Photo of Stephen McConnell

Kansas has given us many great people and institutions. We Philadelphians are particularly grateful for Darren Daulton, the late, great Phillies catcher. We have also enjoyed the work of Charlie Parker, Buster Keaton, and, of course, Dorothy Gale. Further, the Kansas college basketball team is perennially very good. (But that was a tough loss last

At the DDL blog we unashamedly confess our biases.  Foremost among those biases is that we walk the defense side of the street.  Another inescapable bias, at least for this particular scribbler, is that we know and like many of the Philly judges. In the City of Brotherly Love, familiarity breeds respect. 

Over the past

A chunk of our family recently relocated to Indiana, a lovely state that spawned prominent Americans such as Orville Redenbacher, Eli Lilly, Larry Bird, David Letterman, Michael Jackson, and James Dean, and that possesses fine covered bridges, a suddenly fearsome college football team, and a remarkable library that houses, among other things, the original manuscripts

We’ve become aware that some clients are using artificial intelligence (AI) to summarize or analyze things like complaints, briefs, internal documents, or even – horror of horrors! – law firm bills.  If the client performing these tasks is an in-house lawyer, such work might be protected by the attorney client privilege or work product doctrine

Our law school days were long ago.  Reagan was the president. Footloose and Beverly Hills Cop topped the movie box office. Prince made great music, Lionel Ritchie made good music, and Macca and Jacko teamed up to make awful music.  The Soviet Union boycotted the 1984 Olympics, which made the games … really excellent.  

Even

How many times have you seen a lawyer end the trial direct examination (or deposition redirect) of his/her expert by perfunctorily asking, “Do you hold all your opinions to a reasonable degree of certainty?” Then there is the obligatory “Yes.” The magic words have been uttered.  All is right with the world, right?

Maybe. 

If

Our favorite aspect of being a prosecutor was the investigation phase. Snooping is fun.  Figuring out what the crook did and how he did it made us feel like Columbo or Mannix. (Surely those references are lost on anyone under 50. Maybe we should have alluded to Poker Face.) Surveillance, telephone records, and bank accounts