LAW FIRM  DIVERSITY.  NACDL president Rick Jones comments on the persistent lack of diversity in legal firms.  He notes that African-American presence in large firms has regressed.  Black American law firm partners stand at only 1.83%.

COOPERATING DEFENDANTS – LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION.  Attorney Drew Findling uncovers a stark lack of consistency across the nation with respect to cooperation credit. There is no discernible geographic pattern about which jurisdictions are more generous with cooperating defendants.

P.T. BARNUM.  Robert Wilson’s new book on P.T. Barnum traces the history of his “greatest show on earth.” His venues became family affairs with discount tickets for the children – a prototype for later Walt Disney amusement parks.

ELECTION INTERFERENCE?  Ben Freeman notes that third countries have always tried to shape US elections. This became even easier after the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United. That opened the floodgates for foreign money to flow into US elections by making it easier to screen the source of contributions.  Freeman notes that the US went more than 150 years before passing meaningful legislation to regulate foreign influence in our domestic policies.

KEEPING KNOWLEDGE ALIVE. Violet Moller writes on how ancient knowledge was kept alive in the Dark Ages. The first stop on her map is Baghdad, a true “cradle of civilization.”  Paper arrived in 793 A.D. from China, allowing a great Mesopotamian spread of knowledge. Authors they translated and republished reopened multiple scientific fields:.  They included   Euclid, Ptolemy, and Galen.   For a time, other significant centers of knowledge in the medieval period were Cordova and Toledo in Spain; at its height, Córdova produced almost 80,000 books per year.

POWERFUL WOMEN IN WORLD WAR II.   In England, women did not normally organize sabotage. When Pearl Witherington, a trained British courier, ran an active French resistance of some 2000 men, she was strongly recommended for a Military Cross. Women were ineligible for that award so she instead received a “civil award.” She returned it, observing that she had done nothing “civil.”