Digital evidence exists in almost every criminal case and provides unparalleled corroborative utility, particularly for crimes often committed in secret, such as child exploitation. This evidence is increasingly stored remotely on servers across state lines, around the globe, and beyond. It is therefore critical for prosecutors and law enforcement to develop an understanding of the pertinent domestic and international legal considerations for obtaining remotely stored data.
Continue reading “Not an Ocean Away, Only a Moment Away: A Prosecutor’s Primer for Obtaining Remotely Stored Data”Tag: Legal Practice
The Forensic Interviewer at Trial: Guidelines for the Admission and Scope of Expert Testimony Concerning a Forensic Interview in a Case of Child Abuse (Revised and Expanded)
The field of forensic interviewing is approaching five decades and is an integral part of a multidisciplinary response to a report of child maltreatment. The concept of a “forensic interview” was necessitated by high-profile child sexual abuse cases from the 1980s. In these cases, children were interviewed by professionals with little or no training in the art and science of eliciting information from children. In some cases, children were interviewed on multiple occasions by several persons. In an attempt to improve the response to these cases, Children’s Advocacy Centers (CAC) began to emerge and spread across the country.
Continue reading “The Forensic Interviewer at Trial: Guidelines for the Admission and Scope of Expert Testimony Concerning a Forensic Interview in a Case of Child Abuse (Revised and Expanded)”The Reconstruction of Mediation: A Shift Toward Cultural Competency and Social Sophistication
In January 2019, pop culture icon Jay-Z brought attention to a critical issue that has existed for decades but has rarely been addressed—that is, the lack of diverse arbitrators and the effect this has on fundamental fairness. While Jay-Z was not the first to speak up about this issue, his powerful voice was perhaps heard louder than those before him. This issue extends to mediators as well, given that both professions interact with parties to resolve disputes, and many professionals serve as both arbitrators and mediators.
Continue reading “The Reconstruction of Mediation: A Shift Toward Cultural Competency and Social Sophistication”Legal Representation for Children: A Matter of Fairness
For decades, advocates, scholars, and practitioners have called on states to ensure quality legal representation for children in dependency, abuse and neglect, and termination of parental rights proceedings. In 1996,the American Bar Association declared, “All children subject to court proceedings involving allegations of child abuse and neglect should have legal representation as long as the court’s jurisdiction continues.” In its Enhanced Resource Guidelines, the National Conference of Juvenile and Family Court Judges asserted, “Children [in dependency and custody proceedings are entitled to representation by attorneys.” The need for such representation is backed by studies and research that have demonstrated procedural and substantive benefits arising from high-quality representation for children.
Continue reading “Legal Representation for Children: A Matter of Fairness”Channel Your Inner Kindergartner: Fostering a Culture Conducive to Creativity in Legal Practice
The COVID-19 pandemic requires lawyers to address a myriad of unique problems—and highlights the need for lawyers to engage as creative problem solvers. Lawyers must determine how best to deliver legal services while contending with travel restrictions, social distancing, stay-in-place measures, and business and court closures. Furthermore, questions arise as to how to tackle the access to justice gap in the midst of the largest global recession since the Great Depression.
Although lawyers need to work collaboratively to come up with creative solutions to these unprecedented problems, a challenge administered to groups of business students, lawyers, CEOs, engineers, and kindergartners revealed that lawyers do not work efficiently and effectively to creatively solve problems. In dozens of challenges, kindergartners outperformed all of the other groups. Instead of collaborating and focusing on completing the task, the lawyers engaged in status management—trying to determine how they fit into the group and who was in charge. While not smarter than the lawyers, the kindergarteners solved the problems best because they were smarter in the way that they worked with each other.
Continue reading “Channel Your Inner Kindergartner: Fostering a Culture Conducive to Creativity in Legal Practice”Why the Legal Profession is the Nation’s Least Diverse (And How to Fix It)
A Black female attorney recalls being told as an associate that she was being put on a case because they “need a Black face.”
A White male partner told a Latina associate, “you might not be the right person to argue before the Minnesota Supreme Court.”
A Black female associate recalls being the only woman and person of color in a trial and the only person whose objections were consistently overruled. Her colleagues noticed she was being treated differently—but did nothing.
Continue reading “Why the Legal Profession is the Nation’s Least Diverse (And How to Fix It)”New Year’s Resolutions: Attorney Wellness
Geri Sjoquist, Hamline Class of 2002, practices in family law and civil litigation. One of Minnesota Lawyer’s Attorneys of the Year in 2019, Geri has worked as a legal professional for over twenty-five years, primarily at her own firm Sjoquist Law LLC.
