Recently in People and Events Category

America celebrated Constitution Day this week with hoopla and fanfare and a possibly-unconstitutional requirement that educational institutions which receive federal funds must hold educational programs about the Constitution on Constitution Day. Whether or not the observance violates the First Amendment, the late Sen. Robert Byrd created Constitution Day to commemorate the signing of the Constitution and to help students learn about the history of the document.

And so a "holiday" was born.

Perhaps Constitution Day sparks a lifelong love of the law for some students; if you know of such students in the Boston area, then you should tell them about the Nelson and Lindsay Fellowships through the U.S. District Court in Boston.

Speak up and have your voice heard. That was the message that Chief Judge Sandra L. Lynch aimed to send to the graduating students at her alma mater, Boston University. Judge Lynch spoke before the graduating seniors at Boston University on Sunday.

Judge Lynch is currently the Chief Judge of the First Circuit Court of Appeals. She graduated from Boston University Law School in 1971.

We recently wondered who would replace long-time First Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Kermit Lipez, and we may have gotten our answer: William J. Kayatta, Jr.

President Barack Obama announced his pick to replace Maine's only jurist on the First Circuit on Monday.

"I am proud to nominate these outstanding candidates to serve on the United States Court of Appeals," Obama wrote in a statement to the press. "I am confident [Tenth Circuit nominee] Judge Robert E. Bacharach and William J. Kayatta will serve the American people with integrity and distinction."

With the recent Senate Republican filibuster of judicial nominee Caitlin Halligan to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, it wouldn’t be a surprise if President Barack Obama has become a bit gun-shy about making new judicial appointments.

However, his failure to nominate a replacement for soon-to-be-retired Judge Kermit Lipez of the First Circuit Court of Appeals has gotten critics grumbling about a potential “blow to Maine’s legal prestige and delayed justice in a key federal court.”

Here at FindLaw, we understand the pressures of being a legal professional - most of us are recovering lawyers - so we want to help by tossing you that preferred life preserver of the legal profession, the short list.

Muppet-mania is consuming the nation in the most unexpected ways following the release of The Muppets. Needless to say, we have Kermit on the brain.

But Kermit the Frog isn’t the only noteworthy Kermit in America. Today we’re taking a look at the equally-important, and not-at-all-green, First Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Kermit Lipez.

It’s not even Halloween, and we’re already looking forward to Thanksgiving. You probably are, too. After all, the First Circuit Court of Appeals is better-known in the legal world as the circuit where Thanksgiving started.

Even more exciting? Before you fast-forward through November to turkey and football, you have a chance to rub elbows with outstanding appellate lawyers, scholars, and judges at the Appellate Judges Education Institute (AJEI) Summit.

Think of it as a lawyer’s holiday couched between the two calendar holidays that warrant the consumption of mellowcreme pumpkins.