Research shows many factors affect the perceptions of court users and the public, and those perceptions are crucial to understanding, as well as having confidence in, the system of justice. Individuals are less likely to access a system they do not trust, and impressions of bias are hard to overcome. Conversations about court perceptions can help local court stakeholders understand the barriers to justice.

A new guide from the Judicial Division Lawyers Conference helps to facilitate such conversations. The “Perceptions of Justice Toolkit,” first suggested by Staff Attorney Christina Plum of the Wisconsin Court of Appeals, is a guide for putting on events about how local justice is perceived. The toolkit first focuses on why an organization should consider hosting an event. According to the guide, “Facilitating meetings with various stakeholders may bring together people who have never met in person, and whose actions directly affect perceptions of justice in your court system.”

Based on the Lawyers Conference’s experiences with its own events from 2009 to 2011, the toolkit discusses the advantages of different formats — town halls, panels featuring experts, court personnel and court users, half-day or full-day discussion sessions and small-group conversations.

Suggested topics include procedural justice (the extent to which court users perceive the judicial procedure was fair); the user’s experience from beginning to end; the perceived effects of race, ethnicity, religion, gender, disability, age and sexual orientation on the administration of justice; and the local impact of public outreach (whether judges and lawyers participating in public education programs improves understanding of the legal system).

Among its resources, the guide cites the National Center for State Courts’ list of state reports on gender and racial fairness in the courts.

The anecdote at the beginning of this piece regarding one way justice was perceived was presented at an ABA Judicial Division Lawyers Conference program in Washington, D.C., in 2010. It was one of six “Perceptions of Justice” events around the country featuring members of the public sharing their experiences with the court system and allowing members of the judiciary and court personnel to hear the concerns of court users.

The presentations at these events were not limited to personal experiences, as was illustrated at the program in Dallas in 2009. Professor Pat Chew of the University of Pittsburgh School of Law presented research demonstrating that summary judgment rulings in federal race discrimination cases correlate highly with the race of the judge. Summary judgment for the defendant was more than twice as likely when the judge was white than when the judge was of a different race.

The ABA Journal profile of Morgenthau arrives coincidentally with the last episode of the highly popular, 20-year series “Law & Order,” on whom the show’s producers loosely based the DA Adam Schiff character; Morgenthau modeled the original “gravitas and no-nonsense style” that made him “America’s DA,” according to the article.  His protégés have included thousands of young lawyers, more than 80 of whom went on to become state and federal judges, including U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, an assistant DA from 1979 to 1984.

Beyond mentoring, Morgenthau was known for his toughness on both white collar and violent crime, meting out “justice for rich and poor” according to his assistants.  From bank fraud and money laundering to corporate scandals like Enron and Tyco, Morgenthau also investigated international bank activity and uncovered the financing behind drug cartels, terrorism and rogue dictators.  While some critics charged he “put too much emphasis on white collar crime,” during his tenure violent crime in New York City plunged.

“Of course he has critics and enemies,” said the article’s author, Terry Carter.  “Who could live that long and move at the highest levels of politics, policy and society without accruing plenty of them—some with legitimate beefs.”  Carter, who has been doing this for more than 30 years adds, “I have interviewed and spent time with some greats in the legal profession.  Morgenthau is one of a very small handful of the most impressive people I’ve met.”

Born to privilege and wealth, Morgenthau also experienced much luck in his life. As a Navy man, he survived a torpedoed destroyer in World War II. In 1952, he missed the flight that killed his friend and mentor, the legendary Robert Patterson.  But even beyond that luck was the access to the rich and powerful he enjoyed growing up and throughout his career.   He was a family friend of the Roosevelts and once tended bar for Winston Churchill at his parents’ home.  Also a friend of the Kennedys, he raced sloops and watched movies with young Jack on Cape Cod, and was lunching with Bobby at Hickory Hill when J. Edgar Hoover informed him that Jack had been assassinated.

“His memory of world events and his place in them is remarkable,” said Ed Adams, editor and publisher of ABA Journal.  “Morgenthau’s experience with significant players and as part of significant events in U.S. and world history in the 20^th century is fascinating.”

