SBM Blog

Pokemon Go: A surprising tool in your civics education arsenal

Lawyers are used to using terminology that, to most people in the general population, sounds like a different language. Next time you head to the courthouse, however, listen closely and you might hear people talking about foreign topics like Charmanders, Psyducks, and Squirtles.

They’re characters from “Pokemon Go,” the augmented reality game for iOS and Android devices, and a certified hit—it’s been downloaded by more than 100 million people since its July launch, raked in more than $160 million in revenue in its first month, and caused the stock of parent company Nintendo to soar nearly 25 percent. The premise is simple—players wander around their communities trying to capture Pokemon (which is short for “pocket monsters”), then train their creatures to battle against other users.

Local landmarks are an important part of the game as either PokeStops (places where players can get training supplies) or Pokemon Gyms (places where players battle one another.) Quite of few of them have ties to the legal system.

For example, the State Bar building in Lansing is a PokeStop. In the game, players who get close enough to our GPS coordinates spin a button with a photo of the historical marker that sits on our site and collect their rewards.

Other PokeStops with include the Ingham County Courthouse, Charles Chamberlain Federal Building, Frank Kelley Capitol Walkway, Thomas Cooley Statue, and Gerald Ford’s star on the Michigan Walk of Fame, all in downtown Lansing; the Kalamazoo County 8th District Courthouse; and the Lapeer County Courthouse. The Ingham County Courthouse in Mason, meanwhile, is a Pokemon Gym.

There are likely more PokeStops and Pokemon Gyms located at Michigan legal sites. These are ones we found via a cursory search using both the app and a crowd-sourced map on the internet.

Not everyone is crazy about Pokemon Go, however. A St. Clair Shores couple is suing Nintendo and Niantic, the app’s publisher and developer, claiming their quality of life has been ruined by players visiting a city park across the street.

As an aside, your author has captured a few Pokemon right near the SBM building. One was Gastly, a creature that, according to the game’s index, is “largely composed of gaseous matter.”

We’re sure it was just a coincidence.

-Post by Michael Eidelbes

Do you think we need to make civics "sexy" again?

Eric Liu, a civics educator and founder of Citizens University, thinks we need to make civics education sexy again.

He thinks we make civics sexy by empowering amateur political activists (ordinary citizens) to take action on local political issues, so that they begin to understand power and government within their local communities.

What do you think? Do you have any ideas on how we can work together to make civics education better?

How about ideas on improving Law Day or Constitution Day?

All ideas are welcome.

Posted by Samantha Meinke

What do you do to stay bigger than your law firm?

Andrew Griffiths at inc.com offers an interesting look at maintaining work-life balance. It's so easy, when building a law firm, a business or a department, to lose sight of yourself.

How do you maintain balance in your life, so that you don't lose yourself within your work?

Do you think, in the end, that having balance in your life has made your firm, business or department stronger?

Posted by Samantha Meinke

Michigan lawyers: Do you think you are a success?

What does it mean to be a success? A failure?

Alain de Botton shared an interesting reflection upon the meaning of both in our modern world in a TED Talk he gave in 2009.

How do you cope with anxiety about your career?

Posted by Samantha Meinke

Judicial Vacancy—61st District Court, Grand Rapids

Court: 61st District Court
Location: Grand Rapids
Judge Vacating: Hon. J. Michael Christensen
Application Submission Deadline: August 20, 2014

If you are a State Bar member who meets the legal qualifications for this office and are interested in applying, please refer to Governor Snyder's website for further information and the judicial application. Please be aware that in order to be appointed you must reside within the judicial district. Along with the application, please submit a copy of your resume to Office of the Governor, Legal Division, 111 S. Capitol Avenue, P.O. Box 30013, Lansing, MI 48909.

Cheri Arwood
Executive Administrator
Office of Governor Rick Snyder
Legal Division
Telephone: (517) 241-5630
Fax: (517) 335-6196

Posted by Nancy Brown

Posted by Nancy Brown

Posted by Nancy Brown

Posted by Nancy Brown

Here's a reason to join Twitter: @SupremeHaiku

If you're not already a Twitter user, here's one more reason to consider joining (as if following updates from the State Bar of Michigan wasn't already enough).

