Legal Talk Network - Law News and Legal Topics

Patrick Krill, a lawyer who has a consulting business focused on addiction, mental health and well-being in the legal profession, left all social media, except LinkedIn, during the COVID-19 pandemic. He did it for his own mental health and says any business development benefits that came from Twitter or Facebook were not worth the trade-off. Special thanks to our sponsor, LawPay. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Governor Abbott wants to complete the border wall with a combination of redirected state funds and private contributions. Normally the Federal Government finances projects like that but when it decides not to, is Texas allowed to step in? Professor Eugene R. Fidell from New York University Law School joins us to answer that question plus much more. Special thanks to our sponsor Nota. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In cities across our nation, homelessness is an ongoing problem. According to the 2020 Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR) to Congress, completed by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development prior to COVID, roughly 580,000 people were experiencing homelessness in the United States on a single night in 2020.  This represented the fourth consecutive year in which homelessness increased nationwide. The severity of this problem has led to high profile conflicts on how to address the crisis. In April of this year, US federal judge David O. Carter issued a 110 page order necessitating the city and county of Los Angeles to find shelter for all unhoused residents of Skid Row, as well as requiring an audit of any spending related to the homeless.  Alleging that Judge Carter's ruling is a violation of the separation of powers, the city and county appealed the matter to the 9th Circuit, who heard arguments this month. So, how do we combat homelessness? And is enough being done by city officials? On Lawyer 2 Lawyer, host Craig Williams is joined by professor Gary Blasi, from UCLA School of Law and Breanne Schuster, staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington, as they discuss the legal issues surrounding homelessness, separation of powers, current legislation, and what is being done to combat this nationwide problem. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Labster Spencer Keys shares with us what he has done to make sure his firm stays client centered. If today’s podcast resonates with you and you haven’t read The Small Firm Roadmap yet, get the first chapter right now for free! Thanks to DK Global, TextExpander, Postali, and Rankings.io for sponsoring this episode. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Democratic side of the Texas Legislature escapes to DC while Republicans plot revenge. It seems no one is trying to make friends. What will happen next? Professor Randall Erben from the University of Texas School of Law walks us through this parliamentary predicament. Special thanks to our sponsor Nota. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jones Day continues to be a black box -- let's break that open. Morgan Stanley is urging its outside counsel to get back to the office. To what extent do clients get to dictate how law firms run their business? And we talk about cruise lines suing Florida and a Catholic school suing Michigan claiming that making schoolchildren wear masks is sacrilegious, which seems like a stretch. Special thanks to our sponsors, Lexicon and Nota. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Chicago's lakefront with its parks, museums, beaches and public spaces is an accident of history. But can we take lessons from that history to create sustainable and environmentally responsible public spaces? Joseph D. Kearney and Thomas W. Merrill look at the political, commercial and legal wrangling–some of which involved very strange bedfellows–that led to the development of lakefront land and its preservation for public use in their new book, Lakefront: Public Trust and Private Rights in Chicago.   From the enigmatic Aaron Montgomery Ward, who amassed a massive fortune that funded his legal battles to keep the lake views from his flagship store, to the rapscallion "Captain" George Wellington Streeter, whose squad of armed squatters long held the land that now forms the neighborhood of Streeterville, Kearney and Merrill share the backstories of a number of the historical figures who helped make the Chicago lakefront what it is today. They also dig into one of the city's most ambitious engineering projects: reversing the flow of the Chicago River to carry its sewage away from Lake Michigan–to the dismay of the cities downstream.   Quirks of urban history and competing public and private interests led to landmark cases which created legal doctrines still in use today. And the legal wrangling is far from over; in recent years, a Star Wars museum proposed by George Lucas and the presidential library of Barack Obama have both run into lawsuits over how lakefront land can be used and developed.   In this episode of the Modern Law Library, Kearney and Merrill discuss the shenanigans that ultimately gave the city and the state of Illinois one of its most priceless parcels of land and preserves it for public use. They also discuss how they envision other local, state and federal entities could use some of this history when designing land use regulations and protecting resources for public use. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When COVID-19 began hitting the United States hard in spring 2020, Janine Sickmeyer was among those in the bankruptcy world who thought that there would be a tsunami of cases. But contrary to the prognostications of many, the influx of bankruptcy matters never materialized. Special thanks to our sponsors, Alert Communications and Nota. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kraken, a cryptocurrency exchange, was forced by a court to provide user lists to the IRS. But, without probable cause and a warrant, isn’t that a violation of the 4th Amendment for traders not currently under investigation? Donna F. Hartl and Jake Nicholson from the law firm of Roetzel & Andress join us. Special thanks to our sponsor Nota. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our 200th Episode! Former President Donald Trump files a class action lawsuit against the world’s biggest social media companies. Does that mean we will lose Twitter, Facebook, or YouTube? Ken White (of Popehat) returns to Ken-Splain. Special thanks to our sponsor Nota. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices