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If you need a new, separate phone number, but just temporarily, a new app is answering the call. The Burner iPhone app can create disposable phone numbers at an initial price of just $1.99. The real-world applications are practically endless: Just think of all those times when you don’t necessarily want to give out your “real” phone number. In fact, Ad Hoc Labs Inc., which created Burner, touts the app as being “Perfect for dating, job searches, short-term projects, Craigslist transactions,” and social media accounts....

It may be time for disgraced Gretna Councilman Jonathan Bolar to start nesting in his jail cell. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed Bolar’s corruption convictions and 17-year sentence this week, reports WWL-TV. Witnesses testified during Bolar’s 2009 trial that he extorted and tried to extort them for cash “campaign contributions” in exchange for his support for their business and residential projects before the Gretna City Council, reports the Times-Picayune....

The first Zyprexa verdict is in, and Eli Lilly is not liable. The family of Cody Tadai had sued the company in Los Angeles Superior Court after he died of diabetes-related illnesses. They claimed that Eli Lilly failed to adequately warn patients and doctors about such risks. But the jury found that the company had met its duty to warn, and is thus not liable for Tadai’s death. It’s necessary to note that Tadai began taking Zyprexa in 2003 to treat mental illness....

FindLaw columnist Eric Sinrod writes regularly in this section on legal developments surrounding technology and the internet. Can people who seek to find the love of their life on Internet dating sites rest assured that their potential dates have been vetted and do not present any threat of physical danger? This is a good question that has been sparked by recent developments involving Match.com. As reported here on FindLaw’s Injured, Match....

Audrey Lee’s career began with a bang and has been on a tear ever since. Her latest advancement? Lionsgate. An Impressive Resume Lee’s current station as Lionsgate’s DGC and Executive Vice President is impressive, but it’s hardly surprising given her past resume. After graduating from the University of Chicago law school, she began her career at Latham & Watkins handling a variety of business matters including acquisitions, securities and other IP matters....

The wrongful termination suit by an Arab-American Muslim woman of Moroccan descent was largely reversed by the Fourth Circuit recently, meaning that a jury will hear the discrimination allegations she brought against her former employer. It was a whopper of an opinion that discussed the limitations that lower federal courts ought to observe concerning summary adjudication. Repeated Harassment Guessous worked as an accounting and bookkeeping assistant at a real estate office between the years of 2007 and 2013....

In response to a letter from, and meeting with, the ABA, the Department of Homeland Security has released revised guidelines when it comes to border agents searching the electronic devices of lawyers that contain privileged information. The whole warrantless border searches of electronic devices controversy has been brewing for some time now. And while regular folks, even journalists and high powered business execs, may be all but defenseless when a CBP agent demands to search their electronic devices at the border, thanks to the ABA, lawyers have a new tool to at least defend themselves: bureaucratic inconvenience and paperwork....

A recent survey of directors, board chairs and CEOs sheds new light on the role of general counsel in large corporations. The survey, conducted by the legal recruiting company Barker Gilmore and NYSE Governance Services, reached over 5,000 corporate leaders, though the response rate was not given. It’s filled with valuable insights into the minds of executive teams, who are increasingly looking at general counsel as a valuable part of corporate leadership....

For Tesla owners who paid up to an extra $5,000 for the autopilot feature upgrade between 2016 and 2017, there’s good news and bad news as a result of the class action over the automaker’s autopilot system. The good news is that the latest proposed settlement in the class action seeking to resolve these claims requires Tesla to pay $5 million. The bad news, the owners of the vehicles will only be reimbursed between $20 to $280 each....

As we approach mid-August, hurricane season is coming into full swing. Lawyers in the Fifth Circuit need to get ready for possible storms. Here are some basic tenets of hurricane safety to help attorneys prepare for a swirling curveball of precipitation and humidity named Erin, Fernand, Gabrielle, or Humberto: When you receive warning of a hurricane, the last thing you want to be doing is waiting in your office for your entire system to backup onto your external drive....

