court-o-rama.org: Miscellaneous

Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Miscellaneous Blogs

OR PHONE (866) 635-1838 for Bankruptcy Help, (866) 635-6190 for Divorce,
(866) 635-2689 for Personal Injury or (866) 635-9402 for Criminal Defense

Find a Local Lawyer

Bankruptcy (866) 635-1838
Divorce (866) 635-6190
Personal Injury (866) 635-2689
Criminal Defense (866) 635-9402

Miscellaneous

court-o-rama.org

About the courts.
By Anne Skove, Esq.

Post Frequency: 12/day

Last Entry: March 25, 2011 at 00:00:00

A Bench without a Bicycle

Posted on April 25, 2009
Thanks to our alert former co-worker, Richard Hoffman, for tipping us off to a recent radio program about women on the bench. Host Kojo Nnamdi had a great lineup: Fred Strebeigh of Yale, Emory Law's Victoria Nourse, NJEP's Lynn Hecht Schafran (whose name you may recall from her many other efforts on behalf of women judges), and NOW's Pat Reuss (shown here making a point)...

How They Find Us

Posted on April 25, 2009
We never fail to be amused by the words people use to locate court-o-rama. Here are the latest top 20 phrases: marijuana court o rama rama marijuana pictures griffin judicial circuit georgia drug court marijuana pics (do you sense a theme?) anne skove inflatable castle haunted courthouses maija dixon chief justice john roberts (nope, he ain't here either!) rama...

Coming Soon: Airport-Courthouse Yard Sale

Posted on April 22, 2009
What to do with the zillions of nail scissors, Swiss army knives, and other sharp objects confiscated by airports and court security? We've always wondered. They could have a joint all-sharp yard sale. In Palm Beach County, the sheriff destroys them...

In Faux Fire News

Posted on April 22, 2009
Fire drill during jury service? One juror was not amused. See Leslie Latto's letter to the editor Courthouse Fire Drill Inconsiderate to Jurors, LoHud.com (April 20, 2009).

To access this complete feed in the blog feed reader login or register for free.

Historic Courthouse Burns

Posted on April 22, 2009
Belfast's historic courthouse was badly damaged in a fire. The 1850 building ceased operations as a courthouse in 1998. Plans to turn it into a hotel and/or tourist attraction were underway. The fire apparently was deliberate. See Blaze Destroyed 40% of Courthouse, BBC (March 13, 2009), and Court Fire 'Started Deliberately', BBC (March 12, 2009), plus the accompanying video and photos.

Who's Watching the Court?

Posted on April 21, 2009
Court watch programs are a great way for courts, law enforcement, and neighborhoods to connect. Turns out, they're also a helpful security measure, if the court-watcher is quick. It's a good day when a 27-year-old felon with a fleeing problem is tackled during such flight by a 62-year-old court watcher...

Lessons Learned (and Unlearned)

Posted on April 20, 2009
Today marks the tenth anniversary of the Columbine killings. The nightmare that played out that day marked the way we view many things, particularly security issues. Dave Cullen, a journalist who covered and uncovered much of the tragedy, has written a book, Columbine...

Who Cares?

Posted on April 20, 2009
When it comes to court programs, who cares what attorneys think? It's tempting to holler NOBODY! but we know better. What attorneys think can make or break a program. Ray Madoff (who may or may not be changing his name soon) wrote a fantastic article, Mediating Probate Disputes: A Study of Court Sponsored Programs, Real Property, Probate and Trust Law Journal, vol...

Zenyatta Blogerrata, or

Posted on April 20, 2009
What passes for an errata sheet for a blog? Let's call it Zenyatta Blogerrata for lack of a better term. We messed up! Despite a strongly-worded 2001 Ohio case denouncing all manner of questions, State v. Fisher, 99 Ohio St.3d 127, 2003-Ohio-2761, does indeed permit questions...

Egg-static!

Posted on April 20, 2009
Peeps Shows, those cute dioramas featuring marshmallow bunnies and chicks, have become a favorite seasonal feature. See, e.g., the Washington Post's Peeps Show III, the News and Tribune's Peeps Party, and the University of Chicago's Peeple's Choice. This year the ABA Journal jumped on the bunny bandwagon with some LRPs (law-related Peeps)...

Where in the World is Court-O-Rama?

Posted on April 18, 2009
Here in NYC for the ABA ADR Section spring conference! Our panel on probate mediation, consisting of Lela Love (Cardozo) and Karen Borgstrom (New Hampshire courts) was a hit. Thanks to everyone who attended, and even greater thanks to those who stayed all the way through! More later...

Who Ya Gonna Call?

Posted on April 14, 2009
Your aged mother left the stove on again. In an odd twist of fate, children want to take the car away from dad. Who ya gonna call? Elder mediators! If demographics and the decades-long trend favoring ADR is any guide, elder mediators will be as common as baristas in a few years...

On the Road Again

Posted on April 13, 2009
Iowa judges are on the road again, if they pay their own expenses. The state house unanimously voted to allow judges to drive to other counties to hear cases on their own dime. Gee, thanks! Next thing, they'll allow judges to buy their own benches. Keep in mind that 55 of the state's rural counties do not have a sitting judge...

Disrobing in West Virginia

Posted on April 13, 2009
Who gets to wear the robe? Evidently not West Virginia magistrates. One such magistrate tried on a robe (at her own expense), loved the goes-with-everything color, hides-everything style, and R-E-S-P-E-C-T it commanded. But rules are rules, and in West Virginia only state supreme court judges, circuit court judges, and family court judges may wear robes...

Egg-static!

