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When it comes to avoiding ethical issues, isn’t it just a Ten Commandments of Thou-Shalt-Not’s? “Don’t lie.” “Don’t cheat.” “Don’t steal.” But how boring is that? Plus it’s like a million years old! So let’s break the mold and have a little fun with it. After all, what could be more fun than taking some risks with social media lawyer ethics? Here’s a twist on a list from Eat This, Not That, tailor-made for the modern world of social media....

Last week, we considered whether an attorney actually needs an office. While some attorneys may prefer to work from home while meeting clients in the outside world, we noted that attorneys should consider their type of practice, their clientele, personal work habits, and the real estate market before deciding on a work space. Hey, times are tough. If you can’t afford that office with a window you have always coveted, or if you’ve simply decided that a life spent wedged behind a desk isn’t for you, here are five places to work if you don’t have a traditional office....

We, at FindLaw, take Lawyer Marketing seriously (sorry for the shameless self-promotion sort of). And while we’ve covered many areas of lawyer marketing from law firm website design, blogging to SEO, we have only one post devoted to newsletters – and it’s specific to holiday newsletters. So, we thought it was time to give newsletters the attention they deserve. Writing and sending newsletters to clients – existing and prospective – should be a part of your overall marketing strategy....

If you’re shopping for a tech-savvy attorney this holiday season, you’ll have to put more than just an iTunes gift card under the tree, or Hanukkah bush, or Festivus pole. Thankfully, there are plenty of good tech gifts for lawyers this season. Here’s our top six picks, all of which are extremely useful and some of which are even pretty affordable. We’ve been obsessed with this presentation software ever since we covered it in our “7 PowerPoint alternatives” post....

Not Mac, but MAC. Companies can use your MAC address to track your phone’s location as you walk around a mall, or linger in a lingerie store, or feed your caffeine addiction at a coffee shop, even if you aren’t connected to the network. Apple is currently testing a feature for its upcoming iOS 8 that will spoof MAC addresses to protect your privacy. But they may have an ulterior motive, as the company is beefing up their own tracking program, iBeacon, which doesn’t rely on MAC addresses....

Bayer, the German drug giant, has put forward an offer to buy Monsanto, the St. Louis-based purveyor of genetically modified crops, for $62 billion – in cash. The offer, which came without solicitation by Monsanto, would be the largest all-cash takeover ever, according to Reuters. But, it’s far from a sure thing, with investors in both companies reacting unenthusiastically. Bayer is best known for its first product, Aspirin, but Bayer also has a major pesticide, seed, and biotechnology business....

Solo practice can be a lonely existence. When you first hang a shingle, you’re probably the only person in your office, (if you have an office at all). When business picks up, you may find yourself overwhelmed. Suddenly, delegating tasks seems like a good idea. Previously, we discussed factors to consider when weighing the benefits of hiring a full-time or contract paralegal: specifically, the amount and type of work, and your long-term plans....

Torres v. O’Quinn, 07-7340, concerned a former inmate’s motion for a refund of the fees collected from his prison trust account in excess of twenty percent, that were taken to satisfy the filing fee requirement for his two appeals of the dismissal of two civil actions against prison officials. In denying the motion, the court held that 28 U.S.C. section 1915(b)(2) permits only twenty percent of an inmate’s preceding month’s income to be withheld from a trust account, notwithstanding that, as here, the inmate had two in forma pauperis appeals pending before the court....

We covered the train wreck that was the launch of Battlefield 4 by gaming company Electronic Arts last year: Despite loads of hype and a ton of pre-release awards at the E3 industry tradeshow, the game’s release was an unmitigated disaster. Servers crashed, the game was plagued with glitches, online play was nearly unplayable. The issues weren’t sorted out for months, other projects were delayed as a result, and sales across the board suffered....

Compliance, compliance, compliance! Why does it seem like over half of the legal department’s job is to make sure the corporation is dotting its I’s and crossing its T’s? Because that is a large part of the legal department’s job, especially in publicly traded companies where the shadow of the SEC looms like the background like Sauron. (OK, maybe not that menacingly.) Ebenezer Scrooge said he learned to have Christmas in his heart the whole year; that’s the attitude GCs need when it comes to regulatory compliance....

