Overlawyered » Boston

In Boston today

Walter Olson — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 04:23:03 +0000

I’m speaking at 1 p.m. today at Boston University Law School to the school’s Federalist Society chapter about my book Schools for Misrule. The event is open to the public. See you there!

Tags: Boston, live in person

In Boston today is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

March 13 roundup

Walter Olson — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 05:06:52 +0000

“Are Courts Dragging Out the Housing Crisis?” [Mark Calabria, Cato] “Boom-Era Property Speculators to Get Foreclosure Aid” [Bloomberg News via Bader, CEI] Community organizing groups expect to cash in on state AGs’ robosigning settlement [Neil Munro, Daily Caller, earlier] As does NAAG itself [Daniel Fisher] More: Kevin Funnell.
“Non-standard explanation offered for bugging wife’s bedroom” [Lowering the Bar]
Chris DeMuth on James Q. Wilson [Weekly Standard, earlier] I wrote about Wilson’s work on at least two occasions: the Baltimore Sun had me review a book of his on “abuse excuses” and other difficulties of psychiatric testimony in court, a good book if a mere foothill in the mountain range of his overall scholarship; on another occasion in Reason I challenged his uncharacteristic backing of a “family policy” proposal ripe with potential for unintended consequences;
Boston city councilor: make valet kid at restaurant responsible if patron drives off drunk [NPR via Alkon]
“Texas is being stiff armed by the EPA at every turn” [Munro/DC quoting Texas attorney general Greg Abbott] NYT’s “modest” offshore drilling restrictions: “I hate to think what immodest restrictions would look like” [John Steele Gordon]
“The Southern Poverty Law Center Is Now Writing About Pickup Artists as Hate Groups” [Mike Riggs]
SFO rental car garage offers a whiff of Prop 65 absurdity [Stoll]

Tags: attorneys general, Boston, dramshop statutes, Environmental Protection Agency, hate speech, mortgages, Prop 65, Texas

March 13 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

December 6 roundup

Walter Olson — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 13:23:12 +0000

TSA: design of gun on purse is “replica gun” [Radley Balko]
“Note: Before Attaching Ankle Monitor, Make Sure Leg Is Real” [Lowering the Bar]
“Harm to others” rationale seems to fall by wayside as Boston bans workplace use of e-cigarettes [Jacob Sullum]
“Should legislation protect the obese?” [NYT "Room for Debate"]
German town drops charges against Pope Benedict XVI for failure to wear seat belt in Popemobile [WaPo, Lowering the Bar, Irish Times]
Ninth Circuit agrees to review litigation seeking court takeover of vets’ mental care [SFChron, WSJ Law Blog, earlier]
The shaky science of “shaken baby syndrome” [Pfaff, Prawfs, ABA Journal, earlier here, here] Jerry Brown should pardon dubiously convicted grandmother [Emily Bazelon, Slate]

Tags: Boston, Catholic Church, Germany, guns, obesity, seatbelts, tobacco

December 6 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Making Veteran’s Day friends

Walter Olson — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 22:08:23 +0000

A staffer at Suffolk Law School in Boston solicited “much needed supplies to put in care packages to be sent to deployed troops” in Afghanistan, including a Suffolk student serving there. That didn’t sit well with Prof. Michael Avery, whose letter deploring the request, as well as the display of a large American flag at Suffolk, has been stirring discussion among Michael Graham listeners and Above the Law readers ever since.

Tags: Boston, law schools, military

Making Veteran’s Day friends is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Food law roundup

Walter Olson — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 14:56:43 +0000

Feds fund Boston campaign bashing sweetened drinks [Globe; see also on NYC] More on ObamaCare “Public Health Fund” subsidies to local paternalist initiatives on diet [WLF]
Thanks to federal funding priorities, New York education department had 40 experts on school lunches, only one on science education [Frederick Hess via Stoll]
Grocers hope to escape federal menu labeling mandate [FDA Law Blog] How regulations exasperate midsize restaurant operators [Philip Klein, Wash. Examiner]
“The Eight Dumbest Restaurant Laws” [Zagat]
Proposed federal standards on kid food ads extreme enough that many USDA “healthy” recipes would flunk [Diane Katz, Heritage] Do FTC’s guidelines violate the First Amendment? [WSJ]
Compared with what? “Egg farm regulations still skimpy” [Stoll] Deer blamed for E. coli in pick-your-own strawberries [USA Today]
U.K.: Your kids are too fat so we’re taking them away [Daily Mail; earlier here, here, etc.]