The ABA Journal covers the trends, people and finances of the legal profession.  The flagship publication of the American Bar Association is sent to every ABA member and reaches more than half of the 1.1 million lawyers in this country each month.  In addition, its website, www.ABAJournal.com, is updated every business day with 25 to 50 breaking legal news stories, features, a directory of more than 2,500 legal blogs, and an archive of the full text of the magazine going back through 2004.

Nine of the Fortune 50 companies’ CEOs are lawyers, up from three a decade ago, reports author Mark Curriden.  As an alternative to an MBA, the skills learned in law school and developed in legal practice are increasingly being recognized as applicable to any industry or profession; one academic calls the JD today’s “renaissance degree.”

“The training of lawyers, combined with the natural instincts for seeing all sides of an issue make them ideal candidates for the top job,” said Ed Adams, editor and publisher of ABA Journal.  “Featuring alternative legal careers to young lawyers, students or lawyers in transition through this cover piece helps show the possibilities available to those who are versatile and willing to think broadly about career options.”

Sarbanes-Oxley has driven more regulatory oversight of all aspects of businesses and has forced both in-house and outside counsel to become more intimately involved in all aspects of business operations, according to the article.  Most of the lawyer-CEOs profiled were elevated to the top job after holding other non-legal positions within the company, such as CFO, president or COO.

Also featured in this issue of ABA Journal:

• “A Man of Moderation” The last justice of the “greatest generation,” gentlemanly John Paul Stevens says farewell.
• “Aggressive Justice” Judges are tossing high-profile cases in which prosecutors are deemed to have overreached.
• “He Tries Men’s Soles” Tracker Ed Hardin says he can tell the story of a crime from a footprint. But defense lawyers say he’s just making it up as he goes.

The ABA Journal covers the trends, people and finances of the legal profession.  The flagship publication of the American Bar Association is sent to every ABA member and reaches more than half of the 1.1 million lawyers in this country each month.  In addition, its Web site, www.ABAJournal.com, is updated every business day with 25 to 50 breaking legal news stories, features, a directory of more than 2,500 legal blogs, and an archive of the full text of the magazine going back through 2004.

The first legal news app developed specifically for the iPad was released this week by the ABA Journal, the flagship magazine of the American Bar Association. The free app can be downloaded from iTunes here.

The app features breaking legal news updated continuously every business day, all of the monthly magazine’s in-depth articles, and the latest blawgs featured in the Journal’s directory of more than 2,500 legal blogs.

“Editors everywhere are trying to design the magazine of tomorrow for the iPad, with video, spinning avatars and 3-D widgets,” said Journal Editor and Publisher Edward Adams.

“But what lawyers want is words, words and more words, delivered as fast as news breaks. That’s what our app provides, using the big, beautiful iPad screen to maximum effect,” Adams said. Readers can bookmark articles to read later and share them on Twitter, Facebook or via e-mail.

The new release also updates the interface of the ABA Journal’s iPhone app, which debuted in 2008 and has been downloaded more than 40,000 times.

The Journal’s articles are available on e-mail newsletters, RSS feeds, Facebook, Twitter, Google Buzz, FriendFeed, Amazon’s Kindle and elevators (yes, elevators). For a full list of its distribution channels, see its Stay Connected page.

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio (Photo by AP images)

“The Maricopa Courthouse War” in the April issue of ABA Journal chronicles a long-running controversy in Maricopa County, Ariz., involving Sheriff Joe Arpaio and Prosecutor Andrew Thomas that is now under investigation by the U.S. Justice Department.

Since the two teamed up in 2005, according to the eight-page article, Arpaio’s reign as “America’s Toughest Sheriff” has been steeped in accusations of “racism, cronyism and a widespread use of law enforcement and criminal prosecution to settle increasingly bitter political intrigues.”  And under Thomas, tensions between the prosecutor’s office and the courts have become so serious that dozens of lawyers have filed motions seeking to move criminal cases out of Maricopa County, claiming their clients could no longer be guaranteed fair trials because of the intimidation of judges.

In December 2009, Thomas filed bribery changes against a local superior court judge who had held a sheriff’s deputy in contempt for stealing case files from a defense attorney in a Maricopa court. The incident was only the latest in a series of controversial activities attributed to Thomas and Arpaio—immigration sweeps, investigations of county employees and politically motivated litigation costing Maricopa County millions in legal fees.  And in December hundreds of well-dressed, sign-waving lawyers gathered in protest at the county courthouse to protest the charges against the judge.  See the rest of the story here.

