Author Index Hon. Ron Spears

Abraham Lincoln’s curiosity and interest in science and technology advanced the nation.

Reflections on Abraham Lincoln’s way of facing the struggles of his time, and what we can learn as we face our own.

The restoration of Robert E. Lee’s reputation vs. true racial reckoning.

Three lawyers who wrestled with slavery, racism, and leadership.

Notes from a Lincolnesque lawyer.

The coping skills Lincoln gained from his many setbacks, failures, and dark times.

Lincoln had a way of making complex topics easy to understand for judges and jurors.

The time when Lincoln allegedly told a thirsty client, on trial for murdering her husband, about the tasty water in Tennessee.

Abraham Lincoln and his involvement in a case defending the first train bridge over the Mississippi River.

The most intriguing part of Lincoln's famous almanac trial was his interest in science.

In the 1840s, Lincoln learned the hard way that bullying and belittling words can produce embarrassing, even dangerous, consequences.

Frontier-lawyer Lincoln responded to humiliating disrespect from co-counsel Edwin Stanton by working hard to improve - and by later making Stanton his Secretary of War.

Lincoln's decision to represent a slaveholder against slaves seeking their freedom is controversial to this day.

A new ISBA effort will generate articles and CLE about Lincoln's legal career and the lesson it can teach us.

What do aging citizens – and judges – mean for the justice system?

Lawyers and judges have been slow to acknowledge the limitations of forensic science.

Dissatisfied litigants and other unhappy "consumers" of justice are increasingly choosing private options.

The rapid growth of litigation funding raises a host of issues.

More judges are being asked to allow expert testimony about eyewitness ID and confessions.

Should law schools do more to prepare grads for practice?

Lawyers are using Internet to research prospective jurors.

Some companies and plaintiffs want to revert structured settlements to lump sums, and judges have the final say.

Sometimes judges have to make a lonely stand against the majority.

Our courts are ill-designed to meet the needs of pro se litigants. The supreme court is responding.

You can be both happy and healthily pessimistic.

Trial by jury remains a key underpinning of our justice system.

Lincoln was an exemplary but not perfect lawyer - which makes his example all the more inspiring.

Should judicial approval be required for even small damage awards for minors?

Defendants have a Constitutional right to effective counsel during plea bargains.

"Bricolage" is the art of creating a solution using whatever is available. It's an art litigators would do well to cultivate.