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Feature Article: Images in Opinions: Posner Does it (Poorly) Again
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Outsourcing Opportunity: Legal Editing
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Videos: A Day in the Life of a Solo Attorney at NY LegalTech
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Lisa's Mycology Update: How Mushrooms Can Help You Lose Weight
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Complimentary CLE Credit, Just for Subscribers to The Source
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Images in Opinions: Posner Does it (Poorly) Again |
An ostrich (and a lawyer), both with their heads in the sand. Bob Marley. A lion eating a giant meat-cake.
What do these three images have in common? If you answered: "they're all the subjects of photos that Seventh Circuit Judge Richard Posner has gratuitously included in opinions," you'd be right.
Back in December, I criticized Judge Posner for including the ostrich and lawyer pictures in an opinion to illustrate his point that appellate lawyers cannot simply ignore relevant cases that undermine their positions. As Reuters recently reported, Judge Posner is up to his old tricks again.
In a recent opinion addressing whether prison officials may allow Rastafarians, but not members of other religions, to wear their hair in dreadlocks, Judge Posner used a photo of Bob Marley to underscore his statement that "dreadlocks can attain a formidable length and density":
Bob Marley image © David Corio
Although I suggest in Pixel Persuasion: Legal Writing for the 21st Century that, under certain circumstances, including a picture in a brief can make the brief more persuasive, this isn't one of those circumstances. The fact that "dreadlocks can attain a formidable length and density" was not disputed. Thus, there was no rhetorical reason to include this image in the opinion.
While I'm all for making opinions more accessible—both to lawyers and to the general public—including this photo doesn't help anyone better understand the facts or legal concepts involved in the case. I'd call it a crutch, but the opinion stands on its own. It's simply an unnecessary distraction.
As Reuters reported, in 2007, Judge Posner "cut and pasted a photo of Kwanzaa, a lion at a Texas zoo, celebrating its birthday with a cake made from 10 pounds of horsemeat topped with whipped cream and a carrot. That image was included [in] a lawsuit over the slaughtering of horses for human consumption, and was meant to underscore the fact that zoos feed their animals a considerable amount of horsemeat." In that case, as in the two more recent ones, the picture was mere surplussage.
Don't make the same mistake Judge Posner keeps making: if you include a photo in a brief, make sure that it packs a real rhetorical punch, or that (like a signature sample in a fraud action) it's crucial to the case.
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Outsourcing Opportunity:Legal Editing |
"The letter I have written today is longer than usual because I lacked the time to make it shorter."
Blaise Pascal
Perhaps you've drafted a brief, but you want to make sure you got your arguments across clearly, and in the most persuasive way possible. Or maybe you've written an article for publication, and would like to make sure it's polished before you submit it. Whatever your legal editing needs, I can help.
I've edited everything from briefs to books, and can edit your document for grammar, style and (for briefs) argument structure.
Call me today at 914-595-6575 or e-mail me at Lisa@QuestionOfLaw.net to discuss your legal editing needs.
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Videos: A Day in the Life of a Solo Attorney at NY LegalTech |
Last Tuesday, I attended the LegalTech conference in New York City. Although the conference is primarily geared towards lawyers and IT professionals at large law firms, I found value in spending a day at the conference (and, of course, at the solo/small firm meetup that I mentioned in last month's newsletter).
To view two short video reports about how any solo or small firm lawyer can benefit from attending this show (or any other industry conference), and for my takeaways from the Growing and Retaining Your Client Base With Technology and Social Media session (which was on the Small Firm track), click on the image above.
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Lisa's Mycology Update: How Mushrooms Can Help You Lose Weight |
 Anyone who's ever been on a diet knows that eating a lot of vegetables—especially low-carbohydrate vegetables like leafy greens—can help you shed pounds. But did you know that mushrooms—including white button, portobello and cremini varieties—are also an excellent diet food?
A cup of uncooked white button mushrooms contains only 21 calories. Since mushrooms are 80-95% water, they cook down substantially; a cup of white button mushrooms cooks down by about 2/3. That means that a cup of cooked button mushrooms has only 63 calories.
Unlike other vegetables, mushrooms contain protein: one cup of cooked mushrooms contains 3 grams of protein. Mushrooms are also a good source of fiber, with 3 grams of fiber per cup of cooked mushrooms.
Of course, a stellar nutrition profile wouldn't help mushrooms if they tasted horrible. Mushrooms are a rich source of umami, which is the fifth basic taste (after sweet, salty, bitter and sour). Umami is described as a savory, brothy, rich or meaty taste sensation. It’s a satisfying sense of deep, complete flavor, balancing savory flavors and full-bodied taste with distinctive qualities of aroma and mouthfeel. The more umami present in food, the more flavorful it will be. Because they're a rich source of umami, it's no surprise that mushrooms are often used as a meat substitute.
You can find a varied collection of mushroom recipies on the Mushroom Council's website. I look forward to trying the mushroom and kale hash with poached eggs. Which recipe has your mouth watering?
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Complimentary CLE Credit, Just for Subscribers to The Source |
What: Pixel Persuasion: Legal Writing for the 21st Century, a complimentary online CLE course.
More and more judges are reading briefs on computer screens, rather than on paper. While many of the basic principles of effective brief writing apply regardless of the manner in which the court consumes your brief, the electronic medium presents new opportunities to leverage both technology and principles of document design and web usability to give your brief even more persuasive power.
In this program, you'll learn how to more persuasively present information intended to be read on a screen in pdf format. I discuss:
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how judges are reading briefs today
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the important differences between screen-reading and paper-reading
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the F-pattern
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tips for writing for the 21st-Century legal reader
When: At your convenience
Where: Wherever you are
How: Follow these steps:
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Click here. You will see a Lawline.com shopping cart page with Pixel Persuasion in your cart, at a cost of $0.00.
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Click the "Check Out" button.
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If you already have a Lawline.com account, log in. If you don't have a Lawline.com account, you must create one at this page to receive your complimentary CLE credit.
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Once you have logged in or created a new account, you will see Pixel Persuasion in your cart. You can now download the course as an mp3 or watch the video online.
If you enjoy the course, I'd appreciate if you could take a moment to give it (and me) a positive review on Lawline.com.
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