They write letters

(Okay, so we stole the title from our brother blogger, South Florida Lawyer). While everyone is talking about Ricci and Madoff, the story that interests me is Justice Souter's last day on the bench. Here's the letter from the Chief Justice, signed by all of the Justices, wishing Souter well. And here's Souter's response, which starts "Your generous letter touched me more than I can say..." Lots of love!

The post below about Ma'am or Judge/Your Honor has gotten quite a bit of response. While we're on the topic of what works in court, Justice Scalia explains what peeves him here and here, including when lawyers say that a hypo is different than the facts of the actual case. Scalia: "I know it's not this case, you idiot."

On using italics: "If you’re constantly italicizing words, it sort of reads like a high school girl’s diary."

On using latin words: "Oh, God. It’s a Latin word that means connection. Say 'connection.’ You make it sound scientific."

And on being likable: "No judge likes to give a case to a mean-spirited person. I’ll do it if the law requires it."

Disrespectful?

I've always cringed a little when I hear a male lawyer address a female judge as "ma'am" (instead of "judge" or "your honor") during an argument. Now Senator Boxer has caused a bit of a stir with this exchange:



So, I will put it to you all:

Is it disrespectful to address a judge as "ma'am" instead of "judge" or "your honor"?
	Yes
	No
pollcode.com free polls

Time for the weekend

Before you leave for the weekend, you should know:

So Jeff Goldblum didn't die (neither did Harrison Ford).

UBS clients are starting to plead.

"Justice Antonin Scalia [is] the Confrontation Clause’s most devoted defender on the Court." (via ScotusBlog).

RIP MJ

SCALIA.

Rumpole, check out the 2 criminal law opinions this morning. Justice Scalia wrote a 5-4 opinion (Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts) in favor of a criminal defendant on a confrontation clause issue and in another case (Safford v. Redding), joined Justice Souter's opinion in favor of a high school student challenging a strip search on Fourth Amendment grounds. More to follow...

(Still waiting on my $100).

To Blackberry...

...or not to Blackberry; that is the question.

Other questions of the today:

1) Isn't it time for someone to figure out who Rumpole is? (I think he's given us a hint with this picture -- it's taken from Datran, no?)

2) Is the government dropping the UBS suit?

3) How many more Medicare arrests will there be?

4) Can law firms withhold pay for not billing enough hours?

5) Why aren't all of us taking longer vacations?

6) How bad is the food at the SuperMax?

7) Over the top ad? Or just good fun?

8) Should Madoff get 12 years?

9) If you got these tattoos, you would lie too, wouldn't you?

It's a special guest appearance by...

Vanessa Blum! In a "special to the Review," she covers the White & Case scandal:

Ten years ago, it would have been the stuff of law firm gossip. But in the age of e-mail, blogs and text messaging, the story of a messy affair between a Miami corporate attorney and a married mother of four has spiraled into a much bigger headache for the century-old law firm White & Case. First came mass e-mails from the woman’s husband detailing liaisons between his wife and an associate in the firm’s Miami office. Then the lurid e-mails landed on a popular legal blog where more than 100,000 people have viewed them. The associate’s name is not being published by the Daily Business Review. He did not respond to a phone message by deadline Monday or an e-mail sent Friday to his law firm address. A home phone number listed in the blog material for the associate is not accepting incoming calls, and a cell number reaches a recording saying it is not a working number.

We're happy to see Vanessa back and covering South Florida. She now is the second most famous guest star, after Heather Locklear from Melrose place.

Dean Alex Acosta