B.J. Khalifah of Grosse Pointe, Mich., who had a letter to the editor in the WSJ last week, takes a view of the litigation process that makes even ours look relatively upbeat (WSJ Law Blog, Apr. 24).
Chronicling the high cost of our legal system
Overlawyered
Point of Law- Russia vs. Bank of New York Mellon, cont'dOdd doings continue in the $22.5 billion lawsuit, per Bloomberg: ``Every legal system has its flaws,'' [plaintiff's expert and Harvard lawprof Alan Dershowitz] said in an interview yesterday. ``Who are we to cast aspersions on a country's legal system?''... Leading...Walter Olson
- McGraw and the Oxycontin sagaThe U.S. Chamber-backed West Virginia Record critically summarizes the tortuous course of the state's lawsuit against Oxycontin maker Purdue Pharma, often raised by critics as symbolic of their objections to Attorney General Darrell McGraw's handling of his office. More here,...Walter Olson
- Philadelphia obstetrics crisis, cont'dNow Chestnut Hill Hospital is closing its 1,000-babies-a-year maternity unit (via Pero). More background here....Walter Olson
- No measles vaccine-autism linkAnother study helps put to rest a litigation-driven canard. And, also via Orac, Ira Flatow interviews Paul Offit, author of the important new book hitting the bookstores this month, "Autism's False Prophets: Bad Science, Risky Medicine, and the Search for...Walter Olson
- Around the web, September 5Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning, president-elect of NAAG, says he's not sure he's ever hired outside counsel on contingency and says colleagues should be "very, very careful" of doing so [Legal NewsLine] More Bruning, discussing absence in Nebraska civil...Walter Olson
- Russia vs. Bank of New York Mellon, cont'd
- Volokh
- Wassily or Wasilla.At Tim Blair's blog, some are speculating about why Barack Obama might have mispronounced "Wasilla" as "Wassily."...Jim Lindgren
- Obama's favorite TV show is MASH; among McCain's is The Sopranos. Ana Marie Cox (tip to Tim Blair):...Jim Lindgren
- Media's treatment of Palin:The "media's treatment of Palin and her family this week has been the quintessence of hypocrisy, the vilest form of the politics of personal destruction." So I argue in my Rocky...David Kopel
- Apparently Fraudulent Palin Bookbanning List.In 1996, when Sarah Palin was mayor of Wasilla, she asked her town librarian how she would respond to censoring books. According to the librarian at the time, three inquiries...Jim Lindgren
- Does Public Choice Explain Patent Law?What explains the evolution of patent law in the United States? My current and former colleagues, Craig Nard and Andrew Morriss, think that an interest group-based analysis provides the answer, and...Jonathan Adler
- Wassily or Wasilla.