Can Parties Contract For Expanded Judicial Review Of Arbitration Awards?
Posted: September 27, 2012 Filed under: General Law | Tags: arbitration, hall street associates, judicial review Leave a commentI’ve been involved in a few cases over the years, at trial and appellate levels, in which the parties to an agreement to arbitrate disputes agreed to broader judicial review of the arbitration award than is allowed under the provisions of the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”) or the Connecticut Arbitration Act (“CAA”). Typically the parties agreed to de novo review of questions of law. Frankly, I never gave much thought to whether such agreements were legal; I just assumed they were. I don’t assume that anymore. Read the rest of this entry »
Republican Party Gets Top Spot On Connecticut Ballot
Posted: September 26, 2012 Filed under: General Law Leave a commentThe Connecticut Supreme Court issued a summary order today effectively telling the Secretary of State (“SOS”) to give Republican Party candidates the top spots on the ballots in the upcoming November elections. The order, which will be followed by a written opinion at a later date, addresses several thorny jurisdictional issues, as well as the merits of the question at the heart of the lawsuit, which involved the interpretation of General Statutes section 9-249a. Read the rest of this entry »
Legal Health Break
Posted: September 16, 2012 Filed under: Legal Health Break, Legal Videos | Tags: lawyer health, legal health Leave a commentPerhaps the best television theme song ever written:
Star Trek and the Law
Posted: September 7, 2012 Filed under: General Law, Legal Health Break 1 Comment
Ok, I admit it; I’m a Star Trek (original series) fan. Just ask me some day about how much Captain Kirk’s statement–“Not chess, Mr. Spock, poker.”–has influenced my life. So I could not help but laugh when someone well acquainted with my fondness for all things Trek told me to look at Google’s home page today and I found this image honoring the series’ 46th anniversary.
But seriously, Star Trek’s influence on the law is undeniable. Just check out this article, “8 Ways That Judges Have Cited Star Trek From The Bench.”
Karl Llewellyn on Canons of Construction
Posted: September 3, 2012 Filed under: Appellate Law Leave a commentReaders of several posts (here and here) may have noted my skepticism of the value of canons of construction in both statutory and contract interpretation. In my experience, canons don’t really decide cases. Indeed, I think they often obscure the true, but unspoken, reasons why judges decide case in particular ways. I intend to write more on this subject over the coming weeks and months. But a great place to start is with Karl Llewellyn’s classic article on the subject, in which he points out that there are two opposing canons on almost every point. Please read it and send along your thoughts. I’d love to generate a discussion amongst the members of our local and state bars.
P.S. If you are looking for a break from this fascinating, but also potentially mindnumbing issue, click here for the latest silly lawyer songs from yours truly, aka the Barrister of the Blues!
When You Die, Who Inherits Your iTunes Library?
Posted: September 2, 2012 Filed under: General Law Leave a commentSince I first read Warren and Brandeis’s influential 1890 Harvard Law Review article, “The Right of Privacy,” I’ve been fascinated by the interplay between developments in technology and developments in the law. Warren and Brandies were prompted to write their groundbreaking article in part because of late nineteenth century technological developments:
Recent inventions and business methods call attention to the next step which must be taken for the protection of the person, and for securing to the individual what Judge Cooley calls the right “to be let alone.” Instantaneous photographs and newspaper enterprise have invaded the sacred precincts of private and domestic life; and numerous mechanical devices threaten to make good the prediction that “what is whispered in the closet shall be proclaimed from the house-tops.
That’s Gibberish! — Interpreting Incomprehensible Contracts
Posted: September 2, 2012 Filed under: General Law Leave a commentU.S. District Court Judge Mark Kravitz finally said–in a formal, written opinion–exactly what so many people really think about language in insurance contracts: Its “gibberish.” Judge Kravitz was describing a paragraph in a contract at issue in a coverage dispute arising out of the horrible child sex abuse cases involving the late Dr. George Reardon and St. Francis Hospital. Read the rest of this entry »
Legal Health Break
Posted: August 25, 2012 Filed under: Legal Health Break, Legal Videos Leave a commentPacino!
The Amusing Life Of A Supreme Court Law Clerk
Posted: August 24, 2012 Filed under: Appellate Law Leave a commentThe greatest privilege of my professional life was serving as a law clerk to Chief Justice Ellen Ash Peters on the Connecticut Supreme Court in 1990-91. It’s been all down hill since then. 🙂 People occasionally ask me how I came to clerk for the Chief Justice. I typically answer–only half-jokingly–that I was good at taking law school exams. Read the rest of this entry »
Justice Borden on Constitutional Interpretation and the First Amendment
Posted: August 5, 2012 Filed under: Appellate Law 1 CommentFormer state Supreme Court justice David Borden penned an excellent commentary in the Hartford Courant this weekend. The subject: the very serious problems with “originalism” as a mode of constitutional interpretation. As Justice Borden points out, if the First Amendment is interpreted as it was “understood” at the time it was adopted, folks like Rush Limbaugh and Rachel Maddow could be punished for much of what they say, which is often critical of the government and, more particularly, the men and women who govern. This is a “must read” for lawyers and members of the general public by one of the state’s most respected and thoughtful jurists.
Appealingly Brief! 