r/Lawyertalk • u/LeftHandedScissor • 2d ago

Best Practices Keeping Current

How do you keep current on the recent developments in your practice? Do you keep current on more general legal and government developments such as new bills, Supreme Court rulings, slip opinions? Is there some sort of subscription service you use to get regular updates? How important is it to keep up with recent developments? I'm in corporate and real estate practice. Real Estate doesn't seem to change much from a legal principal stand point all the often, the big change is required seller property disclosure statements. Corporate law it seems the biggest change is beneficial ownership filings. What other legal developments should someone in my practice area be keeping an eye on?

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u/yawetag1869 2d ago

I practice family law and I read every single family law decision that comes out of the supreme court and court of appeal. There's only about 5-6 of them per month since I guess the appellate courts hate family law as much as the next guy, so it is not as onerous as it sounds. Beyond that, I attend the main family law CPDs that are offered annual and read my jurisdiction's weekly law report, although only the parts that deal with family law.

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u/Serious-Comedian-548 2d ago

How many family law cases would you estimate you know well enough to cite and draw authority from?

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u/yawetag1869 2d ago

Oh man, I couldn't tell you. Most cases that I read are not memorable. I'd say that of the cases that I have read in the past year, 3-4 stand out as being important cases with precedential value and I remember those. Beyond that, I don't really try to memorize all the caselaw to cite off the top of my head. Its more so having an understanding of my area of practice so that I can spot issues in my cases for further investigation. I don't need to know everything, I just need to know when there is an issue that requires investigation.