The Concept of Interconnectedness
There has been a lot of talk about attorney wellness over the past year. New words and phrases, such as mindfulness, have become commonplace. As we begin 2020, I would like to focus on the concept of “interconnectedness.”
We have all experienced the feeling of malaise that follows from having flu-like physical symptoms, such as fever, fatigue, and nausea. So, the idea that our mental health is woven together with our physical health is not a new concept. This idea of the interconnectedness of our body’s systems was brought to my attention several years ago in a very up-front and personal sort of way.
I was working out at a Crossfit gym at the time and I was finding that after every three to four intense workouts I would experience flu-like symptoms and repeatedly need to spend a few days in bed recovering. This went on for about eight or nine weeks, with my doctor prescribing a new dose of antibiotics with every visit. One day, in addition to flu symptoms, I suffered a very intense earache. The ear, nose, and throat specialist looked in my ear, told me there was nothing wrong with my ear, and asked me if I had a history of migraines. I was shocked. How did he know? How did he know that migraines had been lurking in the shadows of my family tree for generations? Furthermore, the specialist told me it was highly likely that I had never actually had the flu.
While we prefer to pretend that our abilities do not fluctuate and we are capable of being on our “A game” at all times, the truth is that no one is capable of such levels of perfection. Even in professions where there is no room for error—like police work or piloting an airliner—there are errors. Even so, as smart as we all like to believe we are, we nevertheless expect and demand nothing less of ourselves. Add to this our hesitancy, as attorneys, to have candid and forthcoming discussions about our cognitive function because of the fear of stigma and incompetency. Why is it so difficult to imagine that our minds—like our bodies—are likely capable of “having the flu” for a couple days and then fully recovering?
This interconnectedness of mind and body was recognized by pre–modern medicine. Ancient Greek, Roman, and Indian Ayurvedic physicians enlisted the theory of the “four humors” in their healing practices.1 They believed that imbalances in these four visible secretions of the body caused disease and were often caused by our emotions.2 Then, in the seventeenth century, French philosopher and mathematician René Descartes attempted to eradicate superstitions. He planted the seeds of rationalism, laying the foundation for a more rigorous and modern scientific thought in his quest to shake and uproot all beliefs not grounded in what could be known with absolute certainty.3 Like Galileo, he sought to overturn what he saw as the prejudices of the day, first promulgated by Aristotle, who placed a great weight on the testimony of the senses, suggesting that all knowledge comes from the senses.4
How Interconnectedness Impacts Our Health
What has been most striking to me has been the realization that we can say very little about what we know for certain regarding stress and disease. Meanwhile, internationally–recognized researcher, Esther M. Sternberg, M.D., has made groundbreaking strides in connecting our central nervous system to our immune system in her book, The Balance Within: The Science Connecting Health and Emotions.5 As professionals, attorneys rank high on the list of those most susceptible to burnout. Many refer to it as compassion fatigue. But this burnout can reveal itself not only as psychological stress, but also physiological, such as a flattened cortisol response and inability to respond to any stress with even a slight burst of cortisol. In other words, chronic unrelenting stress can change the stress response itself. And, it can change other hormone systems in the body as well… the effects can be especially perilous for women—recurring and extended episodes of depression result in permanent changes in bone structure, increasing the risk of osteoporosis. In other words, we register stress literally in our bones.6
In other words, depending on a highly individualistic and complex mix of nature and nurture, our response to our life’s events (whether they be personal or professional) have the potential to permanently change our biology. Some stress can be invigorating, while other stress might be debilitating. This relationship between memory, emotion, and stress is particularly significant in the legal context and attorney culture where mistakes can lead to harsh results. In the legal profession, often a zero–tolerance environment, people are not inclined to come forward and acknowledge their shortcomings when they risk damage to their livelihoods and reputation.
Interconnectedness—mental health and physical health woven together—should therefore not be discounted in the profession. It is important to not disregard how much our wellness determines our ability to do good work.
Resources
For those looking to improve their well-being in 2020, there are numerous resources available.
- The Minnesota Supreme Court has created a web page for lawyer well-being. It includes materials from the Court’s recent Conference, A Call to Action on Lawyer Well-Being.
- Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers (LCL) provides a free, confidential Lawyers Assistance Program for Minnesota lawyers, judges, law students and their immediate family members. This program offers help to those affected by alcohol, drugs and other addictions; depression, anxiety and other mental illnesses; stress and other life-related problems; and any condition which negatively affects the quality of one’s life at work or at home. Call 651-646-5590 to talk to a counselor or visit their website for more information.
The Minnesota State Bar Association (MSBA) has a Committee on Well-Being dedicated to helping lawyers and legal professionals thrive in both their legal careers and personal lives. For more information and to join the committee visit their web page.