Legal Industry News

An apostrophic dilemma

Tuesday, September 7th, 2010
Source: Marquette University Law School Faculty Blog

A punctuation debate made the National Law Journal this week.  The current Supreme Court reporter of decisions, Frank Wagner, is retiring at the end of this month.  His NLJ interview included the following discussion of differences of opinion among Supreme Court Justices regarding the use of apostrophes with plural possessives.

I wouldn’t call it a “disagreement,” just a difference in preferences. And I doubt it needs to be resolved, at least at the present. When I came to the Court in 1987, the prevailing rule for a regular plural possessive was simply to add an apostrophe after the word’s final “s.” For example, “Congress’.” Over the years, however, four justices informed my office they preferred to add another “s” following the word’s final s-apostrophe — e.g., “Congress’s” — albeit each in slightly differing circumstances. The justices are all highly capable legal writers committed to maintaining their own individual writing styles. Thus, while we try to maintain a high degree of consistency as to style in the U.S. Reports, the Reporter’s Office has always kept a list, and has attempted to assure the incorporation, of each justice’s individual style preferences in his or...

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Lincoln in Liberia

Tuesday, September 7th, 2010
Source: Marquette University Law School Faculty Blog

On August 26, MULS welcomed the Class of 2013, hosting a welcome mixer in the atrium of Eckstein Hall, the new home of the law school.  During this event, Dean Joseph Kearney unveiled a portrait of Abraham Lincoln created by visual artist Don Pollack.  A few days later, the painting was hung in the Aitken Reading Room on the third floor of the new building.

The portrait uniquely places Lincoln within a horizontal vista of farmland which represents his campaign trail many days before he became the sixteenth president of the United States.  Professor Michael McCrystal explains that MULS commissioned this painting of Lincoln to symbolize the importance of reading: “Although we mean the building to be very contemporary in most respects, the intent of the reading room is to draw on strong academic and legal traditions to inspire students to serious work, and a Lincoln portrait seemed to serve this theme.”

The image seeks to capture Lincoln the great lawyer and the great reader.  It also serves as a reminder that the former president spoke of the importance of reading when on September 30, 1859 he addressed the Wisconsin State Agricultural...

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Army Sergeant Charged with Threatening Judge in YouTube Rap

Tuesday, September 7th, 2010
Source: ABA Journal Top Stories A Tennessee serviceman in a years-long battle over custody of his teen daughter took his frustrations to the Internet, posting a YouTube rap that brought charges of threatening a judge. In his rap, U.S. Army Sgt. Franklin Delano Jeffries II mentions a judge but doesn't give a name, the Knoxville News Sentinel reports. The newspaper cites two statements that landed the Knoxville resident in trouble. "I guarantee you, if you don't stop, I'll kill you,” he rapped in the song posted in July. Then, when the rap was over, he said, "You don't deserve to live and I hope I… Read the rest of the...

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