Lawyering Articles

A Little Presentation Humor

webmaster@elinfonet.com (Employment Law Information Network) — Fri, 18 May 2012 00:00:00 EST

Our Annual Employment Seminar has the topic of presentations on my mind this week. Like many of my employment-law colleagues, I do a lot of public speaking. I recently looked back at my speaking schedule for 2011 and was surprised to see that I averaged almost 1 speaking engagement per week. If it was up to me, I'd likely speak even more often but, again, my day job makes that difficult.

Seeing the nonlegal components of clients' concerns

webmaster@elinfonet.com (Employment Law Information Network) — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 00:00:00 EST

Recently, I met with a new client, who had just started her own business. One of her clients had paid most, but not all, of an invoice.

Seeing the nonlegal components of clients' concerns

webmaster@elinfonet.com (Employment Law Information Network) — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 00:00:00 EST

Recently, I met with a new client, who had just started her own business. One of her clients had paid most, but not all, of an invoice.

Applying insights from psychology to law practice: the lawyer's role

webmaster@elinfonet.com (Employment Law Information Network) — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 00:00:00 EST

Yesterday, I blogged about a book, "The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations," that discusses a concept from psychologist Carl Rogers.

Insight from psychology: what counselors can teach counselors at law

webmaster@elinfonet.com (Employment Law Information Network) — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 00:00:00 EST

I am very interested in how lawyers give advice to clients, so I zeroed in on a passage in "The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations" by Ori Brafman and Rod A. Beckstrom, discussing the work of psychologist Carl Rogers.

Reaching in-house counsel with your blog

webmaster@elinfonet.com (Employment Law Information Network) — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 00:00:00 EST

A recently released study of the social media habits of corporate counsel contains some interesting findings. Greentarget, a strategic communications firm, performed the study in conjunction with InsideCounsel magazine and the Zeughauser Group.

10th Circuit Slaps Down EEOC Subpoena

webmaster@elinfonet.com (Employment Law Information Network) — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 00:00:00 EST

In 2007, two persons in Colorado applied for employment with Burlington Northern Santa Fe R.R. Co. (BNSF). The company extended each applicant a conditional offer of employment, but rescinded each applicant's conditional offer following a medical screening. Each applicant then filed a separate charge of discrimination with the EEOC alleging that he was perceived as disabled in violation of the Americans With Disabilities Act.

NO FISHING: Court Refuses to Enforce Overbroad "Pattern or Practice" Subpoena From EEOC

webmaster@elinfonet.com (Employment Law Information Network) — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 00:00:00 EST

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission got a slapdown recently from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. The decision, which held that an EEOC subpoena was overbroad and sought information that was not relevant to the case, reinforces the limits of the agency's subpoena and discovery authority and prohibits the EEOC from trying to initiate "pattern and practice" discovery without a proper aggregation of claims.

iBooks: Coming to a Courtroom Near You?

webmaster@elinfonet.com (Employment Law Information Network) — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 00:00:00 EST

Lawyers are notoriously slow to adopt new technology. This is an unfortunate characteristic of my profession. But there are some innovators in the field. And those innovators may be changing the game for the rest of us.

EEOC Entitled Only to Employer’s Information Relevant to Charges under Investigation, Court Rules

webmaster@elinfonet.com (Employment Law Information Network) — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 00:00:00 EST

Finding that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s subpoena for a company’s nationwide recordkeeping data was “not relevant” to two individual disability discrimination charges, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, in Denver, declined to enforce the EEOC’s subpoena. EEOC v. Burlington Northern Santa Fe R.R. Co., 2012 U.S. App. LEXIS 3092 (10th Cir. Feb. 27, 2012). The Court chided the EEOC for asserting that the district court incorrectly interpreted its request as seeking plenary discovery, saying that “in reality . . . the EEOC did seek plenary discovery” when it has no power to seek it.