Trials

There's no good reason not to have universal open-file discovery. Defense attorney Toni Messina explains why.

Sure, there's plenty of technology available, but some lawyers still love paper documents.

We need to educate our clients on how these things really work and prepare them accordingly.

No matter how experienced you get at voir dire, it's always a crap shoot -- but these tips could help you out.

Always keep in mind that the litigation is not the only thing going on for your client.

Michaek Skakel's conviction was overturned, but you can bet that if prosecutors decide to retry the case, they have advances in DNA testing on their side.

* Congratulations to Quinn Emanuel partner Alex Spiro and Jose Baez, of Casey Anthony fame, on a big win: a full acquittal in the securities-fraud trial of David Demos. [Bloomberg]

* Do you feel that the Supreme Court is taking its sweet time in releasing opinions this Term? Adam Feldman confirms that it’s not your imagination. [Empirical SCOTUS]

* Consovoy McCarthy Park, the elite litigation boutique led by a group of conservative former SCOTUS clerks, welcomes its newest partner: Jeffrey Harris, former associate administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs and former law clerk to Chief Justice Roberts. [National Law Journal]

* Are law school graduates getting “good” jobs? Professor Derek Muller has a novel idea: why don’t we ask them? [PrawfsBlawg]

* The Colorado congressional race featuring two NYU Law alumnae, incumbent Diana DeGette and challenger Saira Rao, reflects a divide in the Democratic Party more broadly. [NBC News]

* Criminal defense lawyer Joel Cohen argues against reading too much into an individual’s invocation of the Fifth Amendment — even if the individual happens to be Donald Trump or someone connected to him. [The Hill]

* Criminal defense lawyer Elizabeth Kelley interviews Stanford law professor Paul Goldstein about his biting and funny law school satire, Legal Asylum (affiliate link). [AuthorChats]

* Speaking of books, if you’d like to support the Jersey City Free Public Library — and enjoy some delicious Filipino food by celebrity chef Dale Talde — please join me this Thursday, May 17, for what should be a great evening! [Jersey City Free Public Library]

This could turn into a slippery slope of jurors in the spirit of the #MeToo movement assuming guilt rather than innocence.

Even if jurors believe someone was out of his mind when he murdered, they don't like finding ‘crazy’ people not guilty by reason of insanity.

Wendi Adelson 'had nothing to do with this tragic event,' he claims.

They may be interesting, and rare, but are remittitur decisions really worth studying for patent lawyers?

If you want to do criminal-defense work, should you hang a shingle right away? Here are some thoughts.

If you've been following this case, tune in to Dateline NBC on Friday night.

It will take a miracle to keep Bill Cosby from being convicted and ending up with a stiff jail sentence.

* Attorney General Jeff Sessions won’t be appointing a second special counsel to examine political bias in the handling of investigations by the FBI and DOJ just yet, but not to worry, because the Inspector General and the U.S. Attorney for Utah are on the case. [Politico]

* Lawyer.com spokesperson Lindsay Lohan lost her invasion of privacy case against the maker of “Grand Theft Auto V” at the New York Court of Appeals in a unanimous decision penned by Judge Eugene Fahey, who said the video game character LiLo alleged was based on her was “not reasonably identifiable as plaintiff.”  [Reuters]

* As it turns out, Savannah Law School won’t be immediately ceasing operations in early June. Now, the law school plans to move to another location within the city, and will close over the next five years without admitting any new students. [Savannah Morning News]

* Adnan Syed, the subject of the hit podcast “Serial,” had his murder conviction vacated by the Maryland Court of Special Appeals. His case has been remanded for a new trial on all charges. [New York Times]

* “Mark, it hurts! You’re hurting me… Don’t be so rough.” In case you missed it, a juror fainted during trial after watching a video of graphic sex between a Texas attorney who traded sex for legal services and one of his clients. Yeehaw… [FOX News]

Every person with an 'impostor syndrome' worries that one day they'll be made to look like Kris Kobach.

If the initial prosecution of defendants was more fair, fewer innocent people would wind up in jail.

This type of claim almost never sees trial, but it resulted in a $6.7 million verdict, all because one of the parties was a jerk.

While it's sometimes difficult for women to do this type of case, it's important women do them. 

* Stormy Daniels, the porn actress who was paid six figures in exchange for not spilling the beans about her affair with Donald Trump, is now suing him, claiming that the “hush agreement” she entered into prior to the election is invalid because he never signed it. [Washington Post]

* File this under Not Top Ten: Former ESPN legal analyst and sports anchor Adrienne Lawrence, a onetime associate of Greenberg Traurig, Arent Fox, and McGuireWoods, has filed a sexual harassment suit against the sports network, claiming that SportsCenter anchor John Buccigross constantly harassed her. [American Lawyer]

* Not only will the government be able to seize more than $7.3 million of disgraced pharma bro Martin Shkreli’s assets — including his one-of-a-kind Wu-Tang Clan album — but prosecutors want to throw him behind bars for no less than 15 years. [New York Law Journal]

* Attorney General Jeff Sessions will announce today that the Justice Department will be filing suit against California over its “sanctuary state” laws. As alleged in the complaint, the Golden State’s laws — AB 450, SB 54, and AB 103 — were all created to impede immigration laws. [USA Today]

* “When I heard the gun went off accidentally, that just didn’t ring true. Someone has to pull the trigger. They just don’t accidentally discharge.” Prospective jurors in former Biglaw partner Claud “Tex” McIver’s murder trial weren’t exactly buying his defense. [Atlanta Journal-Constitution]

* Forget about the egregious law school tuition you’ll have to pay in the future, because it can cost quite the pretty penny to apply to law school in the first place. You may want to look into fee waivers so you can save yourself some cash. [U.S. News]

* Billy McFarland, the millennial entrepreneur who organized the disastrous Fyre Festival, has taken a plea deal after defrauding the investors who bought into the failed event. He’s looking at sentence of eight to 10 years in prison. [Big Law Business]