Black and Blue Town Hall

Congress Street United Methodist Church in Lafayette is hosting a "Black and Blue Town Hall" this weekend. Panelists will include local law enforcement officials and members of the local African-American community. The public is invited to attend and ask questions.

The forum is at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, April 1, in the basement of the church, located at 2010 Congress St.

Panelists will include the police chiefs of both Lafayette and West Lafayette, the president of the local NAACP, and representatives of educational and mental health facilities.

Paralegal/Limited License Practitioners: They're Not Just a Thing, They're a Good Thing

From today's ABA Journal:

Limited license legal technicians in the state of Washington are succeeding at helping clients who can’t afford a lawyer while staying within their limits as practitioners, a new study has found.

Conducted by the American Bar Foundation and the National Center for State Courts with support from the Public Welfare Foundation, the study (PDF) evaluates Washington’s LLLT program. The program permits nonlawyers who earn an LLLT credential to help clients with lower-level legal tasks without the supervision of a lawyer, as the ABA Journal reported in January of 2015.

Currently, Washington is the only state offering this kind of license, although Utah is working on a similar program for professionals called Paralegal Practitioners. Washington’s first LLLT class took the licensing exam two years ago. All of those LLLTs are licensed in family law; the state of Washington plans to expand training to other practice areas. LLLTs help fill out forms and explain legal procedures to clients. They may not represent their clients in court or in negotiations with opposing parties.

Read the full article here.

Purdue Presidential Lecture Series

Purdue has a lecture series which is free and open to the public, and features people who are active in business, politics, or both.

Next week, Bjorn Lomborg will be the featured speaker. The format is an hour-long discussion with Purdue president Mitch Daniels, followed by a Q&A session with the audience. The presentation is free.

From Purdue's promotional materials:

Mr. Lomborg is a Danish environmentalist, author, think-tank president, and visiting professor of strategic management and globalization at the Copenhagen Business School. As president of economic think tank Copenhagen Consensus Center, he leads a team of experts researching potential solutions to global issues via economic principles. He is the author of several books, including The Skeptical Environmentalist, Measuring the Real State of the World, which examines the veracity of many of the most publicized claims and predictions on environmental issues.

Lomborg is the former director of the Danish government's Environmental Assissment Institute and was named on of TIME magazine's 100 most influential people in the world in 2004.

The lecture takes place Tuesday, April 11, at 6:30 p.m. in Fowler Hall on the Purdue campus. And again, it's free.

Which Classes Should I Take in the Fall?

Of course, I would love to have you drop by to discuss which classes should be on your schedule this fall (and this summer!). But while you're thinking about it--

If you have not already done so, you should take PARA 204, Legal Writing I. This class is required for both PARA and LEGS majors, and is a prerequisite for PARA 224, Legal Writing II, which is required for PARA majors and--I believe--an elective (but a good one!) for LEGS majors. PARA 204 is not offered in the spring, so if you miss it in the fall, you can potentially either set yourself back an entire year, or leave yourself with no choice but to take it online.

If you have taken Civil Procedure, then you should take LEGS 200, Litigation. This class is also required for both PARA and LEGS majors, is only offered in the fall, and is just gosh-darned, old-fashioned fun. We work our way through a faux civil case, from meeting with the client to filing a notice of appeal. (Want to file the appellate brief, too? That comes in PARA 224: see above.) For our grand finale, we do a mock trial, which is an experience that simply cannot be duplicated online.

It was pointed out to me by an astute student that LEGS 102, Legal Research, was not on the fall schedule. It is now. LEGS 102 used to be PARA 102, and was still listed that way on the schedule mock-up that I'm required to submit. Since there was a code change (PARA => LEGS), the registrar decided that the class didn't exist and dropped it without giving me a heads up. But one of you did! So it's back on, but by the time this error was caught, all the computer labs were taken during the day. I had the option of making it a MWF class, but I know how much you all hate those, so I chose to put it on the schedule as a night class.

Still have questions? You can schedule an appointment with me by calling my assistant at 765-269-5730.

Our International Visitors

We seem to have caught on in Ireland. Of course, my son, Josh, is there--or was last week. It's tough to say. I'd tell you to look for him, but finding a specific tall, red-headed guy is probably harder in Dublin than it is in most other places in the world. So if you're in Dublin, just be nice to tall ginger men. Good advice, no matter what.

United States	21
Ireland	5
France	2
Japan	1

Today's Chuckle

Pizza with the Alums This Thursday!

Don't forget to join us for pizza with the alumni on Thursday, March 23--that's only 2 days away!

We'll be dining in Ivy Hall 1120.

See you there!

Farewell, Russia; Hello, Germany! (And we'd be proud to shake your collective hand)

So here are last week's stats. Russia seems to have lost interest in us, but Germany and Ireland are a couple of newcomers. And of course, our dear friend, France. By the way, my son who's in France is going to be spending his spring break in Ireland. Coincidence? You decide.

