Category: Law

A Jazzy Trial in 1917 Chicago: Who Wrote Those Blues?

Chapter 17 of The Coolest Spot in Chicago: A History of Green Mill Gardens and the Beginnings of Uptown <— PREVIOUS CHAPTER / TABLE OF CONTENTS / NEXT CHAPTER —> In the midst of Chicago’s jazz boom and cabaret controversies of 1917, the city played host to a curious event in the annals of legal… Continue reading A Jazzy Trial in 1917 Chicago: Who Wrote Those Blues?

Foot Fight: Subway sandwich suit raises class action questions

ABA Journal, February 2017 — In January 2013, Australian teen Matt Corby posted a photo on Facebook of a Subway “foot-long” sandwich he’d bought next to a ruler that showed it was an inch short. The post went viral—and within weeks, people across the United States began to file lawsuits, claiming they’d been shorted by… Continue reading Foot Fight: Subway sandwich suit raises class action questions

Lawsuits aim to put iconic folk songs back in the public domain

ABA Journal, November 2016 — As he hitchhiked around the country in 1940, Woody Guthrie got sick of hearing Irving Berlin’s patriotic hit “God Bless America” on car radios and jukeboxes. So the itinerant folk singer penned his own anthem in response—with lyrics that challenged the concept of private property. He called the song “This Land.”… Continue reading Lawsuits aim to put iconic folk songs back in the public domain

The father and daughter lawyers behind Pac-Man and Beanie Babies

This article by Robert Loerzel originally appeared in Leading Lawyers magazine’s July 2010 issue. When Pac-Man fever swept America in 1981, that little yellow guy with the round head and the big mouth did more than gobble up a bunch of dots on a screen. Pac-Man also helped to establish a new legal principle: the… Continue reading The father and daughter lawyers behind Pac-Man and Beanie Babies