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Legal Ethics
« Previous EntriesWashington shouldn’t protect “Frankenfoods”
Friday, March 29th, 2013Amazingly enough, Congress and the President recently managed to agree on budget-related legislation without coming to near-fatal blows first. On Friday, Congress passed a continuing resolution that will fund the federal government through September 30th, and President Obama signed it into law on Tuesday. That’s the good news, and it’s very good indeed. The not-so-good [...]
How will businesses handle the sequester?
Tuesday, February 26th, 2013We’re a mere four days away from massive, across-the-board federal budget cuts that will take effect Friday unless Congress and President Obama can come to a deal on how to avert them. Given that Congress and the President can barely agree on what day of the week it is, I’m not especially optimistic that they’ll come [...]
Don’t tolerate mass shootings just because they’re rare
Monday, December 17th, 2012As the nation struggles to understand last week’s shootings in Newtown, Connecticut, we’re beginning a long-overdue discussion about gun control. The experts are out in force on both sides, making arguments for and against putting limits on the general public’s access to guns. It’s quite the circus, and likely to accelerate as the debate gets [...]
Judge Gladys to Big Tobacco: “Admit it – you lied!”
Wednesday, November 28th, 2012My hat’s off to U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler, who has required three big tobacco companies to pay for a very special public advertising campaign. Judge Kessler has ordered the top three cigarette makers in the United States, Philip Morris, Reynolds and Lorillard, to publicly admit that they lied about the adverse health effects caused by [...]
An apology and applause to Chief Justice Roberts
Thursday, June 28th, 2012The big news item of the day is, of course, the Supreme Court’s opinion upholding the Obama Administration’s health care reform law. We’ll be hearing for the next several weeks what this decision likely means for American families, employers and states, undoubtedly with heavy spin from both sides of the aisle. (Then again, all those [...]
Is Congress becoming sophomoric?
Monday, May 21st, 2012NPR ran a fun story this morning highlighting research by Lee Drutman, a political scientist professor and senior fellow at the Sunlight Foundation. Dr. Drutman has reportedly analyzed the Congressional Record and found that Congress’ ranking on the Flesch-Kincaid scale — a computer algorithym which evaluates readability — has dropped almost one full grade level [...]
How much should an e-book cost?
Thursday, April 12th, 2012Yesterday, the Justice Department filed a civil antitrust suit against computer giant Apple and five major publishers (Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Penguin, and Simon & Schuster), accusing the defendants of artificially inflating the prices of e-books. According to news reports, Hachette, HarperCollins and Simon & Schuster have already settled the suit, leaving Apple, Macmillan and Penguin [...]
The press shouldn’t try George Zimmerman – but it should address racial inequities
Wednesday, April 11th, 2012As events surrounding the shooting of Trayvon Martin continue to unfold, I become increasingly concerned about how news reports may distort the outcome. By law, George Zimmerman, the man who reportedy shot Trayvon Martin, is innocent until proven guilty. He hasn’t even been indicted yet. Unfortunately, hard lines have already been drawn between people who [...]
Should employers ask candidates for their Facebook passwords?
Friday, March 23rd, 2012This post continues my Friday series examining some of the imbalances of power in our society and the ethical questions they raise. Yesterday, I was troubled to read an Associated Press story about the latest technique that employers are using to vet job applicants. It’s common for managers to peruse applicants’ public online postings, but [...]
Don’t threaten to sue … unless you really mean it!
Friday, January 27th, 2012Continuing my Friday series on keeping your business out of court, let’s focus on a mistake that too many businesspeople make. On the theory that “the best defense is a good offense,” some people make it all too clear to their contractors, suppliers, and consultants that, if a single mistake is made, they’ll take the [...]
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