SBM Blog

The Romney Legal Team

Per the WSJ Law Blog, Presidential candidate Mitt Romney has signed on some high-profile legal talent for his team -- former attorneys general William Barr and Michael Mukasey, former deputy attorneys general George Terwilliger III and Mark Filip, and former Justice Department Criminal Division chief Alice Fisher. The campaign says the five will counsel him on “all matters related to the rule of law,” and co-chair the campaign’s law enforcement advisory committee. Romney's “Justice Advisory Committee” is co-chaired by  Robert Bork, Mary Ann Glendon, and Richard Wiley.  For more on the candidates' legal teams, see our earlier post, "The Lawyers for the Presidential Campaigns."

This Just In: Poker Is Not A First Amendment Protected Activity

So says a panel of the federal Second Circuit, rejecting the arguments of a New York State poker club, but leaving the door open for better arguments by future poker lovers:

"Even assuming arguendo that there might be some circumstances under which a poker club’s activities could involve sufficiently expressive or political content to merit protection under the First Amendment, plaintiff’s conclusory and vague complaint fails to set out facts from which a court could draw that conclusion here."

HT: WSJ Law Blog

Michigan Women's Hall of Fame Adds Marilyn Kelly, Kary Moss

The Michigan Women's Hall of Fame has grown bigger and even more complete by the addition last week of two members of the State Bar of Michigan: Justice Marilyn J. Kelly, and Kary Moss, executive director of the Michigan ACLU.  Bravo, Hall of Fame. Congratulations, ladies.

What Confounds Siri

A Scots dialect.

Real Estate Closing Scam To Look Out For

The Illinois Bar Journal warns real estate lawyers about a scam that happens at the end of a real-estate closing, after the seller is given a check for the property. The seller leaves, then returns shortly after and asks that the money be wired instead.  If the lawyer agrees, the seller gives the check back to the lawyer, who destroys or cancels it. But here's what's happened in the meantime -- the seller has already deposited the check mobile deposit app by taking a photo of it with a smartphone.  Unwittingly, the lawyer has facilitated the seller's being paid twice.  Lawyers in Illinois and Florida have reported the scam so far.

HT:  ABA Journal

Michigan Judicial Campaign Spending Nation's Most Expensive, Most "In The Dark"

The New Politics of Judicial Elections 2009-10, from the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law School, called Michigan's 2010 Supreme Court race "easily" the most expensive in the country, but said it couldn't figure out who paid for it:

Most of the special-interest spending in Michigan was concealed from the public, a fact that accounts for the variation in estimates of total spending. Although ads by both parties and the LEAA were blatant attempts to sway votes, Michigan’s outdated disclosure law treated them as apolitical “issue ads,” and required no campaign finance filings disclosing the amounts spent. Estimates of total spending therefore were largely based on the volume of TV ads each group ran, and estimates of what that airtime cost. It also was impossible to decipher who ultimately bankrolled independent efforts in Michigan.

Here's the story in the Washington Post.

In Memoriam: Gretel Schinnerer Robinson

Gretel S. Robinson, of Birmingham, died September 28, at the age of 84,  She was a 1949 graduate of the University of Michigan Law School, where she met her future husband, Loren T. Robinson, on the first day of registration. She was one of only two women in her law school class.  She is survived by her children, Mark,  and Elisabeth, and by three grandchildren, Gretel (GG), Emma and Brendan. Memorial donations may be directed to the Michigan Humane Society.

Indiana Court of Appeals Allows Constitutional Challenge to State's 35-Year Old Med-Mal Cap

The case is Timothy W. Plank, Individually and as Personal Representative of the Estate of Debra L. Plank, Deceased v. Community Hospitals of Indiana, Inc. and State of Indiana. (PDF).  The opinion does not address the merits of the constitutional challenge but says that Plank is entitled to an evidentiary hearing so that he can attempt to sustain his burden to prove that the statutory cap on medical malpractice awards under the Act is unconstitutional. See "Ruling Called Victory for Medical Malpractice Patients."

HT: Indiana Law Blog

Brave New World of Legal Training, With Equations, Digits and Bytes

The legal profession has a well-deserved reputation as a haven for smart people with limited math aptitude. (When was the last time you heard a lawyer talk about how much fun the logic problems of the LSAT were?)  Here, from MSU College of Law's Dan Katz, is an exploration of a different model: lawyers trained in quantitative methods, information engineering, supply chain management, and technology.

HT: Legal Ethics Forum

On The Value Of Your Personal Financial Data And Who Gets To Capitalize On It

"Banks have always had access to vast transaction data but haven’t figured out how to monetize it yet."  That's the foundation of the BankThink article, "Banks Can Eat Groupon's Lunch,"  which says that Groupon should be looking over its shoulder: 

Groupon’s customer acquisition costs have been skyrocketing in the face of increasing competition. Between the first quarter of 2010 and the first quarter of 2011, the customer acquisition cost rose 485% to more than $30 per email address. If customer acquisition is getting so expensive for the leader in the space, it is easy to imagine how the smaller players are getting squeezed. Expect to see a number of quiet deaths among the newer, smaller deal-a-day players and a lot of consolidation among the modestly successful ones.

A bank, on the other hand, already has a large base of members and does not need to incur these acquisition costs. The customers are already engaged in a variety of rewards programs with these banks and a bank bringing new offers to its customers is not a big departure from the existing social contract.