Legal Profession

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12 Sep, 2017

Seventh Circuit Judge Richard Posner Retires

2019-03-18T18:47:15-05:00September 12th, 2017|Tags: , |

The legal world was shocked when the infamous Judge Richard Posner of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit announced his retirement last week, effective immediately. Judge Posner is well-known in the legal community for being witty and outspoken, sometimes courting controversy with his statements. Though his retirement is seen as abrupt, [...]

8 Sep, 2016

The Top 5 Skills of the Best Legal Assistants

2019-03-18T18:47:20-05:00September 8th, 2016|Tags: , , , , |

At Cockle Legal Briefs, we are honored to work with some of the brightest legal minds in the country.  In doing so, it’s clear that an organized and competent legal assistant is worth his or her weight in gold. These individuals are key resources for an attorney and are frequently responsible for legal research, writing, [...]

23 Oct, 2014

Experience: The Reason You Should Outsource Your Supreme Court Work

2019-03-18T18:47:33-05:00October 23rd, 2014|

Remember those early days of your legal career? Perhaps as a student clerk, or a freshly minted JD, remember those first few steps out of the classroom, and into the real world? Remember the terror? For three years they poured legal knowledge into your head, and perhaps more significantly, they gave you the tools to [...]

18 Jul, 2014

The Top 5 Skills of the Best Legal Assistants

2019-03-18T18:47:35-05:00July 18th, 2014|Tags: , , , |

We work with some of the brightest lawyers and legal assistants in the country each day.  If there’s one thing we've learned in the course of filing approximately 1,200 Supreme Court briefs a year, it’s that our office runs on COFFEE!  But, if there’s a second thing that we've learned, it’s that an organized and [...]

29 Oct, 2013

Conversations About the Law Series: Roy T. Englert Jr.

2019-03-18T18:47:41-05:00October 29th, 2013|Tags: , , , , |

Over the next couple of months, the CockleBur will provide a series of conversations about the law with a number of prominent legal journalists, practitioners, scholars, policy makers, and social justice advocates. I chose these particular people because I think they can bring a unique perspective about topics such as advocacy, legal [...]

28 Jul, 2013

Conversations About the Law: A New Series from The CockleBur

2019-03-18T18:47:41-05:00July 28th, 2013|Tags: |

Over the next three months, the CockleBur will provide a series of conversations about the law from a number of prominent legal journalists, practitioners, scholars, policy makers, and social justice advocates. I chose these particular people because I think they can bring a unique perspective about topics such as advocacy, legal education, how the media [...]

11 Apr, 2013

How to Write An Effective Appellate Brief: Lessons from Judge Richard Posner

2013-04-11T18:49:56-05:00April 11th, 2013|Tags: , , , |

Judge Richard Posner, of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, recently laid out his view of appellate briefs (you can read the article on the ABA website here). Judge Posner writes: So, my essential advice to the appellate brief writer is to put yourself in the judge’s shoes all the way, as it were. That [...]

9 Feb, 2012

The New Greenbag Almanac Is Published

2019-03-18T18:47:47-05:00February 9th, 2012|Tags: , , |

The 2012 Greenbag Almanac and Reader was recently published. For those of you who are unfamiliar, the Greenbag is "a quarterly journal of short, readable, useful, and sometimes entertaining legal scholarship." The Greenbag has a distinguished Board of Advisors that includes Linda Greenhouse, Howard Bashman, Adam Liptak, Judges Alex Kozinki, Diane Wood, and J. Harvie [...]

7 Sep, 2011

Of Famines and Lawyers

2019-03-18T18:47:54-05:00September 7th, 2011|Tags: , , , , , , , , |

Query:  What is the connection between famine (on the one hand) and the current tangle of issues regarding the undersupply or oversupply of lawyers and legal services (on the other)? Answer:  The problem in both instances may be one of distribution.     As to famine… Thomas Keneally’s new book Three Famines traces the great [...]