humor – Overlawyered

Argue & Phibbs, solicitors

Walter Olson — Fri, 29 May 2020 14:24:43 +0000

Once a long-established law firm in Ireland with a name famed around the world, Argue & Phibbs has since been incorporated into the Sligo law firm of McTernan MacGowan. See also Sligo Town; plaque photo by Niall McAuley on Flickr.

[Back story: this is adapted from an item I intended to post on Overlawyered in 2004 (!) and just now stumbled across while going over old post drafts.]

Tags: humor, Ireland

Argue & Phibbs, solicitors is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

More highlights from “How To Become a Federal Criminal”

Walter Olson — Sat, 17 Aug 2019 16:02:59 +0000

We posted last month about Mike Chase’s new book “How to Become a Federal Criminal: An Illustrated Handbook for the Aspiring Offender” (Atria Books). For a deeper dive, check out Shoshana Weissmann’s lengthy running thread with many more highlights from the book. And of course since A Crime a Day is itself a Twitter-based project, you should be sure to follow it while there (see also).

"To engage in criminal flamingo bartering, the offender only needs a lead on a flamingo and something of roughly equivalent value to trade for it." pic.twitter.com/rh0KuP6JmC

— Shoshana Weissmann, Sloth Committee Chair ? (@senatorshoshana) July 11, 2019

Tags: crime and punishment, humor

More highlights from “How To Become a Federal Criminal” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Ways to violate federal law

Walter Olson — Sun, 07 Jul 2019 15:56:43 +0000

Leave the country with too many nickels, absent a special license from the U.S. Mint;
Label as “macaroni” pasta that is the wrong size or shape, or as “Swiss cheese” a cheese that is solid rather than having holes;
Circulate a private currency;
Engage in weather modification without notifying the Secretary of Commerce;

“An amusing guide to some of the more bizarre statutes can be found in the new book ‘How to Become a Federal Criminal: An Illustrated Handbook for the Aspiring Offender‘ (Atria Books) by criminal defense lawyer Mike Chase, who also runs the Crime A Day Twitter account.” [Reed Tucker, New York Post] “‘Almost anyone can be arrested for something,’ Justice Neil Gorsuch observed in a case the Supreme Court decided last month.” [Jacob Sullum]

Tags: crime and punishment, humor

Ways to violate federal law is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Property law roundup

Walter Olson — Fri, 14 Dec 2018 11:01:56 +0000

Playlist: songs about eminent domain and takings, property law and the road [Robert H. Thomas, Inverse Condemnation]
In-depth look into problems that develop when title to land is held as “heirs’ property,” leaving a dangerous collective tangle in place of individual right and duty [David Slade and Angie Jackson, Post and Courier (Charleston, S.C.)]
Dispute over remains of two dinosaurs locked in combat 66 million years ago, lately unearthed in Garfield County, Mont. and extremely valuable, hinges on whether their fossils are “minerals”; Ninth Circuit says they are under Montana law [AP via Molly Brady (“property professor dream hypo”), Murray v. BEJ Minerals]
“Government Should Compensate Property Owners for Flood Damage It Facilitated” [Ilya Shapiro and Patrick Moran on Cato amicus petition for certiorari in St. Bernard Parish v. United States] “Texas Court Rules Deliberate Flooding of Private Property by State Government in Wake of Hurricane Harvey can be a Taking” [Ilya Somin]
Constituent-group politics continues to shape use of federal lands, to the detriment of its economic value [Gary Libecap, Regulation and related working paper]
Caution, satire: Facebook parody of super-intrusive, restrictive, and meddlesome HOA [East Mountain West View Home Owners Association]

Tags: antiquities, disasters, eminent domain, humor, property law, property rights, South Carolina

Property law roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

In the mail: Supreme Court Haiku

Walter Olson — Sat, 10 Nov 2018 19:37:51 +0000

#SCOTUS #haiku

Collins v. Virginia (5/29/18)

No vehicle search
In curtilage of a home
Without a warrant https://t.co/jNJZjcOZ0F

— Supreme Court Haiku (@SupremeHaiku) May 29, 2018

#SCOTUS #haiku
Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis (5/21/18)

NLRA won't
Stop solo arbitration
If parties agreedhttps://t.co/G6jq2VzVfv

— Supreme Court Haiku (@SupremeHaiku) May 21, 2018

#SCOTUS #haiku
Carpenter v. United States (6/22/2018)

Cell-site records grab
Is a Fourth Amendment Search
Likely need warranthttps://t.co/Jc92MkhjRX

— Supreme Court Haiku (@SupremeHaiku) June 22, 2018

Now out: Supreme Court Haiku paperback makes a perfect fun gift for your literary or contemplative lawyer friend.

Tags: humor, Supreme Court

In the mail: Supreme Court Haiku is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“Seinfeld Law”

Walter Olson — Sat, 10 Nov 2018 14:55:58 +0000

A website devoted to legal issues raised by episodes of the comedy Seinfeld. Check it out!

Tags: broadcasters, humor

“Seinfeld Law” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“I forced a bot to watch lawyer commercials and then asked it to write a lawyer commercial of its own.”

Walter Olson — Tue, 16 Oct 2018 10:05:51 +0000

“Have you been hurt in an accidental car? Has the government sold your lungs without asking nicely?… Answer me!” — humor from Keaton Patti on Twitter. “The lawyer opens a briefcase. It’s full of lemons, the justice fruit only lawyers may touch.” Call for a free use of phone!

Tags: chasing clients, humor

“I forced a bot to watch lawyer commercials and then asked it to write a lawyer commercial of its own.” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“When the design team loses a debate with the legal team…”

Walter Olson — Tue, 28 Aug 2018 04:15:45 +0000

From Martyn Reding on Twitter:

When the design team loses a debate with the legal team. pic.twitter.com/oYTnvNVqQ0

— Martyn Reding (@martynreding) August 21, 2018

Tags: humor, overwarning

“When the design team loses a debate with the legal team…” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

From Tumblr, on Willy Wonka

Walter Olson — Sat, 04 Aug 2018 13:57:34 +0000

From NatlSecCnslrs on Twitter, who got it from Tumblr:

I am dead. I have died. pic.twitter.com/FEA8PAsPrB

— Natl Sec Counselors (@NatlSecCnslrs) July 25, 2018

Tags: humor, joint and several liability

From Tumblr, on Willy Wonka is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“Law’s Picture Books”

Walter Olson — Tue, 01 May 2018 10:18:25 +0000

We’ve linked an item from this series previously, but it deserves a post in itself: “Law’s Picture Books,” an exhibition at NYC’s Grolier Club, displayed more than 140 items from the Yale Law Library’s collection of images and writings on legal themes. In a series of ten posts at Concurring Opinions (link is to the series tag), Mark S. Weiner explores many of the highlights. They include images of courtrooms and of lawyers at work; books using mathematical and quantitative methods to address legal issues arising from water and land; images used in law teaching; tree-and-branch and other diagrams; and a 1554 treatise on criminal law whose breakthrough innovation was its inclusion of 60 woodcuts depicting specific crimes.

More in videos at Weiner’s Worlds of Law and in pictures at Mike Widener’s Flickr account. More on the steamroller cartoon in the series entry “Laughing at the Law.”

Tags: humor, lawyers

“Law’s Picture Books” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system