Posted on April 12, 2009
Peeps Shows, those cute dioramas featuring marshmallow bunnies and chicks, have become a favorite seasonal feature. See, e.g., the Washington Post's Peeps Show III, the News and Tribune's Peeps Party, and the University of Chicago's Peeple's Choice. This year the ABA Journal jumped on the bunny bandwagon with some LRPs (law-related Peeps)...

Mind-Altering Case

Posted on April 10, 2009
Juror questions, a headliner issue for any discussion about jury trial innovations, used to make us a bit queasy. Once we start allowing juror questions, what's left for everyone else -- lawyers, judges, the legal system as a whole -- to do? It seemed the first trip down a slippery slope toward anarchy and messy disorder...

Where Does Rate?

Posted on April 09, 2009
Guess the most common murder weapons and methods in this Sporcle quiz.

Where Are They Now?

Posted on April 09, 2009
Remember the court administrator from New Mexico who was part of a courthouse contracting project scam? Toby Martinez was sentenced to 5 1/2 years and must pay $2.5 million in restitution. See Court Administrator Sentenced to 5 1/2 Years in Prison, AP (April 8, 2009).

Reno 202

Posted on April 08, 2009
The American Judicature Society (AJS) will be honoring former Attorney General Janet Reno next week. Reno will receive the 2009 Justice Award. Keynote speaker will be Kirk Noble Bloodsworth, whose capital case was the first to be overturned as a result of DNA testing...

Tequila Parrot Bird

Posted on April 08, 2009
Is the parrot called Lucky or Tequila? To whom does it belong? And how does one get a parrot through court security? These issues surround a gray parrot in Florida. The media calls it a custody battle, although at least one story was savvy enough to use the word chattel in a sentence...

Wanted: Nominations

Posted on April 08, 2009
Anyone who ever worked with the late, great Florida court administrator Kent Palmer knew how much he brought to the table. His common sense, integrity, and kind heart moved many a project along. In his honor, the Conference of State Court Administrators (COSCA) bestows the Kenneth R...

Wanted: Peahen Owner

Posted on April 07, 2009
Nobody knows whether this lost peahen walked, took a taxicab, or was dropped off at the Marion County Courthouse in Oregon. We don't know if she was mistakenly summoned for jury duty, thinks she qualifies as an expert, or is proceeding pro se. Nevertheless, the sheriff calls her Cynthia (we hope this is a low-crime area) and she appears to be doing well...

Videoconferencing Case Study: Dane County, WI

Posted on April 07, 2009
They paid for it. It's already installed. Should courts use videoconferencing? The good, the bad, the expensive, and other issues surrounding videoconferencing in the courts are nicely told in Courtroom Videoconferencing -- a Cost Saver or Just a Hassle?, Steven Elbow, Capital Times (April 1, 2009)...

Out of the Frying Pan and Into the Jail

Posted on April 06, 2009
It's late. We're mixing metaphors like some people mix cocktails. You know how bank robbers rob banks because that's where the money is? The sort of twisted version of that is this story: Police: Man Broke Into Courthouse after Being Released from Jail, Quad City Times (April 6, 2009).

Ex Files

Posted on April 06, 2009
What's in your basement? Dirty laundry? Mustiness? Boxes of stuff you still haven't unpacked from the move? If your court's basement is anything like that of Cabell County, West Virginia, old records might be molding away in it. See the all-too-common story, Cabell County Records Rot in Courthouse Basement, AP (April 6, 2009), and hope for a dry spell...

Just What We Thought All Along

Posted on April 06, 2009
Do Facebook and friends pose a new set of pressing problems for jurors? Like most things technological, these tools let people do what they would have been doing all along, if only they had the means. That's right: popping pies! No, seriously. When we gripe about jurors' online gripes, it's because tweeting and facebooking creates an immediate and semi-permanent record of the thoughts they've had all along...

Health Care Courts: "Do No Harm" or "Quack?"

Posted on April 05, 2009
Will health care courts cure anything? We think not. Not because specialized courts are bad. No, we like the (anti-) substance abuse courts (except when they trample on defendants' rights). We like the idea of problem-solving, and are all for such courts when they do not cause ethical obligations to run amok...

We Didn't Know This Was a Crime!

Posted on April 04, 2009
Blitch to Stand Trial April 20 in Valdosta, Teresa Stepzinski, Jacksonville News (April 4, 2009). Next thing you know, snarkiness will rank as a misdemeanor. Should we be worried?

May is Malpractice Month

Posted on April 04, 2009
Sponge stuck inside you? Wrong finger amputated? Step right up! The Clark County, Nevada, District Court has made May Malpractice Month! Attorneys in 216 of the oldest pending malpractice cases in the jurisdiction have received notice, or rather an invitation, to participate in the May Marathon...

Dallas County Knows When to Hold 'Em

Posted on April 04, 2009
Clark County, Nevada, is one of the world's fastest-growing counties. It has one of the most up-and-coming court systems. Now one of those court employees is moving to the Dallas County, Texas, commissioners court. This would not be so newsy were it not for the fact that Clark County is involved...

Previous | Next

Related Law Bulletins

French Court Finds Favorable Lease To Mosque Violates Church-State Limits
In France, the Marseille administrative court on Tuesday ordered r...

Mount Laurel Township v. MiPro Homes Petition Sent to United States Supreme Court
As a follow up to previous posts regarding the case of Mount Laure...

Cramer Hill eminent domain case reversed and remanded to trial court
In a reported case, Cramer Hill Residents Association v.&nbs...

John Ritter’s Family Takes $67 Million Wrongful Death Lawsuit to Court
Jury selection in the wrongful death of actor John Ritter began in...

Court Rules Zoning Change Inconsistent Township Master Plan
A Township Council amended its zoning ordinance to prohibit retail...