You're missing out on one of the greatest artistic feats of lawyer kind: the Supreme Court Haiku twitter account, managed by Houston lawyer Keith Jaasma. The account takes complex opinions delivered by the Supreme Court of the United States, and distills them down into haiku form.

Some examples from this week include:

Limelight v. Akamai
Induced infringement
Patent owner needs proof of
Direct infringement

Nautilus v. Biosig
Scope of patent claims:
Reasonable certainty
To those skilled in art

Bond v. U.S.
"Chemical weapon"
Use in warfare, terror plot
Not simple assault

Find these and more by following @SupremeHaiku on Twitter. 

Posted by Samantha Meinke

Heads Up: Davis-Dunnings Scholarship Banquet will be on May 30

To all those who received a save-the-date notice about the Davis-Dunnings Bar Association scholarship banquet, mark your calendars for May 30 — the original save-the-date email contained the wrong date.

The 18th Annual Otis Smith Scholarship Banquet will take place on the evening of May 30 at Eagle Eye Golf Conference Center in East Lansing. The 2014 scholarship recipients are Taneashia Morrell, Randall Tatem and Irena brooks. The DDBA will also honor Shauna L. Dunnings, Carmen Y. Turner and Takura Nyamfukudza. Individual ticket prices are $60, $50 for DDBA members and $35 for students. Tables are $450. For more information e-mail executiveboard@davisdunningslaw.com.

Posted by Samantha Meinke

We apologize for the interruption in SBM Blog - our blogging tool was hacked

You may have noticed that SBM Blog has been missing for a few days.

That's because since last Thursday evening, SBM Blog has been on an unintended hiatus. Typepad, the blogging tool we use, was suffering from a series of dedicated denial of service attacks, which meant nobody using their blogging tool could access, update or post anything to their blogs, and nobody looking for the blogs could find them either.

We are very sorry for this interruption, and hopeful that we're back up and running now for good.

Posted by Samantha Meinke

Copyright Protection For Jokes

It's complicated.

Scorn And/Or Opprobrium

In the ABA Journal, the incomparable Bryan Garner has an indispensable list of words and phrases that lawyers should not use: herein, deem, know all men by these presents, provided that, pursuant to, said, and same.  And "and/or."  The only one that I am occasionally guilty of is "and/or" which in the odd circumstance just seems to me to be more efficient than ", or both."  Garner musters some pretty persuasive authority against "and/or"

American and British courts have held that and/or is not part of the English language. The Illinois Appellate Court called it a "freakish fad" and an "accuracy-destroying symbol." The New Mexico Supreme Court declared it a "meaningless symbol." The Wisconsin Supreme Court denounced it as "that befuddling, nameless thing, that Janus-faced verbal monstrosity." More recently, the Supreme Court of Kentucky called it a "much-condemned conjunctive-disjunctive crutch of sloppy thinkers."

Damning to be sure, but I'm not sure I buy Garner's argument for why and/or is never appropriate:

If a sign says "No food or drink allowed," nobody would argue that it's OK to have both. (Or includes and.) And if a sign says "No admission for lawyers and law students," would you argue that either could go in alone? You'd be thrown out of court.

The real problem with and/or is that it plays into the hands of a bad-faith reader. Which one is favorable? And or or? The bad-faith reader can pick whatever reading seems favorable.

Here's an example that makes Garner's point from a recent Nebraska Supreme Court opinion (they didn't get the memo from Kentucky):

On reinstatement to practice by the Supreme Court, such party shall, on written request and upon payment of the requisite fees and/or mandatory assessments, be restored to membership in this Association.

But what about this subheading?:

Budget Impact -- Moderate state and/or local costs, likely partially offset by the avoidance of federal penalties.

The subheading prefaces an explantion that, depending upon implementation, a particular activity could incur state costs but not local costs, local costs but not state costs, or state and local costs.  A simple "and" just doesn't cut it.