In addition to bar admission for the Rhode Island state courts, attorneys must have a separate bar admission to practice before the Rhode Island federal district court. Earlier this month, the federal district court announced a proposed change to its…
Author: Tim Baldwin
Tim Baldwin, Esq. is the editor of RICourtBlog and an attorney at Whelan, Corrente, Flanders, Kinder & Siket, LLP
There Is A Cancer Growing On The Federal Judiciary. It’s Up To The Supreme Court To Put It In Remission and Restore Good Will.
There is a concept in corporate and employment law called good will. It refers to the idea that a company’s reputation is important, and that a positive reputation and good relationships will lead to repeat business with existing customers and…
Federal District Court and the Dreaded Six Month List – It’s More and Less Than It Seems
Every six months, the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts publishes the dreaded Six Month List. The Six Month List describes itself as a “semiannual report showing, by U.S. district judge and U.S. magistrate judge, all motions pending more than…
Let’s Take Palace Intrigue Where We Can Get It – R.I. Supreme Court Justices Dissent From A Miscellaneous Order!
Along with merits-based written opinions in contested cases, the Rhode Island Supreme Court issues a large volume of administrative, executive and miscellaneous orders each year. They’re mostly supervisory or perfunctory orders to ensure that the judicial branch keeps humming, covering…
Decoding The Calls and Different Court Calendars in Rhode Island Superior Court
When I was more of a spring chicken than I am now, a senior associate invited me to tag along at a Superior Court motion calendar hearing. “It’s time you learn what formal, ready, and ready subject mean,” she said. …
The Power of Art in Learning and Understanding the Law
Jim Murphy, the Chair Emeritus of the federal District of Rhode Island’s litigation academy (I just made that title up, but it seems appropriate), is renowned for his stirring lectures during academy programs. Like all faculty of the litigation academy,…
Let’s Confer About Conferring and Then Confer: Latest Proposed Change to Federal Rules Is Further Evidence Judges Don’t Like Discovery Disputes
On August 15, 2018, the federal Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure released its latest proposed change to the federal rules of civil procedure to require opposing parties to confer in good faith when serving deposition notices to organizations under…
Federal Criminal Jury Trial Begins Today in Courtroom 3 at 9 a.m.
In 2017, juries decided only three federal criminal cases in the United States District Court in Rhode Island. The federal courthouse is full of courtrooms, but rarely are those courtrooms full with juries. Today, Wednesday, August 8, a federal criminal…
R.I. Supreme Court ’17-’18 Term in Review: Who Wrote What, and How Criminal Defendants and Pro Se Litigants Fared
It’s the end of July and the Rhode Island Supreme Court has not published an opinion since July 3. The hiatus likely means the Court is done for term 2017-2018 and will not issue another published opinion until the 2018-2019…
The Map Room of Janus: Thoughts on the Thinking of the U.S. Supreme Court and What Comes Next
The map room scene is one of the best moments in the original Raiders of the Lost Ark movie. Indiana Jones drops into the ancient map room of Tanis to locate the Lost Ark. Someone has already been there but…