or, My Name is My Name!
Blawg Review’s Editor asked me to host today’s Blawg Review because today, November 30, is St. Andrew’s Day.
And given the speed with which Blawg Review’s Editor forwarded along this list of other law bloggers named Andrew, I can only assume that at least a substantial fraction of them obviously have more sense than to agree to host Blawg Review after Thanksgiving weekend:
Andrew Flusche
Andrew Feldstein
Andrew Ewalt
Andrew Lavoott Bluestone (New York Attorney Malpractice Blog)
Andrew Barovick(New York Medical Malpractice Law Blog)
Andrew Hale & Associates (Wrongful Conviction Lawsuit Defense Blog)
Andrew S. Alitowski (Kentucky Personal Injury Lawyer Blog)
Andrew Morshirnia (Citizen Medial Law Project)
In Christianity, St. Andrew is the patron saint of Scotland, Ukraine, Romania, Greece and Russia. (If you are also unfamiliar with the concept of patron saints, Wikipedia tells me that a patron saint is “a saint who is regarded as the intercessor and advocate in heaven of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, or person.”) The Scots are most closely associated with St. Andrew as St. Andrew’s Day is Scotland’s national holiday. So, let’s stroll through some of the finest law blogs from Edinburgh and beyond:
Scottish Law Blog Links
Scotland is acquiring more self-governance. Devolution is a way of enabling Scotland (as well as Wales and Northern Ireland) to have forms of self-government within the United Kingdom. Alan Trench covers the latest news at his blog, Devolution Matters.
Did you happen to stumble onto a treasure trove under the links (or elsewhere in Scotland)? At Scots Law News, Hector MacQueen discusses the Scots law of treasure trove and how it differs from English law, There’s gold in them thar hills…
Scots Law blogger Jonathan Mitchell discusses the Rights to environmental information and explains some of the benefits to seeking information under the Scottish schemes rather than the UK schemes.
Andres Guadamuz, law lecturer at the University of Edinburgh may have my favorite blog name, TechnoLlama. This week, he takes a look at How to Use Non-Commercial Content Commercially.
The Scots Law Student (can there only be one?) takes a look at going paperless.
Future Scottish holidays could become even more entertaining. Former Scotland Solicitor General Lord McCluskey suggested the legalization of heroin and other controlled substances, on the basis that the drug problem is primarily a health, rather than criminal, problem.
Via Ann Bartow at Madisonian.net, we learn that a Scottish brewery, BrewDog of Fraserburgh, has launched Tactical Nuclear Penguin Beer, with a 32% alcohol content.
In Scotland, the Old Course at St. Andrews is one of the oldest golf courses in the world, with records of golf having been played there since 1574. In 2010, it will be the next host of The Open Championship (or better known here in the US as The British Open.) The last time St. Andrews hosted the Open Championship was in 2005 (which, incidentally, was also the last time that I hosted Blawg Review.) That year, Tiger Woods won the second of his 3 British Open Champsionships. (He won his first in 2000, also at St. Andrews.)
Speaking of Tiger, you may have heard that he was involved in some kind of automobile incident outside his house this weekend. Woods is famously protective of his privacy. At the Sports Law Blog, Rick Karcher discusses: Tiger Woods Brings to Light the Privacy Rights of Public Figures.
In 2003, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals found that neither trademark law nor the right of publicity impaired a painter’s the First Amendment rights to sell his own original paintings of Woods. ETW Corp. v. Jireh Pub. Inc.
Back in Blawg Review #206, J. Craig Williams celebrated Tartan Week with All Things Scottish. And remember the sage wisdom of Stuart Rankin, If it’s not Scottish, it’s crap!
