About David Levine
David Levine is a freelance writer whose work has appeared in The New York Times, Sports Illustrated, American Heritage, and dozens of other publications. He is the author, co-author, or ghostwriter of seven books, including the basketball books Life on the Rim (Macmillan) and In the Land of Giants (Little, Brown). His latest book, The Hudson Valley: The First 250 Million Years, was published by Globe Pequot Press in 2020.
Articles written by David Levine
‘This is People’s Lives’
Erin Lee’s immigration work includes a newspaper columnIt wasn’t a lie, but it wasn’t wholly the truth, either. But it’s how Erin Lee wound up in immigration law. After studying economics and music at UC San Diego, Lee interned at the Orange County DA’s office and worked as a legal assistant at a small bankruptcy firm. The DA’s office, she felt, “was pretty cool, kind of like Law & Order. I thought I could do a lot of different things with a J.D.” Except she got that J.D. in 2009, the height of the Great Recession, when law firms …
Both Sides Now
Jim Sturdivant went from JAG defense to DOJ prosecutionAs a football player, Jim Sturdivant played on both sides of the ball—defense in high school and offensive line as a freshman walk-on at Auburn. As an attorney, same deal. Before he was a white-collar criminal defense attorney, he was a federal prosecutor; and before that he was a JAG defense lawyer. Being on both sides of the ball, he says, helps him better understand the game. Sturdivant quit football after his freshman year (“I like to say that I was small, but I was slow,” he jokes), …
How Do I Create a Legally Enforceable Contract?
“When people think of contracts, they tend to think of multi-page documents with all this arcane legal language in them — but they don’t have to be that way,” says New York business attorney Sarah Gold. There are a few key requirements any contract must meet in order to be legally binding and enforceable, including legal capacity, mutual assent, exchange, and offer and acceptance. It’s possible to have a contract that meets all the requirements while being clear and to the …
The Most Popular Guy in the Neighborhood
How Jim Hacker became the Beyoncé of the New York BarJim Hacker’s professional life can be neatly bookended by two men with the same name. When Hacker entered Albany Law School in 1981, he says, “I didn’t know a tort from a French pastry,” but at his freshman orientation a titan of Albany law came to speak. His name was E. Stewart Jones, and he brought with him a legal family legacy that dates back to 1898. “Everybody knew he was the guy,” Hacker says. In his address, Jones told the 1Ls that to be successful in this profession, you …
How To Find a Good Personal Injury Attorney
Choosing the right personal injury lawyer can be an intimidating prospect. It's a task that will involve more than a simple Google search or online ad. You will have to consult with personal injury lawyers to figure out who is a good fit for you and your case. Personal injury law is a huge practice area and covers many legal issues. It includes everything from wrongful death, car accidents, property damage, and product liability to medical malpractice cases. When a person or company causes you …
Trademark Advice from Georgia IP Attorneys
Branding a business has never been more important. “Our economy is largely digital now—it can change literally overnight—which means that businesses live and die by their brands. A strong brand not only signifies the quality of your products or services, it also sets your company apart in the sea of competition,” says Marcy Sperry, founder of Vivid IP in Atlanta. “Your brand is the soul of your business, so the sooner you can protect it, the better.” And perhaps the most …
It Pays To Be Proactive When It Comes to Trademarks
Branding has never been more important, which is why missteps in trademarking logos, names and other elements can set a business back significantly. Take the owner of a new magazine who reached out to Kristin Grant, an IP attorney with an eponymous firm in lower Manhattan, to clean up a trademarking mess. In its trademark application, the company listed its services as “publication of magazines” in a particular trademark class: 41. “However, what they were actually offering is the …
Five Things To Look For in Your Next Contract
What’s the cost of a poorly written contract? Millions, potentially. Rob Hassett of Hassett Law Group in Atlanta represents clients in music and television. He’s seen contract offers that give a record label or a television show exclusive rights to an artist’s services for upwards of 10 years — often at onerous terms. “I have to tell them: If you sign that, it won’t necessarily work out great,” he says. Most of Hassett’s clients listen, but some are simply eager to get a deal. A …
How To Tell if You Have a Workers' Comp Claim
A construction worker falls off a roof and goes to the ER. What happens next? Ideally, the employer's insurance pays the medical bills and compensates for lost wages. But what if a worker with a bad back wrenches it again while lifting a square of roofing shingles? The short answer is: it depends. When a prior condition contributes to a work-related injury, the incident must be the primary contributing cause of the medical issue. Otherwise, the employer denies the claim, and the worker must …
Bellavia v. Cancer
How a mistaken diagnosis led to a fundraising movementLeonard Bellavia thought he was going to die. In 2016, at age 58, Bellavia’s yearly physical revealed a slightly elevated PSA level, a marker for prostate cancer. The doctor took a biopsy and ordered some imaging tests. A few days later, Bellavia got a voicemail telling him to come in to discuss next steps. “I thought, ‘That’s not encouraging,’” he says. The imaging scan showed lesions on his bones, he was told, and the biopsy confirmed early-stage prostate cancer. A few weeks …
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