Moritz Legal Information Blog

A Slate.com article reminded me of something I never knew before law school: juries come in all sizes. What’s the Best Jury Size? takes a mathmatical look at the number of jurors assigned to a matter and assesses whether there is a "right" number of jury members to achieve un unbiased verdict. Looking to revisit the classic notion of 12 jurors? Check out the library's copy of 12 Angry Men .

You may know May Day is International Workers Day, attended by marches and demonstrations around the world .  But it is also Law Day , a day to celebrate the rule of law.  The ABA designated the theme of gender equality, and encourages us to consider "the movement for civil and human rights in America and the work that remains to be accomplished."      We know many of you are studying for your Con Law final, and Law Day comes complete with its own expression of constitutional powers.  President Obama issued a Law Day proclamation , tracing his action to a public law.  In the words of the President, "Law Day is a chance to reaffirm the critical role our courts have always played in addressing those wrongs and aligning our Nation with its first principles. Let us mark this occasion by celebrating that history, upholding the right to due process, and honoring all who have sustained our proud legal tradition."  And perhaps also by cramming for con law.

Following up on Monday's blog post, here's the second news story raising new legal issues regarding online privacy. Companies are utilizing algorithms  to track down potential employees who do not fit the typical mold. If you have your Facebook privacy settings on lockdown, you just may miss the opportunity of a lifetime as this data-gathering method measures how well you interact on social media sites as one factor in assessing whether you'd be a good fit for a company: Of late, growing numbers of academics and entrepreneurs are applying Big Data to human resources and the search for talent, creating a field called work-force science . Gild is trying to see whether these technologies can also be used to predict how well a programmer will perform in a job. The company scours the Internet for clues: Is his or her code well-regarded by other programmers? Does it get reused? How does the programmer communicate ideas? How does he or she relate on social media sites?   In ot

When patient Jeanette Johnson was transferred to a new facility following complications with her gall bladder surgery, Dr. Randall Smith took her hand and said, "I take full responsibility for this.  Everything will be okay." During the subsequent medical malpractice trial, the statement was not admitted, due to Ohio's "apology statute," R.C. 2317.43 .  The jury found in favor of Dr. Smith. Last week, the Supreme Court of Ohio overruled the Eleventh District Court of Appeals and reinstated the jury's verdict, finding that the apology statute did apply to Dr. Smith's statement. You can read the full opinion here and watch the oral argument here . Court News Ohio Legal Newsline

Two recent news stories raise new legal issues regarding online privacy. If you're an attorney (or soon-to-be) looking for work, mining the news to discover these developments can put you ahead of the curve. First, Reddit, a website that bills itself as "the front page of the internet," crowd-sources news stories, sometimes with wildly inaccurate results. According to a recent NY Times article , "[a]fter site members, known as Redditors, turned into amateur sleuths and ended up wrongly identifying several people as possible suspects, Reddit went from a font of crowdsourced information to a purveyor of false accusations, to the subject of a reprimand by the president of the United States himself, to the center of another furious debate about the responsibilities of digital media." While Redditors may argue they're not responsible for misinformation or they have the right to say whatever they want, they might be wrong from a legal standpoint. Conceivably

The question of when to read the Boston bombing suspect the Miranda warnings raises an interesting issue for attorneys: in order to build a case, they're left with the work of police officers and other investigators who acted before attorneys were brought in. Whether, when, and how Miranda warnings were given is at the crux of a huge percentage of criminal cases. For example, Supreme Court: Miranda Warning Not Required for Inmate Questioned About Second Crime in Prison Court Weighs Whether a Prosecutor Can Use a Defendant’s Refusal to Answer a Question Kentucky Students Must be Read Miranda Rights at School if Police are Present Supreme Court Rules Against N.C. in Juvenile Miranda Rights Miranda warning Rights Trimmed Bit by Bit by High Court What does this mean for you? Your job as an attorney is to work with the case and the facts you're given. If a criminal law practice is in your future, become expert on Miranda law and keep current on any chang

When his new phone began speaking during a trial, Chief Ionia (MI) Judge Raymond Voet held himself in contempt (and to the same standards as everyone else in his courtroom).  In violation of his own rule against cellphones, Judge Voet filled out a contempt of court form, fined himself the usual $25, and went downstairs to pay it. ABA Journal Wall Street Journal Law Blog Lowering the Bar