United States	16
Germany	5
Ireland	5
France	3
United Kingdom	1
Pakistan	1

Eat Wings, Help Out Flint, Michigan

Tomorrow--Monday, March 20--Buffalo Wild Wings on Creasy Lane will be donating a portion of its sales to the youth group of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church of Lafayette. The youth group, in turn, is donating the funds to the residents of Flint, Michigan, who are still coping with a water crisis. If you eat at BW3, be sure to remind your server that you would like the proceeds to go to Holy Trinity/Flint, Michigan.

This offer is only valid at the Creasy Lane location.

Commas: Who Needs 'em? We All Do!

Several of you have brought this case to my attention, and I absolutely love it. The case is a wonderful illustration of why I, like most legal professionals (and ALL the good ones) obsess about things like punctuation. It matters!

Comma Case

The more astute among you will note that there is also a parallelism issue which reinforced the court's ruling. I noticed that none of the major news outlets picked up on that, probably because parallelism is to erudite for the hoi polloi. (Oh, look! Words to google!) But we see it, right?

Greetings from the ABA Legal Tech Conference!!!!!

You know, I kind of thought maybe I was ripping the college off when I talked them into sending me here for the day. But I have learned SO MUCH about the different tech products available that I think they actually got a bargain. Or you did.

One thing I've been hearing from the alumni is that they are often put in charge of picking out various types of software for their firms. Wow! That has got to be an overwhelming task! There are 1300 attendees at the conference today, and 130 vendors. I have talked to only a small fraction of them, and I'm still overwhelmed. (I did score a glow-in-the-dark bouncy ball, though.) (Oh, yeah.)

Many of the vendors have acknowledged that it's the paralegals whom they need to market to. These are the vendors that are composed largely of paralegals and attorneys. Others sort of snub me when they find out that I'm not in a position to buy for any particular firm. These are the vendors that are composed largely of IT people. They don't get it. For the most part, I've gotten a warm reception.

NOTE: The first person I met here was a paralegal from central Illinois (Macomb). She is in charge of buying the tech for her firm, so they send her here once every two years. She makes a girls' weekend of it--her firm gets her a suite at a downtown hotel, and she invites some friends. This year, her suite can accommodate 5. Her friends amuse themselves while she's at the conference. They go out together in the evenings, and they spend the weekend here at their own expense, shopping and going to shows, etc. Just something to look forward to.

Next year, the LawTech conference is March 7-10. I would love to secure expo passes for some of you and make a field trip out of it. Mark your calendars! Alumni welcome! (Expo passes are free. So are the drinks. Life is really, really good.)

Edited 3/19/17 to correct a couple of typos. Hey, I was writing that out in the hotel lobby. After happy hour. 

Calling all alumni!!!!

Next Thursday, March 23, is Pizza with the Alumni, sponsored by the Legal Society (formerly the Paralegal Society). Please join us at 6 p.m. in Ivy 1120 for pizza and a chance to impart your wisdom to the up-and-coming paralegals.

No promises, but if you rave about the importance of good writing skills, I'll try to sneak you some extra dessert.

International Visitors

Well, I'm not sure what to make of the sudden surge in interest among the Russians, but they are certainly welcome. Stay cool, France! My son is looking into spending another year there, so you may have more time to track him down. By the way--he has questions about French tax law. If you're over there, maybe you can help him.

United States	25
France	8
Russia	7
United Kingdom	5
Poland	3
Netherlands	2
Germany	1

ABA Legal Tech Show

I have always ignored the Legal Tech show on the theory that I don't really "get" technology anyway, and I can do what I need to do. But the ABA actually sent a flyer directly to my attention, and upon reviewing it, I discovered that there were a lot of things that sounded interesting. Besides, a lot of software and other technology is picked out by the paralegals, so as program chair, I should take more of an interest.

That's why I'm headed to the ABA Legal Tech Show on Thursday, March 16, for the day.

Of course, stuff like this makes it more palatable:

Linda, I wanted to personally invite you to this year’s “MyCase Law & Disorder” party .... The Law & Disorder party is going to be BIG! Join us for: An evening of fun with friends & colleagues Appetizers, open bar, and live music Giveaways, a special photo booth, and more! Or, on the other end of the spectrum: Start the conference off in the right frame of mind! Meet us bright and early Thursday ... for a forty-five minute yoga session to get your blood flowing and open your mind to the day's events. We'll have custom Clio mats that you can take with you, enabling you to use them for a moment of Zen throughout the conference. Yep, that's the sort of thing making it's way into my inbox with one week to go. I just didn't want you to feel too sorry for me, spending one of my spring break days at a law conference....😊

Legal Society

The Legal Society meets tomorrow (Tuesday, March 7) at 6 p.m. in Ivy Hall 1132. See you there!

O, Man--It's Oman!

We had our first visitor from the country of Oman this week. (Google it, Americans.) Welcome!

Still popular in France. (My son has tax questions. Please find him and see if you can help.)

Here are last week's stats:

United States	81
France	6
United Kingdom	3
Ukraine	3
Brazil	1
Oman	1

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