Modern Law Library
Episodes
Merriam-Webster editor shares the 'secret life of dictionaries'
19 Jul 2017
Contributed by Lukas
What do lawyers and lexicographers have in common? The main job of both is to argue over the meaning of words. In this episode of the Modern Law Libra...
Harper Lee Prize finalists discuss their novels, careers, and the first time they read 'To Kill a Mockingbird'
05 Jul 2017
Contributed by Lukas
In this special mega episode of the Modern Law Library, the ABA Journal's Lee Rawles speaks with all three finalists for this year's Harper Lee Prize ...
How government actions, not personal choices, created segregated neighborhoods
21 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Richard Rothstein spent years studying why schools remained de facto segregated after Brown v. Board of Education. He came to believe that the prob...
David Grann uncovers the deadly conspiracy behind murders of oil-rich Osage tribe members
07 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Although the Osage tribe had been forced from their ancestral lands by the U.S. government, through shrewd and careful bargaining they retained the mi...
How a Chinese-American family challenged school segregation in 1920s Mississippi
17 May 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Almost 30 years before Linda Brown and her parents took on the Topeka Board of Education in Brown v. Board of Education, Martha Lum's parents Jeu Gong...
The Crime of Complicity: Examining the Role of the Bystander in the Holocaust and Beyond
03 May 2017
Contributed by Lukas
If you are a bystander and witness a crime, should intervention to prevent that crime be a legal obligation? Or is moral responsibility enough? Thes...
Are prisoners’ civil rights being needlessly violated by long-term solitary confinement?
19 Apr 2017
Contributed by Lukas
In the 1960s and 1970s, a series of deadly prison riots convinced corrections officials that long-term solitary confinement was the only solution to c...
What can neuroscience tell us about crime?
15 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Neuroscience and brain-imaging technology have come a long way, but are they actually useful in a courtroom setting to explain why a person committed ...
Al-Tounsi by Anton Piatigorsky: The U.S. Supreme Court through a Human Lens
07 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
In his debut novel Al-Tounsi, critically acclaimed Canadian-American author and playwright Anton Piatigorsky tells the behind-the-scenes story of U.S...
Legal Asylum by Paul Goldstein: A Satiric Look at Legal Academia
01 Feb 2017
Contributed by Lukas
In his new novel, "Legal Asylum: A Comedy," bestselling and Harper Lee Prize-winning author Paul Goldstein takes a satiric – and affectionate – lo...
Alberto Gonzales reflects back on Bush administration and gives his advice for Trump staff
18 Jan 2017
Contributed by Lukas
The Hon. Alberto R. Gonzales rose from humble beginnings in Humble, Texas, to some of the highest legal positions in the country as White House counse...
Was this lawyer-turned-WWII-spy the basis for James Bond?
21 Dec 2016
Contributed by Lukas
In a different time, Dusko Popov might have enjoyed the life of a Serbian playboy without the interruption of espionage, subterfuge and violence. But ...
What can past presidential history teach us about today?
16 Nov 2016
Contributed by Lukas
The law is not Dallas attorney Talmage Boston's only love. "I have had a lifelong fascination with the presidency since I was 7 years old, and in rece...
John Lennon's lawyer explains how the musician's deportation case changed immigration law
19 Oct 2016
Contributed by Lukas
When immigration attorney Leon Wildes got a call from an old law school classmate in January 1972 about representing a musician and his wife who wer...
A seismic shift in how the US wages war and what it means for the American public
21 Sep 2016
Contributed by Lukas
What is war? Is it a state that is entirely distinct from peace? Has it changed over the years to become something else? In this episode of the Modern...
Freedom isn't the end of the story for exonerees
17 Aug 2016
Contributed by Lukas
When we hear about the wrongfully convicted, media coverage usually ends with the person being released from prison or reaching a large settlement wit...
How a 1980s lynching case helped bring down the Klan
13 Jul 2016
Contributed by Lukas
On the morning of March 21, 1981, the body of 19-year-old Michael Donald was found hanging from a tree in Mobile, Alabama. The years that followed saw...
In ‘The Last Good Girl,’ Allison Leotta tackles the fraught subject of campus rape
22 Jun 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Author Allison Leotta has used her 12-year experience as a federal sex-crimes prosecutor in Washington, D.C., to bring real-world issues into her fict...
Before stop-and-frisk there were vagrancy laws; ‘Vagrant Nation’ explores their rise and fall
11 May 2016
Contributed by Lukas
From the 18th century through the beginning of the 1970s, American officials had an incredibly versatile weapon to use against anyone seen as dangerou...
Prosecutor's book offers first-hand look at 'Making a Murderer' subject Steven Avery
22 Mar 2016
Contributed by Lukas
A year before Netflix's viral hit Making of a Murderer was making headlines, Manitowoc County prosecutor Michael Griesbach released his book The ...
Harper Lee Prize winner tells how history and race shaped her Southern gothic novel
21 Dec 2015
Contributed by Lukas
The Secret of Magic is a book within a book. It is both the title of Deborah Johnson’s 2015 Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction-winning novel, and (...
Linda Fairstein chats about her Alex Cooper series--and reveals an exciting new project
26 Aug 2015
Contributed by Lukas
In the hands of author Linda Fairstein, fictional sex-crimes prosecutor Alex Cooper has enjoyed a career spanning 17 books and almost two decades. Coo...
