The practice and culture of practicing law
In 1994, the United States District Court for the District of Vermont adopted an Early Neutral Evaluation program. It required that nearly every civil case on its docket be “evaluated” before being set for trial. I was fortunate to be Read More …
Here they are. Rich’s 30 Rules for Legal Writing: Eliminate unnecessary words; no throat clearing. Keep it simple. Keep it direct. Keep your sentences short. Use active voice. State one idea at a time. Accuracy matters. Beware of repetition. State Read More …
Last week I testified before the judiciary Committee of the Vermont House of Representatives on H. 417, a bill that would reduce the size of juries in civil cases in Vermont from 12 to 6 members. The impetus of the Read More …
In our practice we see lots of new clients. We are particularly sensitive to the attorney-client privilege issues because many of them communicate with us about employment problems. For employees, it often true that just consulting an attorney may have Read More …
Complaints are Opportunities I read Lee Rosen’s email newsletter, Friday File. It’s a great place for practical advice on how to run a law practice. You can subscribe here. In a recent edition, Lee described a traumatic experience with his Read More …
As a profession, we have much to be grateful for. Of course, we have the opportunity to earn a living, often a good one. But more significant, from my perspective, is this: If we choose to do it, we can use our skills to be of real service to others, and that’s an unusually rewarding opportunity.
Read More …
Here is more on that federal criminal trial described in my September 28, 2020 Post: How do we Resume Jury Trials in Vermont It’s based on remarks made by Chief United States District Judge Geoffrey Crawford today at a Federal Read More …
“Have a great weekend, don’t do anything I wouldn’t do, and call if you need bail.” Read More …
We have no doubt, the ‘right of trial by jury’ spoken of in the constitution, and which it is said “ought to be held sacred,” means a jury as at common law, which consists of twelve men, and that wherever a constitution guaranties ‘the right of trial by jury,’ it is not competent for a legislature to reduce that number to six, or any less number than twelve; for the very theory of a trial by jury requires the unanimous consent of twelve men to the verdict.
Lincoln v. Smith, 27 Vt. 328, 358-9 (1855) (emphasis added).
Read More …
If there is one thing that almost all lawyers do, it is negotiate. Business lawyers do it. Litigators do it do it. Real estate lawyers do it. I suspect that even patent lawyers do it. Most of us think we Read More …
Here you can showcase the x number of Featured Content. You can edit this Headline, Subheadline and Feaured Content from "Appearance -> Customize -> Featured Content Options".
