A previously profiled lawyer suggested that I call Jerry Alcazar as a potential profile given his talents and experience. As it happens, Jerry and I have many shared connections in the community but we had never crossed paths. In light of his practice in nation-wide product liability defense and mine focused on Minnesota business litigation, […]
The city of Red Wing is one of my favorite places in Minnesota. In part this is because it has two name-sake businesses that make well known and well respected products. Boots and stoneware. The people of Red Wing have reason to be proud of their town. However, an article in last week’s Pioneer Press […]
Businesses collect plasma from donors, pay donors for their time (and not for their plasma, the businesses emphasize), and resell the plasma. Can these businesses discriminate against a person who has undergone a sex change operation and who is undergoing hormone therapy? Can they have a blanket rule rejecting these applicants from donation? Would such a prohibition have a […]
Yeah, you keep lyin’ when you oughta be truthin’. And you keep losing when you oughta not bet. You keep samin’ when you oughta be changin’. Now, what’s right is right but you ain’t been right yet. These boots are made for walking and that’s just what they’ll do. One of these days these boots are gonna walk […]
Two joint venturers are developing a technology using high-pressure sprayed water to pulverize car tires and create a powder usable in industrial applications. It’s another chapter in the endless battle of water vs. rubber vs. water. Then, after a few years, the joints between the venture, themselves, disintegrate. Litigation ensues. Now, after more than a year of litigation in U.S. District Court (D. Minn.), […]
Update (12/1/2015): Sometimes obstructionist lawyering (described in the post below) is ultimately explained by litigants who have no real defenses, who cannot bring themselves to admit it, and so their lawyers pepper the other side with duds, fire-crackers, snow balls, or whatever other harmless silliness they can get their hands on. The simple goal: to buy […]
“Price discrimination” is flexible pricing for the same product or service based on particular customers’ circumstances. The same product will have different prices, say, for “business users” or “students,” for “early birds” and the rest of us, for the indigent and the wealthier clientele. Do you have a problem with that? How about nearly identical […]
I coined the term “e-disgustery” for e-discovery back in March, 2013, defining e-discovery, roughly, as a recipe for a nauseating mille-feuille gateau de merde with gooey alternating layers of jam and cash . On Thanksgiving Eve, I propose we take a tiny nibble of this work-place emetic to better savor (or maybe just endure) the family dysfunction gatherings in the days to come. “At least I […]
At a hearing recently, I heard a trial lawyer praise a judge for her “Solomonic judgment.” King Solomon is portrayed in the Hebrew Bible as a wise leader and the Bible praises him for the way he resolved a dispute between two “harlots” (1 Kings 3:16-28). They were roomies and each bore a son around the same time. […]
Update (November 24, 2015): Contrary to my point of view, below, a 11/23/15 National Law Journal Article by Sheri Qualters, “Bar Exam Pass Rates Drop Across the Country,” (paywall but initial peaks for free) suggests that the drop in law school applications has resulted in lowering standards at law schools and this is said to […]