In this month’s Inside the Section, Chair Melba Pearson speaks with Maryam Ahranjani, editor of “Women in Criminal Law: A Practical Guide for Inclusive Thriving Workplaces.” The book was published this year and provides personal insights and research-based suggestions for creating better working environments for women criminal lawyers.
ALSO WATCH MELBA’S UPDATE AT THIS VIDEO
The House Subcommittee on Government Operations has now concluded its March 17, 2026 hearing on “Oversight of the United States Postal Service: The Financial Future Under Postmaster General David Steiner,” and the message emerging from Capitol Hill is unmistakable: the United States Postal Service (USPS) faces mounting financial pressure, and time to act may be running short. According to the Subcommittee’s official wrap-up, the Postal Service’s “already-troubled financial situation is getting worse,” prompting renewed concern over whether the agency can remain viable without significant structural change.
Testimony before the Subcommittee underscored the scale of the challenge. Postmaster General David Steiner pointed to a dramatic collapse in traditional mail volume, from 213 billion pieces annually at its peak to approximately 109 billion today, representing a loss of over 100 billion pieces of mail and tens of billions in lost revenue. At the same time, while USPS has taken steps to increase revenue and reduce costs, those efforts have not kept pace with rising expenses. As the Government Accountability Office (GAO) emphasized, the current trajectory “is not sustainable,” with service performance declining even as costs continue to grow.
Congressional Budget Office — Immigrant Earnings Assimilation, 1981–2021 (Report No. 62202, March 2026)
The report analyzes how immigrants’ earnings evolve after arriving in the United States and how closely their wages eventually approach those of U.S. born workers. Using several decades of census and survey data, the CBO examines the economic process known as “earnings assimilation”, the extent to which immigrants’ wages increase with time spent in the U.S. labor market.
After the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in U.S. and Israeli airstrikes in Tehran, a temporary council has taken over the leadership of the nation. Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian said March 1 that the new leadership council “has begun its work.” U.S. President Donald Trump has called on the people of Iran to rise up against the regime, explicitly tying U.S. interests in the region to regime change and preventing a nuclear-armed Iran. The commission taking over control of the nation in the midst of its war against two global superpowers is a short-term stopgap. Ultimately, a new leader will be selected by clerics within the state’s theocratic constitution.
To see complete March 1,2026 Epoch News article, Iran’s Temporary Council Assumes Leadership After Khamenei’s Death—What Comes Next?, Click here.
Two recent opinion columns published on Justia Verdict – Legal Analysis and Commentary from Justia examine the legal, political, and moral implications of the continuing disclosures surrounding the Jeffrey Epstein investigations. Written by Professor Marci A. Hamilton of the University of Pennsylvania and founder of CHILD USA, the essays present a forceful argument that accountability for systemic abuse requires sustained legal pressure and public transparency. The views expressed are those of the author and do not represent the official position of Justia.
In The Three Avenues to Justice in the Epstein Cases, Professor Hamilton argues that meaningful accountability is likely to emerge through three principal legal pathways rather than through federal prosecutorial initiative alone.
A recent practitioner commentary offers a confident assessment of the current state of large language models (LLMs) in legal practice, arguing that the primary barriers to adoption are no longer questions of intelligence or reliability but rather issues of infrastructure and workflow integration. Writing from the perspective of a lawyer who uses advanced models daily, the author contends that modern systems have already reached a level of practical competence sufficient for much of routine legal work, and that the profession’s hesitation reflects outdated assumptions about hallucinations and model limitations.
Central to the argument is the claim that hallucinations, once the dominant concern surrounding generative AI, have largely receded as a meaningful obstacle. According to the author’s experience, newer models rarely produce fabricated information, and overall error rates compare favorably with those of competent junior associates. This view reflects a broader shift in perception: rather than treating LLMs as experimental tools requiring constant skepticism, the author frames them as increasingly dependable collaborators capable of supporting substantive legal tasks.
The post also challenges prevailing narratives about the intellectual difficulty of legal work. While acknowledging that certain cases demand deep expertise, the author suggests that the majority of legal tasks rely on skills such as careful reasoning, synthesis of precedent, structured writing, and research , areas where modern LLMs already excel. By reframing legal practice as process-driven rather than exclusively intellectually rarefied, the commentary positions AI as well aligned with the day-to-day realities of the profession.
Synthetic data acts as a “hidden lever” in responsible AI by enabling organizations to train, test, and validate AI models without violating privacy, using copyrighted material, or relying on biased real-world datasets. It allows for the deliberate creation of diverse, balanced datasets, transforming AI development from reactive bias correction to proactive “fairness by design“.
In a recent analysis, Professor Peter Lee of UC Davis School of Law argues that synthetic data could reshape the legal and economic landscape of AI. For organizations navigating compliance, intellectual property risks, and data privacy obligations, this development deserves close attention. Synthetic datasets promise to reduce reliance on sensitive real-world information, potentially lowering exposure to copyright disputes and privacy liabilities. For executives responsible for innovative budgets and risk management, that sounds like a compelling proposition.
Yet the opportunity comes with tradeoffs. Synthetic data does not eliminate risk — it transforms it. Lee highlights issues such as hidden bias, model degradation, and governance challenges when artificial datasets begin influencing real-world decision making. In other words, the question for leadership is not whether to adopt AI tools, but how to ensure that the data behind them remains trustworthy and aligned with organizational values.
Professor Peter Lee’s VERDICT essay argues that synthetic data may revolutionize AI development by providing scalable, legally safer training material. Yet he warns that artificial datasets introduce new risks such as model collapse, bias, and misuse that demand proactive legal oversight. Rather than replacing existing regulatory debates, synthetic data transforms them, requiring courts, policymakers, and information professionals to rethink how innovation, privacy, and intellectual property intersect in the AI era
Here’s an overview of the U.S. Department of State report titled The Chinese Communist Party on Campus: Opportunities & Risks (September 2020):
FROM THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF LAW LIBRARIES:
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Criminal Law Library Blog