I deserve 100 percent

Thanks for your valentine to the legal profession, “Why I Love Being a Lawyer (Seriously),” February. I love being a lawyer and found your quotes informative and inspirational. In my term as president of the Florida Bar, I am traveling the state reminding lawyers that they, too, should love what they do, and I often turn to Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes’ valentine to the practice:“And what a profession the law is! Every calling is great when greatly pursued, but what other gives such scope to realize the spontaneous energy of one’s soul? In what other does one plunge so deep in the stream of life—so share its passions, its battles, its despair, its triumphs, both as witness and actor?”Thanks for reminding us of the importance of passion in our professional lives. Mayanne DownsI am one of those law school students getting ready to graduate in May, and despite not yet having a job and the uncertainty of not knowing whether I will get one, I am … [Read more...] about Letters: Feel the Love

Long regarded as a leader in campaign finance reform, Minnesota until this year had some of the nation’s toughest laws on political spending by corporations. With the federal government and many other states, Minnesota for decades tried to tame corporate political participation through various restrictions on expenditures.Minnesota legislators considered encroachment on the political process so severe that by 1988 they wound up with a comprehensive ban on corporate spending in attempts to influence the outcome of the state’s elections.Violations by corporate executives, officers, other individuals and even stockholders meant up to $20,000 in fines and as much as five years in prison. Corporations themselves faced up to $40,000 in fines and dissolution. In addition to fines, corporations registered outside Minnesota could forfeit the right to do business in the Gopher State.That all changed on Jan. 21 when a bitterly divided U.S. Supreme Court threw open the door to … [Read more...] about A Cautionary Tale of Corporate Political Spending Emerges in Minnesota

Podcast TranscriptRachel M. Zahorsky: The impact of federal loan programs in relation to the massive debt of legal grads and their dim prospects for repayment is a critical issue for the legal profession as it continues to navigate changing dynamics, a paradigm shift.I’m Rachel Zahorsky of the ABA Journal, and today I’m joined by Deans Phoebe Haddon of the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law, David Yellen of Loyola University Chicago School of Law, Gregory Mark of DePaul University College of Law, and my co-author Professor William Henderson of Indiana University - Bloomington Maurer School of Law and Director of the Center on the Global Legal Profession.Today we’ll continue to explore the merits of the Law School Bubble story, examine any disagreeing views, and hopefully continue the thought-provoking discussion fueled by the nearly 200 commentors on the piece on ABA Journal.comDean Haddon, you said in the story that people warned of the … [Read more...] about Dean Says ‘Law School Bubble’ Was 25 Years in the Making

If the U.S. Supreme Court justices who is­sued Brown and Brown II were to survey the last half century, what would they see?They ordered that desegregation be initiated “with all deliberate speed,” yet they understood that many school districts would be more intent on finding ways to subvert than to implement the court’s mandate to eliminate racial separation in public education.But could they have imagined 50 years later that some school districts’ desegregation plans would still be under court supervision? Did they have any idea of the intract­ability of some hurdles to integration—not only overt resistance but also geography, economics and competing interests for government dollars?On the other hand, could they have imagined some of the successes of their monumental opinion: That in many schools and communities, children of different races and ethnicities attend school, play sports and frolic together on playgrounds? After all, for many … [Read more...] about Are Schools Returning to the 1950s?

Updated: A Florida prosecutor whose Facebook page offered advice for “crack hoes” appears unapologetic amidst the controversy.Assistant State Attorney Kenneth Lewis is under fire for several Facebook comments, including this Mother’s Day post: “Happy Mother’s Day to all the crack hoes out there. It’s never too late to tie your tubes, clean up your life and make difference to someone out there that deserves a better mother.”Lewis told a WFTV reporter he was too busy trying cases to agree to an interview, but he did confirm he wrote the post. “It’s an inspirational message to do the right thing,” Lewis said.WKMG highlights other posts on Lewis’ Facebook page. In one, a photo of Justice Sonia Sotomayor is posted. Underneath, the Facebook page reads: “Reason enough why no country should ever engage in the practice of Affirmative Action again. This could be the result. Where would she be if she didn’t hit the … [Read more...] about Prosecutor’s Facebook page mocks ‘crack hoes’ and Sotomayor ‘quota lottery’