New law school graduates face strong headwinds

Courthouse News Service: "Standing at the pinnacle of their academic careers, spring 2020 law school graduates are staring at a profession battered by winds of pestilence. And the dragon they’ve been preparing to slay, the state bar exam, is slipping out of range."

When court moves online, do dress codes still matter?

New York Times: "Justice is supposed to be blind. But in courtrooms, decorum matters."

Justice Dept. watchdog to inspect prisons amid virus spread

Associated Press: "The Justice Department’s inspector general will conduct remote inspections of Bureau of Prisons facilities to ensure they are following best practices to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus after hundreds of federal inmates tested positive for the virus."

Courts rapidly adopting videoconferencing tech to conduct business

Washington Times: "The Zoom videoconferencing platform is fast becoming the judiciary’s technology of choice to conduct business while following social distancing requirements for the coronavirus pandemic."

Coronavirus threatens to flood courts with contract disputes

Bloomberg News: "The coronavirus pandemic has left companies across an array of industries wondering what to do if they can’t perform the services they are contractually obligated to provide."

In the 1700s an enslaved Massachusetts woman sued for her freedom - and won

NPR News: "Nearly 250 years ago, a group of white men gathered in a house in Massachusetts to draft a document on independence aimed at the British crown. A woman who was enslaved in the house overheard the discussion and determined that the words applied to her, too."

Federal report says women in prison receive harsher punishments than men

MPR News: "Women in prison, when compared with incarcerated men, often receive disproportionately harsh punishments for minor violations of prison rules, according to a report released Wednesday by a federal fact-finding agency."

Who should decide what books are allowed in prison?

MPR News: "Michael Tafolla says the books he read in prison helped him understand how he had landed there in the first place. He remembers one especially eye-opening title: Illegal: Reflections of an Undocumented Immigrant."