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The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals has struck down the Baltimore law targeting pregnancy centers. The law required these centers to post clear notices in their waiting rooms stating that actual abortion services, and referrals to abortion services, are not provided there. In striking down the law, the appellate court affirmed the district court’s conclusion that the government failed to show any actual harm resulted from delays allegedly caused by the pregnancy centers’ allegedly deceptive advertising....

Microsoft has a new president and chief legal officer. Brad Smith, the tech company’s longtime general counsel, has moved into the C-suite, becoming Microsoft’s new prez and CLO. Smith joined Microsoft in 1993, back when the Internet barely existed and photographers could still get Bill Gates to lie seductively across the top of an IBM machine. Having served as Microsoft’s general counsel since 2002, Smith is no stranger to the company’s legal troubles....

The Ninth Circuit upheld California’s 10-day ‘cool down’ period for gun purchasers last week. Under that law, all purchasers must wait for their guns, even if they have previously purchased a firearm or have cleared a background check in under 10 days. Even then, a 10-day wait is not a violation of buyers’ Second Amendment rights, the court explained, since requiring a waiting period is “a reasonable safety precaution for all purchasers of firearms,” the court ruled....

FindLaw columnist Eric Sinrod writes regularly in this section on legal developments surrounding technology and the internet. In early 2008, a federal magistrate in San Diego ordered significant discovery sanctions to the tune of $8.5 million dollars against the plaintiff in the Qualcomm Incorporated v. Broadcom Corporation case; which deals with discovery conduct. The magistrate found that a large quantity of documents had been suppressed from discovery. The attorneys who were sanctioned objected and a federal judge ruled that they had a due process right to defend themselves and that they should not be prevented from explaining their own conduct in the discovery process because of the attorney-client privilege....

You’ve got a hefty to-do list, from reviewing your company’s non-disclosure agreements to negotiating a licensing agreement for the accounting software. Plus, there’s the upcoming push for a beefed-up compliance department. The last thing on your mind is some twerp’s tweet, but as we’ve seen repeatedly in 2013, social media is going to play an ever-increasing role in your day-to-day life. Updating your policies, quelling online rebellion without irking the NLRB, and protecting your company’s brands are just some of the nightmares....

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals denied en banc rehearing this morning in the Texas sonogram bill lawsuit, reports The Washington Post. The Texas sonogram law, which became effective this week over the protestations of U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks, requires a doctor to perform a sonogram on a woman requesting an abortion at least 24 hours before the procedure, describe the unborn child, and list agencies that offer alternatives to abortion....

Yesterday, we brought you five ways to make the opposing attorney hate your guts. Whether you decide to use them for good (self-corrective measures) or for evil (returning the favor to the counsel from hell), today, we bring you five more. Being a Technophobe Yeah, old-timer. You’re the one who doesn’t use e-mail, doesn’t send digital copies of court docs, and still uses a fax machine. When you realize that you are the only one with a fax machine, you insist on sending everything via snail mail....

In an exceedingly rare event, General Motors has filed paperwork to go public (again). The move would allow the federal government to sell its stake in the company. It’s a welcome bit of good news for a still struggling economy. The IPO could be the second largest in the history of the country. It could be as large as $10 billion to $20 billion. GM will now undergo a review by the Securities and Exchange Commission....

Eight recent changes at top in-house positions were reported by Inside Counsel. A look at the eight personnel moves may be a bit sobering for many attorneys wanting to know how to become an in-house counsel themselves. That’s because these organizations didn’t pluck their new GCs from the law firm ranks (and certainly not from the ranks of recent law school grads); rather, many simply promoted from within the organization or hired an attorney from a very similar organization....

As a small firm owner, how do you monitor news related to changing laws, without breaking the bank on a bunch of staff you can’t afford? Google Alerts. Instead of having other people out searching the news for you, why not let me magic of the Internet bring it to your email? That’s exactly what you can do with a Google Alert and it can work wonders for your peace of mind, not to mention your law practice....

