Miriam Aroni Krinsky worked as a prosecutor in Los Angeles County in the 1980s and 1990s as the War on Drugs was waged. Mandatory minimum sentences and tough-on-crime laws sent prison populations soaring and ripped apart families and communities. Krinsky believed that change was needed–and that it could come from prosecutors themselves. In 2016, she tells the ABA Journal's Lee Rawles, there was enough of a political movement behind the idea of reform prosecutors that the nonprofit Fair and Just ...
Nov 30, 2022•38 min•Season 1Ep. 180
In the summer of 2020, when the murder of George Floyd was igniting protests in Minneapolis and around the country, it occurred to Margaret A. Burnham that “George Floyd” was a common-sounding name. Burnham is the founder and director of the Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project at the Northwestern University School of Law, where she is also a professor. She went into the CRRJ’s archive of Jim Crow racial homicides, and a search revealed another George Floyd. The account of the jailhouse ...
Nov 16, 2022•42 min•Season 1Ep. 179
For any plaintiff who's been injured or any young attorney just starting out in the field of tort law, it can be daunting to calculate what monetary damages–and nonmonetary damages like pain and suffering–they should be asking for if they win a civil trial or are evaluating a settlement offer. Estimating what the future would have looked like if an accident had never occurred can seem more like a thought experiment than a scientific process. But there is a science behind it, says Dr. Michael Sha...
Oct 26, 2022•46 min•Season 1Ep. 178
Author and lawyer Scott Turow’s latest legal thriller Suspect reintroduces readers to Clarice “Pinky” Granum, the granddaughter of attorney Sandy Stern—a character from the author's novels The Last Trial and his blockbuster debut Presumed Innocent .
Oct 12, 2022•30 min•Season 1Ep. 177
In this special two-part episode of the Modern Law Library, the ABA Journal's Lee Rawles speaks with Lisa Napoli, author of Susan, Linda, Nina & Cokie: The Extraordinary Story of the Founding Mothers of NPR , and we hear from Nina Totenberg herself about her new book, Dinners With Ruth: A Memoir on the Power of Friendships . Totenberg appeared at an American Bar Foundation event to celebrate the launch of the Ruth Bader Ginsburg Endowed Fund for Research in Civil Rights & Gender Equality...
Sep 21, 2022•51 min•Season 1Ep. 176
Justice William O. Douglas could be known for his fiery opinions, turbulent personal life and longtime presidential ambitions. But Judge M. Margaret McKeown is shining a light on his groundbreaking environmental advocacy in Citizen Justice: The Environmental Legacy of William O. Douglas—Public Advocate and Conservation Champion . McKeown, who sits on the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, was on a hike when she came upon a cabin belonging to two friends of the justice, Olaus ...
Sep 07, 2022•46 min•Season 1Ep. 175
It’s no secret that lawyers are asked to attend or preside over many kinds and types of meetings. From attending a professional association’s annual meeting with hundreds of fellow attorneys (as the ABA just held in August) to being asked to chair a non-profit board or preside at an HOA meeting, lawyers are often looked to for guidance. But not everyone has formal training in running a meeting, and there are huge differences between a small firm’s partner meeting with six lawyers in a board room...
Aug 24, 2022•52 min•Season 1Ep. 174
It’s time for the Modern Law Library’s summer recommendations episode, where host Lee Rawles shares her pop culture picks with you, plus a re-airing of one of our older episodes that has become relevant again. In this case, it’s a 2018 conversation with Mary Ziegler about her book Beyond Abortion: Roe v. Wade and the Battle for Privacy . Ziegler shares information about other areas of the law in which Roe was used as precedent beyond reproductive rights. Tune in to hear about what Lee has been r...
Aug 10, 2022•48 min•Season 1Ep. 173
After several collaborations with bestselling author James Patterson, Judge David Ellis of Illinois decided to go it alone for his latest book, Look Closer . In this episode, the ABA Journal's Matt Reynolds talks to Ellis about his Patterson partnership, his own crime fiction and how he balances his judicial work with his writing.
Jul 27, 2022•42 min•Season 1Ep. 172
In Nobody is Protected: How the Border Patrol Became the Most Dangerous Police Force in the United States , geographer Reece Jones argues that Supreme Court precedent, a growing workforce and mission creep have made the U.S. Border Patrol a national police force that operates without appropriate accountability. In this episode of the Modern Law Library, Jones and the ABA Journal's Lee Rawles discuss the creation of the U.S. Border Patrol in 1924 in the wake of racist immigration laws. Jones shar...
