On the Record

As Caryn Tamber reported today, we can no longer tweet from within the courtroom at the Dixon trial. That doesn’t mean the tweets have been silenced, though; they’ve just moved down the hall. You can still watch for updates on www.twitter.com  by “following” @mddailyrecord, or just search for #DixonTrial.

This morning, for example, we learned that “things [were] getting a little out of order” in the jury room last night, and the jurors continue to correspond with the judge seeking clarifications on points of law or, at least, a legal dictionary. (Don’t worry, the judge nixed THAT idea.) What do you think — does this bode well for the prosecution or the defense?

The folks who bring you Super Lawyers came out this week with a ranking of the top law schools in the country. And it’s dopey.

There. I said it.

The list ranks schools by the number of graduates included on lists of Super Lawyers. Let’s put aside for a second Above the Law’s astute comment that “It’s a little like US Weekly handing out Oscar nominations based on how many times a star has appeared on its cover.”

Many bloggers have pointed out that this gives bigger law schools an advantage because they have more graduates. That’s a major, major flaw in the rankings. (Super Lawyers acknowledges this but downplays its impact.)

Here’s a “for instance”: The University of Maryland is ranked 43 on U.S. News’ list. It’s got 897 law students, according to TaxProf Blog. It ranks 50 in the Super Lawyers list. UC Hastings ranks 39 on U.S. News. It has 1,251 law students. It’s 11 on the Super Lawyers list. I’m not saying size made all the difference in this list, but it had to have had some impact.

Another big problem: Maryland has only two law schools. I’m willing to bet that a huge majority of the lawyers in the state come from one of those two schools and that a somewhat smaller majority of graduates from the two law schools stay in Maryland. When Super Lawyers compiles its list of top Maryland lawyers, a very, very large share of them will be grads of UM or UB–because, well, that’s who’s here. This will not be the case for states with many law schools or states where lots of the lawyers are coming from law schools elsewhere (like New York). Those states will spread the wealth a little more. Perhaps, then, UM is getting an unfair boost in the rankings because it’s one of only two games in town.

All in all, I’ll say it again. The rankings are kind of dopey and not all that useful.

But hey, as the Business Insider Law Review puts it, “lists are fun.”

We don’t typically give birthday shout-outs in this space, but I think one is deserved for a man who has done more to expose Americans to the legal system than perhaps anyone else alive.

I am, of course, referring to Judge Joseph A. Wapner - aka Judge Wapner of “The People’s Court” - who turned 90 on Sunday (although you couldn’t tell it from the photos). To celebrate, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and returned to television to preside over one more case in “The People’s Court.”

You can watch Wapner’s cameo here and here. Yes, the music remains the same, and yes, Judge Wapner nails it, as always.

Somewhere, Raymond Babbitt is smiling.

I received a lovely Edible Arrangements fruit basket at my desk this morning.

Since I can find a law angle to almost anything, I’ll tell you that there was a funny warning label attached to my fruit. It told me, first off, that the arrangement was made with skewers. No kidding! So that’s what those pointy things sticking out of the fruit were.

Then the label told me to “[c]arefully remove fruit with utensil and dispose of fruit skewers immediately.” As opposed to just chomping away with the skewers still attached? But that eliminates all the extra fiber!

Also, “adult supervision [is] required” when children are around the container the arrangement came in. I can’t think of what horrible, deadly thing kids could do with an empty basket, but maybe that’s a failure of imagination on my part.

Finally, the arrangement can only be safely transported in the trunk of the car. “Never allow a passenger to hold arrangement while vehicle is in motion,” I was cautioned. Of course, that’s exactly what most people are going to do, since if it goes in the trunk it might roll around — and horrors, maybe even dislodge one of those lethal skewers!

I cringe to think of the Edible Arrangements-related injuries that must have prompted these over-the-top legal warnings.

Happy Monday!

• Gregory Kane weighs in on alleged child-killer Dante Parrish, whom the Maryland Innocence Project helped free last year in an unrelated case. In other Parrish news, Peter Hermann’s a got a letter from the teacher of Parrish’s alleged victim. (HT on the letter: Baltimore Crime.)
• John Allen Muhammad’s stand-by lawyer, Baltimore’s J. Wyndal Gordon will write a book about the case.
• Is the Obama administration taking its time on judicial nominees?
• The Lakota Sioux are suing to get authorities to prosecute the guy whose sweat lodge self-help ceremony allegedly killed three people.
• I don’t know, I sorta like this law firm ad.

