ABA Announces 2019 Silver Gavel Award Winners @ABAesq @ABAJournal

The ABA has announced the Silver Gavel Award winners for 2019. 

BOOKS

Silver Gavel: The Woman’s Hour: The Great Fight to Win the Vote, by Elaine Weiss.

Honorable Mention: The Schoolhouse Gate: Public Education, the Supreme Court, and the Battle for the American Mind, by Justin Driver.

DOCUMENTARIES

Silver Gavel: I Am Evidence, by Shelved LLC for HBO Documentary Films.

Honorable Mention: RBG, by Magnolia Pictures, Participant Media and CNN Films. 

MAGAZINES

Silver Gavel: “Sign Here to Lose Everything,” featured in Bloomberg. NEWSPAPERS Silver Gavel: “Protecting the Shield,” featured in Asbury Park Press.

Honorable Mention: “Denied Justice,” featured in Star Tribune (Minneapolis).

TELEVISION Silver Gavel: Dark Money, by American Documentary/POV and PBS Distribution, Big Sky Film Productions with Big Mouth Productions and Meerkat Media Collaborative. 

Call For Submissions: ABA Silver Gavel Awards, 2019 @ABAesq @abapubliced

From the mailbox:

The ABA invites submissions for the 2019 Silver Gavel Awards for Media and the Arts. The nine eligible categories include books, commentary, documentaries, drama and literature, magazines, multimedia, newspapers, radio, and television. More here. 

ABA Announces Silver Gavel Awards Winners For 2018 @ABAesq

The American Bar Association has announced the winners of the 2018 Silver Gavel Awards for Media and the Arts.

BOOKS

Silver Gavel: Unwarranted: Policing Without Permission, by Barry Friedman.
Honorable Mention: In Praise of Litigation, by Alexandra Lahav.

DOCUMENTARIES
Silver Gavel: And Then They Came for Us, by Ginzberg Productions.
Honorable Mention: They Call Us Monsters, by BMP Films.

DRAMA & LITERATURE
Silver Gavel: Marshall, directed and produced by Reginald Hudlin.

NEWSPAPERS
Silver Gavel: “Death-Penalty Defense Drama at Guantánamo War Court,” featured in the Miami Herald.
Honorable Mention: “Secrecy Rules,” featured in the Star Tribune of Minneapolis, Minnesota.

RADIO
Silver Gavel: Breakdown Season 6: A Jury of His Peers, by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Honorable Mention: Null and Void, by Radiolab at WNYC.

TELEVISION
Silver Gavel: Abacus: Small Enough to Jail, by PBS Distribution, Frontline and ITVS.

The ABA has awarded Silver Gavels every year since 1958. ABA President Hilarie Bass will present the winners and honorable mentions on July 17 at the National Press Club in Washington D.C.

ABA Announces Silver Gavel Awards Winners For 2018 @ABAesq

The American Bar Association has announced its finalists for the Silver Gavel Award for 2018.  They include

BOOKS

The Chickenshit Club: Why the Justice Department Fails to Prosecute Executives by Jesse Eisinger; Simon & Schuster.

An American Sickness by Elizabeth Rosenthal; Penguin Random House.

In Praise of Litigation by Alexandra Lahav; Oxford University Press.

Habeas Corpus in Wartime: From the Tower of London to Guantanamo Bay by Amanda Tyler; Oxford University Press.

Not a Crime to be Poor: The Criminalization of Poverty in America by Peter Edelman; The New Press.

Unwarranted: Policing without Permission by Barry Friedman; Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

NEWSPAPERS

Secrecy Rules; Star Tribune (Minneapolis); James Shiffer, reporter; Karen Lundegaard, digital editor.

Death-Penalty Defense Drama at Guantanamo War Court; Miami Herald; Carol Rosenberg, military affairs reporter; Dave Wilson, senior editor.

RADIO

Breakdown Season 6: A Jury of his Peers; The Atlanta Journal-Constitution; Richard Halicks, senior editor; Kevin Riley; editor-in-chief; Bill Rankin, legal affairs writer; Pete Corson, audience specialist.

The Bookie, the Phone Booth, and the FBI; WNYC Studios New York Public Radio; Manoush Zomorodi, host and managing editor; Kat Aaron, senior producer; Jen Poyant, executive producer.

Null and Void; Radiolab at WNYC; Maria Matasar-Padilla, managing director; Tracie Hunte, reporter; Matt Kielty, producer; Soren Wheeler, managing editor.

