For readers in the New York City area: Tomorrow evening (Tues.) I’m going to be one of three persons discussing the Constitution’s Second Amendment, and the Supreme Court’s Heller decision recognizing that it protects an individual and not merely a “collective” right, at a monthly meeting of the New York Civil Liberties Union. Details here. Also offering their views will be NYCLU’s Arthur Eisenberg, a proponent of the collective-rights view, and Damon Root of Reason magazine, who discusses the event here. There will even be pizza and refreshments.

Off-topic: Commentary magazine, with which I go way back, and Alarming News threw a pleasant cocktail get-together for New York City political bloggers last night at a bar on Avenue A and 13th (around the corner from the first place I ever lived in New York). I met most of the attendees listed here, along with some others not listed including Fallen Sparrows and the mysterious proprietor of opera blog An Unamplified Voice.

Also, in case it was not clear, I’ve now completed the writing project for which I took the week off. Many thanks to Andrew Grossman (Heritage Foundation) and Jim Copland (Manhattan Institute) for filling in in my absence.

Walter’s appearance at the Federalist Society Lawyers Convention (along with Victor Schwartz, Ted Eisenberg, and David C. Vladeck) is now on-line, along with many other programs.

At the Federalist Society 25th anniversary convention in Washington this weekend, I’ll be on a panel discussion tomorrow morning (Friday) with lawprofs Ted Eisenberg (Cornell) and David Vladeck (Georgetown) and famed reformer Victor Schwartz (Shook, Hardy & Bacon). Do come up and say hi afterward if you’re in the audience. Look for Ted who’ll also be attending, as well as other names familiar from this site.

On Friday I attended New York Law School’s conference “Writing About the Law: From Bluebook to Blogs and Beyond“. Aside from the considerable merits of the program itself (PDF), organized by NYLS’s Cameron Stracher, I met a lot of blawgers, lawprofs and others whose work I’ve been reading for years. At lunch, when Northwestern lawprof Jim Lindgren (Volokh Conspiracy) kindly suggested I join his table, I found myself seated between David Lat (Above the Law) and Ann Althouse; the rest of the table consisted of NYLS professors Jethro Lieberman (The Litigious Society) and Arthur Leonard, and publisher/editor Bernard Hibbitts of Jurist. Earlier in the day, I met Paul Caron (TaxProf), Jack Balkin (Balkinization), and Larry Solum (Legal Theory Blog), as well as catching up with old friend Randy Barnett (Volokh). For more on the program, see Larry Solum’s posts here, here and here, David Lat’s here, here and here and Ann Althouse’s here and (Times Select) here.

On Jan. 28, I attended the pre-launch party in Manhattan for BlawgWorld 2007, a volume produced by the TechnoLawyer people which pulls together a sampling of 2006 posts from 76 law-related blogs, rather like a blog festival in print. Among those I finally met in person was George Lenard of George’s Employment Blawg; I also got to say hello to a number of other blawgers I’d run into previously, including Bruce MacEwen of Adam Smith, Esq. and Arnie Herz of Legal Sanity. I can be spotted in a few of the pictures from the event, such as this one, this one and (seeming to pound my hand against the wall, though I was not in fact frustrated) this one. Clearly I should get out more often.

I’m off to Austin where I’ll take part in a panel discussion on asbestos reform tomorrow (Thurs.) at the Texas Public Policy Foundation’s third annual policy orientation for the state legislature, an event that I understand is sold out. Any posting before Friday will be from Ted.

I’ll be speaking in Washington, D.C. this Wednesday and again on Friday. On Wednesday, I’ll be at the Cato Institute at noon (there’s even an audio feed) commenting on Robert Levy’s new book Shakedown. On Friday, I’ll be part of a panel discussion that starts at 1:30 at the Mayflower as part of the Federalist Society’s annual National Lawyers Convention, discussing regulation through litigation with a panel that includes Michigan Supreme Court Justice Robert Young Jr. and Northeastern Law’s Richard Daynard, among others.

Next week I’ve giving talks on Tuesday (Nov. 16) at two law schools in New York City, in both case sponsored by Federalist Society chapters. I’ll speak at Fordham in Manhattan at 12:30 and then at Brooklyn Law School at 4 p.m.

I’m headed out for my Southern California speaking tour, and expect to be absent from this site for the next week or perhaps a bit more. Ted will be here, though. See you soon.

I’ll be speaking this evening (Thurs. Sept. 30) in Baltimore as part of a dinner-hour panel discussion on medical malpractice reform sponsored by the Chesapeake Lawyers’ Chapter of the Federalist Society. Other events scheduled for this fall (sponsored by the Federalist Society unless otherwise specified):

* Mon. Oct. 11, Whittier Law School, Costa Mesa, Calif.

