OK, I know I totally missed the boat on this post–National Pro Bono Week was two weeks ago. I was too distracted by Halloween to notice, but I have been thinking about writing this post for awhile. Better late than never, so here we go!
Doing pro bono work is good for the community and your bottom line. Law school taught us that we have a professional responsibility to give back and to promote professional goodwill toward lawyers. But, this post is not about the warm fuzzy feeling you get from helping people. Instead, I want to explain how volunteering can help your practice in substantial ways.
As we go about our routines on Veterans Day today, we should take time to remember the men and women in our communities who served with the U.S. Armed Forces. Their commitment to serve our country at home and abroad protects the Constitution for all of us.
We owe veterans our compassion, our understanding, and our support for doing what others choose not to: put themselves in harms way to protect our freedoms.
Veterans Days was signed into law by President Calvin Coolidge after the U.S. Congress passed this resolution on June 4, 1926 to make it a legal holiday:
Last week, the State of Oklahoma held a referendum on the use of Sharia Law by the Oklahoma state courts. The referendum garnered 70.08% of the vote, with 695,650 people voting for and 296,944 voting against the proposal. The ballot to State Question No. 755 read as follows:
STATE QUESTION NO. 755
LEGISLATIVE REFERENDUM NO. 355
This measure amends the State Constitution. It changes a section that deals with the courts of this state. It would amend Article 7, Section 1. It makes courts rely on federal and state law when deciding cases. It forbids courts from considering or using international law. It forbids courts from considering or using Sharia Law.
International law is also known as the law of nations. It deals with the conduct of international organizations and independent nations, such as countries, states and tribes. It deals with their relationship with each other. It also deals with some of their relationships with persons.
The law of nations is formed by the general assent of civilized nations. Sources of international law also include international agreements, as well as treaties.
Sharia Law is Islamic law. It is based on two principal sources, the Koran and the teaching of Mohammed.
In light of Justia’s commitment to “free law”, we wanted to make sure to note last week’s announcement that Google, in partnership with the USPTO, now provides bulk access to current US patent applications and grants. As noted by Richard Jefferson in his “Science as Social Enterprise” blog, until recently the bulk data available to users was incomplete in that it did not contain 2010 materials. However, users can now download comprehensive 2010 “Redbook” format data for free, considered the “gold standard” of patent data (and previously sold for thousands of dollars). Check what’s available in USPTO bulk downloads on Google yourself or search the entire image database of U.S. patents from 1790s to the present at Google patents.
On Friday, many law school graduates were eagerly waiting for their July 2010 New York Bar exam results.
The New York State Board of Law Examiners (‘BOLE’) promised law students that “the results of the July 2010 bar examination are being emailed to candidates beginning on November 5, 2010,” but warned candidates that there might be a delay of up to 24 hours before “your email system” would get them.
Any e-mail problems for the lawyers-in-waiting, however, paled in comparison to the results being posted online before they actually received them. It’s sort of like you already know that your significant other is going to propose to you, but you don’t know when. Would you rather find out from him or her directly, or from Facebook first?
If you’re a regular reader of this blog or follow Justia on Facebook or Twitter, you may have noticed that in October we really picked up the pace on the Justia Law, Technology & Legal Marketing Blog. In the past, we used the blog to make announcements, cheer on fellow free law advocates, and occasionally talk about legal issues. This month, with a concerted effort and lots of whining about deadlines [me], we have been blogging daily, and covering a pretty wide range of issues and ideas. We’ve reviewed apps, movies, and judicial decisions. We’ve gone from Dora to DADT. We even got shout-outs from the Library of Congress and the ABA Journal.
“Conviction” tells a compelling tale of the love that siblings can have for one another, and the lengths to which some families will go to seek justice for their kin. This legal drama draws you into the movie from the outset, making you feel that you should have served on the legal team for Kenny Waters. Sam Rockwell, who plays Kenny, deftly portrays the wide range of emotions experienced by a person who has been wrongfully convicted of murder.
The opening of the film aptly sets the scene. The camera pans inside a trailer home with blood-stained walls depicting raging violence. We soon learn that the victim’s murderer brutally stabbed her more than 30 times. While chopping firewood for his grandfather, Kenny is soon accused by a local police officer of brutally murdering his neighbor.
FRONTLINE recently examined the controversial execution of Cameron Todd Willingham. The State of Texas had executed Mr. Willingham in 2004 for the death of his children in a fire, which the State Fire Marshal had concluded was intentionally set by the defendant.
It’s election day and all of us here at Justia hope you get out and vote! Given that we’ll have a new Congress at the beginning of the year, we’d like to point you to some iPhone apps you can download to keep informed on what’s going on in the U.S. Senate and House. Note: All of these apps are FREE.
C-Span Radio – Listen to Congressional hearings along with audio streams of public affairs programming from C-SPAN Radio, C-SPAN and C-SPAN2.
OK, I know I totally missed the boat on this post–National Pro Bono Week was two weeks ago. I was too distracted by Halloween to notice, but I have been thinking about writing this post for awhile. Better late than never, so here we go!
As we go about our routines on 
On Friday, many law school graduates were eagerly waiting for their July 2010 New York Bar exam results.
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