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Use Spellcheckers and “Replace All” With Care

Posted 07 Mar 2014 in Tips and Tactics

Don’t ever trust a spellchecker despite how valuable it can be. Many correctly spelled words are not the ones you intended. If possible, delete common words from the dictionary that are unlikely to be correct in context, such as pubic (public), untied (United). Some spellcheckers will automatically “fix” words the spellchecker identifies as wrong. One example is tortious (correctly spelled but not in the dictionary) which is automatically changed to “tortuous” by some versions of the Word spellchecker. Another example is “sua...

Supreme Court Refuses To Review Immigration Housing Cases

Posted 03 Mar 2014 in Case Notes

Last year, this blog discussed three recent courts of appeals decisions involving local-housing regulations aimed at a person's immigration status. This morning, the Supreme Court denied certiorari in two of the cases, Farmers Branch v. Villas at Parkside and Hazleton v. Lozano. Both decisions had preempted local ordinances. Image courtesy of Flickr by prathap ramamurthy (creative-commons license, no changes made)....

Monday Morning Review: Local Governments in the Federal Appellate Courts

Posted 03 Mar 2014 in Monday Morning Review

Here are last week's published decisions involving local governments:

Sixth Circuit

Rorrer v. City of Stow, No. 13-3272 (Feb. 26, 2014) (reversing grant of summary judgment to City and against plaintiff, a terminated firefighter with a non-work-related injury, on ADA claim; affirming grant of summary judgment for City on First Amendment and ADA retaliation claims).

Seventh Circuit

Bryant v. City of Chicago, No. 13-1142 (Feb. 28, 2014) (in appeal of dismissal of civil-rights suit as untimely, finding that district court abused its discretion by disregarding plaintiff's timely discovery request and that court should have equitably tolled the statute of limitations).
Hayden v. Greensburg Comm. Sch. Dist., No. 13-1757 (Feb. 24, 2014) (ruling that policy requiring boys, but not girls, playing basketball to keep their hair cut short constitutes sex discrimination

Monday Morning Review: Local Governments in the Federal Appellate Courts

Posted 24 Feb 2014 in Monday Morning Review

Here are last week's published decisions involving local governments:

Third Circuit

M.R. v. Ridley School District, No. 12-4137 (Feb. 20, 2014) (finding under Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act that for "stay put" period: (1) school district must reimburse parents for private-school costs even if parents do not file a claim for payment until after a court has ruled for the school; and (2) the parents' right to interim funding extends through the time of judicial appeal.).

Fourth Circuit

Stevenson v. City of Seat Pleasant, No. 12-2047 (Feb. 21, 2014) (finding, inter alia,

Attend the Supreme Court Practice Seminar

Posted 20 Feb 2014 in Roundup

Solicitor General Donald B. Verrilli, Jr. Tom Goldstein. Paul Clement. And this blog's own, Kira Klatchko. This is just a small selection of the remarkable panel of speakers that IMLA and the State and Local Legal Center will feature at the Supreme Court Practice Seminar scheduled for March 4, 2014. It will be a true "can't miss" event. See the agenda and full list of speakers here. Register here. And stay for the State and Local Legal Center's 30-year annniversary reception, which you can register for here. Image courtesy of Flickr...

Monday Morning Review: Local Governments in the Federal Appellate Courts

Posted 17 Feb 2014 in Uncategorized

Here are last week's published decisions involving local governments: Seventh Circuit

Wilson v. Cook County, No. 13-1464 (Feb. 10, 2014) (affirming summary judgment for County on equal-protection, due-process, and Title VII claims arising out of alleged sexual-harassment in the workplace).

Ninth Circuit

Retired Employees Association of Orange County, Inc. v. County of Orange, No. 12-56706 (Feb. 13, 2014) (affirming

Use Space in Documents

Posted 14 Feb 2014 in Tips and Tactics

Legal documents contain many words, often too many, but that’s not all. Legal documents contain open space or white space between the captions and the text, as well as above, below and on the sides of block quotes, lists and bullets.

Attorneys focus on the words and sometimes pay no attention to the white space even though it can make significant difference in the readability of the document. Unless you are working under a page limit and the burden of too much to say in too few pages, don’t feel obligated to cram your words into the smallest space possible.

Open space separating

Monday Morning Review: Local Governments in the Federal Appellate Courts

Posted 10 Feb 2014 in Monday Morning Review

Here are last week's published decisions involving local governments:

Second Circuit

Rosu v. City of New York, No. 13-243 (Feb. 7, 2014) (finding that the procedures of the New York City Commission on Human Rights satisfy due process).

Sixth Circuit

Reed v. Franklin County, No. 13-3119 (Feb. 6, 2014) (affirming summary judgment for County and county-jail officers in case alleging that officers used excessive force and violated privacy rights).

Seventh Circuit

Using Online Legal Dictionaries

Posted 05 Feb 2014 in Tips and Tactics

Many legal dictionaries are available on the Internet:

First (1891) and Second (1910) Editions of Black’s Law Dictionary;
The U.S. Courts provides a glossary;
Wex is a free legal dictionary and encyclopedia sponsored and hosted by the Legal Information Institute at the Cornell Law School. Wex entries are collaboratively created and edited by legal experts;
Lawyers.com offers a legal dictionary based on the Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary of Law (2001);
The World Wide Legal Information Alliance offers

Monday Morning Review: Local Governments in the Federal Appellate Courts

Posted 05 Feb 2014 in Monday Morning Review

Here are last week's published decisions involving local governments*:

First Circuit

Pierce v. Cotuit Fire Department, No. 1301428 (Jan. 28, 2014) (affirming summary judgment against former employee who had claimed, among other things, that he was terminated in retaliation for First-Amendment activity).

Fourth Circuit

Montgomery County v. Federal National Mortgate Association, No. 13-1691 (Jan. 27, 2014) (affirming district court's decision that general-tax exemptions applicable to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac cover real-property transfer taxes, and that Congress had authority under the Commerce Clause to adopt the exemption). The Seventh Circuit addressed a related question in December.

Fifth Circuit

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