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For trademark attorneys with clients in the travel industry, life is good. Last month, we discussed the First Circuit Court of Appeals’ recent ruling in Dorpan, S.L. v. Hotel Melià. But let’s take a look at another major takeaway of the case: That a senior trademark user of a mark related to travel is entitled to trademark protection that goes beyond its immediate geographic region. Plaintiff-appellee Dorpan is a subsidiary of Sol Melià, S....

While President Trump may have recently tweeted the above question in earnest, it’s actually an excellent question that might even baffle some lawyers. Though secretly recording a client is bad form, borderline (and depending on the jurisdiction, definitely) unethical, and just generally sketchy, depending on who your client is, and what they’re asking you to do, it could be what protects both your liberty and your license to practice. We’ll likely be hearing more about it thanks to Mr....

Ah, the Yellow Pages. Even millennials might remember this vaguely comforting tome of a book. Did you know that the Yellow Pages continues to live on in the world of online directories? Although it sounds crazy, law firms might want to consider updating their listings in the Yellow Pages online directory. Even though people tend to default to Google or Bing these days, online business directories are relevant to the health of your firm....

FindLaw columnist Eric Sinrod writes regularly in this section on legal developments surrounding technology and the Internet. Once upon a time, shopping was a time-consuming endeavor. We had no choice but to actually get out of the house and physically travel to different stores to buy what we needed. While this blogger certainly loves the ease and convenience of online shopping, there still remains the simple joy of getting out of the house and going to a store or market and shopping in the real world, not cyberspace....

Even though you’re one of those people who works from home in the cloud and so on, there are times when you’ll probably have to meet with clients or others, and for a variety of reasons, you probably don’t want to meet them at your house. Enter the “virtual office,” which allows you to rent more or less an office and conference room for a few hours so that you can meet with people....

In re: Tex. Comm. En’gy., No. 08-40890, involved an action claiming that defendant drew down a letter of credit in violation of a bankruptcy court order and confirmed reorganization plan that allegedly prevented defendant from taking that action to satisfy pre-confirmation debts. The court of appeals reversed the judgment for plaintiffs, holding that 1) a debt owed to defendant was neither an “Invoice” nor an “obligation represented by those Invoices” under the district court’s injunction, the order did not govern defendant’s action regarding the debt; 2) the district court’s order still had effect as applied to the actual pre-petition invoices, and thus the court of appeals’ interpretation of the order did not render it superfluous; and 3) the plan did not state that the $1....

The Apple v. Samsung battle continues around the world. But in the UK, the matter has been decided, and it has gone poorly for Apple. In the final outcome of the UK case between the rival tech companies, Apple is being forced to pay Samsung’s legal fees. A UK court ruled in favor of Samsung earlier this year, but it is Apple’s more recent behavior that led to the order to pay the opposing party’s fees....

The recent wildfires that devastated California will have a lasting impact beyond the lives and homes destroyed. The company that is allegedly responsible for starting the Northern California Camp Fire, Pacific Gas and Electric, has stated its intention to declare bankruptcy due to the liabilities created by the wildfire’s damage. Declaring bankruptcy could leave investors and victims of wildfire taking severe financial losses, but as the company expressed, it may be the only way for the company to continue to operate....

Most of you out there are probably buried amongst boxes of paperwork, putting off the drafting of that next contract. But hey, a side effect of engaging in business, and business law, is the beloved contract. As corporate counsel, contracts are probably an unfortunately large chunk of your workload. Not only do you have to read the things, but you have to negotiate terms, as well as revise and write them....

It’s no secret that America’s workforce is getting older. The Baby Boomer generation is currently approaching the age where they qualify for the senior discount at Denny’s. While that’s great for workers 65 and older who love cheap breakfast, it’s not so good for companies that are losing employees to retirement. About a quarter of HR professionals who responded to a Society for Human Resource Management survey about older workers said the loss of talent due to retirement will be a problem within the next 10 years....

