Impatient Millennials can’t wait for anything – and they’re certainly not going to wait to get through a six pack of Zima before heading out to a college party. Hence “butt chugging,” the concerning practice of consuming alcohol or other drugs rectally, where they can be quickly absorbed into the blood stream. The days of drinking with your mouth are over, Gramps. Today, sadly, butt chugging is a thing that lawyers need to know about....
Running a law firm is no simple task. Apart from having to also be a lawyer, if you’re in charge of the firm, you have to manage the people, the facilities, the clients, the potential clients, the marketing, and everything else, including cybersecurity. With all that’s on your plate, that last one, cybersecurity, is actually a really big deal, and should not be left to fall by the wayside. Below, you can read about three of the most common mistakes law firms make when it comes to cybersecurity....
In the March issue of ACC Docket, the Association of Corporate Counsel released its findings of its “largest global survey of CLOs and GCs,” the Chief Legal Officers 2014 Survey. Methodology In comparison to other surveys, this particular survey has an “international flavour” with attorneys from 41 countries responding. The ACC notes that they received 1,220 responses, which reflects a 17.65% increase over last year’s response rate, and a 23% increase in non-U....
Several major airlines have found themselves in the crosshairs of a massive price fixing lawsuit alleging that air carriers conspired to raise prices at the expense of air traveling consumers. Notably, Southwest and American Airlines have both settled out for $15 million and $45 million, respectively, with both companies denying any liability. Delta and United are still fighting it out, denying the claim. A Delta spokesperson called the claims ridiculous and offensive....
What’s your hourly rate? $300? $600? Glenn C. Lewis probably had you beat. According to The Washington Post, Lewis once claimed in an interview to be the most expensive attorney in the area, at $850 an hour for his service as a family law attorney specializing in divorce, custody, and other related matters. But he’s billed his last hour, it seems. On Friday, Lewis, the former president of the Virginia Bar Association, was disbarred for dishonesty, mismanaging client funds, and filing to fulfill his legal obligations....
The #MeToo charge CBS CEO Leslie Moonves is facing appears to have spawned a shareholder lawsuit against him and CBS for withholding information from an SEC filing relating to the recent allegations. One shareholder has filed the class action, specifically citing a 2014 proxy statement that CBS filed with the SEC. That statement explained that the company directors were required to certify compliance with a harassment and bias free workplace, among other commitments....
You’re on the verge of settlement. The wayward driver’s insurance carrier has agreed to fork over funds to cover your client’s injuries, pain and suffering, lost wages, and, of course, his totaled Toyota. Now that you have an idea of what the recovery will be, the real work begins, by clearing the claims. As you are well aware, there are a number of parties lining up to take their cut of the settlement....
Who owns a company employee’s Twitter, LinkedIn, or Facebook account? It may seem like an easy question. After all, an individual’s name is attached to his or her social media account. It’s thought of as “Jane Doe’s Twitter,” or “Jane Doe’s LinkedIn Page.” Unless it has the company’s own name on it, the case of ownership seems simple. But maybe it’s really not. And it’s something corporate attorneys might need to address....
If you missed the Super Bowl, you didn’t miss much. It was the lowest scoring Super Bowl ever. And if you missed the Golden Globes, it doesn’t matter as much. That’s because you probably heard about the “Fiji Water Girl.” She got more attention than a half-time show. She’s not going away anytime soon, either. She’s suing the company that made her famous. Instafamous Kelleth Cuthbert, a Canadian model, stole the show on the red carpet....
That, at least, is the argument former Sectary of Labor Robert Reich makes in last weekend’s edition of The New York Times: dust off the antitrust laws and break up big tech. It’s unlikely that Reich’s advice will be heeded anytime soon – as he notes, the FTC rejected staff recommendations and refused to prosecute Google for anti-competitive behavior. But new research shows that government regulation over the tech industry may be inevitable, if popular opinion is any indicator....
