Articles

The articles I’ve included in this sampling fall into two categories. A number are about children’s issues—especially child abuse. I’ve chosen articles on topics that I thought were particularly important when I wrote them, and I still feel that way. In fact, I wish some of them weren’t. I would be happy to acknowledge that the Catholic Church (the subject of two of these stories) has completely changed its response when its officials learn that a priest has been accused of sexually assaulting a child. If only it were true.

The second category is about lawyers and the law. These were written during my time as a reporter and editor at American Lawyer Media (now ALM), where I have worked since 2001. I think they demonstrate the incredible variety a reporter covering this beat encounters. Despite the stereotypes, lawyers are a diverse group and their work covers the gamut. These days you can find legal stories in every section of a newspaper or magazine: News, Business, Culture, Lifestyles, Sports.

Some of these stories are about life-and-death issues (“Lost in Translation”); others are about the lifestyle choices hard-charging lawyers have made over the years (“The Voyage Back” and “Mr. and Mrs. Smith”). One of my favorites is about the lessons trial lawyers learn from losing cases. And one of the pleasures for me in reporting that particular story was finding that it wasn’t as hard as I’d expected to get a half-dozen successful trial lawyers to talk—candidly and at length—about their failures.

Children’s Issues

Lawyers and the Law