TELEVISION

Abacus: Small Enough to Jail; PBS Distribution, Frontline and ITVS; Mitten Media, Motto Pictures and Kartemquin Films Production; Steve James, director; Mark Mitten, producer; Julie Goldman, producer.

Baltimore Rising; Blowback Productions for HBO Documentary Films; Sonja Sohn, director and executive producer; Marc Levin, Anthony Hemingway, George Pelecanos and Mark Taylor, executive producers; Sheila Nevins, executive producer for HBO; Nancy Abraham. senior producer.

48 Hours: “Guilty Until Proven Innocent”; 48 Hours/CBS News; Charlotte Fuller and Alicia Tejada, field producers; Maureen Maher, correspondent; Peter Schweitzer, senior producer; Nancy Kramer, executive story editor; Judy Rybak, producer.

American Bar Association Invites Entries For the 61st Annual Silver Gavel Awards for Media and the Arts @ABAesq

The American Bar Association invites entries for the 2017 Silver Gavel Awards for Media and the Arts. Below is information about the process from the ABA.

The nine eligible categories include: books, magazines, newspapers, commentary, drama and literature, documentaries, television, radio, or multimedia. 
All entries must have been originally published, produced, or presented in the 2017 calendar year.

Distinguished past awardees include:
- Sidney Lumet’s jury room drama Twelve Angry Men- PBS Fred Friendly series “The Constitution: That Delicate Balance”
- Jonathan Harr's A Civil Action (Random House)
- Serial: Season One- Making a Murderer- Matthew Desmond's Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City (Crown)

The entry deadline is January 8, 2018.

Here is a link to the guidelines and the entry form.

ABA Announces Winners of 2017 Silver Gavel Awards @ABAJournal @ABAEsq

The American Bar Association today announced its selections for the 2017 Silver Gavel Awards for Media and the Arts, which recognize outstanding work that fosters the American public’s understanding of law and the legal system. This is the ABA’s highest honor in recognition of this purpose. 
Work focusing on eviction, the militarization of policing, understanding landmark U.S. Supreme Court decisions, and challenges in federal courts to state laws regulating abortion providers took top honors.
The winners are:

• “Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City,” in which author Matthew Desmond tells the story of eight Milwaukee families to show that eviction is a cause, not just a condition, of poverty and argues that decent, affordable housing should be a basic right for all Americans.

• “Do Not Resist,” a documentary exploring the present and future of law enforcement in the United States, from Ferguson, Mo.,  after the death of Michael Brown to the “militarization” of police forces to the impact of new technologies. 

• “More Perfect,” a 5-episode radio podcast series examining landmark cases from Marbury v. Madison to Batson v. Kentucky to illuminate how the Supreme Court shapes American democracy.

• “Trapped,” a television documentary that probes the impact of state TRAP (Targeted Regulations of Abortion Providers) statutes on reproductive health clinic workers and relates how they and their lawyers challenged these laws in federal court (Whole Woman’s Health V. Hellerstedt).

ABA President Linda Klein will present Silver Gavels and honorable mentions on July 18 at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. Brooke Gladstone, managing editor and co-host of public radio’s “On the Media” is the featured speaker
The ABA will present four Silver Gavels and two honorable mentions from 156 entries received in all eligible categories — include books, commentary, documentaries, drama and literature, magazines, multimedia, newspapers, radio and television.
No more than one Silver Gavel is presented in each category.
Selection criteria include how the entry addresses the Gavel Awards’ purpose and objectives; educational value of legal information; impact on, or outreach to, the public; thoroughness and accuracy in presentation of issues; creativity and originality in approach to subject matter and effectiveness of presentation; and demonstrated technical skill in the entry’s production.         
“The American Bar Association engages in a rigorous judging process annually to select winners of the Silver Gavel Awards for Media and the Arts,” said Stephen C. Edds, chair of the ABA Standing Committee on Gavel Awards. “We congratulate all of the 2017 awardees for their extraordinary efforts to further the American public’s understanding of law.”
The association has presented these awards each year since 1958, which makes 2017 the 60^th annual presentation. The 18-member ABA Standing Committee on Gavel Awards makes the final award decisions. To learn more about the Silver Gavel Awards, go to www.ambar.org/gavelawards.
The following is a complete list of Silver Gavel winners and honorable mentions with a link to their work:
BOOKS
Silver Gavel
“Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City”
Matthew Desmond, author
Penguin Random House/Crown Publishers
http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/247816/evicted-by-matthew-desmond/9780553447453/
Honorable Mention
“Blood in the Water: The Attica Prison Uprising of 1971 and Its Legacy”
Heather Ann Thompson, author
Penguin Random House/Pantheon Books
http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/178182/blood-in-the-water-by-heather-ann-thompson/9780375423222/
DOCUMENTARIES
Silver Gavel
“Do Not Resist”
VANISH Films
Craig Atkinson, director
Laura Hartrick, producer
http://www.donotresistfilm.com/
NEWSPAPERS
Honorable Mention
“Forsaken: Florida's Broken Mental Health System”
Sun Sentinel (Ft. Lauderdale, FL)
Dana Banker, managing editor
Megan O’Matz, Sally Kestin, and Stephen Hobbs, reporters
John Maines, database editor
http://projects.sun-sentinel.com/projects/forsaken/
RADIO
Silver Gavel
“More Perfect”
WNYC Studios
Jad Abumrad, executive producer, host, creator
Suzie Lechtenberg, executive producer
Kelsey Padgett, producer, reporter
Sean Rameswaram, correspondent
Tobin Low, producer
http://www.wnyc.org/shows/radiolabmoreperfect/episodes
TELEVISION
Silver Gavel
“Trapped”
Trilogy Films
Dawn Porter, director
Marilyn Ness, producer
http://www.trappeddocumentary.com/