Qualified Immunity Denial to Officer Reversed in Excessive Force Case In Jean-Baptiste v. Gutierrez, No. 10-11129, an action against an officer for using deadly force against plaintiff, an armed suspect who was lying in wait after having fled from the vicinity of an armed burglary and robbery, the court reversed the denial of summary judgment based on qualified immunity where defendant reasonably perceived the situation as an ambush that required the use of deadly force....

Consulting firm AlixParnters conducted their Litigation and Corporate Compliance Survey last December, fielding questions to general counsel at U.S. companies pulling in over $250 million in annual revenue. Just over half of the survey respondents said that litigation – and its associated costs – is on the rise. Let’s face it, with an estimated 97% of civil cases settling, there really are no winners, that is, except for outside counsel. So, the question is, how can you avoid litigation and reduce the costs of litigation?...

What’s the most popular video-chatting tool for businesses? Three instantly come to mind: Skype, Google Talk, and iChat/Facetime. Out of the three, Skype has pretty much ruled the business world. It was the first on the scene, it is popular internationally, as well as in the United States, and it’s extremely cross-platform - with apps for nearly every imaginable computer and mobile operating system. Lately though, Google Talk and Facetime have been making inroads, especially the former....

We recently discussed what the future of law firms might look like when previewing Thomson Reuters’ (FindLaw’s parent company) upcoming product, Firm Central. We hoped it might fill the void in our legal tech-geek souls. For each contender, we are going to use a dinosaur of a netbook to put the platform through its paces. We’ll then assign an arbitrary score on a scale of 1-10, based solely on our subjective time-limited experiences....

Less than a month after the FCC commissioners voted to regulate Internet service providers as “common carriers” under the Communications Act, the telecoms have filed suit. Well, one industry trade group, USTelecom, representing some of the nation’s largest Internet providers, has sued, as has one small Texas ISP, Alamo Broadband. The suits, brought in the D.C. and Fifth Circuits, come much sooner than expected, as the FCC has just begun to process of regulating ISPs....

A federal judge has visited Louisiana’s death row as part of a lawsuit that alleges conditions at the prison facility are too hot to handle. Three death row inmates filed the lawsuit in June claiming that their hypertension, as well as other medical conditions, make the overheated, poorly ventilated death row facility a hazard to their health, reports The Shreveport Times. Will a judge’s visit change the outcome of the inmates’ case?...

It is a maxim in trial practice that when you are winning, stop talking. This does not mean you walk up to the podium with nothing to say. It means that you need to know when you have said enough. Quit while you’re ahead. Oddly, it seems to be a difficult lesson for many lawyers to learn. More than one judge has cringed when an attorney begins with this statement:...

Kashner Davidson Sec. Corp. v. Mscisz, No. 09-1356, dealt with a district court’s order vacating an arbitration award and remanding the matter to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), an arbitral body, following an order to vacate the original award. Thus, the main challenge is the district court’s denial of defendants Rule 60(b) motion for relief from the order, arguing that a remand to the FINRA was inappropriate because the judgment on appeal did not mention such a remand, the district court...

Every solo attorney has at least entertained the idea of expanding from a single person operation into a full-fledged law firm. Dreams are good, but expansion should only be undertaken if you have a plan in place. Here are a few tricks to help you create your plan for growth. Expansion With Outsourcing Wouldn’t it be great if you could just breathe life into your practice and presto, the clients came?...

Virtual, digital currencies seem to have some staying power. Bitcoin is now at its highest value ever, $1250 per coin, and still growing – despite the SEC’s rejection of a Winklevoss-backed exchange-traded fund for Bitcoin. And while Bitcoin grows, so too do other cryptocurrencies, like Ethereum. With so much cyrptocoin flowing, the tax man will soon come knocking. And when he does, Steptoe & Johnson want to be there to influence the outcome....