Apologies in advance for the ALL CAPS to come, but I was forwarded a press release that makes me want to SCREAM.

Seems there is a company based in Oklahoma that has created GripeAtMe.com, which is pretty much what it sounds like. You pay money TO YELL at a complete stranger about whatever you want. If you can complain about it, a “complaint specialist” will listen. (Yup, a COMPLAINT SPECIALIST.)

One of their sample calls is from a man who asks why women tend to “get more” in divorce and custody cases. His theory? The women’s liberation movement. Bet they didn’t teach you THAT in law school.

But wait — there’s more! You can also ask the specialist to take the opposite view of yours. That’s right, you can pay to ARGUE with a COMPLETE STRANGER.

The website offers a few suggested subject areas, including culture and “go green” (quotation marks are theirs, not mine).

“Sometimes, it is nice to have someone there just to listen while you decompress about all that life has handed to you,” the site states.

Thanks, but I have those people already. They’re called FRIENDS AND FAMILY. I’d rather spend the $10 on beer with them than calling you.

I’ve received a phone call once or twice from an interview subject asking to omit a background detail from a story.

Whether the detail remains or gets cut often depends on how it relates to the story as a whole. But, in general, a story about someone involved in criminal proceedings includes some reference to his or her criminal record, even if it is only to say there is no record.

Which brings us to a Massachusetts courtroom Wednesday, where Joanna Snyder appeared for a scheduling hearing in a drug case. Snyder asked the judge to order a Salem News reporter to stop writing about her.

It seems the stories would include “details about Snyder’s long criminal history,” details “that upset her and her 19-year-old daughter, who recently had a baby.”

The judge told Snyder people upset with a newspaper story usually write a letter to the editor.

“I have no authority to control the press,” the judge said.

News of the court hearing was reported in the Salem News by Julie Manganis — the same Julie Manganis who wrote the other stories about Snyder. And somehow I don’t think Wednesday’s story on Snyder will be Manganis’ last.

(HT: Romenesko)

The use of Twitter in courtrooms is a topic near and dear to my heart.

Our Danny Jacobs was able to use Twitter to break the news of verdicts against ExxonMobil in Baltimore County Circuit Court, but tweeting was banned in Baltimore during then-Mayor Sheila Dixon’s corruption trials. And our “Judge on the Jury” columnist, retired Judge Dennis M. Sweeney, has written on the topic several times.

So, imagine my joy on reading this bit of news from the Associated Press: A judge in Connecticut has rejected a defense motion to ban courtroom tweets during a fatal home-invasion trial.

The defense team raised an interesting point, though. They claimed that, in a co-defendant’s trial, “sudden typing of tweets by reporters and spectators signaled to the jury what evidence observers believed was significant.”

In that other trial, the co-defendant was convicted and got the death penalty. Not that they’re blaming the tweets for that; just sayin’ what happened.

Personally, I find it hard to believe that a sudden burst of tweets could affect justice more than the gasps, laughter or any other response of spectators in the courtroom. Litigators? What say you?

Frank Gorman of Gorman & Williams was in Las Vegas last week for the annual Consumer Electronics Show. On Friday, the intellectual property lawyer offered an overview of the expo. Today, he provides a list of gadgets and products that grabbed his attention.

CES 2011 ended Sunday. More than 130,000 registered attendees walked through 1.5 million square feet of exhibit space looking at a wide range of consumer electronic products. While it is impossible to see everything CES has to offer, each person comes away with a sense of what’s hot, what’s not, what’s unique, and when to pass.

1. LG’s Smart TV. This wall-mounted, flat-screen, high-definition TV incorporates all the streaming entertainment and social networking features of your PC or laptop. The TV has a USB and RJ45 ethernet ports. You can download apps, send e-mails, stream a Netflix-provided movie, etc.

No keyboard is provided, but you could use a wireless keyboard or use an app that makes your iPhone keyboard work on the TV. There were several CES exhibitors promoting these “Smart TVs,” and this term has become generic. Check out LG’s offerings here.

