December 23 2006 Legal Blog Roundup

Most of us salivate over the thought of a day off from work, so naturally, we're all waiting for that precious day when we can retire, even if it is 40 years into the future. However, believe it or not, there are actually people out there who refuse to throw in the towel. (I'm sure that as they read this, many associates' thoughts will run to their firms' ancient of counsel.) Adam Smith, Esq. reveals that these days, three out of five firms have mandatory retirement ages. While this may seem inherently wrong to most of us, the blog discusses several, um, compelling arguments in favor of a mandatory retirement age for attorneys. My favorites included "there's only so much money to go around" and "beyond a certain point, lawyers are inherently less productive." Wow, with philosophies like that, it's hard to imagine why people call lawyers cold and calculating.


Moving on to a discussion about a group of guys who are generally as productive as some law firms would argue their senior partners are, Crime and Federalism tells the story of Judge Head (I swear that's his real name), whose concept of penance involves what the small-town locals refer to as "the judge's probation program." Apparently, Judge Head takes a personal interest in the defendants who enter his courtroom, particularly the defendants who happen to be young men. According to the blog, he drives them around and even let one move in with him for awhile (wow!). Before you ask, yes, the judicial rules of conduct prohibit these kinds of relations. One of the unfortunate defendants stated, "It wasn't professional. I think he crossed the boundaries." I'm going to have to side with the defendant and rule against the judge in this case.

Finally, I know this column is supposed to deal strictly with law, but sometimes while searching for the most interesting legal stories, I come across stories that are just plain...interesting. I'm going to justify this final paragraph with the following disclaimer: "I found this on a legal blog website." Last week, 3L Epiphany posted a blog entry about potatoes in art. If people feel comfortable blogging about potatoes, then I definitely have no reservations about blogging about other bloggers.