Grammar nerds, meet your Comma Queen
30 Apr 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Mary Norris has been a copy editor for the New Yorker since 1978. In her new book, Between You & Me: Confessions of a Comma Queen, she offers clear an...
Author tells tangled tale of the $19B verdict against Chevron in 'Law of the Jungle'
28 Jan 2015
Contributed by Lukas
In 2011, an Ecuadoran court found the Chevron Corporation liable for environmental damage caused by oil drilling in the 1970s-80s. Chevron was ordered...
All is not as it seems for 9th Circuit clerk in ATL founder's new novel (podcast)
17 Dec 2014
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of the Modern Law Library, moderator Lee Rawles chats with Above the Law's David Lat about his novel Supreme Ambitions, his career, an...
How a series of attacks by a breakaway Amish sect became a landmark hate-crimes case
30 Sep 2014
Contributed by Lukas
The Amish religion is a branch of Christianity that adheres to a doctrine of simplicity, nonviolence and forgiveness. How then did a breakaway group c...
Boies and Olson reveal the backstory of the case against California’s Proposition 8 (podcast)
28 Aug 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Growing up during BTK serial-killing spree informed author’s new crime novel (podcast)
28 Jul 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Why should 9/11 terrorism trials be held at ‘Mother Court’ in New York? Author explains (podcast)
30 Jun 2014
Contributed by Lukas
How 50 children were saved from Nazi Germany by a Philadelphia lawyer and his wife (podcast)
29 May 2014
Contributed by Lukas
This 18th-century British judge helped SCOTUS decide the fate of Guantanamo detainees (podcast)
30 Apr 2014
Contributed by Lukas
‘Emergency Sasquatch Ordinance’ author shares weird-but-true laws from around the globe (podcast)
27 Mar 2014
Contributed by Lukas
What makes lawyers great romance novelists? (gallery and podcast)
13 Feb 2014
Contributed by Lukas
What martial arts training can do for lawyers (podcast)
23 Jan 2014
Contributed by Lukas
What were the best legal novels of 2013? (podcast)
19 Dec 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Unconventional childhood helps ‘Free Spirit’ author to advocate for domestic-abuse victims (podcast)
25 Nov 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Government surveillance revelations are having a chilling effect on lawyers, says author (podcast)
16 Sep 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Rosa Parks’ attorney: ‘If the story would be told, I’d have to tell it’ (podcast)
20 Aug 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Author on how ‘tremendously radical’ women blazed trails into the legal profession (podcast)
10 Jun 2013
Contributed by Lukas
The life and lovers of legendary Hollywood lawyer (podcast)
13 May 2013
Contributed by Lukas
‘Lawyer Bubble’ author discusses what the future looks like for today’s new lawyers
09 Apr 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Want to protect individual freedom? Have a strong central government, says ‘Rule of the Clan’ author
11 Mar 2013
Contributed by Lukas
What if Crim Law was taught by cartoons?
11 Feb 2013
Contributed by Lukas
How to practice law in a ‘sharing economy’ (Podcast)
14 Jan 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Is Batman a State Actor? ‘Law of Superheroes’ Authors Dish on Comics in the Courtroom
10 Dec 2012
Contributed by Lukas
‘Conspiracy of Silence’ Allowed Judges’ Kids-for-Cash Scandal to Occur, Says Author
12 Nov 2012
Contributed by Lukas
Voter Fraud v. Voter Suppression: Author Explains That Neither Is Quite What We Think
22 Oct 2012
Contributed by Lukas
‘Good Girls Revolt’ Author Discusses Groundbreaking 1970s Sex-Discrimination Suit Against Newsweek
09 Oct 2012
Contributed by Lukas
Author Describes Clash of Titans Jefferson and Marshall in ‘The Treason Trial of Aaron Burr’
24 Sep 2012
Contributed by Lukas
After Going from BigLaw to ABC News, Author of ‘Exit Interview’ Witnessed Seismic Changes
10 Sep 2012
Contributed by Lukas
‘Five-Finger Discount’ Costs Billions, Says Author of Shoplifting Book ‘The Steal’
27 Aug 2012
Contributed by Lukas
Scalia Discusses Views on Textualism and the Process of Co-Writing His New Book
26 Jul 2012
Contributed by Lukas
Federal Judge Pens Memoir About His Time on the Bench and His High-Profile Cases in ‘Disrobed’
23 Jul 2012
Contributed by Lukas
‘Failing Law Schools’ Author Challenges Law Schools to Make Dramatic Changes
09 Jul 2012
Contributed by Lukas
‘Breach of Trust’ Tells Ripped-from-the-Headlines Tale of Government Corruption and Intrigue
25 Jun 2012
Contributed by Lukas
Author Discusses How to Identify and Deal with an ‘Almost Psychopath’
11 Jun 2012
Contributed by Lukas
Lack of Online Privacy Rights Is Very Troubling, Says Author
29 May 2012
Contributed by Lukas
‘Show Trials’ Author Advocates for Systemic Changes to Immigration Courts
14 May 2012
Contributed by Lukas
‘Born, Not Raised’ Author Discusses the Flaws in the Juvenile Justice System
23 Apr 2012
Contributed by Lukas
‘Devil in the Grove’ Author Discusses Early Thurgood Marshall Civil Rights Case
09 Apr 2012
Contributed by Lukas