As much as my ego hopes that Cogent Legal Blog is read by attorneys far and wide who eagerly await each update, I’m well aware that busy attorneys have limited time to read blogs and that thousands of law-related blogs vie for your attention. For all of you who might have missed my most practical and popular blog posts from the year, I compiled the following list with links to ones that I feel are most worth your time.

5 Popular Posts:

Tips and Tricks for Attorneys to Use Google Maps and Google Earth: This post definitely generated the most “wow, cool!” feedback. Read the rest of this entry »

At a recent seminar I attended, Judge M. Lynn Duryee of the Marin County Superior Court had a great story of an attorney who stood up in opening statement and said, “I’m going to call an economist who will testify about the damages caused by the negligence of Defendant, but I warn you it’s going to be really boring.” Many attorneys would not be so bold as to warn the jury that the economic loss part of the case is going to be boring, but I’ll bet many do think that every time.

Ask yourself if any juror is likely to remember something that is boring, and the answer clearly is no. The question attorneys should ask themselves is, “Does my presentation on economics have to put everyone to sleep?” The answer again is no. This post will provide a few key tips on how to transform economic data into engaging, easy-to-understand visual presentations. Read the rest of this entry »

In the same way that tax laws start off simple and get much more complicated over time, the process of figuring out what a plaintiff in a personal injury case actually receives after a verdict keeps getting ever more complicated.

Fear not—this article provides a downloadable Excel sheet that calculates all the values for you by simply putting in the total award amounts, percentages of fault and lien amounts. Read the rest of this entry »