With nearly 400,000 members, the American Bar Association is one of the largest voluntary professional membership organizations in the world. As the national voice of the legal profession, the ABA works to improve the administration of justice, promotes programs that assist lawyers and judges in their work, accredits law schools, provides continuing legal education, and works to build public understanding around the world of the importance of the rule of law. View our privacy statement online. Follow the latest ABA news at www.americanbar.org/news and on Twitter @ABANews. 

Additional links: American Bar Association Announces 2017 Silver Gavel Awards For Media and the Arts

ABA Announces Winnters of the 2017 Silver Gavel Awards

ABA Announces 2017 Finalists For Silver Gavel Awards @ABAEsq

From the American Bar Association:

ABA announces finalists for 2017 Silver Gavel Awards for Media and the Arts

WASHINGTON, March 8, 2017 —The American Bar Association today announced the 19 finalists for the 2017 Silver Gavel Awards for Media and the Arts, which recognize outstanding work that fosters the American public’s understanding of law and the legal system. This is the ABA’s highest honor in recognition of this purpose.

“The ABA’s Gavel Awards Screening Committee members were challenged to select finalists among so many worthy entries,” said Stephen C. Edds, chair of the Standing Committee on Gavel Awards. “We congratulate our finalists and look forward to identifying awardees among an already select group.”

The winners will be announced on May 10.

No more than one Silver Gavel is presented in each category. Honorable mentions are also awarded, but awards are not presented in every category in every year.

The ABA Gavel Awards Screening Committee, composed of 45 lawyer-members of the ABA, selected the 19 finalists from 156 entries received in all eligible categories, which include books, commentary, documentaries, drama and literature, magazines, multimedia, newspapers, radio and television.

Selection criteria include how the entry addresses the Gavel Awards’ purpose and objectives; educational value of legal information; impact on, or outreach to, the public; thoroughness and accuracy in presentation of issues; creativity and originality in approach to subject matter and effectiveness of presentation; and demonstrated technical skill in the entry’s production.      

The association has presented these awards each year since 1958, which makes 2017 the 60^th annual presentation. The 18-member ABA Standing Committee on Gavel Awards makes the final award decisions. ABA President Linda Klein will present Silver Gavels and Honorable Mentions on July 18 at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. 

To learn more about the Silver Gavel Awards, go to www.ambar.org/gavelawards.

The following is a complete list of finalists, with links to their work:

BOOKS“Blood in the Water: The Attica Prison Uprising of 1971 and Its Legacy” Heather Ann Thompson, author Penguin Random House/Pantheon Bookshttp://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/178182/blood-in-the-water-by-heather-ann-thompson/9780375423222/“Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City” Matthew Desmond, author Penguin Random House/Crown Publishershttp://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/247816/evicted-by-matthew-desmond/9780553447453/“The Framers’ Coup: The Making of the United States Constitution” Michael Klarman, author Oxford University Presshttps://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-framers-coup-9780199942039?cc=us&lang=en&“Imbeciles: The Supreme Court, American Eugenics, and the Sterilization of Carrie Buck” Adam Cohen, author Penguin Random House/Penguin Bookshttp://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/529315/imbeciles-by-adam-cohen/9780143109990“Vagrant Nation: Police Power, Constitutional Change, and the Making of the 1960s” Risa Goluboff, author Oxford University Presshttps://global.oup.com/academic/product/vagrant-nation-9780199768448?q=vagrant%20nation&lang=en&cc=us