Online privacy is an ongoing issue but new Federal Trade Commission privacy guidelines show that the agency is taking these concerns seriously. The guidelines were published on September 5, but they’ve been in the works for a while. They target mobile application developers but they apply to any company that plans to supplement its existing business with an app. The new guidelines put the burden on companies to ensure that their privacy policies are sufficient and that consumer information is safe....

Just about every lawyer out there has had to give a client ’the talk.’ You know the one where you explain to them that the civil courts aren’t really about justice, but rather about moving money around. That, at the end of the day, justice not only comes at a price, but it is the price. When it comes to revenge-hungry clients, it can often feel like no amount of reason can get through their “civil ignorance....

In an objection brought by former HealthSouth CEO Richard M. Scrushy to the District Court’s order approving a securities class action settlement with HealthSouth Corporation, the order is affirmed where the settlement’s bar order was consistent with the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act insofar as it barred not only the Scrushy’s contribution claims, but also his indemnification claim for amounts he might pay in settlement of actual or threatened liability to the underlying plaintiffs....

It looks like Ireland’s recent closing of a popular tax-loophole that drew mega-corporations to Irish shores like flies to a honey-pot isn’t entirely what it first seemed. Chris O’Leary, lord mayor of the quiet town of Cork, isn’t keen on seeing American companies leave in the wake of the closing of Irish tax-loopholes, but he maintains confident that “companies aren’t just coming for the corporate tax rate.” But a recent push to sweeten the deal for patent-heavy industries is nice to have as insurance....

The patent system that was established in America back at the end of the 19th century has many notches in its belt. Under it, the cotton gin was patented as well as countless software designs. Some might argue that this is testament to its broad, flexible, and enduring nature. However, others would say hogwash. An overwhelming number of patent filings today are software and tech related, the sorts of “patentable” material that was not in existence during the nascent years of this nation’s founding....

Downloading porn from the internet means no one has to know it happened. When a lawsuit threatens that privacy, some people just pay up even if they’re not guilty. Jennifer Barker of Louisville, Kentucky is not one of them. Barker started receiving phone calls from representatives for Malibu Media LLC in May. The callers told her that she had illegally downloaded multiple porn titles using a client called “BitTorrent.” The choice was to pay up a few thousand now or face litigation and hundreds of thousands in court judgments....

The letter that led to the ouster of former HP CEO Mark Hurd has gone public, exposing details of Hurd’s alleged sexual harassment and a possible leak of insider information. Questions remain, however, as to whether the letter’s allegations are true. Attorney Gloria Allred wrote the eight-page letter to Mark Hurd in 2010, accusing Hurd of sexually harassing HP contractor Jodie Fisher. Hurd had hired Fisher, a reality TV show contestant and porn actress, to host corporate events, The New York Times reports....

In plaintiff’s ERISA suit against the defendant alleging that it used an arbitrary and capricious procedure in terminating his short-term disability benefits and refusing to grant him long-term disability benefits, entry of summary judgment in favor of defendant is affirmed where: 1) defendant did not abuse its discretion in denying plaintiff’s claim for short-term disability benefits; 2) district court did not err in dismissing plaintiff’s claim for long-term disability benefits as he had not exhausted his administrative remedies; 3) plaintiff’s claim that defendant is liable for sanctions is rejected; and 4) district court did not err in not awarding plaintiff attorney’s fees as he does not prevail on any of his substantive claims....

As if regular courts weren’t enough, South Carolina has voted to expand the state’s mental health courts, reported the South Carolina newspaper The State. Since their inception in the late 1990s, various states have implemented mental health courts, with great success. They take the position that criminal violations based on mental illness should be treated as a mental health problem, not a penal one. Will this trend continue? Many states have mental health courts as an alternative to the criminal court system when it becomes clear that a defendant is committing crimes because he or she has mental health issues that are better addressed in that context, rather than a criminal justice one....

Man, this is a beautiful update. Android L/Lollipop (5.0) represents the biggest overhaul of the operating system since the jump from Gingerbread (2.x) to Ice Cream Sandwich (4.0). We talked about the visual overhaul after previews of the new “Material Design” interface leaked, and were especially intrigued by rumors of Project Volta: the effort to make my phone last longer than 20 minutes on a battery. Lollipop is here. And as promised, here are our first impressions:...