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US v. Vargas-De Jesus, 09-1519, concerned a challenge to a conviction of defendant for possession with intent to distribute illegal drugs within one thousand feet of a school and related crimes. The court affirmd in part defendant’s conviction as to the conspiracy as there was sufficient evidence of post-majority conduct to convict, and it was not plain error for the district court to fail to give the instruction that it could only find him guilty if he ratified and participated in the conspiracy after he turned 18....

Outsourcing legal work to attorneys in the Midwest may be more economical than you’d think, according to a new report by Fronterion. Firms that outsource work to offshore companies, like those in India, often pay $25 to $35 an hour for basic legal services. Surprisingly, Midwestern attorneys are now charging comparable hourly rates. This could mean that an increasing amount of legal work could remain bound for domestic attorneys. There are a variety of reasons why attorneys might opt for domestic legal work over offshore legal work: professional obligations, client comfort, time zone problems, language barriers, and data protection concerns, Fronterion points out in their report....

Ward v. U.S. Atty. Gen., No. 09-11349, concerned an action seeking declaratory relief and a writ of mandamus requiring defendants to allow plaintiff to file a DS-230 application for immigrant visa status. The court of appeals affirmed summary judgment for defendants, holding that the death of a primary-beneficiary parent extinguishes his child’s right to his immigrant visa status. In US v. Farley, No. 08-15882, the court of appeals affirmed defendant’s conviction and sentence for knowingly crossing “a State line” with intent to engage in a sexual act with a person under the age of twelve, on the grounds that 1) the First Amendment did not protect his sexually explicit conversations with an undercover officer who pretended to be offering her daughter for sex; 2) defendant’s conviction turned on the criminal intent with which he acted, not on the existence of an actual child; 3) even if the FBI did trick defendant into thinking their investigation was about terrorism, there was no evidence they made any promise that questioning would be limited to that subject, or gave him any assurance that statements relating to other crimes would not be used against him; and 4) there was evidence sufficient for a reasonable factfinder to find guilt beyond a reasonable doubt....

Law firms aren’t known for their effective use of office space. This is a problem because office expenses directly affect the bottom line: if you’re wasting office space, you’re wasting money. Office occupancy expenses are second only to a firm’s lawyer compensation, according to the 2015 Client Advisory by Citi Private Bank. This isn’t an inherent problem, but many firms are still struggling since the recession, so every penny counts....

Sean James Hager felt like his employer didn’t have his “long-term interests at heart.” So he devised a plan for his future. Using his employer’s confidential information, he started a company that sold parts to the employer and netted about $1.16 million for himself. That was the plan anyway – until he was convicted of wire fraud and other crimes. In United States of America v. Hager, he also made another mistake....

In the latest version of David v. Goliath, Kind, a small, but fast-growing company, is going up against Clif Bar, who has over 18% of the nutrition bar market as of 2012, reports Fortune. According to court papers filed on February 6, 2014, Kind is suing Clif for trademark infringement, à la trade dress violation, related to the new, very similar packaging of Clif’s Mojo nutrition bars. Trade Dress Similarities Kind’s packaging features a large clear band so consumers can see the product inside....

California divorce attorney Dennis Cohen has made perhaps the most enlightened and jealousy-inducing real estate decision ever made by a member of the legal profession: Docked in the Marina del Rey harbor in West Los Angeles, Cohen’s 57-foot yacht, appropriately named Concordance, serves not only as an office for his divorce mediation practice, but also an alternative means of income during these tough times. That’s right–the Daily Breeze reports that he rents out his divorce mediation yacht office on weekends for romantic getaways....

A number of lawsuits are pending in federal courts these days and their legal significance cannot be overstated. At issue is whether or not the three biggest names in social media today – Google, Facebook, and Twitter – have committed acts of “international terrorism” under the U.S. Anti-Terrorism Act. The Problem Like any social group, ISIS, Hamas, and other terrorist organizations have utilized the power of social media to their advantage....

They’ve never seen a Walkman. They don’t get your references to Henry Kissinger or Tabitha Soren. You definitely don’t get their apps, or understand why they’re so into Pokemon right now. Can the gap between Millennials and the rest of us ever be bridged? Of course. Communicating with young lawyers, interns, or support staff isn’t as hard as it seems. Here are some tips to help you out. Millennials, or those whippersnappers born sometime between the early 80’s and the late 90’s, are now the largest segment of the American workforce....

