Email can be a time-killer, so why not fight back?

When junk mail starts to outnumber legit mail, it's time to put them to sleep with the fishes. And what about those old emails that keep hanging around like cheap friends? You don't have time for this!

But you don't wanna whack the good guys, so whatta you gonna do? Well, say hello to my little friends:

"But for the grace of God, goes John Bradford."

It's a quote attributed to the religious reformer, commenting as prisoners were led to execution. He was later burned at the stake.

It's also apropos for lawyers who have advocated for clients, only to have them threaten them. Like Jack Swerling's client, who was convicted after holding him at gunpoint.

Plaintiffs mysteriously lost twice as many federal cases in 2009 than they had 24 years earlier, according to a new study.

Two University of Connecticut law professors said the plaintiffs' win rate declined about 50 percent from 1985 to 2009. It was a trend the professors cannot explain.

"I'm an academic, I don't like to speculate," said Peter Siegelman, who co-authored the study with Alexandra Lahav.

Move to France.

That's the short answer to how lawyers can demand vacation days. In France, employees are entitled to five weeks of paid vacation each year by law.

Unlike most countries, however, the United States has no right to paid vacation or paid holidays. So if you are an American lawyer, you may have to work a little harder to take time off.

It's a hard thing, defending so many people in court that you don't even recognize your clients' faces.

But that is a given for many public defenders, like those in Santa Clara County, California, who handle scores of cases each day in the turnstiles of criminal court. For some 124 attorneys, there are about 37,000 clients a year.

That's why "participatory defense" is the new black for public defenders. It's a new name for an old school practice in criminal law.

It's hardly news when a lawyer misses an important email because it happens all the time, right?

After all, what with all the junk mail from vendors and others, it's easy to overlook an important email once in a while. But what if that important email went straight to the junk mail?

Attorney Stan Davis, whose case could be dismissed over it, is asking a judge to decide the issue. But many lawyers know the answer because they have been there, done that.

When President Trump fired half of the U.S. Attorneys in the country, they had to go somewhere.

So Andrew Luger, a former U.S. Attorney, joined Jones Day as a partner in its investigations and white collar defense practice. He supervised large-scale white collar investigations and prosecutions for the government.

His transition back to the private sector comes at a time when government prosecutors are "increasingly" investigating companies and their officials, according to Jones Day. It is a trend that is affecting large and small firms.

The 'Accidental Tax Lawyer' is not the name of a movie. It's a title from a blog post about a lawyer thinking about going back to school to become a certified public accountant. But if it were a movie, it would be a mid-life, coming-of-age story because it speaks to all who wonder about that other road in life.

Only the road to becoming a CPA after law school is harder than doing it the other way around. At least, that's the story from these bloggers:

Pointing out the pros and cons of being a trial lawyer is like pointing out the best and worst flavors at Baskin Robbins.

There are so many choices and everybody has a favorite. Maybe you like peanut butter chocolate, but the next guy is allergic to it.

So it is with the best and worst parts about being a trial lawyer because there are many kinds of trials. I'm gonna go with rocky road.

'All I Really Need to Know I Learned Teaching a Law Class.'

That's the title of a new book about the benefits of teaching a law class. It's a piece of fiction (because the book doesn't exit), but I could write it because I have actually been there and done that. For now, may I offer a few pointers?

Like Robert Fulghum said in his famous "All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten," there are fundamental lessons for success in life. In teaching a law class to grow your business, there are some basic do's and don'ts.