge’s Take on “The Secret Life of Judges” and Judicial Bias

Posted on April 18, 2014 by The Legal Reformer

In 2006, former Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, Dennis Jacobs delivered a lecture at Fordham Law School titled “The Secret Life of Judges.”  In his lecture, Judge Jacobs described “the judicial mentality,” as “a habit … Continue reading →

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