Mayor Mamdani, in a move reminiscent of the Trump/Biden autopen farce, revokes the prior mayor's executive orders on Israel and antisemitism.

An AI system, or "robot arbitrator" cannot issue an award in an arbitration that is confirmable under the Federal Arbitration Act.

I had an interesting and unusual experience this week. I help a lot of lawyers take depositions without compulsion abroad. But it’s not that common for me to have to take a deposition abroad in a stat...

The Nonhuman Rights Project has filed a new habeas corpus case supposedly on behalf of two elephants, this time in California. The most important thing, I think, is that the new filing shows that thes...

Ezra Klein had a column in yesterday’s Times about New York’s Jewish community and the apparent split in attitudes towards Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee for mayor. The column is classic Klein...

The violent antisemitism now epidemic in America is a real emergency. I give one Jewish person's view, and a suggestion for self-reflection.

A look at an EDNY case on serving a Chinese defendant by serving the defendant's US lawyer. Is that okay under the Hague Service Convention?

In Tesla v. Balan, the Ninth Circuit held that courts lack jurisdiction to confirm 'zero-dollar' arbitral awards under FAA Chapter 1.

A political post. You have been warned. A long history of corporate self-governance We have a long history of self-governing social institutions. Churches govern themselves. The professions govern the...

The case of the day is Application of Vestolit GmbH (D. Del. 2025). Vestolit GmbH and Celanese Europe B.V. were defendants in a Dutch antitrust lawsuit brought by Shell Chemicals Europe, B.V. They bro...

The government should release Mahmoud Khalil. There, I said it. Don’t misunderstand me. I think he’s a terrible person with terrible views. I think that the government should not admit aliens with his...

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Fans of American football are pretty much used to the instant replay by now. Suppose a receiver catches the ball in the end zone and is immediately hit. He bobbles the ball a bit before hitting the tu...

Max Page, the president of the Massachusetts Teachers’ Association, was the star witness at the fourth meeting of the Massachusetts Commission on Combating Antisemitism, held last week. He was testify...

I wrote a post the other day about Arbitrus.ai, an AI “arbitrator” described in a recent paper. I wasn’t sure whether the paper was an elaborate prank meant as a send-up of AI hypesters and folks with...

The case of the day is Gartenberg v. Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art (S.D.N.Y. 2025). The Cooper Union is a small private college in New York City. The complaint, filed by several ...

A critique of Arbitrus.ai, a proposal to have an AI decisionmaker decide private law arbitrations, including in consumer cases.

The case of the day is In re Genial Institucional Corretora de Cambio (S.D.N.Y. 2025). Genial sued BP Securities and others in Brazil, seeking a declaration that it was in a de facto partnership with ...

The Colorado Supreme Court has unanimously rejected an appeal by the Nonhuman Rights Project seeking to reverse a lower court’s decision holding that people could not seek writs of habeas corpus on be...

The first three hostages have been released from Gaza. Here are some thoughts on the path forward for Israel and the Palestinians.

Letters Blogatory looks at Amnesty's recent article on Steven Donziger's quest for a pardon at the end of the Biden Administration.

ChatGPT and other AI helpers are magical. But there are lots of reasons not to use them too much in legal writing.

Friends of Letters Blogatory Maggie Gardner and Bill Dodge have a great new paper on service by email under the Service Convention . The paper is a very good overview of the topic and very clear about...

Using automated enforcement for traffic violations is not allowed under state law in Massachusetts. Increasingly, some municipal leaders say it’s time to change that.

The case of the day is In re Request for Judicial Assistance from the National Civil Court of First Instance No. 42 in Caba (N.D. Cal. 2024). Dario Hernan Raris brought a lawsuit in Argentina against ...

The car-centric architectural style, characterized by neon signs and dramatic rooflines, is now endangered. Its admirers mourn the loss of the ideals it represented.

Teachers are workers, and they have a real and legitimate interest in their wages and in the conditions of their employment. Many teachers are represented by a union, and here in Massachusetts, many a...

Readers, I am happy to announce a new Letters Blogatory feature that I hope you will find helpful. You can now search my archive of thousands of posts for posts on cases decided in a particular jurisd...

I want to believe in international law. But as I’ve said in many posts over the last year, I think there is something deeply wrong with what many scholars say public international law tells us about t...

Readers, for nearly fifteen years, I have been giving you links to PDFs of the court decisions I write about. And I have been hosting those PDFs on my own server. The RECAP project was very new when I...

The case of the day is Sillam v. Labaton Sucharow LLP (S.D.N.Y. 2024). Sillam was a French businessman. According to his complaint, he and Descroubres, who was predecessor in interest to Sillam’s fell...

I am fascinated by yesterday’s article in the Times about UNRWA in Gaza. Here are some of the key points. When I read reporting like this, I am aghast at the UN’s see-no-evil, hear-no-evil approach to...

The case of the day is Commonwealth v. Read (Mass. Super. Ct. 2024). This is not a typical Letters Blogatory case, but it has been in the headlines here in Massachusetts and, I think, elsewhere in Ame...

A new view on how to deal with pro se litigants abroad under the Hague Service Convention in light of the Convention's exclusive nature.

Wow! Taylor Swift's Eras Tour in Toronto was an amazing concert, filled with joy.

The case of the day is SEC v. Bowerman (D. Mass. 2024). The SEC brought a securities fraud claim against Bowerman, who lived in the UK. According to the return of service, a “private process server” p...