by Matthew McCoyd I just want to take this opportunity to wish each of you a Happy New Year. Since many of us probably made some New Year’s resolutions I thought I would offer some interesting facts about this tradition.…

by Matthew McCoyd For those of you whom I have not yet had the privilege of meeting, please let me introduce myself: I grew up about a mile from the DeKalb County courthouse, in a house where my parents still…

by Jennifer Little It is with mixed feelings – sadness but also gratification – that I write this final column for the DeKalb Bar Association. As I underscored at my swearing in last June, it is an honor to serve…

by Jennifer Little Each year, members of the legal community celebrate Law Day along with national organizations, state and local bars, businesses and schools. May 1 is a special day, designated by a joint resolution of Congress in 1961, focusing…

by Jennifer Little

In today’s growing technological world, a big question arises: how is the legal system responding? As the use of new technology increases, attorneys must educate themselves about the impact of that technology on how we live and how we litigate cases. Attorneys have become more familiar with E-discovery and E-filing in recent years and, as new technology develops and social media sites experience surges in use, attorneys and the legal system are responding.

Social media sites are quickly becoming a great source of information and even admissible evidence. Messages, pictures, posts and comments in social networking sites now provide an avenue for the discovery of evidence for attorneys. According to a survey cited in the National Law Journal, 81 percent of legal responders said they had seen an increase of social media evidence in court cases they had witnessed. Workers’ compensation, domestic, personal injury, prosecutors and defense attorneys, just to name a few, are now using this form of evidence in courts of law. The American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers says that 81 percent of its members have used evidence from social networks in court, 66 percent of which cite Facebook as the main source with MySpace following at 15 percent and Twitter at 5 percent.

by Jennifer Little Let’s take a break this month from Georgia and DeKalb County politics and allow me to reflect on something more Americans ought to be concerned about: our foreign policy in the world’s most volatile region. Who would…

by Jennifer Little

While watching the playoff games last Sunday, I was surprised to see a flag thrown for a completely unintentional, non-malicious bump of quarterback Aaron Rogers’ helmet. While discussing the call and resulting penalty with friends, I realized there are several parallels that can be drawn between the sport and the profession that I love so much.

Just as in football, a court of law has its players. Everyone comes to the big game dressed in uniforms and ready for a fight. Weeks of preparation, along with a bit of nerves, underscore the importance of the action at hand. The national anthem is sung and the teams meet in the middle of the field for the coin toss; attorneys hear the “all rise” and meet at the bench to join issue.

The attorneys are the coaches. They call the plays, guide the players and design a game plan according to the strengths and weaknesses of the teams. In the end, the result comes only from that game, with those players, and how it was played that day. It comes from your witnesses, your evidence, and how you choose to present them. Just as the coach has to stand back when his players take the field, the attorney must sit down when he puts his witness on the stand and subject him to the rigors of the defense. Attorneys and coaches always have their game plan, a certain mindset of how the game should proceed. But just as in sports, attorneys are acutely aware that what happens on the field is oftentimes nothing like the plan. There are unexpected interceptions and fumbles. Sometimes you get the ball back right away, but other times you cannot recover.