Sleeping in the Street
Back to law school. Final exam. Torts. The year is 1909. Professor Smith sets out for your consideration the following exam question: Father, with his sleeping child in his arms, negligently lies down in the street and goes to sleep. The driver of a wagon sees them there asleep. He intends to avoid them, but […]
On Paralanguage and Metamessage
Lawyers have to persuade but before they can they have to communicate; that is, they have to teach. Effective lawyering is not typically expressed as a form of teaching, but, in many respects, it is: the best lawyers can in some sense be looked at as simply the most effective teachers. They make the complex […]
Overcoming Optimism Bias
Complex tasks require sustained attention and coordination of skills over long periods of time. Distraction and inattention, even momentarily, can result in accidents. Over-the-road commercial truck drivers, for example, have explicit dictates in their CDL Manuals to avoid distractions while driving. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations impose similar requirements. And in 2011, the US […]