Joan Biskupic has firmly established herself as the Doris Kearns Goodwin of judicial biography with her stirring and well-researched examination of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, arguably the nation’s most polarizing jurist.

In American Original, Biskupic explains how Scalia’s constitutional jurisprudence — his focus on original intent and presidential power — has parallels in his strong Catholic faith and roots in his pre-judicial career as an attorney in the Nixon and Ford administrations.

Biskupic, who has reported on the Supreme Court for 20 years, deftly examines how Scalia’s sarcastic and caustic attacks in dissenting opinions have at times alienated his colleagues. In a chapter titled “Showman on the Bench” Biskupic discusses how Scalia’s hyperactive participation in oral arguments has been entertaining but often galling for the attorneys presenting their cases and for his fellow justices trying to ask their own questions.

Throughout the 364 pages, Biskupic, like Goodwin, a Pulitzer Prize winning presidential historian, includes revealing personal and professional anecdotes about her subject. These include the time students protested Scalia’s appearance at a college — to attend the graduation of one of his nine children — and his disappointment at being passed over in 1981 for solicitor general under President Reagan (five years later, he landed a more prestigious position, with greater job security).

The book — subtitled The Life and Constitution of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and released this month — is the second biography by Biskupic, USA Today’s Supreme Court reporter. She also wrote the critically acclaimed Sandra Day O’Connor: How the First Woman on the Supreme Court Became Its Most Influential Justice, published in 2005.

If you’re in Towson right now and thinking about lunch, you finally have another restaurant to consider.

Yes, our long local nightmare has ended: The Perring Place Express Deli is officially open!

I’ll try to provide a restaurant review soon; in the meantime, anyone who has eaten there already can provide feedback below for your fellow Towson lunchgoers.

There has been a lot of controversy recently about the H1N1 vaccine being made available to prison populations. (Don’t believe me? I did a Google news search to prove it.)

Most notable is the 300 doses being sent to Guantanamo Bay, although the Pentagon said detainees will only get the vaccine after the “highest-priority troops and employees” are treated.

The Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services announced Thursday it had received the first shipment of a planned 1,900 doses of the vaccine. The doses were free, courtesy of the federal government.

The agency notes it has a “constitutional obligation” to provide health care to its detainees that meets “community standards,” and every year pays for and makes seasonal flu vaccines available to “high-risk” prisoners.

Here’s how the agency will divvy up the swine flu antidote:

Individuals have been identified in priority groups, both inmates and then staff that choose the option, to receive the vaccine through DPSCS as it becomes available. Priority groups for offender populations were identified by DPSCS based on similar standards to those in the community identified by the Center for Disease Control (CDC). They include those who are pregnant, those under the age of 24 with underlying health conditions, and those ages 25-64 with high risk health complications.

Additionally, 600 vaccines will be offered to staff “either permanently assigned to infirmaries or a medical transportation unit,” according to the agency’s press release.

Anyone out there want to channel Roy Blunt?

Is your job making you miserable? Fabulous!

As Above the Law points out, a new study indicates that having a negative outlook “makes people less gullible, improves their ability to judge others and also boosts memory” — all helpful qualities for the successful lawyer. Cranky-pantses are also better at “stating their case through written arguments.”

I don’t know that I’d go as far as ATL did with its headline, “Depression Makes You a Better Lawyer.” The article on the study doesn’t mention depression, which is a different animal than just being sad and probably makes you a lot worse at your job.

Still, isn’t it good to know that all that unhappiness and dissatisfaction might actually make you a better attorney? And that will increase your workload, which will in turn increase your tsuris, which will make you unhappier, which will make you even more amazing at your job.

Wait, wait: so being sad makes you less gullible, better at sizing up other people, and a more persuasive writer? Hm, I wonder what other type of professionals could benefit from those qualities.

I think I’m going to go watch The Notebook and have a good cry. Pulitzer Committee, watch out.

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