The ABA Journal covers the trends, people and finances of the legal profession.  The flagship publication of the American Bar Association is sent to every ABA member and reaches more than half of the 1.1 million lawyers in this country each month.  In addition, its Web site, www.ABAJournal.com, is updated every business day with 25 to 50 breaking legal news stories, features, a directory of more than 2,500 legal blogs, and an archive of the full text of the magazine going back through 2004.

With the American Bar Association’s annual legal technology expo around the corner in March, “Wired,” the cover article in the February 2010 issue of ABA Journal examines and compares the choices for online legal research.  In a field formerly dominated by two players—Westlaw and LexisNexis—competition is heating up as Bloomberg, Google and relative newcomer Fastcase expand their capabilities or enter the lucrative legal research industry.

“It’s all about the democratization of information access,” said Ed Adams, editor and publisher of ABA Journal.   “The legal research market has changed substantially.  There is an infinite amount of resources and information available. The question becomes: What do people really want, and what are they willing to pay for?”

Both Westlaw and Lexis Nexis are now unveiling new products to address market realities and new competition.  Westlaw just released a new platform called WestlawNext yesterday.  Meanwhile, LexisNexis is rolling out its own revamped platform later this year, and recently unveiled a partnership with Microsoft, as well. New competitors are keeping up with the market leaders. Bloomberg will introduce a legal research product of its own later this year.  Fastcase, a 10-year player in legal research, took a new approach early on with a sorting capability from best to worst and citation analysis built into the results.  And finally, Google has stepped up its legal research presence with Google Scholar, as others observe and wait for the impact it may have in the marketplace.

As Internet users become increasingly sophisticated, they also expect ease of use in their searches, and “Google sets the standard for ease and simplicity,” notes article author Jill Schachner Chanen.  Ultimately price and ease of use will be huge factors in the adoption of new services, or continuation with the more established vendors.  “Wired” looks at price, innovation, navigation and what these new developments portend for legal research in the very near future.

The ABA Journal covers the trends, people and finances of the legal profession.  The flagship publication of the American Bar Association is sent to every ABA member and reaches more than half of the 1.1 million lawyers in this country each month.  In addition, its Web site, www.ABAJournal.com, is updated every business day with 25 to 50 breaking legal news stories, features, a directory of more than 2,500 legal blogs, and an archive of the full text of the magazine going back through 2004.

From cancelled summer programs, deferrals and rescinded job offers to high debt with no prospects for employment, recent law school grads have taken the brunt of the economic downturn and its impact on the legal community since 2007.  But wait, it’s déjà vu—this recession conjures memories of a similar occurrence that redirected grads in the legal world nearly 20 years ago.  Those with resilience, ingenuity, persistence and patience fared well, and some even took paths they would never have imagined.

The January issue of ABA Journal, flagship magazine of the American Bar Association, profiles five such individuals and demonstrates how they survived—even thrived—and offers hope for the most recent crop of newly minted lawyers.  The cover story “When the Detour Becomes the Destination” follows the careers paths of the five after graduating law school between 1990 and 1993 and the ways they adapted to “their” recessions.  Teaching, turning to the non-profit sector, clerkships and going solo were among the options explored as grads fought the urge to panic and tried to cope.

“By profiling networkers, hard workers who were also incredibly persistent, and people with both flexibility and determination, we are modeling lessons of hope and resilience,” said Ed Adams, editor and publisher of ABA Journal.  “While life-changing in many ways, the bumps in the road caused by the economy, both then and now, are and were opportunities for self-discovery and perhaps even greater career satisfaction.”

The boom times of the late ‘90s up until 2007 parallel the similarly robust business climate in the late 1980s, followed by the early 1990s when the legal world experienced a downturn that lingered three years beyond the recession itself.  After peaking in the late 1980s, employment rates for new law grads did not begin to rise again until 1994.

The ABA Journal covers the trends, people and finances of the legal profession.  The flagship publication of the American Bar Association is sent to every ABA member and reaches more than half of the 1.1 million lawyers in this country each month.  In addition, its Web site, www.ABAJournal.com, is updated every business day with 25 to 50 breaking legal news stories, features, a directory of more than 2,500 legal blogs, and an archive of the full text of the magazine going back through 2004.