After years of demand growth, things are starting to look down for BigLaw firms. Large firms are seeing their first drop in demand since 2013, according to a recent report from Thomson Reuters Peer Monitor. (Disclosure: Thomson Reuters is FindLaw’s parent company.) Demand is down 0.9 percent, while productivity has dropped 2.8 percent, even as firm headcounts have grown. What’s that mean for smaller firms and solo practitioners? Could this legal demand slump impact you as well?...
Yes. Twitter and social media can be official public forums with constitutional protections when used for official government communications. That’s not to say that Twitter or Facebook are themselves public forums, rather these sites provide a space for public forums to be held. Like consumers fidgeting with most emerging technologies, the law often seems confused with how to handle new and even old tech. Recently, questions abound whether a government official can block a citizen from an official communication channel, especially when an official’s personal account is used as the official communication channel....
Once upon a time, there was a juror in an attempted robbery trial. The defendant, Anna Castillo, allegedly accosted a handful of people with a pistol, tried to rob them, and somehow failed. She robbed a couple others as well, but that case was handled separately. In short, a typo is to blame for all of this litigation. In any case, due to the inconsistent positions of the state, and the muddled mess of a record replete with mistakes, the majority decided to err on the side of the convicted, and take all assumptions in her favor....
LinkedIn, the Facebook for resumes, has filed suit in the Northern District of California against 100 unnamed individuals accused of using bots to scrape information from its website. The suit accuses the Doe defendants of violating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, a federal anti-hacking law. The lawsuit comes just barely a month after the Ninth Circuit expanded the reach of the CFAA, ruling in two cases that the CFAA could criminalize unauthorized password sharing and could impose civil liability for misusing a social network....
A federal appeals court upheld gun restrictions in Massachusetts, saying the Second Amendment is strongest inside the home – not outside. In Gould v. Morgan, the U.S. First Circuit Court of Appeal affirmed a trial judge in upholding a firearms licensing statute. The law allowed gun owners to carry firearms in certain activities only. The First Circuit said the statute had a substantial relationship to the government’s interest in promoting public safety and preventing crime....
For some attorneys, opting for a bench trial is a peculiar bit of strategy that can help to ensure that complex cases are properly considered; however, sometimes you just don’t have a choice in the matter. Recently, the Mississippi AG’s case against the utility company Entergy has been making headlines as the billion dollar case will be decided solely by one federal judge with the trial starting early next month. The case involves claims that the company’s energy customers in the state, from 1998 to 2009, were overcharged to the tune of $1....
New Hampshire has law allowing vote counters to discard absentee ballots if the signature on the ballot doesn’t match the signature on the voter’s registration card. This law has been ruled unconstitutional by a federal district court in the state. Despite the low statistical significance of the law’s impact (the law affected approximately 0.5 percent of votes), even a small amount adds up to a few hundred individuals being denied the right to vote....
This rather unusual lawsuit out of the Eleventh Circuit is an affirmation of Sandy Springs’ ban on sex devices unless needed for “bona fide” reasons. Now, how often is that going to happen? What’s a “bona fide” need for sex toys? At a Walgreens Near You! Although many national retailers including Walgreens sell vibrators without obscuring customers’ view from them, Sandy Springs enacted a law that essentially banned such devices for purchase....
In his farewell speech, President Dwight D. Eisenhower spoke of a military-industrial complex – an informal alliance whereby the nation’s military feeds the arms industry. With his inaugural speech, President Donald Trump spoke of a battle against immigrants. It also has created a complex relationship between federal, state, and private parties in an evolving industry. Immigration attorneys have seen a dramatic increase in business, and new developments are bringing more opportunities....
Being chained to the word processor all day means that you’re going to develop aches and pains in your various joints. Wrists are especially at risk for repetitive stress injuries (RSIs) because they’re at the junction of muscles and bones we flex a lot. Don’t Rest Your Wrists on Your Desk Carpal tunnel syndrome is the Grand Poobah of wrist injuries. It’s caused when the passageway through the arm from the forearm to the wrist – the carpal tunnel – becomes inflamed, impacting the median nerve located in the carpal tunnel....
