Steven Lubet

June 04, 2004 | The Recorder

Whatever the fates have in store for Martha Stewart, her trial surely had all the elements of an epic: a bold heroine with a tragic flaw, facing a powerful and implacable foe. Why did Martha Stewart lose? What led to her downfall? How did the prosecutors identify and exploit her weaknesses? Given the classic nature of the encounter, it may not be entirely surprising that part of the answer may be found in ancient Homeric texts.

By Steven Lubet

8 minute read

July 17, 2006 | National Law Journal

Steven Lubet reads an ethics lesson into the story of a plaintiff who finds the statue of Themis "very disturbing," in an establishment-clause kind of way.

By Steven Lubet

8 minute read

December 06, 2002 | Law.com

When Michael Wilkins agreed to serve as local counsel for a Michigan insurance company, he had no idea that the case would land him in deep trouble with his state supreme court. And when he submitted his client's brief, he never expected that a mildly aggressive footnote would get him clocked with a 30-day suspension. Every lawyer knows stories about thin-skinned judges -- but the Indiana Supreme Court opinion in In re Wilkinstakes judicial hubris to a new extreme.

By Steven Lubet

8 minute read

September 01, 2005 | The American Lawyer

This year marks the eightieth anniversary of the celebrated Scopes "monkey trial," which is remembered today as a clash of ideological titans-the progressive warrior Clarence Darrow versus the fundamentalist warhorse William Jennings Bryan. As we have all been told, Darrow won the battle, if not the verdict, by humiliating Bryan in the name of modern science. Or at least that's the usual story.

By Steven Lubet

7 minute read

May 07, 2003 | Law.com

In recent months, litigation over clergy abuse has become so acrimonious that many parishioners are openly questioning the basic decency of the church's legal strategy, going so far as to accuse the defense of inflicting new trauma on the abuse victims. Representatives of the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston responded by blaming it all on their counsel, as though the church has no control over the tactics employed in its name.

By Steven Lubet

7 minute read

July 20, 2007 | The Recorder

What should disqualify someone from bar admission? Inquiring minds want to know.

By Steven Lubet

8 minute read

November 01, 2005 | The American Lawyer

t would be nice to think that "freedom means freedom for everybody," as Vice President Dick Cheney so memorably opined in his 2004 debate with Democratic candidate John Edwards. For same-sex couples in the United States, however, the freedom to marry exists only in Massachusetts. In much of the rest of the country, gay marriage seems more distant than ever. Forty-three states have statutes or constitutional provisions that limit marriage to "a man and a woman," and California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger

By Steven Lubet

7 minute read

May 01, 2007 | The American Lawyer

By Steven Lubet

8 minute read

January 05, 2007 | The Recorder

She may seem sympathetic, but convicted attorney Lynne Stewart deserves no special place in our hearts: Her lack of contrition undermines truly ethical attorneys who defend politically unpopular clients.

By Steven Lubet

8 minute read

August 08, 2007 | Texas Lawyer

Does an aspiring lawyer's questioned behavior raise a strong and reliable inference of future misconduct? If so, bar admission can be denied. If not, welcome (but try not to do it again).

By Steven Lubet

8 minute read