Out There
No Sports in Courts?
An Oklahoma judge ruled in December that a high school football playoff game would not be replayed, despite a legal challenge from the losing team’s school district. The district argued that the sideline referee blew a call (which he later admitted), ending Frederick Douglass High School’s playoff run. A lawsuit followed.
But the judge said it was the wrong forum for such disputes, noting that interscholastic athletic associations have rules that govern high school sports and no Oklahoma law gives courts discretion to order the replaying of a high school football game.
“This slippery slope of solving athletic contests in court instead of on campus will inevitably usher in a new era of robed referees,” the judge said.
Source: USA Today
By the Numbers
122
– The number of opinions issued by the Wisconsin Supreme Court during the 2013-14 term, up from 98 the previous term.
Of the cases resolved in 2013-14, 39 were civil cases, 30 were criminal cases, one was a bar admission case, and 52 were attorney discipline cases. The court also adopted 10 amendments or new rules governing practice and procedure in Wisconsin.
Source: Wisconsin Supreme Court, Annual Statistical Report (2013-2014 Term).
From the Archives
MLK Jr. Day: Years in the Making
Martin Luther King Jr. Day, celebrated the third Monday in January, was first celebrated as a national holiday in 1986. Congress passed a bill establishing MLK Jr. Day as a national holiday in 1983 to commence three years later. President Ronald Reagan signed it. But it took 18 years from the time of Dr. King’s assassination in 1968 to establish the national holiday, despite efforts to establish one much sooner.
Although MLK Jr. Day legislation was first introduced four days after Dr. King’s death in 1968, the bill languished for many years. Dr. King’s wife, Coretta Scott King, spent more than a decade organizing public and congressional support for the national holiday bill. In 1979, the U.S. House of Representatives voted against it. Sponsored by U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.), the bill finally passed both houses in 1983.
MLK Jr. Day became a state holiday in Wisconsin in 1976. Illinois was the first state to sign a King Holiday Bill into law in 1973.
Source: The King Center
Quotable
“I think in terms of the day’s resolutions, not the year’s.”
– Henry Miller
American author, 1891-1980, creator of a new sort of novel – fictionalized autobiography.
Good Idea
Master of Studies in Law: Wave of the Future?
Now that first-year law school enrollment has dipped to its lowest point since 1973, law schools are looking for new ways to draw potential students.
The University of Iowa College of Law recently joined various law schools nationwide with plans to offer a Master of Studies in Law, a 30-semester-hour degree. It will be geared toward students who are not interested in practicing law but want legal knowledge to assist them in other industries and professions. Officials at the University of Iowa describe the program as “the wave of the future.”
First-year enrollment for J.D. programs at 204 ABA-approved law schools has dropped almost 30 percent since 2010, when enrollment was at an all-time high.
Source: The Daily Iowan; ABA Journal
Tech Tip
Mobile Law Dictionaries: But Don’t Get Snookered
Walking around with your hefty Black’s Law Dictionary might be a good way to burn a few calories, but there is a less physically taxing way to access the legal lexicon: download a mobile law dictionary app.
Be careful, though. As Law Technology News (LTN) reports, “don’t get snookered.” Some of these law dictionary apps come from developers with no legal expertise. “These apps suck on many levels,” writes lawyer Jesse Londin. Instead, lawyers should choose apps from reputable publishers.
Published by Thomson Reuters and available for $55, the Black’s Law Dictionary app is the most expensive of those recommended by LTN. For good reason. Available for both iOS and Android devices, it includes the entire 9th edition with 45,000 terms (the new 10th edition of Black’s Law Dictionary recently came out in print, so a 10th edition app may be available soon).
Another option is Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary of Law app at $25, with 10,000 legal words and phrases, also available for ios and Android devices.