* Tues. Oct. 12, Chapman Law School, Orange, Calif. (lunch) and Trinity Law School, Santa Ana, Calif. (late afternoon)

* Thurs. Oct. 14, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Washington, D.C., Legal Reform Summit, debating Bob Levy of Cato on federalism and litigation reform

* Wed. Nov. 10, Cato Institute, Washington, D.C., commenting on publication of Bob Levy’s new book Shakedown

* Fri., Nov. 12, Federalist Society National Lawyers Convention, Washington, D.C., panel discussion on regulation by litigation with (among others) former Mississippi Attorney General Michael Moore and Michigan Supreme Court Justice Robert Young, Jr.;

* week of Nov. 15 (exact date TBA), Fordham Law School, New York City.

To inquire about our availability for speaking engagements, email editor - at - [this-domain-name] for me or tedfrank - at - [this-domain-name] for Ted.

I’m heading off to speak to the Federalist Society chapter at the University of Arkansas law school in Little Rock. I should be back and posting on Friday.

I’ll be traveling on business, so there’ll be no more posting from me until Sunday or Monday. See you then.

This Wed., March 24 (6:00 reception, 6:30 program) I’ll be in Southern California, speaking to the Orange County chapter of the Federalist Society. The event will be held at the offices of Knobbe Martens Olson (no relation) & Bear in Irvine. Details and RSVP here. Plus: for those who will be in the Boulder, Colo. area Apr. 5-9, the Conference on World Affairs has now posted the schedule of panels I’ll be on.

This evening at 6 p.m. I’ll be speaking at a panel discussion sponsored by the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, on the impact of possible federal tort reform on New York. (more)

The Brennan Center at NYU Law School would typically be found on the opposite side of many or most of the views aired on this page. Which makes it all the more broad-minded of them to have invited me in as the speaker tomorrow (Tuesday) at their periodic lunch series at their Manhattan offices (161 Ave. of the Americas, 12th floor, (212) 998 6730.) I’ll be speaking to the question: “Should Progressives Favor Curbing Litigation?” and arguing the affirmative, naturally. Reservations: 212-992-8647 or email ab145 - at - nyu - dot - edu with a subject line of RSVP: Conversations.

I’ll be the luncheon speaker this Saturday at 12 noon at the Federalist Society’s conference at New York University on “Enforcing Corporate Responsibility Through Criminal Law“. (Yes, this is rather short notice to NYC-area readers; I was tapped to fill in for a luncheon speaker who couldn’t make it.) Earlier, between 10:00 a.m. and noon, a distinguished panel will discuss corporate misconduct and the role of prosecutors, including: Prof. John Baker, Louisiana State Univ. Law Center; the Hon. Mary Beth Buchanan, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Pa.; the Hon. Eileen O’Connor, Assistant Attorney General, Tax Division, U.S. Department of Justice; and the Hon. George Terwilliger III, White and Case, LLP.

Updated: I had been scheduled to be a guest on Laura Ingraham’s national radio show this morning, but it didn’t wind up happening. Also, I’m set to speak on Wednesday to the Federalist Society chapters in Indianapolis (breakfast) and Indiana University School of Law in Bloomington (lunch), weather permitting.

I’m finally on web duty again following my trip to give a talk before the American Tort Reform Association gathering in Las Vegas. ATRA has two current projects that especially merit readers’ attention. One is its recent update of its “Judicial Hellholes” reports on local jurisdictions famed for unfairness to outsider defendants, such as Madison County, Ill., Jefferson County, Miss., St. Louis, Philadelphia, Miami and Los Angeles. Recent news coverage can be found here.

The other project is ATRA’s recent launch of what it calls the Legal Reform Champions List. The list is intended to address a widespread (and sometimes infuriating) phenomenon: many lawyers who make a career specialty of litigation defense quietly undermine their clients’ interests by working covertly or openly to block reforms that would curb the volume or cost of litigation, often mindful of their own self-interest in ensuring there are plenty of future lawsuits requiring their services to defend. ATRA’s new list takes a relatively positive approach to this problem: rather than denounce by name defense lawyers who operate as effective allies of the litigation lobby, it singles out for praise those who (often at a real cost to their strict monetary interest) work in the public policy process to combat excessive litigation. We wrote about this problem in The Rule of Lawyers (in a passage not online through conventional means, but available with registration through Amazon’s book-peek feature).

I am happy to report something I wasn’t expecting when I set off for the trip: at my Monday appearance ATRA was kind enough to give me its “Civil Justice Achievement Award” 2003. This seems to be the year for me to receive handsomely engraved awards (see Sept. 24). Thanks! (& welcome Ernie the Attorney readers)

For fans of this site within driving distance of Albany, N.Y., I’ll be appearing tomorrow (Tues.) at the 2003 Public Forum at Albany Law School entitled, “Does America Need Tort Reform?” The host will be Prof. Timothy Lytton. I will be debating Prof. Carl Bogus of Roger Williams Law School, who is the author of “Why Lawsuits Are Good for America” as well as a considerable body of work supportive of regulation and lawsuits aimed at firearms makers. It’s free and open to the public, and includes a moderated discussion.