Our Podcast Named Best for Lawyers

For the third year running, Dennis Kennedy's Blawggie Awards have named Lawyer2Lawyer as the best legal podcast. This year, we tied for best with Denise Howell's This Week in Law. Lawyer2Lawyer also won the Blawggie in 2007 and 2006.

Lawyer2Lawyer was recently selected as a top legal podcast by the editors of the ABA Journal and is currently in a neck and neck competition for first place in the ABA Journal's readers' poll. (Please vote if you haven't already.)

Here is what Dennis Kennedy said about L2L:

Bob Ambrogi's and Craig Williams' Lawyer2Lawyer Podcast is the longest-running weekly legal podcast and has more than 100 episodes. They cover many legal topics, which is both a plus and a minus, since an episode might stray outside your area of interest. But they generally do a great job of finding broad enough topics and getting excellent guests on leading edge topics.

Judge Reprimanded for Letters to Publisher

The judge who sent threatening letters to the publisher of The Boston Herald received a public reprimand today from the Supreme Judicial Court. The SJC concluded that Superior Court Judge Ernest B. Murphy violated standards of judicial ethics when he wrote two letters to Herald Publisher Patrick J. Purcell on official court letterhead demanding payment of a more than $2 million libel award. From today's opinion:

It is beyond serious dispute that the letters sent by Judge Murphy do not promote public confidence in the judiciary. Judge Murphy concedes that he should not have used judicial letterhead. But more than stationery is at issue here. Although a judge is not prohibited from communications related to personal litigation, including those in pursuit of settlement, permissible communications must reflect the standards required to be followed by a judge both on and off the bench.

"That the standards imposed on judges are high goes without saying. Because of the great power and responsibility judges have in passing judgment on their fellow citizens, such standards are desirable and necessary and there should be strict adherence to them. Failure on the part of even a few judges to comply with these standards serves to degrade and demean the entire judiciary and to erode public confidence in the judicial process." Matter of Morrissey, 366 Mass. 11, 16-17 (1974). In sending the letters at issue, Judge Murphy did not meet the high standards required of judges.

The full-text of the opinion is here: In the Matter of Ernest B. Murphy, SJC-10179 December 18, 2008.

Salem News: Why the Secrecy?

Commenting on the Haverhill school committee's secret meeting to discuss an overdue electric bill, The Salem News says:

In general, public officials should err on the side of openness rather than privacy. They claim to want the public trust. Conducting business behind closed doors is not the way to gain, or hold, that trust.

Where there is an illegal closed-door meeting in government, there is probably someone trying to cover his or her political butt.

MNPA Annual Meeting: Still Time to Register

The annual meeting of the Massachusetts Newspaper Publishers Association is this Friday, Dec. 5. There is still time to register and you can do so using the 2008 registration form.

The luncheon speaker is retiring Supreme Judicial Court Justice John M. Greaney, longtime cochair of the SJC's Judiciary-Media Committee. Today is his last day at the court before he joins the Suffolk University Law School faculty. (See Saturday's profile of Justice Greaney by AP writer Denise Lavoie.)

The morning panel will explore the legal issues surrounding blogs and comments on newspaper-hosted Web sites. Three experts will share their insights and advice:

• Robert A. Bertsche, Esq., a nationally known media lawyer and partner with the Boston firm Prince, Lobel, Glovsky & Tye.
• David Ardia, Esq., fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society and the director of the Citizen Media Law Project, which provides legal education and resources for individuals and organizations involved in citizen media.
• Ed Kubosiak, editor-in-chief of MassLive.com.
  

The day begins with the MNPA's annual business meeting at 10 a.m., followed by the panel discussion at 11, a reception at noon and the luncheon at 12:30. The event is being held at Anthony's Pier 4 in Boston.

Questions? E-mail info@masspublishers.org.