Jul 13, 2022•42 min•Season 1Ep. 171
Even during times less tumultuous than the one we are in now, lawyers as a profession report high levels of stress. Finding the way to keep motivated and healthy on an individual level while fighting systemic problems is no easy task. It was this challenge that lawyers Nora Bergman and Chelsy Castro set out to address in their new book, 50 Lessons for Happy Lawyers . In this episode of the Modern Law Library, Bergman and Castro share experiences from their respective backgrounds in coaching and ...
Jun 29, 2022•41 min•Season 1Ep. 170
Are you a lawyer who plays League of Legends late at night? A World of Warcraft warrior who engages in courtroom combat during your daytime gig? And have you ever wished you could break into esports on a professional level–whether you're armed with a game controller or a briefcase? Well, esports is a growing industry, and if you'd like to make it part of your legal practice, a background in gaming can help, says Justin M. Jacobson, author of The Essential Guide to the Business & Law of Espor...
Jun 08, 2022•45 min•Season 1Ep. 169
As a lawyer, Michelle Good spent years investigating the trauma that Canada’s residential school system inflicted on Indigenous people. As an author, it took her nine years to write her first novel about the lives of five teenagers who leave a church-run school and coalesce in Eastside Vancouver, British Columbia. For Good, it was imperative that she took her time to get the story right. Her patience paid off.
May 25, 2022•49 min•Season 1Ep. 168
On the cover of Brian Hochman's book The Listeners: A History of Wiretapping in the United States is a martini cocktail, complete with skewered olive. Someone attempting to judge a book by its cover may think this is a riff on James Bond and his brethren in espionage. But international espionage is not the primary use of wiretapping in the United States; it's a longer, stranger tale than that. Hochman shares the real story that inspired the cover in this episode of the Modern Law Library with th...
May 11, 2022•43 min•Season 1Ep. 167
During its time as a Soviet republic within the USSR, Kazakhstan was the site of massive nuclear tests, both above and below ground. The cost to the environment and health of the Kazakh people and livestock was likewise massive, though the full scale of the effects was under-studied and suppressed for decades. Through massive public protests in the 1980s, nuclear-weapons testing in the Semipalatinsk region of Kazakhstan was brought to a halt. But when the Soviet Union dissolved and Kazakhstan be...
Apr 20, 2022•51 min•Season 1Ep. 166
In August 2020, contract attorney Laura Frederick accepted a challenge: Post to LinkedIn once a day, every day, for a month. Frederick thought she might be able to keep up a string of several days in a row. Instead, her daily posts became a way to connect with colleagues, build business, create a brand identity, and have a social lifeline during the isolation of the pandemic. A selection of those posts also found their way into her self-published book, Practical Tips on How to Contract: Techniqu...
Apr 06, 2022•37 min•Season 1Ep. 165
Detroit has been the site of many civil rights and labor rights battles, and many notable Black attorneys have called the city home. The first Black president of the ABA, Dennis Archer, came from the Detroit legal community, as does the current ABA president, Reginald Turner. But the full story of one of the city's pioneering legal figures has not been told–until now. In No Equal Justice: The Legacy of Civil Rights Icon George W. Crockett Jr. , co-authors Edward J. Littlejohn and Peter J. Hammer...
Mar 30, 2022•52 min•Season 1Ep. 164
Retired judge and bestselling novelist Martin Clark had to deal with his fair share of rejection before he finally broke in more than two decades ago with his debut novel, The Many Aspects of Mobile Home Living . After several false starts, that book got Clark’s career up and running. In this episode, the ABA Journal's Matt Reynolds finds out what made the difference for Clark, and gets tips for other lawyers itching to write their first book. Special thanks to our sponsor, Posh Virtual Receptio...
Mar 16, 2022•32 min•Season 1Ep. 163
Law professor Kim Wehle is used to helping her students begin to think like lawyers. But the methodology behind making tough decisions as a legal professional can also benefit the general public. It’s why How To Think Like A Lawyer—and Why: A Common-Sense Guide to Everyday Dilemmas was a natural follow-up to her two previous books, How to Read the Constitution—and Why and What You Need to Know About Voting—and Why. Wehle’s previous books attempted to fill in civics education gaps for the general...
Feb 23, 2022•38 min•Season 1Ep. 162
Hilary J. Allen isn't sorry if you find her new book scary. In fact, she's hoping that Driverless Finance: Fintech's Impact on Financial Stability can spook enough people to create momentum for change. Allen was involved in the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission that was formed by Congress to study the causes behind the 2008 financial crisis. Now she sees the possibility of financial collapse on an even greater scale with AI technology being used in the financial industry; "smart contracts" tha...