COMMENTARY“It’s Been 40 Years Since the Supreme Court Tried to Fix the Death Penalty — Here’s How It Failed” The Marshall Project Evan Mandery, professor John Jay College of Criminal Justicehttps://www.themarshallproject.org/2016/03/30/it-s-been-40-years-since-the-supreme-court-tried-to-fix-the-death-penalty-here-s-why-it-failed#.QAPugtylD

DOCUMENTARIES“Admissions on Trial: Seven Decades of Race and Higher Education” Villita Media for KLRU-TV Lynn Boswell, producer, director and writer Paul Sweeney, Editorhttp://www.pbs.org/video/2365023444/“Do Not Resist” VANISH Films Craig Atkinson, director Laura Hartrick, producerhttp://www.donotresistfilm.com/“Trapped” Trilogy Films Dawn Porter, director Marilyn Ness, producerhttp://www.trappeddocumentary.com/

MAGAZINES“Where the Death Penalty Still Lives” New York Times Magazine Emily Bazelon, staff writer Ilena Silverman, features editorhttps://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/28/magazine/where-the-death-penalty-still-lives.html?_r=0

MULTIMEDIA“Doubled Up In Solitary Confinement” National Public Radio and The Marshall Project Joseph Shapiro, correspondent, NPR Christie Thompson, staff writer, The Marshall Project Ruth Baldwin, director of communications, The Marshall Project Robert Little, senior supervising editor, Investigations, NPRhttp://www.npr.org/2016/03/24/470824303/doubling-up-prisoners-in-solitary-creates-deadly-consequencesURLL http://www.npr.org/2016/10/26/498582706/inside-lewisburg-prison-a-choice-between-a-violent-cellmate-or-shackles http://www.npr.org/2016/10/27/499637384/solitary-confinement-methods-often-lead-to-violence-at-lewisburg-prison

NEWSPAPERS“A Cry for Help” Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN) Jennifer Bjorhus and Kelly Smith, reportersJeff Hargarten, Interactive data journalistMaryJo Webster, data editorRichard Tsong-Taatarii, visual journalisthttp://www.startribune.com/a-cry-for-help/374523971/“Forsaken: Florida’s Broken Mental Health System” Sun Sentinel (Ft. Lauderdale, FL) Dana Banker, managing editor Megan O’Matz, Sally Kestin and Stephen Hobbs, reporters John Maines, database editorhttp://projects.sun-sentinel.com/projects/forsaken/“No Money, No Mercy” The New York Times Andrew Lehren and Shaila Dewan, reporters Christine Kay, enterprise editor Scott Blumenthal, deputy editor, Interactive Newshttps://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/12/us/crime-criminal-justice-reform-diversion.html https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/13/us/alabama-prosecutor-valeska-criminal-justice-reform.html

RADIO"...and justice for all." Alabama Public Radio Pat Duggins, news director Stan Ingold, assistant news director Alex AuBuchon and Mackenzie Bates, news hosts/reportershttp://apr.org/post/and-justice-all-series-alabama-public-radio?nopop=1#stream/0“More Perfect” WNYC Studios Jad Abumrad, executive producer, host, creator Suzie Lechtenberg, executive producer Kelsey Padgett, producer, reporter Sean Rameswaram, correspondent Tobin Low, producerhttp://www.wnyc.org/shows/radiolabmoreperfect/episodes“This Land Is Our Land” Oregon Public Broadcasting Anna Griffin, news director David Blanchard, producerhttp://www.opb.org/news/series/burns-oregon-standoff-bundy-militia-news-updates/occupation-trial-podcast-this-land-is-our-land/

TELEVISION“The Border” FOX5 Las Vegas Christine Maddela, news anchorhttp://www.fox5vegas.com/story/33673452/the-border-a-fox5-special-report-on-immigration“48 Hours: The Fight for Melissa” 48 Hours/CBS News Erin Moriarty, correspondentLourdes Aguiar, Charlotte Fuller and Gail Abbott Zimmerman, producers Judy Tygard, senior producer Susan Zirinsky, executive producerhttp://www.cbsnews.com/videos/the-fight-for-melissa/ With more than 400,000 members, the American Bar Association is one of the largest voluntary professional membership organizations in the world. As the national voice of the legal profession, the ABA works to improve the administration of justice, promotes programs that assist lawyers and judges in their work, accredits law schools, provides continuing legal education, and works to build public understanding around the world of the importance of the rule of law. View our privacy statement on line. Follow the latest ABA news at www.americanbar.org/news and on Twitter @ABANews.
 

