Lawyer 2 Lawyer

On May 15, 2008, in a 4-3 decision, California's Supreme Court ruled in favor of plaintiffs-comprised of gay rights group Equality California, almost two dozen gay couples and the city of San Francisco, who argued that the 2000 law banning same-sex marriage in the state was discriminatory. Law.com bloggers and co-hosts, J. Craig Williams and Bob Ambrogi welcome Tara Borelli, Staff Attorney in the Western Regional Office of Lambda Legal and Brian S. Brown, Executive Director of the National Organization for Marriage to discuss this ruling. In this show, we will get specifics on the ruling, reaction from opponents, legal issues behind same-sex marriage and explore this controversial debate on gay marriage.

The democratic race for the Presidential nominee has been an exciting one—and as of this week, Senator Obama bypassed Senator Clinton in superdelegates. Law.com blogger and host, J. Craig Williams welcomes the experts, Daniel P.Tokaji, Associate Professor of Law at the Ohio State University's Moritz College of Law and the Associate Director of Election Law @ Moritz and Lanny J. Davis, partner and member of the Litigation Group at the global law firm, Orrick and special CNN political analyst, as they look at the legal issues behind the superdelagates. They will discuss the superdelegate quandary, explore election law, the Michigan/Florida issue and take a look ahead at what this fight to the finish means for the Democratic party.

The results of the AM Law 100 are in and total revenues for the Am Law 100 firms have reached $64.5 billion! Law.com blogger and host, Bob Ambrogi talks to the experts about the AM Law 100. Bob welcomes Aric Press, Editor-in-Chief of The American Lawyer Magazine and Bruce MacEwen, a lawyer and consultant to law firms on strategic and economic issues and blogger for “Adam Smith, Esq.” On this edition of Lawyer2Lawyer, we will look at the AM Law 100, what goes into the research, discuss the final results, go back ten years to see how firms Revenue Per Lawyer has changed and look ahead to what the future looks like for law firms.

The legal publishing market is a nearly $5 billion business. However, some have taken case law into the public domain, calling it free case law, which allows attorneys, legal scholars, and the general public to have public access to decisions for State & Federal Courts and the U.S. Supreme Court. Law.com bloggers and co-hosts, J. Craig Williams and Bob Ambrogi, discuss this hot topic with the experts: Professor Thomas F. Bruce, Director of the Legal Information Institute at Cornell University Law School, Carl Malamud, founder of Public.Resource.org and Andy Martens, Senior Vice President of New Product Development, from Thomson West. Bob, Craig and guests will explore the controversy over whose public records are they?

The raid of a polygamist compound in West Texas has raised some important issues of rights of children, women and family as well as religion. Host and blogger, Bob Ambrogi turns to the experts, Attorney Betsy Branch, from the firm of McCurley, Orsinger, McCurley, Nelson and Downing, LLP and lawyer and social critic, Wendy Kaminer, blogger on civil liberties at thefreeforall.net, to discuss the aftermath of the raid of the FLDS compound. Bob, Betsy and Wendy will explore DNA testing, civil liberties, the question of child abuse vs. religion, a sect’s legal rights and the fate of the children.

The Federal Shield Law is pending in Congress. Meanwhile, reporters have come under fire for protecting the privacy of their sources resulting in jail time and high fines. Join Law.com bloggers and co-hosts J. Craig Williams and Bob Ambrogi as they explore the shield law with the experts: Lucy Dalglish, Executive Director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, Geoffrey R. Stone, the Edward H. Levi Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago Law School and Attorney Joel Kurtzberg, partner at the firm, Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP. They will discuss the federal shield law pending in Congress, high profile cases involving reporters, states’ efforts to enact their own shield laws, punishment given to those who protect their sources and the rights of journalists.

With global warming and environmental issues plaguing the world, the legal community is doing its part by taking charge and partaking in individual tasks within their firms to save the environment. Join Law.com blogger and co-host, Bob Ambrogi as he talks “Green Firms” with the experts: Attorney Carolyn S. Kaplan, Chief Sustainability Officer from Nixon Peabody LLP and Attorney Daniel Eisenberg, the Public Service Vice Chair for the ABA Section on Environment, Energy and Resources (SEER) Air Quality Committee. In this show, we will talk about the emergence of green firms worldwide, how firms can get involved, what going green can do for your firm and what employees within a firm need to do on a daily basis in order to stay green.

The sub-prime mortgage mess, foreclosures and housing downturn. The real estate world is stagnant and the U-S is now involved in a huge housing crisis leading many to take advantage and prey on vulnerable homeowners and Mortgage fraud is one product of the fall of the housing market. Join Law.com bloggers and co-hosts, J. Craig Williams and Bob Ambrogi, as they turn to the experts, real estate insider, Richard Hagar and Attorney Melissa Huelsman, to discuss the ins and out of the real estate crisis and mortage fraud. They will highlight the Operation Homewrecker case, the rise in mortgage fraud and how to protect yourself from mortgage fraud and rise above the present real estate crisis.

What are the implications of a blogger writing about someone anonymously? Last month, the burning question on everyone’s mind in the patent world was finally answered when the identity of the author of the anonymous, Patent Troll Tracker Blog, was revealed as Rick Frenkel, an IP Director and in-house patent attorney at Cisco Systems. Law.com blogger and co-host, J. Craig Williams, gets two different perspectives from the experts. In the first segment, Craig welcomes Attorney Raymond Niro Sr., the attorney who was once a target of Frenkel’s blog. In our second segment, Craig speaks with the popular patent blogger, Dennis Crouch from Patently-O, to get his perspective on the Troll Tracker and the dangers of blogging anonymously.

Considered a hero to many in the legal community for fighting for the little guy, Eliot Spitzer, the now former Governor of NY, became tangled up in a prostitution ring that led him to resign from office. Law.com bloggers and co-hosts J. Craig Williams and Robert Ambrogi turn to the experts, David Frank from Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, Attorney Harvey Silverglate, criminal defense and civil liberties lawyer and Dan Slater, lead writer for The Wall Street Journal's Law Blog, to discuss the rise and fall of Eliot Spitzer. Bob and Craig will discuss this scandal, take a look at Spitzer’s work as Attorney General, explore the potential criminal charges that he faces and get reaction from the legal community.