Judge quits, blasts mandatory minimums | SCOTUS overturns $2.7M sanction | More 1Ls changing campuses | Whittier Law closing

ABA Journal's Top Stories of the Week
Friday, April 21, 2017

Supreme Court overturns $2.7M sanction for discovery misconduct

Apr 18, 2017, 9:22 am CDT

Law school transfers grow, taking overachieving 1Ls to higher-ranked schools

Apr 19, 2017, 7:00 am CDT

Whittier Law to close; profs fighting to keep it open

Apr 20, 2017, 1:25 pm CDT

Court costs should be returned when criminal convictions are overturned, SCOTUS rules

Apr 19, 2017, 12:50 pm CDT

ABA files amicus brief seeking to uphold travel ban injunction

Apr 20, 2017, 7:00 am CDT

Make motions more powerful by writing openers that focus on 'deep issues'

Apr 1, 2017, 2:30 am CDT

Ask Daliah: It's OK to start as a generalist, then choose a practice

Apr 20, 2017, 8:30 am CDT

Is it time to rethink solitary confinement? (podcast)

Apr 19, 2017, 8:30 am CDT

Two new plaintiffs join emoluments clause lawsuit against Trump

Apr 20, 2017, 7:45 am CDT

Gorsuch asks his first questions in Supreme Court oral arguments

Apr 17, 2017, 11:14 am CDT

Law firm sued by CFPB says it refuses to be 'strong-armed into a consent order'

Apr 18, 2017, 8:00 am CDT

Federal judge who said he wouldn't wish case on his worst enemy refuses to recuse himself

Apr 18, 2017, 3:35 pm CDT

Peepsburg and Sugarmayor: Congrats to the winner of the Peeps in Law diorama contest

Apr 17, 2017, 9:25 am CDT

In the Magazine

From the April 2017 Issue

Rocket Law

The Outer Space Treaty turns 50. Can it survive a new space race?

Leave to Withdraw

Lawyers should tread carefully before quitting a troublesome client

This Week's Featured Blawg

From our Blawg Directory

Privacy and Information Security Law Blog

Posts take note of consumer protection laws around the world, privacy law litigation and cybersecurity legislation.

Question of the Week

We want to hear from you

What's the word you're most worried about mispronouncing?

Law books are full of words we rarely speak. Even if they studied Latin in school, litigators can be unsure how to pronounce nici prius, ratio decidendi and sine die, to name three troublesome phrases Bryan A. Garner cites in A Dictionary of Modern Legal Usage.

Legal Latin is not the only courtroom language that sends lawyers to the dictionary. Case names and place names can be confounding. And the ABA Journal recently noted that Justice Elena Kagan in oral arguments cited an "antecedent" clause and pronounced the word as "an-TESS-a-dent." Ann O'Connell of the Solicitor General's office opted to carry on pronouncing antecedent more conventionally as "ant-a-SEED-ent."

This week we ask: What's the word you're most afraid of mispronouncing? And if the judge does not use the standard pronunciation, which precedent do you follow?

Answer in the comments.

Read the responses to our last question: Have you taken a bar exam in more than one state?

Featured answer:

Posted by LarieBee: "I took and passed the entire Michigan bar exam in 2013 and the entire Illinois bar exam in 2016. Michigan's covered more topic areas and truly focused on state specific law, while Illinois' was quite general, even in the essays. For these reasons, Michigan's was more difficult, even factoring in the experience I gained while clerking for a Michigan state court prior to taking Illinois' exam."

Cartoon Contest

You be the judge

Signal your preference. Voting ends Sunday for the best caption in our monthly contest. The one with the most votes will appear in an upcoming issue of the ABA Journal.

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The Modern Law Library

Are prisoners' civil rights being needlessly violated by long-term solitary confinement?