2011 a Big Year in NM for ALJs and Hearing Examiners

2011 is shaping up to be quite a year in New Mexico for Administrative Law Judges and Hearing Officials.  The National Association of Administrative Law Judiciary (NAALJ) is having their Annual Conference in Santa Fe from September 18-21, 2011, at the beautiful La Fonda Hotel.  See http://www.naalj.org/conferences. Then, the National Association of Hearing Officials (NAHO) is holding its annual Professional Development Conference in Santa Fe from November 13-16, 2011, also at the La Fonda Hotel.  See http://www.naho.org/.

Wise Tips on Brief (and Opinion!) Writing

In the Fall 2010 issue of the ABA Journal of the Section of Litigation (Vol. 37, No. 1), retired Florida judge Larry A.Klein provides much excellent and insightful advise on brief writing.  As decision makers, we've all been presented with some great briefs and some awful ones and, as Judge Klein notes, it is sometimes even very qualified, well-regarded counsel that make the following mistakes.  Moreover, the tips are so perfectly suited to all legal writing that I have made a number of notes to myself to watch out for in the future.

The "Reasonable Person" -- a Product of Social Mores, Not a Mathematician

Micheal J. De Vinne, lawyer and historian, recently wrote a quite delightful piece tracing the evolution of that ubiquitous legal fiction, the "reasonable person."  See "The Reasonable Person as a Living Fossil," ABA Journal of the Section of Litigation, Vol. 37, No. 1, Fall 2010.  In tracing its evolution, he concludes the reasonably person is never defined by the law but rather left to a panel of peers to define based on the collected mores of the times.