And now, onto some more hyper, rather than golf, links:
Bob Loblaw & Law Blogging
Citizen Media Law Project Launches Legal Assistance Network for Online Journalists, “We are delighted to announce the public launch of the Berkman Center’s Online Media Legal Network (OMLN), a new pro bono (i.e., free!) initiative that connects lawyers and law school clinics from across the country with online journalists and digital media creators who need legal help. Lawyers participating in OMLN will provide qualifying online publishers with pro bono and reduced fee legal assistance on a broad range of legal issues, including business formation and governance, copyright licensing and fair use, employment and freelancer agreements, access to government information, pre-publication review of content, and representation in litigation.”
Kevin O’Keefe is (not surprisingly) optimistic about the potential for law blogs to broaden and deepen the reporting and coverage of law, Legal blogs take legal reporting to a new level.
Scott Greenfield reminds us that while every lawyer can blawg, not every lawyer should, Blogging Is Alive, And Aggravating, “Most new blogs are doomed to death from the outset, created for the wrong reason and certain to fail to achieve their creator’s purpose. Most offer neither insight nor viewpoint, as their creators are scared to death that taking a firm and clear position might offend a reader, a potential client. After all, the vast majority of blogs are born solely as a marketing vehicle, even if the creators follow the sound advice not to make them look too ‘markety.'” (This is one of those posts that’s hard to excerpt because it’s full of awesome.)
Practical Practice Tips
The Nutmeg Lawyer found a way to apply watching AMC’s excellent Mad Men to developing one’s law practice: Don Draper’s Guide to Being a Better Lawyer.
I’d like to see an equivalent for AMC’s other excellent show, Breaking Bad, with law lessons from Saul Goodman.
Above the Law finds a firm who might want to call Saul for better advice on how to market their practice: Adventures in Lawyer Advertising: Texas Firm’s Kiddie Porn Practice Group.
Del Quentin Wilber in the Washington Post reports: Blackwater lawyers reprimanded … for not double-spacing. Yes, it’s that Blackwater, now known as Xe.
Adams Drafting on “Shall Never”
Show up to court conferences: Simple Justice posts, Mortgage blowback.
It may be a bit lazy to link to a link roundup, but Infamy or Praise hits a number of good posts about the Florida Bar’s settlement with the Public Citizen group about bar scrutiny of sites like Avvo and LinkedIn that allow clients to comment on attorneys listed on those sites, A Round Tuit (10)
Copyright, Internet and Privacy Law
Discuss: Say Goodnight Keith Moon
Scrivener’s Error awards The 2009 Turkey Awards
Tamera H. Bennett asks, Will The Music Industry Develop A “Got Milk?” Campaign?. (I would suggest thats copyright law basics should be taught as part of a comprehensive information literacy program in elementary and high school.)
James Grimmelmann’s Laboratorium is the go-to source for news about the Google Books settlement between the Authors Guild and Google. See, e.g. The Game is Afoot. (Previously: Google Settles with Publishers.)
See more from The Author’s Guild, The New York Times, and Google.
Deven Desai weighs in on Google’s move towards making case law free and accessible, Google, The Good: Free Law!
In the Harvard JOLT Digest, Adrienne Baker discusses No Permission Needed to Copyright a Derivative Work. Exclusive Rights, 7th Circuit Opines on Originality Standard for Derivative Works. Both of these posts discuss the Seventh Circuit’s copyright ruling about derivative works in Schrock v. Learning Curve Int’l
Rebecca Tushnet, 43(b)log, on copyright and crossword puzzles: Slate on achieving substantial similarity without copying
After attempting to install filtering software, BitTorrent tracker Mininova is shutting down its public torrent tracker system in order to comply with the verdict against it in the Netherlands: Mininova limits its activities to Content Distribution service
At Eric Goldman’s Technology & Marketing Law Blog, Venkat Balasubramani takes a look at Twitter’s Updated Privacy Policy
Lowering the Bar, Facebook Pics Prove You Aren’t Disabled, Insurer Tells Depressed Woman, “A Canadian woman who has been on long-term leave from her job since being diagnosed with major depression had her benefits taken away after her insurer found pictures of her on Facebook having fun.”
