Pittsburgh Legal Back Talk

Legal topics of interest to lawyers and consumers with a Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania focus.

1410 Posts and Counting

PA Appellate Courts Schedule Arguments Using Electronic Media

No. 1,642 PA appellate courts have announced arguments to be conducted by electronic media, reports Howard Bashman in his blog “How Appealing.” Here is what he stated on April 22, including links: The state appellate courts of Pennsylvania have announced plans for the video or telephonic oral argument of appeals: The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania […]

Disparagement of Competition, Lawyer’s Version.

No. 1,605 While traveling, I saw a personal injury lawyer’s ad on TV in another state.  I was actually shocked.  It stated that many attorneys accept personal injury cases who are unqualified. Some have never been in court, it stated.  However, if you call the phone number provided, this firm will apparently tell you about […]

Loneliness of the Long Distance Lawyer

No. 1,462 Are you surprised that, as reported in the ABA Journal, lawyers lead all categories of workers in feeling lonely? Yes, most of us experience long periods in front of computer screens, drafting pleadings, briefs and the like.  But in a law firm there should be many other opportunities for collegiality. Yet the feelings […]

Running the Six Minute Mile.

No. 1,424 A lot of lawyers still bill time in 6 minute increments.  The idea behind this practice is appealing but wrong. Since there are 60 minutes in an hour, the six minute unit just happened to be a tenth of an hour or .1.  At the end of the day, you could add up […]

Calling all Concierges!

No. 1,401 We all know what a concierge used to be.  It was the person at a desk by the door of a hotel who not only recommended a restaurant, but made your reservations.  The concierge often could straighten out your airline tickets or any number of problems that travelers encounter but don’t have the […]

Mamas, Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to be Lawyers.

No. 1,339   For a very long time, we have been aware that law schools have been producing more lawyers than the market required.  Yet, they kept on enrolling.  So, when USA Today runs a story about the first accredited law school to plan to close, is it even news? This story has been beaten […]

Is Your Lawyer Happy In His/Her Work?

No. 1,227 Summary:  While some lawyers are subject to depression due to stress, there are many who enjoy their work and achieve satisfaction from helping people and solving problems. Happy lawyers do good work for their clients. I ran across a short post from Time Magazine last night called “High Paying Jobs That Will Make […]

Robotic Lawyers and Other Science Fiction About the Future.

No. 1,136 A filler article in USA Today recently listed “small-time” lawyers as a professional group that will not exist in 15 years. It states that computers will take over the services presently being performed by these lawyers. Such predictions are not new. The age of artificial intelligence is dawning.  The IBM Watson computer, which beat […]

Doc Review, Is There No End to the Humiliation?

No. 892 I suspect that most lawyers who participate in doc review projects find the experience, well, not good for the ego.  So here’s a study that says that High School students can do better.  Of course, even geniuses go through high school, so perhaps the sample was not statistically valid.  Then again, there is […]

“Predictive Coding” is a trend worth noting.

No. 849 Electronic discovery is so expensive that it has heretofore been confined to cases involving high stakes.  However, a variety of technologies have emerged that sometimes enable searchers to cull out a vast number of documents.  The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported on a Virginia federal case in which the court  authorized the use of Predictive […]

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Welcome

CLIFF TUTTLE has been a Pennsylvania lawyer for over 45 years and (inter alia) is a real estate litigator and legal writer. The posts in this blog are intended to provide general information about legal topics of interest to lawyers and consumers with a Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania focus. However, this information does not constitute legal advice and there is no lawyer-client relationship created when you read this blog. You are encouraged to leave comments but be aware that posted comments can be read by others. If you wish to contact me in privacy, please use the Contact Form located immediately below this message. I will reply promptly and in strict confidence.

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