Meanwhile, what happened to 3D TV?  It was the star of CES 2011 and was promoted again this year, especially by Sony, but 3D has not taken off the tarmac.

Read the rest of this entry »

By now you’ve probably heard about the new editions of “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” by NewSouth Books that will not include any mention of the n-word, which had originally appeared in the book more than 200 times.

The n-word will be replaced by the word “slave,” part of an attempt by Auburn University professor Alan Gribben — who worked with NewSouth on the new edition — to keep the book in the hands of students.

The Washington Post’s Adam Serwer connects this move to the Republicans in the 112th Congress, who, in reading the Constitution on Thursday, planned to omit the section that counts slaves as worth only three-fifths of a person (also known as the “three fifths compromise”).

Serwer says reading this section reminds us that even a great and noble document like the U.S. Constitution can be flawed, and we should not ignore blemishes in our history. (Isn’t that how we learn from them?) Huck Finn itself is not a blemish, but of course the language and treatment are representative of that terrible time — a time that should be neither celebrated nor forgotten.

In Tempe, Ariz., about 12 years ago, parents sued a high school for making the book part of required reading for students. The case made its way to a federal appeals court and the parents eventually lost.

Other than that, there has been little involvement from government and courts on banning Huck Finn or other books. But maybe it’s time for an “official” opinion. Maybe it’s time somebody stepped in and said: OK, no more censoring books. And if a parent, or a teacher, or a student is still against it, they can be given an alternate assignment.

I think if you are going to teach books in school, students should be reading them in their original form.

Read the rest of this entry »

The Huffington Post reported last month that the Susan G. Komen for the Cure has filed trademark infringement lawsuits against other charities that use “for the cure” in their names. The story alleges Komen spends a $1 million a year in donor funds on such litigation.

The foundation has more than 200 registered trademarks, and I didn’t even know you could protect a phrase like “for the cure,” hon.

Even though the HuffPost story was published in December, I first heard about it Monday night from Stephen Colbert. Enjoy his take here.

Still wish you were on vacation? Most of your co-workers out for week? Here’s some “work” you can do to pass the time:

• The strange (and sad) story of Ravens rookie Sergio Kindle takes another wrong turn.
• Morris L. Cohen, one of the nation’s leading law librarians, dies at 83. (HT: Above the Law)
• The title says it all: “Male nurse who was a former stripper failed to make out claims that he was subjected to a sexually hostile work environment.”
• OK, “Matlock” fans, stand up for your show’s egregiously-low ranking. (HT: Volokh Conspiracy)
• It’s still better than a lump of coal, right?

Keith Merryman

While Baltimore City Solicitor George A. Nilson and Steven Kupferberg, the attorney for mistakenly arrested violinist Yakov Shapiro, still differ as to the origin of the confidentiality of their settlement, allow me to offer a few updates related to the case.

There’s been a strong reader reaction to the story of Shapiro’s travail — which started when a detective investigating claims of child molestation by Yisroel Shapiro posted a warrant for Yakov Shapiro — and the city’s efforts to keep it quiet. While many Baltimore elected officials have kept to themselves about the questions the case raises about government transparency and training at the police department, a few city council members have spoken up:

• Baltimore City Councilwoman Belinda Conaway, who has taken an interest in the costs of police negligence, said last summer she understood the need for such a confidential settlement “under extraordinary circumstances, once in a blue moon.” But, she said, “this should not happen again anytime soon.” Last week, after finally hearing the details of the Shapiro case, her first reaction was “Oh my God.”

“It’s a terrible, terrible thing to happen and I would hope the necessary steps are taken so something like this doesn’t happen again,” she said. “A settlement is nice but there’s no way that that settlement can undo the damage that was done.”

• Conaway’s colleague to the North, Bill Henry,  who had his own bout with transparency earlier this year, suggested a policy change. (City Councilwoman Mary Pat Clarke had the same idea this summer when asked about the settlement of the Shapiro case, which was then still shrouded in secrecy.)

