Most law students are likely frantically preparing for finals, even over this holiday weekend. Yet, remember to spend time with family and friends.  It’s important during this busy time to reconnect with our loved ones and to remember – and be thankful for – what is really important.  Happy Thanksgiving!

Today is the day of tricks or treats, of lit jack-o-lanterns, and of dressing in costumes silly or scary or downright outlandish.  But Halloween gives rise to more than ghouls and goblins; it also produces facts for interesting case law.  How about the neighbor whose lawn decorations included a sign saying “Insane Asylum” with an arrow pointing toward the plaintiff’s house, along with a homemade tombstone that allegedly referenced the plaintiff and read:

At 48 She had

No mate No date

It’s no debate

She looks 88

She met her fate

in a crate

Now We Celebrate

1961–2009.

Click here for an article in the New York State Bar Association Journal by Attorney Daniel B. Moar, collecting what he calls “Case Law from the Crypt:  The Law of Halloween,” including the above case as well as a case where the court held as a matter of law that a house was haunted.

Trick or treat!

You have a task to assign to someone with whom you work.  Maybe that task is producing a certain number of widgets before 5 p.m. or maybe it’s writing a summary judgment brief to file next week.  What will motivate that person to complete that task and complete it well?  Money?  The possible recognition of Employee of the Month?  Or simply the desire to complete the task the best way she can?

According to Daniel H. Pink, author of Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, if the task is more like completing widgets, rewards like money and recognition are the best motivators.  But if your task is more like writing that brief, then tangible rewards are most likely to backfire in the long run.

But doesn’t making more money or garnering more recognition motivate everybody to do a good job?  Not according to Pink.