On October 8, 2025, the Michigan Supreme Court will hear oral argument as it considers whether it should keep Michigan’s status-based duty classifications for premises liability actions (licensee, invitee, or trespasser) or adopt an across-the-board reasonableness standard of care in line with the Third Restatement of Torts. Michigan 2 Restatement Torts, 3d, § 51 Invitee…
The Michigan Supreme Court heard arguments on the application in two cases during its 2024–25 term involving sentences that included lifetime electronic monitoring and/or required registration as a sex offender under the Sex Offenders Registration Act (SORA). Dozens of other pending applications to the Michigan Supreme Court are held in abeyance until these cases are…
On August 1, 2025, the Michigan Supreme Court released to the public the 29-page Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission Equity Report – Phase II prepared by the National Center for State Courts. Using Claude.ai, I prompted the AI tool to: Review the attached study and using plain language: (1) list all findings, (2) list all recommendations,…
How specific must law enforcement be when seeking a cell phone search warrant? And what must reviewing magistrates and judges consider before authorizing one? A mobile device, like a cell phone, is a data-rich honeypot of electronically stored information. Unrestricted, an investigative treasure trove can be learned from a device’s: For perspective, the ACLU of…
Before the start of classes, new law students are encouraged to read Orin S. Kerr’s How to Read a Legal Opinion: A Guide for New Law Students, 11 GREEN BAG 2D 51 (2007) to find their footing on how to read and understand the cases they will be studying. Fortunately, anyone can repurpose Professor Kerr’s…
Here’s a snapshot of the cases the Michigan Supreme Court heard argument during its 2024-25 sitting that await decision. On July 31, 2025, the court ordered additional briefing to be completed within 21 days. Select the case name to expand the case details. Criminal
How’d you react if you ordered a delightful gift from a “discount” website to be delivered to a good friend for their birthday…but they instead received a gift box filled with dirty, smelly rags (and your name on the gift note)? When a self-represented litigant or attorney asks AI (artificial intelligence) tools like ChatGPT, Claude,…
NotebookLM can be an efficient and collaborative tool as the legal filer checks for proper document and citation formatting—a painstaking task often overlooked. Missing elements can result in a rejected filing or poorly reflect on the writer’s professional competency. For trial court filings, one can create a “Notebook” and upload MCR 1.109, the Michigan Appellate…
Damien Charlotin maintains a work-in-progress database of legal decisions in which generative AI created hallucinated content. Peter Henderson hosts a different site of problematic AI legal filings at his AI Law Tracker page. Both are worth bookmarking and reviewing as resources should the issue develop in your work. And while troubling articles like this are…
A “captions” search of this website recalls earlier posts on why image captions play an important—but often overlooked—role in persuasive and informative legal writing. Three times, the State Appellate Defender Office included excellent descriptive image captions in its Application for Leave to Appeal in People v David Serges (167154). The Michigan Supreme Court recently ordered…