Lawyer 2 Lawyer

In this edition of Lawyer2Lawyer, hosts Bob Ambrogi and J. Craig Williams invite Allen Pusey and Molly McDonough of the ABA Journal to recap the past year’s legal news. Consider this a crash course on news stories such as Edward Snowden, gun control, and Obamacare. The discussion will not only cover the top stories of the year but also find the common themes in this year’s news and foretell what to keep an eye on in 2014. Pusey has been with the ABA Journal since 2007 and was named editor and publisher in 2011. Prior to the ABA Journal, he worked for 26 years at the Dallas Morning News as an investigative reporter, feature writer, special projects editor, and U.S. Supreme Court correspondent. McDonough is the deputy managing editor of the ABA Journal. She currently oversees online operations and special projects, including the Legal Rebels series and the annual Blawg 100. Molly has covered the courts and the legal profession for more than 20 years. She has been a reporter and editor for the National Law Journal, as well as a reporter for many other news sources. Special thanks to our sponsor, Clio.

News of Amazon’s plans to use delivery drones surprised many, but the fact is that a number of companies are developing drones for commercial uses. However, before any of these commercial drones can take flight, they need to clear a series of legal hurdles, from winning FAA approval to sorting out liability and privacy issues. In this edition of Lawyer2Lawyer, host Bob Ambrogi invites industry lawyer Ben Gielow and Above the Law editor Elie Mystal to discuss the legal issues facing commercial drones and how they are likely to play out. Ben Gielow is the government relations manager and general counsel for the advocacy sector of the Association of Unmanned Vehicle Systems International. He has been featured in interviews covering the concept of commercial drones since the beginning regarding what legislation and other requirements are necessary for us to see commercial drones in our airways. Elie Mystal is the editor of Above the Law. A graduate of Harvard Law School, he left his life as a litigator to pursue a career as an online provocateur. He has written editorials for The New York Daily News, The New York Times, and appeared on MSNBC and Fox News. Special thanks to our sponsor, Clio.

This landmark case, involving Google’s digitization project of scanning 20-million books to make them searchable through the Internet, was decided in favor of Google. “In my mind, this is a fair-use case that we will never see again,” Andrew Albanese, senior writer for Publisher’s Weekly, said, declaring the case a benchmark for future decisions. It was ruled that Google met the requirements of fair use and all four factors in defense of copyright infringement. In this edition of Lawyer2Lawyer, hosts Bob Ambrogi and Craig Williams chat with Andrew Albanese about the case, whether this constitutes transformative use, and what this case means for the online-media industry as a whole. Andrew Albanese has been covering Google vs. Authors Guild since it’s inception in 2005. As senior writer for Publishers Weekly, he focuses on copyright wars and how the Internet is changing protected works. His book, The Battle of $9.99: How Apple, Amazon and the “Big Six” Publishers Changed the E-Book Business Overnight, covered the Apple price-fixing case and the introduction of e-books to society. Special thanks to our sponsor, Clio.

“It’s impossible to figure out exactly what the judge did wrong,” University of Pennsylvania Law Professor Kermit Roosevelt says, discussing Federal District Court Judge Shira Scheindlin’s removal from Floyd, et al. v. The City of New York, known as the “stop-and-frisk” case. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the Judge “ran afoul” of the Code of Conduct for United States Judges given her participation in media interviews and by making public statements about the “stop and frisk” case. The 2nd Circuit’s ruling did not provide further detail or examples. In this edition of Lawyer2Lawyer, your host J. Craig Williams invites Roosevelt to discuss Scheindlin’s removal, whether this action is a question of judge’s first amendment rights, and the possible outcomes of her appeal. Roosevelt is a professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. Working in a diverse range of fields, he focuses in constitutional law and conflict law. Professor Roosevelt was recently a part of a New York Times Room for Debate, discussing Scheindlin’s removal and what restrictions should be placed on judges. He has also served as a law clerk to Supreme Court Associate Justice David H. Souter and D.C. Circuit Court Judge Stephen F. Williams.

Several email providers across the nation have chosen to shut down in reaction to the government subpoena of Lavabit's data. Ladar Levison, CEO of secure email provider Lavabit, chose to end operations after the government requested the company's SSL keys, which would grant access to more than 400,000 users' emails. Levison challenged the subpoenas under the fourth amendment and organizations including the ACLU and EFF have filed amicus briefs on behalf of Lavabit but at this juncture, the security of secure email is unknown. In this edition of Lawyer2Lawyer hosts Bob Ambrogi and J. Craig Williams invite Attorney Jesse R. Binnall, Levison's counsel, to discuss the case, what it means for all secure email providers, and how it affects lawyers' responsibility for protecting their clients' digital information. Jesse R. Binnall is a partner of Bronley and Binnall, PLLC. His practice areas include civil litigation, small business and non-profit law, commercial lease disputes, appellate litigation, and election law. He has litigated cases in some of the busiest and most respected courts in the nation, including the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia and the Fairfax County Circuit Court. He also maintains an active appellate practice. Special thanks to our sponsor, Clio.

