Prenuptial Agreements

Marielle Segarra, host of NPR's podcast Life Kit, interviews Theresa Viera, a lawyer specialised in prenuptial agreements -- legal contracts between soon-to-be spouses that lay out how they'll deal with money during a marriage and, if it happens, after a divorce. The interview can be found here. 20 min., transcript available.

 U.S. Supreme Court and LGBTQ Rights

The U.S. Supreme Court, now sitting with 9 justices, will have to reconcile religious freedom and anti-discrimination laws in a case, argued last week, about a Catholic charity's refusal to allow same-sex couples to be foster parents. NPR's Nina Totenberg has the story here. 4 min. 27 sec., transcript available.

You can listen to the complete oral arguments (1h. 50 min.) here. Transcript available.

Over My Dead Body

The podcast Over My Dead Body focuses on the murder of law professor Dan Markel. All six episodes of the first season entitled Tally (the murder took place in Tallahassee, Florida) can be found here. The journalist, Mathiew Shaer, was able to use recordings of police interviews and phone taps, as allowed by Florida law. Each episode is about 40 minutes long, no transcript.
The podcast is part of something called Wondery which describes itself as « a network of storytellers, connecting you to a world of entertainment and a world of knowledge ».
There will probably be a season two because the trial of the three people already charged with the murder hasn’t taken place yet.
You can find more "true crime"  podcasts here.

Law in Action Is Back

Joshua Rosenberg's Law in Action on BBC Radio 4 is back for a new series. The first programme begins by talking about the role of women in the legal profession, then talks about no-fault divorce. 26 min, no transcript.

Transparency in the Family Justice System (England) - the series

Gresham College (London) is presenting a series this year, Transparency in the Family Justice System, featuring Professor Jo Delahunty QC. Lectures already given include Women Lawyers: Equals at the Bar?, What Do Judges Do in the Family Court? Vulnerable Clients and the Family Justice System. The lectures are about one hour long. You can watch the lecture in streaming or download it. A transcript is always available as well as the slides that are used.

The last three lectures will be Dealing with Sex Abuse, The Child in the Family Court Room: Whose Child is it Anyway? and Transparency in the Family Court: What Goes On Behind Closed Doors?

American, Married, Child Born Abroad...

American, married, child born abroad - is the child an American citizen? NPR's All Things Considered has a story about this with a surprising answer. Usually yes, but the State Department says genetic testing is necessary when the married couple is same-sex. Even if one of the parents listed on the birth certificate is a U.S. citizen, only genetically related children qualify as U.S. citizens. Several same-sex married couples are challenging this in court. 3 min 49 sec, transcript available.

"Divorce Tourism"

Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s program, The Law Report, has a discussion about international aspects of divorce law, or what they call "divorce tourism". The program examines question of whose family law applies, or more exactly which court system will have jurisdiction. 28 min, transcript available.

Trump and the Supreme Court

On NPR’s All Things Considered Nina Totenberg talks about what Donald Trump’s presidency will mean for the Supreme Court, especially regarding abortion and same sex marriage rulings. 3 min 56 sec, transcript available.

More Raising the Bar

Episodes of the BBC radio 5 live programme Raising the Bar disappear after a month, so hurry if you want to hear about divorce law (three days left to listen), or the law relating to young people (ten days left) or finally how criminal law affects ordinary people, especially victims (17 days left).

U.S. Supreme Court - Affordable Care Act

Nina Totenberg, on NPR’s All Things Considered, explains here Thursday's U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). 5 min 42 sec, transcript will be available. The Court will deliver its last opinions today (Friday) and then on Monday. Still to come, the ruling on same-sex marriage, in the case of Obergefell v. Hodges.

Loving Day

NPR's Morning Edition has a short report about Loving Day - a commemoration of a U.S. Supreme Court decision which held, on June 12, 1967, that a Virginia law forbidding interracial marriages was unconstitutional. The name of the case was Loving v. Virginia, Loving being the family name of the couple. 2 min 49 sec, transcript available.

