Legal News

This Week in The National Law Journal

By Mike Scarcella

Most Influential: This week, The National Law Journal spotlights 34 lawyers in 10 practice areas who, as Assistant Managing Editor Michael Moline writes, "are shaping the law, the economy, the physical fabric of the United States and the world."

The Civil War (150 Years Later): In a special report, The National Law Journal examines notable Supreme Court cases from the Civil War. U.S. Supreme Court correspondent Tony Mauro conducts a Q-and-A with New York Law School dean James Simon, who has written about the Court's wartime and postwar decisions. Also in the package, Leigh Jones interviews Robert Redford about his new film, The Conspirator, and the role lawyers play in protecting civil rights. There's also a video on Frederick Aiken, the lawyer who defended Mary Surratt, the sole woman charged in the conspiracy to assassinate Abraham Lincoln.

Copyright in the Crosshairs: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit in April will hear argument in Sony BMG Music Entertainment v. Tenenbaum in assessing whether the damages provision of the Copyright Act violates the Constitution's due process clause. Sheri Qualters previews the case, .where a judge in Massachusetts hit a Boston University graduate student with a $675,000 verdict for infringing the copyright of 30 songs.

Ruling Against Business: Tony Mauro reports on two recent Supreme Court decisions where the high court ruled against business interests in lopsided majorities. The high court favored an employee in a wage-and-hours dispute and the Court sided for the plaintiffs in a securities class action.

Full post as published by The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times on March 28, 2011 (boomark / email).