A Connecticut Law Blog

2nd Circuit Rules Burlington Adminstrators Weren’t “Douchebags”

The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit laid the smack down on Avery Doninger today. Effectively putting an end to the largest law suit ever brought in part over eligibility for the high office of Senior Class Secretary. Four years ago, Ms. Doninger was in high school. She became upset when administrators … Read more

Only In Connecticut….

by Ryan McKeen

These are your laws. I can’t make this stuff up. Here’s how our legislature defines who is a skier: “Skier” shall include the following: …a person utilizing the passenger tramway whether or not that person is a skier, including riders on a passenger tramway operating during the nonskiing season. Conn. Gen. Stat. Sec. 29-201(e)(2). As ski season is … Read more

What Would You Tell A Law School Class of 2011?

by Ryan McKeen

On May 21, 2011, I’ll again stand before a graduating law school class. This time as President of the school’s alumni association. Having sat through many a graduation speech, I will keep this one very short. Probably about 2.5 minutes. No one is there to hear me. Plus, I really like short speeches. Maybe I should tweet it and keep it to 140 characters. So I’ll ask you, my enlightened readers, what would you say to the graduating class of 2011?

Facing Foreclosure In CT? There’s Hope…

by Ryan McKeen

Federal home loan modification programs are a cruel joke. Fortunately, there’s new hope for Connecticut residents facing foreclosure:

(More below the break)

Save Joan’s House

by Ryan McKeen

Joan’s house sits at the bottom of a big hill. It’s a hill that I’ve ran up and down – hundreds of times. Sometimes, I see Joan. She may be sitting on her porch or gardening. We usually wave and say “hi” to each other. I continue up the hill. She goes on with her … Read more

Thoughts On “The Bysiewicz Bill”

by Ryan McKeen

The Courant’s Daniela Altimari is reporting that the Judiciary Committee is going to take up a bill that would alter the requirements to serve as attorney general. Last year, in Bysiewicz v. DiNardo the Connecticut Supreme Court found that a candidate for attorney general must have 10 years of practice with at least some of it being litigation and perhaps trial practice.

The Court left open the question of how much experience was necessary and just concluded that Bysiewicz who admitted to having no litigation experience did not meet the statutory requirements. Thus, the Court provided little guidance to anyone seeking the office in the future just how much experience one needed to qualify.

This inevitably leads to wasteful and stupid litigation. See Dean v. Jepsen.

Is It Malpractice To Fail To Challenge Documents In A Foreclosure?

by Ryan McKeen

Is it malpractice to fail to challenge mortgage foreclosure documents? I think so. Watch this.

Jepsen On AT&T – T-Mobile Merger

by Ryan McKeen

“A merger of this magnitude, especially in an already concentrated market, will naturally be scrutinized for competitive ramifications. I have no doubt that the Department of Justice and the Federal Communications Commission will be investigating the deal for its competitive impact. We will be in communication with the federal government, and with any state undertaking … Read more

2011 Baseball Predictions

by Ryan McKeen

I did pretty well with last year’s predictions (aside from predicting a duck boat parade in Boston).

There’s nothing as foolish as trying to pick a 162 game baseball season. But that didn’t stop me from trying. For the 3rd straight year I’ve picked Lester to win the Cy Young and Boston to win the World Series. Guess what? This year, I’m right. Duck boats. There will be duck boats.

Schwartz and Gideon are sure to disagree. Perhaps Dan Fitzgerald can shed some insight. But I challenge you and them to best my predictions. Last year, I had small duckboat parade in my mind to celebrate my predictions beating all comers. You get one point for each accurate prediction.

Official A CT Law Blog Predictions below the jump:

Why The Judicial Branch Numbers Matter

by Ryan McKeen

The Hanging Shad has clarified his original post regarding a 38% increase in judicial branch employees over the past 10 years.

Colin McEnroe has written about the “reverse funnel effect” in the blogosphere. For the most part the blogosphere is a giant echo chamber comprised of persons with broadband access commenting on the work of others. Sometimes, the blogosphere breaks a story that gets picked up on by traditional media.

Last week, the Shad’s story on the increase in legislative employees got picked up by several traditional news outlets and resulted in editorials.

When I saw his original post about the Judicial Branch numbers – I nearly fell out of my chair. They didn’t seem right to me at all.

So I did what bloggers normally do – I wrote a post commenting on the work of another blogger. Echo chamber indeed.

Normally, I don’t care about such things. I’m not some sort of cop on the blogosphere beat.

But these numbers were different.