Tags: advertising, Boston, eat drink and be merry, Federal Trade Commission, food safety, nanny state, New York, obesity, restaurants, schools

Food law roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Att’n Boston Mayor Menino

Walter Olson — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 16:58:17 +0000

It doesn’t count as a “healthier choice” unless you actually let people choose. [Amy Alkon] And: Are we surprised that federal tax money is bankrolling the Boston mayor’s demonize-sweet-drinks kick? Not really, given that the federal government has been dishing out money to Michael Bloomberg’s administration in New York for similar purposes.

P.S.: “To encourage healthful eating, [a Chicago public] school doesn’t allow kids to bring lunches or certain snacks from home.” [Chicago Tribune]

Tags: Boston, nanny state, obesity

Att’n Boston Mayor Menino is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

February 24 roundup

Walter Olson — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 15:56:31 +0000

Judge Ciavarella defiant after racketeering conviction in Pennsylvania cash-for-kids horror [TheLegalIntel, Sullum and more, WSJ Law Blog, Greenfield, earlier]
Widener lawprof Lawrence Connell facing discipline over hypotheticals in class [Orin Kerr, NLJ, interview at NAS]
“Do we even want to remain a child care center if we have to eliminate all the parts we love?” [Free-Range Kids] Lawsuit fears tame a Frederick, Md. ice playground [same]
Marquette lawprof Rick Esenberg on Wisconsin showdown [first, second, third posts]
A patent owner, the Chicago Tribune and Sen. Durbin: Anatomy of a pool drain scare story [Woldenberg, AmendTheCPSIA.com]
Mayor Thomas Menino vows to save Boston from scourge of everyday low prices [Mark Perry]
“Comp Hearing Scheduled ‘On the Sly’ for Texting Cop Who Caused Fatal Accident” [Debra Cassens Weiss, ABA Journal] “Paying for bad cops” [Balko]
Demand for shaker abstinence: nosy, hectoring CSPI files suit asking that salt in food be subjected to FDA regulation [six years ago on Overlawyered]

Tags: Boston, Chicago, law schools, Luzerne County judicial scandal, police, pools, Wal-Mart, Wisconsin, workers' compensation

February 24 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

$6.7 million awarded after drunk student’s fall

Walter Olson — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 05:08:05 +0000

“A judge has awarded more than $6.7 million to the family of a Northeastern University student who fell down a set of stairs at a Boston bar in 2007 and died after a night of drinking. The judge’s award comes about three months after a jury ruled the bar violated the city building code but was not liable for the 21-year-old man’s death.” [Boston Globe; Herald; MyFoxBoston]

Tags: alcohol, Boston, personal responsibility

$6.7 million awarded after drunk student’s fall is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

December 4 roundup

Walter Olson — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 05:17:29 +0000

Will they get group discounts on lawyers? Groupon vs. MobGob patent brawl [TechCrunch]
Why American courts should sometimes recognize Islamic law [series of Eugene Volokh posts]
No, it’s not a “public health issue”: “The Case Against Motorcycle Helmet Laws” [Steve Chapman, syndicated/RCP]
Failed system of justice on some Indian reservations [McClelland, Mother Jones]
Ten years ago: Morgan Lewis & Bockius handed mlb.com domain over to its client Major League Baseball [Ross Davies, SSRN]
City of Boston adds insult to injury after employee runs into building [TJIC, Popehat]
Citing fans’ drug use, feds seek forfeiture of farm used for Grateful Dead tribute concerts [Greenfield]
Johann Sebastian Bach, serial copyright violator [Cavanaugh, Reason]

Tags: baseball, Boston, copyright, forfeiture, Indian tribes, international law, music and musicians, patent litigation, public health

December 4 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Welcome WRKO listeners

Walter Olson — Mon, 17 May 2010 02:03:37 +0000

I was a guest this evening on Kevin Whalen’s Pundit Review talk show on the Boston station. We mostly discussed the Elena Kagan Supreme Court nomination, on which I’ve blogged here, here, here, and here. More: a write-up, and audio.

Tags: Boston, Elena Kagan, on TV and radio

Welcome WRKO listeners is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system