Attica Locke @atticalocke Wins Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction

Writer Attica Locke has won the Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction for her novel Pleasantville. The American Bar Association and the University of Alabama award the prize every year for the best novel-length work that demonstrates the ability of lawyers to make changes in society. More here from the ABA Journal.

Pleasantville (Harper, appropriately enough) is Ms. Locke's third novel.  She has also worked on the TV show Empire. Here's a 2015 NPR interview with Ms. Locke.

ABA Seeking Nominations For the Margaret Brent Lawyers of Achievement Award

The American Bar Association is seeking nominations for the Margaret Brent Award. The Award recognizes female attorneys who excel in law and have assisted other women in the field. More information and instructions for making nominations are below. Visit the ABA webpage on the award here.

The Margaret Brent Women Lawyers of Achievement Award, established by the ABA Commission on Women in the Profession in 1991, recognizes and celebrates the accomplishments of women lawyers who have excelled in their field and have paved the way to success for other women lawyers.
Call for Nominations for the
2016 Margaret Brent Awards

Deadline for Nominations -
Friday, December 4, 2015
The 2016 Margaret Brent Women Lawyers of Achievement Awards will be presented on Sunday, August 7, 2016 in San Francisco during the ABA Annual Meeting.
Nomination Criteria and Application RequirementsNomination FormThank You to Our Generous 2015 Supporters2015 Commemorative Program and Tribute Book
Previous Award Recipients
Honorees receiving the Margaret Brent Award have achieved professional excellence in their field and

• influenced other woman to pursue legal careers,

• opened doors for women lawyers in a variety of job settings that historically were closed to them, and/or

• advanced opportunities for women within a practice area or segment of the profession.

View the list of distinguished award recipients

Annual ABA Journal Feature This Year Focuses On One Hundred Years of Lawyers In the Movies

The ABA Journal's annual issue devoted to law and popular culture is out. This year, because the ABA Journal is celebrating its 100th anniversary, the editors of the Journal decided to devote their cover story to a celebration of lawyers in film.

Thane Rosenbaum discusses the role of law and lawyers in film generally, noting that "[f]ootball is America’s game, but movies are its favorite form of entertainment. And movies about the law are as essential to Hollywood history as cowboy Westerns or romantic comedies. Heroism that acquits the falsely accused will hold its own against any nonstop action flick." Further,  the law offers both dramatic interest and thrills. "From Sophocles to Shakespeare, Dostoyevsky to Dickens, John Grisham to Scott Turow, the world’s great poets and dramatists, novelists and film directors have been enamored of the legal system for its plotlines and morality tales. Artists, in fact, are equal opportunity borrowers of justice both delivered and denied. Injustice can ruin a happy ending, but it can also open up possibilities for personal redemption. The literature of law values the object lesson over the cheap thrill. Audiences crave universal truths, and by the time the closing credits roll, movies about the law have left behind wisdom to live by."

The cover story focuses on lawyers in film, but of course we have an additional supporting cast of stories. One involves the ABA Journal's now-traditional vote on the best: in this case, the best of 100 years of films starring lawyer characters, classified by decade.

The jury includes Taunya Banks, Richard Brust, James M. Dedman IV, Bonnie Eskenazi, Daniel Kimmel, Philip Meyer, David Papke, Allen Pusey, Thane Rosenbaum, Diane Waldman, and, oh yes, me, using criteria slightly modified from those I developed for a list of must-see films for law students.

Another interesting piece discusses the influence these films have had on the U.S. public. 
It also mentions other films that did not make the "final cut" for the jury's ballot.  Also included: A gallery of the films mentioned.

Readers can also fill in their own ballots here and/or pitch an idea for a future ABA Journal law and popular feature at the same link.

ABA Announces Winners of 2015 Silver Gavel Awards

The American Bar Association has announced the winners of the 2015 Silver Gavel Awards. Here's the text of its press release.

WASHINGTON, May 13, 2015 — The American Bar Association announced today its selections for the 2015 Silver Gavel Awards for Media and the Arts, which recognize outstanding work in media and the arts that fosters the American public’s understanding of law and the legal system. This is the ABA’s highest honor in recognition of this purpose.

