Recently in Judges Category

This post was written by StephanieWestAllen: "Excerpt:

There are all kinds of ways to make memories that people will not forget. The most effective techniques result in the judge and jury seeing your facts, either literally or figuratively. The point of making memories is to make the judge and jury become "eyewitnesses" to your case.

Demonstrative evidence helps, but it also is your job as an advocate to use the spoken word--mere transitory sounds--to form indelible impressions.

Painting a vivid word picture is one of the most important trial techniques a lawyer can learn..."

Read about some good basic principles to review and examples by clicking on the author's name.

Source: idealawg, 17 August 2010, reproduced with permission of the author.

This post was written by Chuck Kallendorf: "Taking action in response to the decision by the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals last month in Carey v. Wolnitzek that struck down similar rules in Kentucky, the Ohio Supreme Court has amended portions of two of its Rules of Judicial Conduct governing disclosure of political party affiliation and solicitations of campaign contributions by judicial candidates.

The Court's announcement, yesterday, said in the "Comment portion" of revised Rule 4.2, the Justices adopted language urging judicial candidates to minimize references to their party affiliation in campaign materials, while revised Rule 4.4 contains an explanation of the continued need for a prohibition on the personal solicitation or receipt of campaign contributions.

The amendments became effective today.

Text of Amendments

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Source: Hamilton County Law Library Blog, 12 August 2010. Reproduced with permission.

This post was written by Evan Schaeffer: "When dealing with the judge at trial, try your obsequious best never to show any hint of irritation or disrespect.

That's the advice of Martin L. Grayson, who writes in his excellent, readable book The View from the First Chair: What Every Trial Lawyer Really Needs to Know:

In my opinion, one of the biggest mistakes an attorney can make is alienating the judge. You will put yourself and your client at risk of losing every close call, having every request for continuance or extension of discovery procedures summarily denied and, worst of all, having the judge signal the jury at trial that you are not trustworthy.

Good advice.

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Source: Trial Practice Tips Weblog, 11 August 2010, reproduced with permission of the author.

This post was written by Chuck Kallendorf: "Contending that "Ohio is the only state in the union in which judicial candidates participate in partisan primary elections, but are then restricted to non-partisan statuses in general elections," suit was filed in U.S. Southern District Court yesterday contesting the issue.

By Ohio law, judicial candidates competing in a general election in Ohio are considered nonpartisan candidates. O.R.C. 3501.01 (J) 

...

The suit also challenges "two provisions of the Ohio Code of Judicial Conduct: Rule 4.2 (B) (4), stating that a judicial candidate shall not, 'After the day of the primary election, identify himself or herself in advertising as a member of or affiliated with a political party;' and Rule 4.4 (A), stating that 'A judicial candidate shall not personally solicit or receive campaign contributions.'"

The full text of this interesting post and the active link may be reached by clicking on the author's name.

Source: Hamilton County Law Library Blog, 29 July 2010. Reproduced with permission.

This post was written by Chuck Kallendorf: "Marcia Coyle's National Law Journal article, yesterday morning, has covered a few bases in the legal community's blogsphere, but we're referencing it, too, because of its foreshadowings.

"..widely disparate sentences don't make sense, ignore federal sentencing guidelines and are a sign of a potentially very big problem, according to the U.S. Department of Justice," Coyle's article begins. "The DOJ wants the U.S. Sentencing Commission to investigate, with special attention to guidelines for fraud and child pornography crimes. But some sentencing experts say it may be something that the commission does not want to examine too closely.

"The department called for a 'comprehensive review' of the state of federal sentencing in its most recent annual report to the commission on June 28. In the five years since a U.S. Supreme Court decision struck down the mandatory nature of federal sentencing guidelines, the department said, prosecutors' experiences and data 'suggest that federal sentencing practice is fragmenting into at least two distinct and very different sentencing regimes...'

Continue reading this interesting post and reach the active links by clicking on the author's name.

Source: Hamilton County Law Library Blog, 20 July 2010. Reproduced with permission.

This post was written by the library staff: "A new study of state judges that was conducted by the American Bar Association reports that pro se representation is up across the country. Apparently, this trend is a disadvantage for both the litigants and judges. The survey shows that pro se litigants make procedural and evidentiary errors, and experts claim that judges also spend more time on pro se cases, thereby delaying court proceedings. Click here to read an article from law.com about the survey and its results. The survey was conducted by the Coalition for Justice."

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Source: Cleveland Law Library Weblog, 13 July 2010. Reproduced with permission by Kathleen Sasala.

This post was written by Chuck Kallendorf: "Alarmed at what they say are observers in their courtrooms regularly using cell phones to take pictures of witnesses, jurors and victims, Hamilton County's 16 Common Pleas Court judges, who preside over felony cases like rape, assault and murder, are considering banning cell phones when their courts are in session, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported Sunday morning.

"There have been times when there were 30 people in the courtroom and maybe half of them have their cell phones out, taking photos and texting," said Judge Ethna Cooper. "Having been around long enough, it's easy to figure out what's going on." --and what's going on, she and other judges believe, is the proliferation of cell phone use to threaten and interfere with the criminal justice process..."

Continue reading this interesting post and reach the active link by clicking on the author's name.

Source: Hamilton County Law Library Blog, 6 July 2010. Reproduced with permission.

This post was written by Stephanie WestAllen: "This is the second of a three-part series by Barbara Bradley Hagerty on the brains of psychopaths. I posted about the first article in the series yesterday: Neuroscientist who is descendant of Lizzie Borden considers his predisposition for serial killing.

Excerpt from today's:

Kent Kiehl has studied hundreds of psychopaths. Kiehl is one of the world's leading investigators of psychopathy and a professor at the University of New Mexico. He says he can often see it in their eyes: There's an intensity in their stare, as if they're trying to pick up signals on how to respond. But the eyes are not an element of psychopathy, just a clue..."

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Source: idealawg, 30 June 2010, reproduced with permission of the author.

This post was written by Chuck Kallendorf: "The Ohio Supreme Court has announced that "state appellate courts and their judges will now being able to turn to the Ohio Attorney General's Office to defend them against non-monetary civil lawsuits -- changes that were implemented under H.B. 10, which was signed into law on March 17 and became effective yesterday. The Attorney General's Office will also provide representation to appeals court employees regardless of whether monetary relief is requested..."

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Source: Hamilton County Law Library Blog, 18 June 2010. Reproduced with permission.

In the news: "The perils of online communication by judges and lawyers have emerged in several scenarios that highlight what happens when social networking sites and ethical boundaries meet, observes Ken Strutin, director of legal information services at the New York State Defenders Association."

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Source: Law.Com's Daily Legal Newswire. 17 March 2010. Copyright 2009.  ALM Properties, Inc. All rights reserved. Subscribe <http://store.law.com/registration/register.asp?subscribeto=nw>.