Practitioners, scholars, politicians and law graduates made their strong opinions known in 2013 on topics ranging from same-sex marriage and immigration to gun control and judicial appointments. The state of the legal profession played prominently in the NLJ’s opinion pages, as did legal education and government surveillance. Here are some highlights.

IN THE COURTS

SAME-SEX MARRIAGE

Erwin Chemerinsky, dean, University of California, Irvine School of Law (July 1)