Civil Marriage in Lebanon

NPR's All Things Considered of May 22 has a story about a couple who managed to be married civilly in Lebanon, a country with 18 different religions and sects. 4 min 26 sec, transcript available.

More on Same-Sex Marriage and the U.S. Supreme Court

In this week's episode of Amicus, Slate's Dahlia Lithwick interviews one of the lawyers who argued last month before the U.S. Supreme Court against same-sex bans on marriage in Obergefell v. Hodges. The lawyer, Douglas Hallward-Driemeier, explains some of the reasoning on both sides of the legal issues. You can also hear bits of the actual oral arguments. 35 min., no transcript.
36 minutes of excerpts ("super-cuts") from the two-and-a-half hour oral arguments can be found here, on SCOTUSblog. You can hear the full recording of the arguments here on the official Supreme Court site which also has the transcript available.

Unreliable Evidence Is Back

BBC’s programme Unreliable Evidence presented by Clive Anderson has begun a new series. The first episode looks at how English law balances the interests of parents and children. Anderson’s guests include a former president of the High Court Family Division, several senior lawyers and a law professor. 43 min, no transcript.
Further episodes include

• The Law and the Gender Pay Gap
• Human Rights on the Battlefield
• The Law of the Road

Same-Sex Marriage before the U.S. Supreme Court

NPR’s legal affairs correspondent Nina Totenberg presents the stories of some of the « accidental activists » who are at the center of the legal battle challenging state bans on same-sex marriages. The oral argument on April 28 in these four cases will be longer than the usual one hour. According to SCOTUSblog, transcripts and the audio of the arguments will be posted rapidly (within a few hours) and the cases will probably decided by the end of June. 11 min 18 sec, transcript available.
More about the cases can be found here. Slate Magazine's Dahlia Lithwick, on her podcast Amicus, interviews Supreme Court advocate Paul M. Smith about the legal issues in the four cases. 28 min, no transcript.

What the Supreme Court Didn't Do

When the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear appeals from lower courts which had invalidated state bans on same-sex marriage, the effect was to make such bans unconstitutional in many states. NPR's Nina Totenburg explains this (and talks about cases the Court will decide) here. 7 min.

Another NPR story about the effect of the Court's refusal to hear same-sex marriage cases can be found here. 4 min, 16 sec.

Baby Names

Do you need a reminder that the U.S. is a federation of at least 50 different jurisdictions? Or proof of the cultural element in law? Listen to this story on NPR's Morning Edition of Sept. 15 about the problem a family in Tennessee had naming a baby. 3 min 52 sec.

Summaries of Recent UK Supreme Court Judgments Available on YouTube

The UK Supreme Court records the short presentations made by its justices explaining the court's decisions. These are usually 5 to 7 minutes long, with no transcript, but very clear, with more information available if you click on "show more". Recent cases have involved

• human rights - whether the living arrangements made for a mentally incapacitated person amount to a deprivation of liberty
• private international law/Rome II Treaty - how English courts should deal with the assessment of damages in claims arising out of fatal accidents abroad
• workers'  rights - whether a solicitor who is a partner in an LLP (limited liability partnership) can be considered to be a "worker" and so protected as a whistle-blower
• property - whether the use of a recreational ground was "by right" or "as of right"
• evidence - the proper use of linguistic experts in asylum claims
• international family law - grandparents' rights of custody and the The Hague Convention on International Child Abduction.

An English High Court Judge on Family Law

Peter Jackson, one of the most senior High Court judges assigned to the Family Division of the High Court, spoke at London School of Economics on 12 December 2013. He detailed what he does by going through his agenda for the last two weeks, then described how he reaches decisions. His talk is here, available as a video or audio, 1 h, 25 min, no transcript available.

Polygamous Relationships

NPR's All Things Considered of Dec. 18 has a report about a decision by a Federal District Court judge concerning the validity of using prohibitions of 'cohabitation' to attack polygamous relationships. The law restricting marriage to only one wife at a time remains valid.
4 min, transcript available