Tag Archives: Legal

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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What Legal Consumers Can Learn From Apple

Posted on May 10, 2014 by The Legal Reformer

A jury recently awarded Apple just shy of $120 million in its latest patent infringement lawsuit against Samsung.  In the first lawsuit, Apple was awarded $1.1 billion.  But as Jay Yarow of the Business Insider implies in his article, Samsung’s Lawyer Absolutely … 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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“Is Your Lawyer’s Bill Too High?”

Posted on April 12, 2014 by The Legal Reformer

We have written about HALT.org (Help Abolish Legal Tyranny) in previous posts and its work for transparency in attorney discipline and reporting on state bar associations’ secrecy in the handling of attorney ethics complaints.  HALT also has a number of self-help brochures … Continue reading →

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Judge’s “Cautionary Tale” About Online Legal Forms

Posted on April 5, 2014 by The Legal Reformer

Last week the Supreme Court of Florida issued an opinion interpreting a will prepared using an online form.  The opinion specifically addressed how property acquired after the will was signed was to be distributed in the absence of a residuary clause (a catch-all provision) … Continue reading →

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