Tuesday, June 26, 2012

There's More than One Way to Leave a Courtroom

The last time I was in one of Little Rock's new federal courtrooms, a Bailiff slipped in through a door on one side of the room. The door was so gracefully set into the wood paneling that I had not noticed it before. What caught my attention was the view beyond: a bare cinder block hallway. I guess if you're in court to be sentenced, the velvet-and-mahogany treatment ends at the exit door.

Sunday, June 10, 2012

Making Law

When I was in law school, a professor told me that one of the best things about practicing law in Arkansas was the frequent opportunity to make new law. You see, Arkansas is not a particularly litigious place, so a lot of legal questions are still undecided here.

I have found my professor's assessment to be accurate. Twice in five months I have had to ask a court to apply a statute or principle that has never been used in Arkansas before. It's fun to think that a case I'm working on now might be cited as precedent in a few years.