Law is Cool: The death of Troy Davis

On September 21, 2011, at 11:08 pm Eastern Daylight Time, Troy Anthony Davis was declared dead. Cause of death: lethal injection. Administered by: employees of the state of Georgia. Legal justification of homicide: a court order. Grounds for the court order: Troy Anthony Davis’s murder conviction. Societies punish crimes for specific reasons. Section 718 of the Canadian Criminal […]

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Law is Cool: What can judges really do?

Judges are powerful people. Sometimes, misconceptions about their power lead to calls for an elected judiciary or some other form of outside intervention in our courts. These are all bad ideas. Our judiciary must be independent from all potential litigants (including the state). It is also sufficiently self-regulated yet flexible. The most important principle of […]

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Law is Cool: Constructive dismissal

Recently, I consulted a client who was in a conflict with a few co-workers. Let’s call him Jack. My client told me they did not like him. Jack received emails accusing him of poor communication skills and mistakes in the performance of his work duties. Jack convinced me that the accusations were groundless. He believed […]

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Law is Cool: The purpose of blawgs

More than a year ago I wrote a post entitled “How lawyers think.” Its basic idea is that a lawyer’s job is to maximize legal protection of his client’s rights. Protecting rights means either of two things: one, letting the world know what your rights and their legal basis are, and, two, getting a court […]

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Law is Cool: The monarchy in Canada

The recent royal visit offers a good chance to talk about monarchy in Canada. Besides just being nice Canadians, the people who greeted the newly married royal couple were often ecstatic, filled with genuine love for the two people, one of which has done nothing of significance while the other has never been heard of […]

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