So you’re standing on the edge of a cliff, looking down at the rocks below and imagining what your body will look like when they find you. Of course, it’s not gonna be that bad. There are risks to taking that leap of faith toward a new career, but you can do it. Here are some thoughts to consider before you take that bold step: 1. Don’t Be a Lemming Don’t follow others who jump out of their jobs without thinking....
When you’re in court, maintaining a professional demeanor is sometimes easier said than done. When emotions run high, or opponents act stupid, or witnesses don’t say what they’re supposed to say, do you know what your body language is saying? Often, a person’s expression, or body language can say a lot more than they want, and as recent headlines suggest, in court, the wrong body-language reaction can even earn a lawyer a scolding....
A new report demonstrates that attorneys are increasingly making use of technology. According to the 2010 American Bar Association Legal Technology Survey Report, attorneys are increasingly using Web 2.0 and other technologies in their practice. Attorney’s use of social networking and smart phones both grew by double-digit percentages. The ABA survey is a project of the ABA Legal Technology Resource Center, which provides the legal community with news and information on technology and its use by attorneys....
The Marin Alliance for Medical Marijuana (MAMM) fought the law, and even though the law didn’t win, the Ninth Circuit ruled that the pot shop is not entitled to attorney fees, despite what the Equal Access to Justice Act says. Basically, when the government acts foolishly in pursuing legal action and a private party must take legal action to stop it, those private parties can have their attorney fees paid back....
Jan Eshow was driving his family along a Virginia road when police pulled him over for speeding. Moments later, the police arrested Eshow on a warrant from a fraud case that had been filed against him. They handcuffed the man, placed him in the cop car and drove off while his family watched. It got even worse for his wife, Sadwa Safar. The problem was, the fraud charges were not true....
FindLaw columnist Eric Sinrod writes regularly in this section on legal developments surrounding technology and the internet. Germany is a country that is attempting to grapple with controversial online data privacy issues. One of my recent blog posts dealt with German legislation that seeks to address Google Street view. Now, Germany is taking on the issue of employers reviewing the social networking pages of prospective employees. According to Spiegel Online, German legislation has been drafted that is intended to prevent employers from doing a Facebook background check and from checking other social networking pages of job applicants as part of the hiring decision process....
A Louisiana federal court heard oral arguments in the case for enjoining the state’s school voucher program on Friday, despite rumors that the DOJ had given up the case. Last week, various media sources reported the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) had dropped its desegregation suit against the state of Louisiana’s voucher program, fueled by Governor Bobby Jindal’s statements that the DOJ had “abandoned” its suit, NOLA.com reports. The confusion comes from a November 18 court order confirming the government’s dropped request to permanently enjoin the state’s voucher program, seeking instead to monitor and share information through the court....
Everybody thought robots would take over like the Terminator with that awful promise: “I’ll be back.” The science-fiction writers haven’t helped, except for occasionally introducing a friendly auto-bot. But for the most part, the bots are threatening everything from our planet to our jobs. So maybe we’re exaggerating a little. But seriously, lawyers, you need to do something to protect yourself from the AI revolution. Lawyer Jobs Already Gone We know smart robots are already taking about 23 percent of lawyer jobs....
For most lawyers, there’s an easy bright-line rule to remember: If you have a conflict of interest, tell your client about it. If you plan to continue to represent a client after a conflict has been disclosed, you better be sure to get a specific written waiver, especially if you also plan on getting paid after that conflict comes back to bite you in the backside. And if you need a real life cautionary tale to help you remember why avoiding conflicts is in your financial interest, you can thank the California Supreme Court and BigLaw firm Sheppard, Mullin, Richter and Hampton LLP....
Last month it was announced that Levi Strauss & Co has agreed to pay $1 million in back wages to about 600 employees after a government investigation found that the company had misclassified employees, deeming them exempt from overtime. The settlement is one of many in a recent deluge of employee misclassification lawsuits and investigations under the Fair Labor Standards Act, and with new legislation on the way, it’s only going to continue....
