Posts tagged as:

humor

For the intersection of tort buffs and Edward Gorey fans — I can’t be the only such one — don’t miss this from Kyle Graham at his excellent new blog Non Curat Lex:

…C is for Carter who slipped on some ice

D is for Dillon who might have died twice

E is for Escola nicked by some pop

F is for Fletcher whose mine needed a mop…

Original reference here.

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March 21 roundup

by Walter Olson on March 21, 2012

  • Shame on DoJ: “Systematic concealment” of evidence when feds prosecuted Sen. Ted Stevens [WaPo, Caleb Mason/Prawfs] NYT notes feds’ losing streak in Foreign Corrupt Practices Act prosecutions [NYT, our latest]
  • Italy: tax officials stop luxury cars, demand drivers’ most recent tax returns [Secular Right]
  • Pinterest: casual users (perhaps especially casual users) might be opening themselves to copyright liability [DDK Portraits, WSJ Law Blog] And in case you needed a reminder not to publish photos grabbed from random web sources… [Webcopyplus]
  • In new Atlantic special report, Philip K. Howard collects papers on outdated government law and regulation from contributors Robert Litan, Julie Barnes, Mark Warner, Jim Cooper;
  • Institute for Justice sues IRS over its new licensing requirements for tax preparers [Ilya Shapiro and Chaim Gordon/Cato, Paul Caron/TaxProf, Katherine Mangu-Ward, Barton Hinkle]
  • “It is acceptable to refer to all court proceedings as a ‘trial,’ because seriously, you ever sat through one of those things?” [@FakeAPStylebook]
  • Christopher Booker series on child-snatching by UK authorities [Telegraph: first, second, third]

Making the rounds:

February 24 roundup

by Walter Olson on February 24, 2012

  • Melissa Kite, columnist with Britain’s Spectator, writes about her low-speed car crash and its aftermath [first, second, third, fourth]
  • NYT’s Nocera lauds Keystone pipeline, gets called “global warming denier” [NYTimes] More about foundations’ campaign to throttle Alberta tar sands [Coyote] Regulations mandating insurance “disclosures” provide another way for climate change activists to stir the pot [Insurance and Technology]
  • “Cop spends weeks to trick an 18-year-old into possession and sale of a gram of pot” [Frauenfelder, BB]
  • Federal Circuit model order, pilot program could show way to rein in patent e-discovery [Inside Counsel, Corporate Counsel] December Congressional hearing on discovery costs [Lawyers for Civil Justice]
  • Trial lawyer group working with Senate campaigns in North Dakota, Nevada, Wisconsin, Hawaii [Rob Port via LNL] President of Houston Trial Lawyers Association makes U.S. Senate bid [Chron]
  • Panel selection: “Jury strikes matter” [Ron Miller, Maryland Injury]
  • Law-world summaries/Seventeen syllables long/@legal_haiku (& for a similar treatment of high court cases, check out @SupremeHaiku)

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Because it’s fun [James Mitchell via Cory Doctorow, BoingBoing]

Saying something good

by Walter Olson on December 19, 2011

“When someone dies you’re only supposed to say something good. Kim Jong-Il just died. Good.” (with apologies to Bette Davis; this seems on the way to becoming one of my most popular Twitter posts ever, even getting a mention in the Hollywood Reporter)

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A humorous take on the news that supermarkets in the United Kingdom may soon be freed to enter the legal services market [NewsThump]:

…there are fears that the income of Britain’s lawyers could be slightly affected.

“Our members are already feeling the pinch, and in some cases we’ve had to not quite bleed people dry”, claimed Claude Darkus of the Law Society….

Consumers have already formed several support groups for struggling lawyers, with drop-in centres where they can have a quick money shower and kick some puppies.

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A Kentucky judge’s colorfully worded order is grist for my latest post at Cato.

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“Go sue yourself”

by Walter Olson on July 28, 2011

A brief history of auto-litigation [John G. Browning, Southeast Texas Record]

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Perilous portals

by Walter Olson on July 4, 2011

“There are thousands of door-related accidents each year. The Consumer Product Safety Commission should do its bit by requiring that a professionally trained doorman open and shut all doors for door-users. That would create millions of jobs …” [Iain Murray, CEI]

It’s a much-circulated story. But is it true?

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“Nanolaw with Daughter” is a short science fiction story by Paul Ford about birth, “speculative law firms” and bulk litigation [Ftrain via BoingBoing]

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A Monsters Inc. HR wall poster [Jon Hyman]

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It’s just satire, at The Onion, for now at least.


Saturday Night Live has this lawyer-ad parody (via Lowering the Bar). Note the disturbing prevalence of coupon settlements. More on the troubled production from The Onion.

“Any errors are the fault of no-one in particular; rather, society itself is to blame.” And: “All errors are the authors’ sole responsibility, but persons aggrieved by any such errors are encouraged to sue the companies which manufactured our computers.” [Kopel/Volokh]

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The airline’s legal department is almost certainly insisting on a sober demeanor, and as a result JetBlue has to stay on the sidelines as the Steven Slater episode becomes the internet story of the week. [Parekh/Bush, AdAge via Balasubramani]

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Hikaru Katayamma snapped a pic.

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