Tough on Crime, Smart on Crime
(The following President’s column appeared in the December 2011 issue of the Georgia Bar Journal.) My first job after law school was as an assistant district attorney in the small town where I had...
View ArticleOnly 81 days remain as State Bar president
A year goes by awfully fast when you’re working two full-time jobs. With only 81 days remaining in my term as State Bar president, I look forward to the ability to just focus on my clients and my law...
View Article“Tough on crime, smart on crime”
The State Bar of Georgia communications staff will distribute the following article to all Georgia newspapers this week: Tough on Crime, Smart on Crime By Kenneth L. Shigley My first job after law...
View ArticleIndependent Courts as Economic Infrastructure
The following article appeared in the February 2012 issue of the Georgia Bar Journal. A third of a century trekking between Georgia courts, first in a single rural circuit and then more or less...
View ArticleThe learning curve of a bar president
In the past 10 days this plaintiffs’ trial lawyer, in the capacity of State Bar of Georgia president, has co-presided over a joint meeting of the State Bar Executive Committee and the Georgia Supreme...
View ArticleNJ suit by spectator against Little League baseball player would be tossed...
Baseball has been called the great American pastime. We all love an occasional trip to Turner Field to watch the Braves, and nothing can compare with family outings to minor league baseball games in...
View ArticleGeorgia “loser pays” rule #3 – fee awards for no justiciable issue, delay or...
Advocates of tort reform often call for “loser pays” legislation. Georgia already has five different “loser pays” rules. In earlier posts I have discussed OCGA § 9-11-68, enacted as part of tort reform...
View ArticleGeorgia “loser pays” rule # 5 – bad faith, stubborn litigiousness, undue...
Brig. Gen. Thomas R. R. Cobb, father of Georgia’s first “loser pays” statute” The oldest of the five “loser pays” rules in existing Georgia law has been in effect for nearly 150 years, having first...
View ArticleDoes Georgia really need more than five “loser pays” rules?
Do advocates of more “loser pays” rules offer a solution in search of a problem? Are people unaware of the “loser pays” sanctions that are already part of Georgia law? As discussed in previous posts,...
View ArticleHearsay rule change in new Georgia Evidence Code
Most bright middle school students probably have a working knowledge of the concept of hearsay, simply as gossip. “He said she said” does not mean the statement is true. Hearsay as a legal rather than...
View ArticleLegislature quickly overturns Supreme Court decision, barring assignment of...
A few days ago, I wrote about a Georgia Supreme Court decision that left a lot of uncertainty about which legal malpractice claims could be assigned to people or companies other than clients. Most...
View Article7 Tips for Lawyers Handling a Minors’ Personal Injury Settlement
7 Tips for Handling Personal Injury Settlements for a Minor Injuries to children are going to happen. In fact, according to the CDC, injury treatment is the leading cause of medical spending for...
View ArticleCracking Down on Distracted Driving
We have all seen drivers distracted by their electronic devices behind the wheel. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations now forbid interstate truck drivers from texting or talking on a hand held...
View ArticleNew App Guards Against Texting and Driving
If you are the parent of a teenage driver, the idea of your “invulnerable” teen texting while driving may be among your greatest fears. Now “there’s an app for that.” Although texting and driving is...
View ArticleShigley Leads Section of American Association for Justice
Ken Shigley of Atlanta, who was president of the State Bar of Georgia in 2011-12, is now chair of the largest practice area section in the American Association for Justice (AAJ), the national...
View ArticleParents of juvenile home invaders may be ordered to pay $60,000 of medical...
Please vote here for “best legal blog.” —————– Atlantans were shocked a couple of weeks ago by the story of a home invasion robbery attempt in which teenage males approached a young father on his...
View ArticleGPS Fatal Distraction
GPS technology is one of the great conveniences of life in the 21st century. When it works right it enables us to find our way through unfamiliar areas with ease. Other times it can lead us terribly...
View ArticleGovernor Deal’s legacy to the Georgia judicial system
Proposed new Georgia Judicial Building, future home of Supreme Court and Court of Appeals It appears that by time he leaves office at the beginning of 2019, Governor Nathan Deal will have: Vastly...
View ArticleWhat to do if you are directly solicited for a lawyer after a crash
This morning on her way to work, a paralegal in our office was injured when someone rear-ended her car on the way to work. When she was waiting for a CT scan in the hospital emergency department, she...
View ArticleCivil immunity for Covered Countermeasures in fight against COVID-19
COVID-19 has thrust us into a global crisis unprecedented in the century since the Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918-19. It is not merely disruptive in our daily routines. It involves life, death and...
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