By Michael Abdan, Esq.

An android — a human robot — confidently addressing a courtroom, its digital eyes gleaming with intelligence. The judge and jurors, captivated. What’s remarkable isn’t the futuristic spectacle, but that this AI can outspeak, outthink, and match seasoned trial lawyers head-to-head.

If Hollywood has taught us anything, it’s that AI always knows more than it lets on. Remember HAL 9000, the sentient computer, in “2001: A Space Odyssey”? HAL wasn’t just any ordinary assistant; he had intelligence that surpassed human comprehension. And Ridley’s Scott’s masterpiece: “Blade Runner,” a film where AI goes beyond mere data crunching. Replicants, those bioengineered beings from Tyrell Corp., were designed to be “more human than human.” And who can forget James Cameron’s “Aliens,” where the corporate sycophant, Burke, was supplanted by an android named Bishop?

As the cost of providing medical care has increased dramatically in recent years, some healthcare providers resorted to overcharging insurers for out-of-network care needed for emergencies or specialized treatment. To purportedly control such costs, insurers turned to data analytics firm MultiPlan to reduce the amounts they were eventually required to pay. Rather than fixing the problem, however, this shifted the financial burden of these providers’ high rates to patients.

The Lakota warrior and chief known as Tatanka Iyotake, and as Sitting Bull to the white man, did not display heroism and leadership throughout his life. When he was a young member of the Teton Sioux, he was deliberate and awkward.

I MET HARRY Thompson in the late 1980’s.

Back then I was in my mid-30’s — and I was an aggressive young attorney. Some might have described
me as arrogant. With the perfect vision of hindsight, that label probably had some truth to it.

JANIE WAS WORKING through the needlessly briny, settled half of her shitty martini, in gulps of two, when she spotted his blazer, jeans, and wingtips breaching the stainedglass gates of the asinine hipster drinking den on which he had insisted via text late night at 2:51 in the morning when she had made the tragic mistake of telling him.

We know the practice of law is stressful. But why is the law such a stressful practice? What drives the high rates of mental health and substance use issues in the profession? What contributes to a lawyers’ unhappiness and dissatisfaction over time?

Dear World Trade Center:

23 years. I think about you every day.

Do you know we were born the same year? 1973.
I was born in March, you in April. We grew up together.
We were both 28 ½ years old when you died.

By Micah Gerola

Big bad oil companies and their big bad, money-hungry legal teams. Sound familiar? Across the globe, corporations have tried to build countless new projects at the expense of environmental sanctuaries, oceans, wildlife, and our communities. Key word:tried.

So who is saving us from environmental destruction?

Who is the voice of our people and takes action against these scheming conglomerates?

Would you believe me if I told you it is a small non-profit, public interest firm in Santa Barbara, California? These people are the environmental superheroes and they call themselves Environmental Defense Center. But, who exactly are these people and where did they come from….