You have that shiny new iPad and you want to put it to use in your law practice. As you pack your briefcase for work travel it dawns on you: That 5-hour flight would be a perfect chance to review documents or pleadings for an upcoming meeting or hearing, especially if you won’t have WiFi access during the flight. But the number of documents required to consume five or more hours of flight time would take up a lot of room....

Some of California’s leading judges and attorneys are coming together for an exceptional CLE event this February. Civil Litigation Challenges: Excelling in the “Big League,” presented by The Rutter Group and the California Judges Association (disclosure: The Rutter Group is part of Thomson Reuters, FindLaw’s parent company), will feature a California Supreme Court justice, multiple superior and appellate court judges, lawyers from the nation’s leading firms, and everyone’s favorite law school dean and legal scholar, Erwin Chemerinsky....

If you’re sitting at your desk waiting for the phone to ring, that’s usually not a good sign. It could be that you are not busy enough, and you know what that means. A new survey of law firm leaders confirms what you may have feared. According to legal consultancy Altman Weil, 75 percent of nearly 400 respondents at large firms said their lawyers are not busy enough. Smaller firms reported similar numbers....

Defense lawyers always have to stay sharp for their clients. That is, unless your client has a penchant for making his points with sharp objects. For the third time this year, accused killer Joshua Monson stabbed his court-appointed lawyer at a hearing last week. The attorney, Jesse Cantor, was not seriously hurt. But the third attack was not the charm for Monson, whose matter was declared a mistrial after he stabbed his two prior lawyers in the case....

A federal appeals court said a county supervisor violated free speech rights by blocking a constituent from commenting on the official’s Facebook page. In Davison v. Randall, the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals said a Virginia county supervisor blocked a man from posting critical remarks about local education. Because the supervisor designated the page as official, the appeals court said, the First Amendment protected the comments. Free speech advocates called it a “significant ruling” and a warning to politicians that they cannot just block critics on social media....

Mellissa Simpson started at $8.50 per hour in 2008. When she quit in 2010, she was making $11.40. Sabrina Roberts made $8.50 to start in 2009, and $11.55 when she left in 2010. Were these unskilled poultry handlers underpaid? Better yet, were they underpaid because their wages were artificially suppressed by the alleged hiring of a pool of undocumented immigrant workers? This was the crux of their class action civil RICO argument, one that just got Twombley’d in the Eleventh Circuit....

What are the pros and cons of being a public defender? First of all, public defenders are surrounded by pros and cons every day. They are the dregs of society, the cast-offs, and the remorseless left-overs from a time when life was innocent. And those are just the district attorneys. Just kidding. In the criminal defense business, you have to have a bit of gallows humor to deal with the real likelihood that you may never win a case....

Spring is here and with it come new beginnings. Baby birds are chirping, tulips are sprouting, and – marketing plans are getting reevaluated? Yep, the season of regrowth and regeneration is a great time to turn a sharp eye on your legal marketing strategy. But, what exactly do you need to look at when reevaluating your marketing strategy? Here’s three questions that can help you determine what you’re doing right and what you could do better....

Well, the filibuster option is now dead, at least somewhat. Cue the fears, justified or not, of the tyranny of the majority. In the short term, expect the much-debated three vacancies on the D.C. Circuit, as well as the hundreds of other vacancies across the country, to be filled with little to no opposition. What cleared the gridlock? Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) called for a vote to change the rules of filibustering, with passed 52-48....

Gone are the days when general counsel simply served a company as the consummate legal stick-in-the-mud. As the world of business becomes more complex, GC skills are now needed more broadly, at higher levels, and earlier. Let the Professionals Handle it Ever since the economic downturn of 2008, increased globalization, stiffer business regulations, and overall business uncertainty, GCs and in-house counsel jobs became a whole lot more complicated. Sure, in-house is the law student’s new brass ring, but now you really gotta work for it....