The winners are:

• “Burning Down the House: The End of Juvenile Prison,” a book that shines a harsh light on America’s juvenile prisons and argues that state-run detention centers should be abolished
• “The Case Against 8,” a behind-the-scenes documentary that looks at the historic federal court case to overturn Prop 8, California’s ban on same-sex marriage
• “Till Death Do Us Part,” an investigative newspaper series that examines South Carolina’s “silent epidemic” of domestic violence and proposes concrete solutions to reduce the state’s extraordinarily high rate of women killed by men
• “Serial: Season One,” a radio podcast that probes a 2000 murder trial in Baltimore to tell a larger story of the realities of criminal prosecution

The awards ceremony will take place July 21 at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. ABA President William Hubbard will present the Silver Gavel Awards to honorees.
The ABA will present four Silver Gavels and four honorable mentions from 168 entries received in all eligible categories: books, commentary, documentaries, drama and literature, magazines, newspapers, radio, television and other media.
Selection criteria include: how the entry addresses the Gavel Awards’ purpose and objectives; educational value of legal information; impact on, or outreach to, the public; thoroughness and accuracy in presentation of issues; creativity and originality in approach to subject matter and effectiveness of presentation; and demonstrated technical skill in the entry’s production.

“The winners of 2015 Gavel Awards for Media and the Arts are the result of a rigorous and selective review by the American Bar Association,” said Cory M. Amron, chair of the ABA Standing Committee on Gavel Awards. “We congratulate all of the awardees for their outstanding efforts to foster the American public’s understanding of law and legal institutions.”
The association has presented these awards annually since 1958. The 18-member ABA Standing Committee on Gavel Awards makes final award decisions. 

The link to the ABA webpage also lists winners of Silver Gavel honorable mentions.

ABA Announces 2015 Silver Gavel Awards Finalists

The ABA has released the list of finalists for the 2015 Silver Gavel Awards for Media and the Arts. Here are the names in all categories. The winners of the Silver Gavel in each category will be announced on May 13th.

BOOKS

“Burning Down the House: The End of Juvenile Prison”
Nell Bernstein, Author
The New Press
“The Case Against the Supreme Court” Erwin Chemerinsky, Author
Viking/Penguin Books
“Uncertain Justice: The Roberts Court and the Constitution” Laurence Tribe and Joshua Matz, Authors
Henry Holt and Company

MAGAZINES
“The Murders at the Lake”
Michael Hall, Executive Editor
Texas Monthly

NEWSPAPERS
“No Relief”
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Cary Spivak, Reporter
“Till Death Do Us Part”
The Post and Courier Glenn Smith, Projects Editor
Doug Pardue, Projects Reporter
Jennifer Berry Hawes, Faith and Values Reporter
Natalie Caula Hauff, Reporter

DOCUMENTARIES
“Stop” Stop Productions
Spencer Wolff, Director/Producer
“The Case Against 8” Tripod Media
Ben Cotner and Ryan White, Directors/Producers
Jessica Lawson, Co-Producer

TELEVISION
“15 to Life: Kenneth’s Story”
American Documentary/POV
Nadine Pequeneza, Director/Producer
Chris White, Vice President, Programming and Production
Simon Kilmurry, Executive Producer
Cynthia Lopez, Co-Executive Producer
“The New Black”
Promised Land Film
Yoruba Richen, Producer/Director
Yvonne Welbon, Producer
Angela Tucker, Co-Producer

RADIO
“Serial: Season One”
Serial
Julie Snyder, Executive Producer
Sarah Koenig, Host and Executive Producer
Dana Chivvis, Producer
“60 Words”
Radiolab WNYC
Jad Adumrad, Host/Editor
Robert Krulwich, Host
Kelsey Padgett, Producer

OTHER MEDIA
“Segregation Now: Investigating America’s Racial Divide”
ProPublica
Nikole Hannah-Jones, Investigative Reporter
Minhee Cho, Communications Manager
Jeff Larson, Data Editor
Maisie Crow, Independent Documentary Filmmaker
“Profiting from Prisoners: Time is Money”
The Center for Public Integrity
Eleanor Bell, Multimedia Editor
Daniel Wagner, Reporter

Law-Inspired Haiku From Some Future Law and Poetry Scholars at Emory School of Law

As a followup to a post about Supreme Court Haiku and the current ABA-sponsored Supreme Court Haiku Contest for Law Students (open until November 15), I've invited Professor Julie Seaman of the Emory School of Law to present a selection of the haiku created by some of her constitutional law, evidence, and free speech students. I think they're a clever and talented group, and their poems have pith. I like pith.

