From the category archives:

What Were They Thinking

The Laugh Test

September 22, 2008

[Update: decision denying Blockshopper's Motion to Dismiss] [Update: Jones Days' Opposition to Blockshopper's Motion to Dismiss] Blockshopper.com is one of many small web sites that have sprung up to follow local residential real estate markets. So far, the site highlights purchases in upscale neighborhoods in Chicago, St. Louis, South Florida and Las Vegas. The site

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Thoughts on the Art of Persuasion and the Defense in the Entwistle Case

June 30, 2008

Some thoughts on the recently concluded Entwistle murder trial in Massachusetts. A trial is the art of persuasion. Civil or criminal, jury or jury-waived, the same principles of persuasion apply. Generations of lawyers have spent their careers thinking about these principles, trying to understand, refine and apply them. The huge number of uncontrollable variables in

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Are Judges Intuitive or Analytical? Ruminations on the Cognitive Style of Judges

June 3, 2008

The best aspect of law school is the subordination of math. Anon _________________________ Are judges good at math? Foolish question, of course. Since many lawyers have a math phobia, it follows that many judges would, as well. Nevertheless, a group of academics gave a three-question quiz to a group of several hundred trial judges. The

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Dummies Guide to Understanding Subprime Mortgages

May 27, 2008

A lot of people are having a hard time understanding how the country got into the sub-prime mortgage mess, or even exactly what a “sub-prime mortgage” is. How could so many intelligent, responsible people in housing, banking, finance and government have gotten this so wrong? If you’re are one of these people, this skit may

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Judge Young Pulls No Punches When it Comes to Mandatory Sentencing

May 19, 2008

You may recall the brouhaha that arose last year when a Massachusetts state district court judge vacated a prior state court conviction in order to mitigate the impact that the conviction would have on the defendant under the federal sentencing guidelines in an upcoming sentencing in federal court. The defendant, Matthew West, was due to

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After Ten Years of Proceedings, Final Decisions of Disbarment from SJC in the Demoulas Ethics Cases

February 6, 2008

I have written several times about the disciplinary proceedings against several attorneys who represented the losing party in the Demoulas cases. (see here, here and here). As I described in the first of these blog entries: The saga of how Gary Crossen (then of Foley, Hoag & Eliot and former ethics counsel to two Massachusetts

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Ray Niro Offers $5,000 for Identity of Author of "Troll Tracker" Blog

December 6, 2007

It appears that infamous Chicago patent attorney Ray Niro has offered $5,000 for anyone who will identify the author of the Patent Troll Tracker, which Niro apparently believes has made uncharitable comments about him. The anonymous author of the Patent Troll Tracker blog takes this in good humor, describing the offer as a “bounty” and

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Oral Argument in the Demoulas Ethics Case

November 21, 2007

This falls squarely under the “what were they thinking” category. I’ve written about the attorney discipline proceedings in the Demoulas case here and here. Oral argument before the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court took place on October 4, 2007. These arguments may be viewed in full here (Crossen) and here (Curry). When the SJC issues its

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Demoulas Disbarments

November 3, 2006

Two updates: First, I learned today (12/11/06) that the hearing officer in this case, Ellen Carpenter, tragically passed away at the age of 52. Second, Boston Magazine alerted me to an article discussing the Demoulas/Law Clerk scandal. If you want a quick summary of the case, Boston Magazine-style, click here for The Demoulas Trap: Secret

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