Feb 09, 2022•44 min•Season 1Ep. 161
There's plenty of conventional wisdom about what makes a good legal brief or court opinion. Judge Robert E. Bacharach of the Denver-based 10th Circuit Court of Appeals says that when judges socialize, their conversations often devolve into discussions about language and pieces of writing they enjoy or revile. But Bacharach decided he wanted to dive deeper, to see what the science of psycholinguistics could teach lawyers and judges about how written words persuade an audience. The result was his ...
Jan 26, 2022•30 min•Season 1Ep. 160
Most of the spotlights are on the U.S. Supreme Court when it comes to legal cases that impact civil rights. But state supreme courts are the final arbiters of what each state's own constitution dictates. They can have enormous influence on Americans' civil rights and daily lives—and there isn't nearly as much scholarship available on them, particularly when it comes to civil rather than criminal cases. Political scientists James L. Gibson and Michael J. Nelson hope to change this with their new ...
Jan 12, 2022•45 min•Season 1Ep. 159
In her debut novel, All Her Little Secrets , attorney Wanda M. Morris has written a legal thriller full of corporate intrigue and small-town secrets. Morris takes readers inside Atlanta boardrooms and back into the past of her heroine, Ellice Littlejohn. What would possess someone to react to the sight of her boss (and longtime married lover) shot to death in his office by closing the door and walking away without alerting anyone? The trauma behind Littlejohn's actions becomes clearer as readers...
Dec 22, 2021•39 min•Season 1Ep. 158
In our annual year-in-review episode, Lee Rawles speaks to her ABA Journal colleagues Blair Chavis, Matt Reynolds and Amanda Robert to find out how they spent their free time in 2021. Like many people, we've found it more difficult during the pandemic to read for pleasure, so this year we're also sharing what TV shows, movies and podcasts we would recommend, in addition to our favorite books and audiobooks. We also share what we're adding to our to-read and to-watch lists in 2022. Have your own ...
Dec 08, 2021•30 min•Season 1Ep. 157
Like the legal profession, the practice of medicine in the United States is highly regulated. But it hasn't always been, and the idea that a person has the right to try the medical therapies of their choice has a much longer history. In Choose Your Medicine: Freedom of Therapeutic Choice in America , law professor Lewis A. Grossman introduces readers to a fractious history with some unexpected combatants–and comrades. From his research, Grossman discovered that skepticism towards medical authori...
Nov 24, 2021•50 min•Season 1Ep. 156
Whenever the ABA Journal has conducted a survey to find the best legal movies or the best legal plays, Twelve Angry Men has made the list. The black-and-white 1957 film about a deadlocked jury coming to a consensus in a murder trial has become a classic, one of Henry Fonda's most striking tales. As a play, Twelve Angry Men is performed around the world, in many languages, in theaters large and small. But the path to becoming a classic was not a simple one, and the man behind the script was not a...
Nov 10, 2021•36 min•Season 1Ep. 155
Since World War II, more than two million service members have been discharged from U.S. military service with a status other than "honorable discharge." Having a discharge that falls below a certain level can impact a veteran's access to pensions, GI Bill education benefits, health care, insurance or home loans, as well as carrying a stigma. But when a veteran's circumstances are given another look, there may have been mitigating factors that weren't considered at the time of their discharge. A...
Oct 20, 2021•29 min•Season 1Ep. 154
Much has been said about police officers and departments who violate civil rights or enforce the law in discriminatory ways. But not as much attention has been paid to the ways in which the U.S. Supreme Court has enabled police excesses and insulated police from civil or criminal responsibility, says Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the University of California at Berkeley School of Law and author of the new book Presumed Guilty: How the Supreme Court Empowered the Police and Subverted Civil Rights. I...
Oct 13, 2021•27 min•Season 1Ep. 153
Hispanics are becoming an increasingly large segment of the U.S. population, and for an enterprising lawyer, serving the legal needs of Spanish-speaking clients seems like a solid business development goal. But running your existing marketing materials through Google Translate and slapping "Se habla español" on your website is not enough, says Liel Levy of Nanato Media. Along with Natalie Fragkouli, his wife and business partner, Levy has written Beyond Se Habla Español: How Lawyers Win the Hisp...
Sep 22, 2021•36 min•Season 1Ep. 152
Britney Spears' legal battle over the conservatorship that put her under the control of her father brought international attention to the conservatorship system. But many other rich and famous people have–appropriately or not–also found themselves in the grips of a system that is much more easy to enter than to leave. In Twilight Man: Love and Ruin in the Shadows of Hollywood and the Clark Empire , author Liz Brown tells the life story of Harrison Post, a story that starts in the Gilded Age and ...
Sep 08, 2021•35 min•Season 1Ep. 151