A social media company that accessed Facebook user’s profiles, with the user’s permission but against warnings from Facebook, violated a federal anti-hacking law, the Ninth Circuit ruled on Tuesday. Power.com, a now-defunct social network aggregator, had encouraged its users to recruit others through their Facebook accounts, sending form messages and emails promoting its website. And they persisted after being told to knock it off. That continued access of Facebook, after the company issued a cease and desist, constituted a violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, the Ninth Ruled....

In plaintiff’s ERISA action against her former employer, an operating company of Johnson & Johnson, district court’s judgment in favor of the defendant is affirmed as Johnson & Johnson’s Long Term Disability Income Plan allows the Pension Committee to delegate its authority to render final benefits decisions. Read Wallace v. Johnson & Johnson, No. 09-1069 Appellate Information Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts Decided October 14, 2009...

Welcome to the world of in-house counsel, the attorney who lives inside a company as one of its employees, advising and representing it. Did you go to the right law school for this? If you went to Harvard Law School, then you’re well on your way. Harvard, though, isn’t your only option. Other top law schools send their graduates in-house, as well. For example, have you considered The Lone Star State?...

If you’re an attorney with a BlackBerry, it might be time for an upgrade. Unless you like your smartphones bulky, boring, and poorly compatible with the rest of your life, that is. Don’t be fooled by BlackBerry maker Research in Motion’s latest plan to shutter its consumer market division and focus entirely on business users either. As of late, the grand daddy of smartphones hasn’t proven itself to be much of an innovator in the corporate world....

FindLaw columnist Eric Sinrod writes regularly in this section on legal developments surrounding technology and the Internet. Back in the day, President Bill Clinton touted the development of the “information superhighway,” and Vice President Al Gore not entirely accurately was reported to have stated that he had invented the Internet. Since then, the Internet has exploded and grown exponentially. There have been many benefits, such as the potential to purchase a tremendous number of goods and services online, as well as the ability to communicate freely via social media portals such as Facebook and Twitter....

If your company is going through a busy transitional period with boatloads of legal work to go around, hiring freelance corporate counsel may be a good idea. It’s a great way to remedy productivity constraints while being mindful of budgetary concerns. Here are five tips to keep in mind for using freelance corporate counsel: Hey, you never know. Maybe after rubbing shoulders with freelance counsel, you’ll get inspired and try it out yourself....

You’ve picked up a burner SIM card, installed it in your BlackBerry, and tossed your tablet device. You’re also reading this on a Linux-running computer. You’ve completed the first step of All Private Everything, a mental exercise meant to see how possible it would be to switch to hardware, software, and services that are untainted by PRISM and other NSA activity. As far as we know. (Cue dark music.) Back to the practical: Your devices are now set up, but what services and software are left?...

As more and more businesses require – as in, mandate – that employees work on Thanksgiving in order to serve the throngs of customers who will show up at 6 a.m. on a holiday just to get a good deal on an X-Box, some businesses are bucking the trend. Costco, for example, won’t be open on Thanksgiving, so you’ll need to get your five-gallon buckets of liquid cheese somewhere else....

When the Countess Carolina Fantoni da Fivizzano went blind, her admirer Pellegrino Turri invented a typing machine so that she could write letters. And thus began a story of innovation and romance that has left its mark for more than 200 years. Lawyers can take a page from this history. The typewriter was born of a blind woman’s necessity, but it became a tool for writers of every kind. By looking for ways to serve the disabled, attorneys may discover new ways to serve all their clients....

Wilson v. Bruks-Klockner Inc., No. 08-30914, involved plaintiffs’ appeal from the district court’s order denying their motion for leave to amend their complaint to add a non-diverse defendant in order to defeat diversity jurisdiction. The court of appeals affirmed because the wood chipper that injured plaintiff was an improvement to immovable property for purposes of La. Rev. Stat. Ann. section 9:2772 and thus there was no reasonable basis to predict that plaintiffs could recover on their claims against the non-diverse defendant that installed the device....