“If we could all walk away from this with one lesson learned, I would hope that it would be a shared recognition of the importance of transparency in government proceedings,” Henry wrote in an e-mail Wednesday evening. “Perhaps the Board of Estimates needs to develop a better policy of how to deal with confidentiality concerns when allocating City funds. Perhaps we should be trying to record and broadcast not only the actual Board of Estimates proceedings, but the mini-meetings ahead of time when more detailed briefings are given for many of the issues before the Board.

“The Administration has claimed to be supportive of this initiative of the Council President’s (recording and broadcasting B/E meetings, Liquor Board hearings, and BMZA hearings),” Henry continued, “but also claims to be unable to come up with the operating funds needed – less than $50K – leading to the reasonable suspicion that they must be sufficiently comfortable with the status quo.”

Mr. Kupferberg has shielded Yakov Shapiro from press inquiries but he described his client’s reaction to the stories published in yesterday’s paper.

“Yakov was in here today, and I asked him if he wanted to speak to you and he started to cry,” Kupferberg said by phone from his office. “I showed him the story, and he just teared up.”

One detail I wasn’t able to determine before we published Tuesday evening was the identity of the judge who presided over Shapiro’s bail review that November morning three years ago. Well, it seems the voice on the recording was that of C. Yvonne Holt-Stone. According to an e-mail from Baltimore City District Court Administrative Judge John R. Hargrove Jr., Judge Holt-Stone was on the schedule for that morning at Central Booking, where Hargrove says Shapiro’s bail review took place. Holt-Stone, who has been on the city district court bench since 1991 is on leave through the end of the year and could not be reached to confirm her part in the case.

The other person I’ve yet to hear from is Baltimore City Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III. He was at the White House yesterday and is out of the office through Christmas, according to his spokesman.

I’m less optimistic about ever hearing from Detective Keith Merryman (who posted the warrant for Yakov Shapiro instead of the real offender, Yisroel Shapiro) or police lawyer Neal M. Janey Jr., who negotiated the settlement, but stay tuned on those fronts.

Artist's court sketch of Yisroel Shapiro (left, with glasses and Kippah)

Finally, if you’re interested in learning more about Yisroel Shapiro and how his misdeeds came to light in the generally close-knit and tight-lipped Orthodox Jewish community, have a look at Standing Silent, a documentary that will premier at the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival in February. Phil Jacobs, the executive editor of the Baltimore Jewish Times who has covered the topic extensively, stars in the film.

Thanks for reading and Happy Holidays!

Judging by the reader responses to news that the word “Hon” has been trademarked, some Baltimoreans might have a new name for Cafe Hon owner Denise Whiting: Atilla.

The great John McIntyre explains why this touches a nerve:

What leads to the raised voices is the question of ownership of language. And with that question come all the overtones of social class, local history and culture, and personal likes and dislikes that crowd in on discussions of language and ensure that such discussions will never be neutral or unemotional.

Coincidentally, The New York Times had a story yesterday about athletes trademarking their catchphrases. I did not know that Nike owns the right to the name “LeBron.”

The lesson? I better call a lawyer now about the legal rights for “pulling a Danny.”

Still upset about last night’s game? Just getting to work now because of last night’s game? Here are some links to take your mind off it.

• A former Baltimore County public defender starts a law firm in Annapolis focusing on “low bono” clients.
• Are we ripe for growth in the small-town lawyer arena? An Above the Law contributor says, “Possibly.”
• Turns out a stability ball in Sacramento might not have been all that stable.
• A primer on the “Repeal Amendment” you might be hearing more about once Congress becomes Tea Party-flavored next month. (The story has generated a spirited back-and-forth on The Volokh Conspiracy.)
• Say what you want about Eliot Spitzer, but “professional exerciser” Ron Miller gives the former New York governor high marks as a lawyer.