Living Above the Fold

Across the country, curious jurors are defying court instructions and causing mistrials as they text, Tweet, and surf the Web about the cases they’re deciding. The issue has created such a disruption that it’s generating new court policies and even California legislation.

Banning Google From the Jury Box (California Lawyer, August 1, 2010)

When Andy Morrison started law school, he expected to find a job as soon as he graduated. But after earning a JD from the University of San Francisco in 2008, Morrison found himself confronted by a narrowing recruitment pipeline. A study released by the National Association for Law Placement (NALP) found that in the past year, law firms have cut on-campus recruiting by up to 30 percent, and a number of offices nixed 2010 summer programs outright. The rate of offers for entry-level law firm positions to summer associates also fell by 20 percent.

Dreams Deferred for Law School Graduates (California Lawyer, July 2010)

Consumers have plenty of online services they can use for locating a lawyer to hire. But when litigators need to employ specialists—such as arbitrators, mediators, or expert witnesses—they often fall back on leads from colleagues they trust.

Rating Litigation Services (California Lawyer, May 1, 2010)

In today’s weakened economy, lawyers across the country are looking for new ways to drum up business—and Web-based tools are expanding in response. Alongside established online legal directories, new Internet-based businesses that provide assistance with marketing and referrals offer lawyers even more ways to land new work.

Attorneys Use New Online Tools to Find, Refer Work (California Lawyer, April 1, 2010)

When fortunes shrink during tough economic times, estate and tax planning may not be a top priority. But many expect pent-up demand for such services—and a quirk in the federal tax code—to make 2010 a bumper year for lawyers in this specialty.

Estate and Tax Planners Expect a Bumper Year (California Lawyer, March 2010)

Cases in which employees allege they were forced to work through legally mandated meal or break periods are taking off in the already fast-growing niche of wage-and-hour litigation.

No Break in Worker Suits (California Lawyer, February 2010)