A Guinean citizen’s petition for review of BIA’s denial of her application for asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the CAT is granted and BIA’s decision denying her asylum application on the basis of an adverse credibility finding is vacated and remanded as it was not supported by substantial evidence, and petitioner has established past persecution in the form of female genital mutilation. Read Kourouma v. Holder , No. 08-1864...
Have you ever considered an advertising or marketing idea but dismissed it because you thought it crossed the line of good taste? We have news for you: whatever the idea was, somebody probably already beat you too it. The Internet is full of lawyer marketing stories that make you laugh, cringe, and then later admire the attorneys who had the bravery (or audacity) to carry out their marketing schemes. Beyond Business Cards Back in much simpler days, there were only a handful of ways that a lawyer could advertise....
Texas’s highest criminal court, the Court of Criminal Appeals, dismissed abuse of power charges against former Governor Rick Perry on Wednesday, bringing to an end a long-running battle over Perry’s actions while in office. A grand jury had indicted Perry in 2014, charging him with abusing the power of the governor’s office by pressuring a state district attorney to step down and vetoing financing for the anti-corruption office she helmed....
The First Circuit decided two criminal cases yesterday; one involving defendant’s conviction and life sentence for possession and distribution of crack cocaine, and the other involving a defendant’s conviction and sentence for selling oxycodone. In US v. Rodriguez-Velez, No. 07-2813, the court faced a challenge to a conviction for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute crack cocaine and sentence of life imprisonment. In affirming the conviction and the sentence, the court rejected defendant’s various claims including; prosecutorial misconduct, that the district court erred in denying his motion for judgment of acquittal, claims of erroneous evidentiary rulings, and improper enhancing of his sentence....
Grant of a Laotian immigrant-petitioner’s request for habeas relief after being taken into custody by the ICE without bond and conclusion that BIA had misinterpreted 8 U.S.C. section 1226 are affirmed as the government has adopted an interpretation contrary to the plain meaning of the statute and in the alternative, even if the statute were ambiguous, the position of the government is not a reasonable one. Read Saysana v. Gillen, No....
With the business world growing increasingly global, borders and time zones are being torn down for the global board room. As in house counsel, it’s not unfathomable that you may have to engage in mediation or negotiations with parties in other countries. You might even have to travel to other countries to engage in discussions or mediation. How can you ensure that you maintain a cultural respect when dealing with another party whose business culture might be different from what you’re accustomed to?...
These are bad times for Tesla, but they could be worse. Over the weekend, apparently, another Tesla vehicle was involved in a crash after the vehicle’s driver-assist program failed to navigate unfamiliar terrain on a remote Montana mountain roadway. The good news is that this time the driver lived to tell the tale. Elon Musk, the company’s head (and face) tweeted that the company “[didn’t] mind taking the heat for customer safety....
You’re a smart lawyer and you know how to handle a deposition, so do you really need to pay for an app to help you with it? It’s not a necessity yet, but the Depose app is certainly a benefit for attorneys who are in trial often and have to take lots of depositions. Rather than carrying around a dog-eared and messy legal pad, the app lets you keep all of the mess contained within your sleek Android tablet....
Client intake is like air intake for your car. If your car doesn’t have air coming into the engine, you are not going anywhere. The air intake brings a fresh, life-giving resource that you need to go. That’s how it works in law practice, too. Here are two keys to make sure you’ve got good client intake. Intake Form Forms may be as boring as an air filter, but they are fundamental to best practices....
While the U.S. Supreme Court said police generally cannot follow people through their cell phones, the justices did not prohibit cell phone companies from doing it. In Carpenter v. United States, the Court said police violated the defendant’s expectation of privacy, but most people surrender it as soon as they turn on their phones. In that way, the decision is notable for what it didn’t say. It may trouble privacy advocates, including the four justices who dissented in the opinion, but the law – like GPS tracking – only goes so far....