Cross-examination is a skill that every trial lawyer hopes to master, but few do. In the new book, Excellence in Cross Examination, published by Thomson Reuters, two giants of the trial bar, F. Lee Bailey and Judge Kenneth J. Fishman, share their insights and lessons on how to excel in cross-examination. In this edition of Lawyer2Lawyer, host Bob Ambrogi invites Bailey and Fishman to discuss their newest book and the key skills lawyers need to be effective in cross. Having represented high-profile names such as O.J. Simpson, Dr. Sam Sheppard, and Captain Ernest Medina, F. Lee Bailey is known for his successful career as a trial lawyer in criminal and civil cases. He has been a licensed attorney for more than 50 years, authored and co-authored 21 books, and is a licensed private investigator. In addition to his legal career, he has worked as a designated naval aviator with the U.S. Marine Corps. The Honorable Kenneth J. Fishman was a practicing attorney for nearly 30 years before he moved to the bench. This marks his tenth year as an associate justice for the Massachusetts Superior Court. A former law partner with Bailey, he is a frequent speaker and lecturer for the Massachusetts Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, and The Massachusetts Bar Institute. Special thanks to our sponsor, Clio.

We saw a number of high-profile cases in the last Supreme Court term. With the nation currently alert to gay rights and Obamacare, some say this new term has fallen under the radar. But take note – as the spotlight shifts to campaign finance laws, free speech, and the president’s power to make recess appointments – the upcoming docket could have some monumental decisions in store. On this edition of Lawyer2Lawyer, hosts Bob Ambrogi and J. Craig Williams invite the editor of the SCOTUSblog Amy Howe and LA Times Supreme Court correspondent David Savage to discuss the new term. • Amy Howe has been with SCOTUSblog since 2003. She has served as counsel in over two dozen merits cases at the Supreme Court and has argued two cases there. Howe has also co-taught Supreme Court litigation courses at Stanford and Harvard law schools. • David Savage has been covering the court for nearly three decades. In addition to his work with the LA Times, he also writes a monthly column for the ABA Journal and is regularly featured on NPR’s Talk of the Nation. In 1992 he published Turning Right: The Making of the Rehnquist Supreme Court, outlining the efforts of the Reagan and first Bush administrations to remake the high court. Special thanks to our sponsor, Clio.

The New Jersey State Appeals Court recently ruled that texting someone while that person is driving may cause the sender to be liable if an accident occurs. Supporting arguments say those texting drivers are “virtually present” at the accident. This potential liability affects the distribution of responsibility amongst drivers when a collision occurs. On this edition of Lawyer2Lawyer, your hosts Bob Ambrogi and J. Craig Williams invite Attorneys Ted Frank and Marc Saperstein to the discuss the case ruling, whether this advisory ruling will effectively prevent distracted driving, if it’s a fair allocation of responsibility, and more. • New Jersey Attorney Marc Saperstein is a founding member of Davis, Saperstein, and Solomon and a part of the New Jersey Association for Justice. He regularly lectures to fellow lawyers on current case law, class actions, and injury law. Saperstein has a special interest in distracted driving education and prevention. • Manhattan Institute Attorney Ted Frank is the founder and president of Center for Class Action Fairness. He has written law reviews for The Washington Post, The Washington Journal, and The American Spectator. Frank is also on the executive committee of the Federalist Society Litigation Practice Group. Thanks to our sponsor, Clio.

On this edition of Lawyer2Lawyer, your host J. Craig Williams speaks with Dr. Shana Alex Lavarreda and David Cusano, Esq., two health-insurance industry professionals, on the implementation of the Essential Health Benefits within the Affordable Care Act, a.k.a. ObamaCare. There are ten Essential Health Benefits that all states are required to include, but the missing element is the lack of definitions for these benefits – which leaves us all wondering how to confirm the 50 states are correctly implementing them. • Dr. Shana Alex Lavarreda is the director of health insurance studies for the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research. Her research focuses on discontinuous health insurance, under insurance, as well as the political issues surrounding healthcare reform, at the state and federal level. • David Cusano, Esq., works in Georgetown’s State Health Reform Assistance Network to provide technical assistance to state officials on implementing the Essential Health Benefits and the Affordable Care Act. He has previously worked as in-house counsel for insurance providers where he advised them on how to implement the ACA’s new requirements and on their day-to-day health care plan operations.

On this edition of Lawyer2Lawyer, Bob Ambrogi speaks with Sunita Patel of the Constitutional Center for Human Rights and Heather Mac Donald of the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research on Judge Scheindlin's recent ruling, Floyd vs. City of New York, which deemed the NYPD’s use of the stop-and-frisk policy unconstitutional. • Sunita Patel, an attorney for the Center for Constitutional Rights, litigates racial profiling, immigrant justice, and other human rights issues. She represents the named plaintiffs in the Floyd class action, four minority men who argued that the stop-and-frisk law was being upheld unconstitutionally and caused indirect racial profiling. The case was filed by the CCR. • Heather Mac Donald is a John M. Olin fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a contributing editor at the City Journal. She covers a number of topics including immigration, policing and racial profiling, and the New York courts. She has been featured in numerous publications regarding why the stop-and-frisk ruling will increase New York crime. Tune in to hear Patel and Mac Donald’s opinions on the stop-and-frisk policy and how it affects crime rates, what the ruling means for the NYPD and similar policies nationwide, and if they think stop and frisk can be carried out constitutionally. A special thanks to our sponsor, Clio.