Constitutional Law
Are Lawyers “Debt Relief Agencies”? On Tuesday, December 1, the Supreme Court of the US is set to examine whether lawyers are Lawyers “Debt Relief Agencies” as defined by the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005. At SCOTUSbog, Anna Christensen previews Milavetz, Gallop & Milavetz, P.A. v. United States and United States v. Milavetz, Gallop, & Milavetz, P.A.. The consolidated cases pose the questions of whether attorneys are “debt relief agencies” as defined by Act, and, if so, whether the challenged sections of the Act are unconstitutional.
Did Texas’s attempt to ban gay marriage actually ban all marriage? Lowering the Bar posts, Marriage Illegal in Texas, Says Candidate, “Barbara Ann Radnofsky, formerly a partner with Vinson & Elkins and now a Democratic candidate for Texas Attorney General, has pointed out the uncomfortable fact that a 2005 amendment to the state constitution, which was designed to ban gay marriage, may in fact ban ALL marriage.”
Building a mosque in Switzerland? Religion Clause reports, Swiss Voters Approve Ban On Minarets, “The final tally showed that 57.5% of the voters and a majority of the cantons backed the initiative. The government, and most political parties, churches and businesses had all opposed the ban.”
Tim Zick at PrawfsBlawg, Flipping the Bird, Pittsburgh officials have tentatively approved a $50,000 settlement in the case of a motorist who flipped off a police officer (apparently not knowing at the time the offending gesture was made that the person was an officer).”
Begging the Question notes that the KKK isn’t quite coming out in force as threatened, after The University of Mississippi sought to stop chants of “The South will rise again!” at football games, The robes probably smell like mothballs, too
Technology
Niki Black discusses cloud computing, law firms, and new ideas in technology: Change is Good
Brett Trout at BlawgIT, Luddite Patent Attorneys Are More Expensive Than You Think
Need a gift for your patent attorney? At Patent Baristas, Stephen Albainy-Jenei suggests some of the Best Gifts for Patent Attorneys 2009.
Other notable Andrews
NYAG Andrew Cuomo
Industrialist Andrew Carnegie
US President Andrew Jackson
Musician Andrew Bird
Musician Andrew W.K.
Mathematician Andrew Odlyzko
Economist Andrew Gelman
TV host Andrew Zimmern
Hurricane Andrew (1992)
The Saint Andrew’s Golf Club in Hastings-on-Hudson, NY is America’s oldest golf club.
Miscellany
Michael Atkins, Seattle Trademark Lawyer, WTO Riots Ten Years Later: The Tension Continues Between Trade and Rights: “The World Trade Organization came to Seattle ten years ago. Protests and riots ensued. Seattleites won’t soon forget the tear gas, smashed windows, police in riot gear, out-of-town ‘anarchists,’ giant ninja turtles, and chants of ‘The whole world is watching!’ Of course, the tension between international trade and human rights that existed then still exists today.”
Anne Reed will no longer be blogging about juries and jury trials. Find out why at her blog, Deliberations, An End and a Beginning. (Short summary: good news!)
Matthew Heller, On Point, Stunning Decision Finds Taser Risks Not “Knowable”: “Less than 18 months after a jury found Taser International liable for failing to warn that its stun guns could cause heart attacks, a California judge has completely disregarded that verdict in dismissing a very similar wrongful-death lawsuit.”
Scouting NY found the Fountain of the Planet of the Apes, in Queens: 45 Years Late to the Fair: “Queens once had an honest-to-God Parks Department-approved fountain named ‘Fountain of the Planet of the Apes.’ And if that’s not odd enough, an identical fountain on the opposite side of the Queens Zoo was named ‘Fountain of the Planet of the Grapes of Wrath.’ ”
It may not come from the legal blogosophere, but if you haven’t already seen the Muppets sing Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody,” start your week off with a smile:
Blawg Review has information about next week’s host, and instructions how to get your blawg posts reviewed in upcoming issues.