Attention immigration lawyers: Judges are watching you, and in about half of all cases, they don’t like what they see. A newly released survey of immigration judges in and around New York City finds immigration lawyers are often good at helping their clients avoid deportation. But about half of immigration attorneys are “inadequate” and often irresponsible, the judges say. Immigrants facing deportation “are easy prey for ambulance-chasing-style lawyers who do not adhere to the highest standards of responsibility,” federal appellate Judge Robert A....

Given the new California law permitting the recreational use of marijuana, countless more lawyers are invariably asking themselves the same question: Should I break into the marijuana law business now? If you’re only doing it for the money, you might want to reconsider as the green gold rush isn’t likely to trickle down too far or for too long or to you at all. And if you’re doing it because you like using marijuana, again, you might want to reconsider as that’s an idea that hasn’t even made it to the oven to get half-baked....

Dismissal of Antitrust Action Affirmed In Jacobs v. Tempur-Pedic Int’l., Inc., No. 08-12720, an antitrust action claiming that defendant illegally enforced vertical retail price maintenance agreements with its distributors and engaged with its distributors in horizontal price fixing, the cout affirmed the dismissal of the complaint where 1) the complaint failed to adequately plead a relevant market and thus did not show actual harm to competition; and 2) the potential costs of fixing prices with defendant’s distributors would outweigh any benefits that defendant would realize by doing so, particularly where independent economic activity would yield the same benefits with none of the costs....

Lawyers should always be ready to interact professionally with the media. You never know when a reporter will call to ask about a case. For example, there was an incident when TMZ was reporting on my case before I got back to the office. For five days straight, all I did was answer phone calls and grant interviews to the media. News agencies literally from around the world wanted to know about my case....

Liberty University is the latest plaintiff to file an individual mandate appeal with the Supreme Court. The conservative school, founded by Rev. Jerry Falwell, filed the appeal on Monday. Liberty University Attorney Mathew Staver expects the court to decide whether to consider the case before it takes its December break, reports The Wall Street Journal. The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Liberty University’s individual mandate challenge in September. Liberty argued that the penalties to be assessed for non-compliance with the Affordable Care Act were unconstitutional; the court found that individual mandate penalties could not be reviewed under the Anti-Injunction Act (AIA) because penalties are a type of tax that cannot be attacked through pre-enforcement....

In the NLRB’s petition for enforcement of its order requiring respondent to bargain with a union over the effects of its layoff of bargaining unit workers following Hurricane Rita and its hiring of non-unit personnel to fill jobs formerly held by unit workers, the petition is granted where: 1) respondent’s failure to provide the union adequate notice of its actions requiring bargaining made it impossible for the union to have waived bargaining; and 2) the company’s constant maintenance of its position that it had lawfully withdrawn its recognition of the union as the unit employees’ bargaining agent freed the union from any responsibility to request bargaining....

One of the lead stories in The New York Times over the weekend outlined how President Barack Obama has reshaped the federal judiciary, with Democratic appointees outnumbering Republican picks in nine out of 13 federal appeals courts. The shift was even more pronounced after the Senate abolished the filibuster for judicial nominations (other than for the Supreme Court). But that’s not a huge surprise, is it? If someone is in office long enough, he’ll fill the seats....

More and more law firms are adopting the holy grail of office floor plans, the open concept office. These floor plans eschew private working spaces for more collaborative spaces. Maybe having client meetings in wall-less cubicles sounds less than ideal. But, for the small amount of time that lawyers actually spend meeting with clients compared to doing other work, conference and meeting rooms can provide the necessary client meeting spaces....

A new update to Outlook will soon allow users to both send and pay bills directly in their email. For lawyers and law firms, this could prove rather helpful as spending less time paying bills, and making it easier for clients to pay your bills, is always welcome. Unfortunately, unless you use Stripe or Braintree, and have been invited to early access, you won’t be able to use the service just yet....

The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals is sending us into the new year with Pascal quotes and contradictions. This week, the appellate court concluded that an employer’s contradictory statements were enough to support a pretext argument. Judge Adalberto Jordan wrote, “It may be that a ‘contradiction is not a sign of falsity, nor the lack of contradiction a sign of truth’ … But under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, a contradiction of the employer’s proffered reason for the termination of an employee is sometimes enough, when combined with other evidence, to allow a jury to find that the firing was the result of unlawful discrimination....

Oscar Pistorius, now on trial for murdering his girlfriend, has become famous for his outward signs of grief and anguish, including weeping and throwing up. Are the tears genuine? Is the vomit mere crocodile vomit? Who can tell? But he is putting on such a show that he’s just been accused of taking acting lessons. Huh, Acting Lessons? Good idea? Should your client take acting lessons? Let’s answer that question with a question, a question likely to be asked by opposing counsel....