A few weeks ago, and seemingly out of the blue, legal haikus were suddenly everywhere.  A former student slipped a flyer under my door announcing a Supreme Court haiku contest for law students, sponsored by the American Bar Association.  A sticky note attached to the flyer said, “I thought you’d like to share this with your classes!  Apparently the ABA shares your love of legal haiku.”  A few days later, someone on the conlawprofs listserv shared a link to the Supreme Court Haiku website (www.supremecourthaiku.com), a remarkably clever and delightful collection of which I’d thus far been unaware. 

Why did my student give me the flyer?  Because last semester, after trying my hand at legal haikus on a Facebook dare, I announced to my con law class that they could win free passes for writing haikus about the reading assignments.  Before each class, I would choose my favorite submission and post it on the powerpoint slides for the class; its author would be entitled to an extra free pass to be used as he or she wished during the semester.

The contest was a big hit with the students.  Some students were quite prolific.  Many of the haikus were funny and creative.  I continued the call for haikus this fall in evidence and free speech.  Several students have told me that boiling the cases or rules down to seventeen syllables helps them learn the material – imagine: actual pedagogical value!  But even if the exercise is pedagogically irrelevant, it sure is fun to read the submissions.  Here are some highlights: 

DeShaney v. Winnebago County Dept. of Social Services

Oh poor little Josh

State said they would care for him

No prison no help

Colin Peterson

Buck v. Bell

Can Carrie have kids?

She encumbers the state's funds!

She had due process.

Josh Karr

Troxel v. Granville

Child can’t see grandma

Mom has the right to deny

the visitation

Zoya Kovalenko

Cruzan v. Director, MO Dept of Health

Nancy is brain-dead

Her parents grieve, with no choice

But to watch her lie

Ashleigh McClure

NYC Transit Auth. v. Beazer

On that methadone

TA says I can’t work here

Upheld . . . unemployed

Stephanie Grossinger

Railway Express Agcy v. New York

It is a health risk,

To have car advertisements.

Deal with it, locals!

Rebecca Sussman

Korematsu v. United States

Refusing Orders?

Not So Fast, Korematsu.

Jail Time for You, Sir.

Caroline Geiser

Tiers of scrutiny

Judiciary

defers, but not for suspect

classifications.

Jordan Kragten

Craig v. Boren

So now my girlfriend

Can’t buy us three-two’s either?

Equality bites.

Mike McClain

United States v. Virginia

Stonewall is glaring

Shenandoah is playing

RAH Virginia Mil!

Rebecca Sussman

Skinner v. Oklahoma

Embezzlement: theft,

very similar but one

sterilizes you.

Alison Murphy

Moral turpitude

Cannot deprive criminals

Of life’s greatest gift

Meg McNulty

Watts v. US

Watts threatened the Chief,

But such clear hyperbole

Is protected speech.

Rebecca Hall

New York v. Ferber

If porn depicts kids,

value is de minimus.

The statute survives.

Joe Bearden

Trial of Sir Walter Raleigh

Raleigh’s ghost lingers . . .

“What matter how the head lie,

So the heart be right?”

Rebecca Sussman

Rule 804(a)

Forgetful? Stubborn?

Sick? Privileged? Dead? Then you are...

Unavailable.

Graham Burkhalter

Admissions Doctrine

Wait! Statements I make

are not considered hearsay?

I’m done talking now.

Josh Karr

I will sit silent

If asked if I read today

Tacit Admission

Brad Verona

Frye Test

Frye test rests on

these Elitists assumptions. 

Jurors can be smart!

Rebecca Sussman

The creativity bled over into other student communications.  One day the air conditioning was not working in the classroom.  After class, this message (from student Chris Roth) was in my inbox:

It is so damn warm

Please turn on the A/C now

Because it is hot

Another day I received this in an email before class (from student Ned Dutton):

I’m leaving early,

But please don’t be offended.

It’s an interview.

One day I canceled a reading assignment and received this (from student Rebecca Sussman, whom I must say has discovered a genuine gift for haiku):

A sigh of relief, 

Gonna ignore that reading.

Hello, sweet Netflix!

Ms. Sussman also apologized for an absence this way:

The class glared at me!

Rude, loud coughing wouldn't end!

