This week’s edition of the Top 10 in Law Blogs takes on some heavier topics, including depression, major life changes, and cyber fraud. We were fortunate enough to be able to re-post Dinah Roth Port’s insightful piece on the depression epidemic in the legal profession (originally published through the ABA Journal), and former Frost Brown Todd attorney Stephen Embry used Editor-in-Chief Bob Ambrogi’s platform to announce the pursuit of his passion as a solo lawyer and full-time writer and coach. Dechert LLP partner Rick Jones wrote about life in the silo, and the value of collaboration within the legal field; Linn Foster Freedman reported on the FBI’s yearly crime report, and the $1.4 billion’s worth of cyber-fraud and malware attacks; and, for some much-needed levity, Tim Sitzmann wrote about an unusual branding battle that pits beavers against gators.
Cyber Fraud Cost $1.4 Billion in 2017 – By Linn Foster Freedman: The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) recently released its yearly internet crime report, which states that over 300,000 consumers reported cyber-fraud and malware attacks in 2017, costing over $1.4 billion. Yes, that is with a “b.” The threats that were at the top of the list reported by consumers include phishing, ransomware and whaling, as well as tech support fraud, non-payment scams and extortion. View Full Post
Life in the Silo – By Rick Jones: We at Dechert had our annual business meeting last week in Miami (tough duty). Nestled in the general atmospherics of bon ami and collegiality were sessions on collaboration and connectivity amongst the lawyers in our firm. Apparently the data suggested that law firms make more money when the partners of the firm work together. View Full Post
Supreme Court Strikes Down Federal Sports Gambling Law – By Bill Mateja and Jason Hoggan: On Monday, the Supreme Court opened the door for states across the country to authorize sports gambling within their borders—a decision that could have a dramatic effect in the world of sports and potentially weaken the federal government’s authority over states on a number of fronts. View Full Post
The High Court considers the right to be forgotten – By Cynthia O’Donoghue and Curtis McCluskey: On 13 April 2018, the High Court, in NT1 & NT2 v Google LLC [2018] EWHC 799 (QB), ruled against Google, in favour of two businessmen advocating for the right to be forgotten. You can find the full judgment here, but in this blog we explore the reasoning behind the Court’s decision. View Full Post
U.S. Supreme Court Sets a Great Precedent for Cannabis – By Vince Sliwoski: Back in December, we wrote about Murphy v. NCAA (“Murphy”), a case where the State of New Jersey challenged a federal law that bans states from allowing sports gambling. We explained that this case has important implications for state-legal marijuana programs, because it asks whether the Constitution’s anti-commandeering doctrine prevents the federal government from forcing states to ban certain activities.View Full Post
How do courts define a person’s “minimum reasonable needs” for purposes of spousal maintenance payments? – By Karri Bertrand Bolton: Once a court determines that a spouse is eligible to receive maintenance in a divorce case, it must then analyze all relevant factors to determine the nature, amount, duration, and manner of the periodic payments. One of those factors includes the spouse’s ability to provide for his or her “minimum reasonable needs” independently, considering his or her financial resources. View Full Post
How Lawyers Can Avoid Friction in the Family When Working From Home – By Susan Cartier Liebel: Working from home as an attorney can be an amazing experience if it is planned correctly; an unmitigated disaster if it’s not. More importantly, if handled incorrectly there can be a lot of friction in your home. Why? Because, while your spouse and kids go off to work and school to then come home to their ‘sanctuary’, you are carefully and thoughtfully converting your sanctuary into a work space for a finite number of hours each day. This is a major psychological challenge. View Full Post
Change Is Easy, Leaving Is Hard: My Journey from Big Law (A Special Guest Post by Stephen Embry) – By Stephen Embry: They say change is hard. I’m not sure I agree. Leaving one thing for another is hard. The process and decision of leaving something and somewhere are gut-wrenching. It’s difficult. It takes time and patience. Changing at the end of that process when you see the better path is easy. For me, this process meant deciding to leave my law firm, Frost Brown Todd, where I have been for most of my career. and the full-time legal practice. View Full Post
Lawyers Weigh In: Why Is There A Depression Epidemic In The Profession? – By Dina Roth Port : [Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in the ABA Journal. Because of its importance to the legal profession, we are republishing it here with permission of the author and the ABA Journal.] Through my job as director of content at Rocket Matter, I’ve learned a lot about this profession. View Full Post