English Grammar and Usage

Does sentence spacing really matter? This law professor seems to think so.

Here's a new product that transactional lawyers should check out.

His fury is grammar blind.

All attorneys should proof their communications for language that undermines their credibility.

FYI, the best way to market your firm is without absurd grammatical errors.

* John Altorelli, the finance lawyer who allegedly had an affair with sexy Russian spy Anna Chapman, is indeed screwed — he’s the second former Dewey & LeBoeuf partner to file for personal bankruptcy in the wake of the firm’s collapse. [American Lawyer]

* Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who had a heart procedure on Wednesday, left the hospital yesterday and should be back on the bench on Monday. [CNN]

* Canada’s newest Supreme Court justice, Suzanne Cote, is no stranger to the spotlight; she’s worked on high-profile cases like the investigation into Justice Lori Douglas (of nude photo fame). [How Appealing]

* Michele Roberts, leading litigatrix and former Skadden partner, is settling into her new job as executive director of the National Basketball Players Association. [New York Times]

* Newly released deposition testimony from Bill Cosby will probably only worsen his PR woes. [Associated Press]

* Stuck in the office today with nothing to do? Take this fun exercise to test your punctuation and copy-editing skills, designed by Bryan A. Garner. [ABA Journal]

Did you agree with the survey or did you pick a different element?

David Lat interviews Professor Bryan A. Garner about the newest edition of Black's Law Dictionary.

* With OT 2013 drawing to a close, here’s a nifty chart that shows which Supreme Court justices vote together most and least often. The division is real, people. [The Upshot / New York Times]

* “Not only do they have unique interpretations of the Constitution but they can’t even agree on how to pronounce words.” Listen to our SCOTUS justices flub the word “certiorari.” [Legal Times]

* Quinn Emanuel and Samsung must now pay more than $2M in sanctions to Nokia and Apple after leaking confidential, “attorneys’ eyes only” information in a discovery blunder. Oopsie! [Legal Week]

* “Why can’t you get a real job?” This judge — the same one who sentenced a rapist to just 30 days in prison — told a fast-food worker to get a better job to pay off his restitution more quickly. [Billings Gazette]

* If you think you’ve seen the best of the “Law and ______” classes, you ain’t seen nothing yet. Say hello to some newcomers, like Video Game Law and Law of Robots. Justice Scalia is pissed. [WSJ Law Blog]

* Judges with daughters are seven percent more likely to support women’s rights than judges with only sons. Alas, Justices Scalia and Alito are impervious to human emotion. [New York Times]

* If you thought Supreme Court justices were “profoundly divided” over issues of law, wait until you see how they differ over the pronunciation of the word “certiorari.” [National Law Journal]

* This year’s summer associate programs sound pretty lame compared to the past: “The emphasis is certainly more on the work than it is on the social events.” All work and no play makes Jack an employed boy at graduation. [Boston Business Journal]

* “I saved the internet today. Your freedom continues.” Fair assessment. Sarah Jones’s win in her defamation case against Nik Richie and TheDirty.com was overturned by the Sixth Circuit. [Courier-Journal]

* If you’re choosing to go against the president’s wishes and apply to law school, here’s how you can leverage your major on all of your applications. [Law Admissions Lowdown / U.S. News & World Report]

* This cowgirl is putting aside her rodeo accomplishments to go to law school. At least she’ll have the experience needed to ride the bucking bronco of the post-recession job market. [Casper Star-Tribune]

Write and speak comprehensibly as a lawyer, and more people will listen to your message.

If you notice a lot of typographical errors, you might be racist.

Making law review doesn't help one's grammar on Facebook.

Everything really is bigger in Texas, including the lengths lawyers will go to bring shame to the profession.

Welcome to Above the Law's newest feature, a column devoted to especially clever or awful examples of legalese, fine print, disclaimers, disclosures, and the like.

A journal editor calls out the staff for sub and cite errors in a poorly edited email.

Typos are a part of life, but when they're this unfortunate, the only thing you can do is laugh.

In which areas does the United Kingdom beat the United States? In-house columnist Mark Herrmann identifies a few.

Do you sound like Sam Waterston or Matthew McConaughey?

Take the Above the Law Spelling Bee. You can spell better than Elie, but can you spell better than Google?