I hate bronchitis.

Leading up to the review session, student Caroline Geiser sent this:

7 more classes

and then we have exams?!? Shit. 

Jesus take the wheel.

And finally, on the final (from student Jordan Kragten):

Constitutional

law was tough, but Professor

Seaman was great.  Thanks!

And the Winners Are...

The ABA Journal, August issue has the annual pop culture feature: this year is devoted to "the 25 Greatest Law Novels." The panel chose, in order, the following novels as numbers 1 through 25:

Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird
Fyodor Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment
Charles Dickens, Bleak House
Franz Kafka, The Trial
Victor Hugo, Les Miserables
Herman Melville, Billy Budd
Scott Turow, Presumed Innocent
Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter
Tom Wolfe, Bonfire of the Vanities
Theodore Dreiser, An American Tragedy
John Jay Osborn, The Paper Chase
Herman Melville, Bartleby, the Scrivener
Richard Wright, Native Son
Albert Camus, The Stranger
Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities
John Grisham, A Time To Kill
Herman Wouk, The Caine Mutiny
Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God
Leon Uris, QB VII
John Grisham, The Firm
Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo
Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid's Tale
Robert Traver, Anatomy of a Murder
Ayn Rand, The Fountainhead
Walter Van Tilburg Clark, The Oxbow Incident
Jane Gardam, Old Filth


The August issue isn't available online yet, but should be posted soon here.

This list does seem to be heavily U.S.-centric. Which legal novels would be on your "Best 25" list? Some or all of the above? What novels by non-U.S. authors would you choose?

Update: Check out the list here online.

ABA Announces Silver Gavel Award Winners for 2013

From an ABA news release: (The information below is excerpted from the release)

The American Bar Association announced today its selections for the 2013 Silver Gavel Awards for Media and the Arts, which recognize outstanding work that fosters the American public’s understanding of law and the legal system. This is the ABA’s highest honor in recognition of this purpose, and no more than one Silver Gavel is presented in each category.

... 

SILVER GAVEL AWARDS

BOOKS

Lincoln’s Code: The Laws of War in American History
John Fabian Witt, Author
Simon & Schuster/Free Press
http://books.simonandschuster.com/Lincoln’s-Code/John-Fabian-Witt/9781416569831

DOCUMENTARIES

The Central Park Five
Florentine Films
Ken Burns, Sarah Burns and David McMahon, Directors/Writers/Producers
Michael Levine, Editor
Stephanie Jackson, Production Coordinator
http://www.florentinefilms.com/ffpages/BOS-frameset.html

NEWSPAPERS

Lax Controls Leave Ex-Cons Free to Kill
Detroit Free Press
L.L. Brasier and Gina Damron, Co-Authors and Staff Writers
Amalie Nash, Assistant Managing Editor
Andre J. Jackson, Staff Photographer
Elisha Anderson, Contributor and Staff Writer
http://www.freep.com/article/99999999/NEWS06/120928082

TELEVISION

Electoral Dysfunction
Trio Pictures in association with WTTW National Productions
David Deschamps, Leslie D. Farrell and Bennett Singer, Producers/Writers/Directors
Mo Rocca, Host
Jay Keuper, Editor
Joe Friedman, Cinematographer
http://electoraldysfunction.org/

HONORABLE MENTIONS

BOOKS

Stand Up That Mountain: The Battle to Save One Small Community in the Wilderness Along the Appalachian Trail
Jay Leutze, Author
Simon & Schuster/Scribner
http://authors.simonandschuster.com/Jay-Erskine-Leutze/402711770

DOCUMENTARIES

West of Memphis
Sony Pictures Classics
Amy Berg, Director/Producer
Damien Echols, Lorri Davis, Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh, Producers
http://www.sonyclassics.com/westofmemphis/

NEWSPAPERS

Loss of Trust
San Jose (Calif.) Mercury News
Karen de Sá, Staff Reporter
Dai Sugano and Pat Tehan, Photojournalists
http://www.mercurynews.com/trust

TELEVISION

The Real CSI
Frontline (WGBH Boston), ProPublica and the Investigative Reporting Program at UC Berkeley
Lowell Bergman, Correspondent, Producer and Writer for Frontline
Andres Cediel, Producer and Writer
Leah Bartos, Reporter for ProPublica
Raney Aronson-Rath, Series Senior Producer
David Fanning, Executive Producer

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/real-csi/ 

For more about the Silver Gavel Awards and the ABA's Public Education Division, see here.