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No paved roads access the Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve, where Alaska permits locals to hunt for subsistence and sport. John Sturgeon wanted to hunt for moose among an estimated 175,000 of the creatures in the state. So he traveled by hovercraft along the rivers, until two national park rangers stopped him. Sturgeon sued, and the U.S. Supreme Court sided with him. But somehow, while going up and down the court system, Sturgeon lost his way....

Bian v. Clinton, No. 09-10568, concerned an action seeking to compel the United States Department of Homeland Security, Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) to adjudicate plaintiff’s I-485 application for adjustment of immigration status. The court of appeals affirmed the dismissal of the action, on the ground that, because plaintiff contested the USCIS’s decision to adjudicate her application in compliance with regulations that were clearly within the agency’s discretion to establish, the federal courts were without jurisdiction to entertain her claim....

For most lawyers, the question of whether or not to take >small claims cases will inevitably come up. Many “successful” lawyers will simply dismiss these cases as being a waste of time. By definition, these small-ticket cases simply represent potential opportunity costs of bigger and more monied cases. But small claims bring value in place of the money they don’t. These cases can be a good way for attorneys to build up valuable courtroom experience while providing a service that many clients wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford....

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) establishes minimum wage and maximum work hours to regulate employer-employee relationships and minimize detrimental work conditions. The FLSA, however, has one major limitation: a person who files an FLSA retaliation claim against an employer must currently work for the employer or have worked for the employer in the past. The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled this week that a prospective employee whose employment offer was withdrawn does not have a retaliation claim under the FLSA....

If the accusations of Facebook’s former news curator are to believed, the social media company’s news platform isn’t quite as neutral as many people have come to believe. Yesterday, the US Senate Committee called for Facebook Chairman Mark Zuckerberg to respond to a Monday report that the company consistently suppressed conservative news stories from making it to the network’s “trending” news section. So far, the company has denied any allegations of intentional biased manipulation of its news feeds....

Should law firms provide free snacks to their employees? Yes. Next question. Is there no such thing as free lunch? Objection. Vague, or at least the answer is yes and no. At law firms, not so much. Free Lunch? No doubt, perks matter. According to Glassdoor, three out of five employee’s rank perks as a top consideration before accepting a job. Lawyers are a little different. Food is not as tempting to new hires as a bonus or flexible schedule....

Who gave birth to the dreaded Patent Troll? Was it Greed? Was it Opportunity? Was it the Jabberwocky? No, according to a new study, it was the Lenient Patent Examiner. Patent trolls, economists say, were born at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Harvard economist Josh Feng and Xavier Jaravel of the London School of Economics give new meaning to the words “patent trolls,” the derisive term used to describe firms that make money by threatening patent lawsuits rather making products with their patents....

Do you get a lot of email? Do you use Outlook for email? And do you drive by yourself to commute? If you answered yes to all three of these questions, you may be in luck as Microsoft’s digital assistant Cortana may soon be able to read you your emails from Outlook. This time saving feature promises to save those over-emailed commuters some valuable time, though doing so may cut into those precious moments of solitude and quiet reflection while commuting....

The past year was a mixed bag for corporate compliance. In 2015, we saw major compliance scandals, like the Volkswagen emissions fraud, and the continued fallout from the GM recall, not Just for General Motors, but for its in-house legal team. The year also saw the continued rise of compliance professionals and a re-commitment by the Department of Justice to vigorously pursue compliance enforcement. But enough about 2015. What lies ahead in corporate compliance?...

Good lawyers know to tell clients not to sue if it’s not worth it – financially. Especially those clients who say it’s about principal; they better have more dollars than sense. So the same should apply when an attorney considers suing co-counsel. Don’t do it unless you got really hurt – financially. Do the Math Cheryl Maples had to do the math after winning a gay-marriage case. She and her co-counsel Jack Wagoner successfully challenged a gay-marriage ban in Arkansas....

Maybe you’re an associate with a few years under your belt, dreaming of landing a cushy in-house job instead of pursuing the partner track. Maybe you’re already in-house, rolling your eyes at the outsiders who think you have it easy. Either way, you know that in-house work is valued and in demand. Here’s some of the main reasons people decide to pursue in-house careers, as well as a few warnings about why some lawyers might want to think twice....

Circuits with interesting cities within their jurisdiction always churn out interesting cases – and with Boston in its purview, the First Circuit is an example of that. With Boston making the news quite a bit this year, the First Circuit had its fair share of headlines. Not limited to newsy pieces, we also saw some law coming out of the First that is currently under review by the Supreme Court....

Robots can’t run a law firm – at least not yet. But when it comes to your basic tasks like scheduling and time keeping, you can save a lot of money by putting the computers in charge. (Or at least letting them help you out.) A few simple apps can help you streamline many typical tasks, from responding to email to collecting a settlement. So, if you’re looking for some tech to lighten you workload, here are 10 recommendations, from the FindLaw archives....

If you don’t bill, you can’t eat. But even if you’re racking up 30 billable hours a day, that work will be meaningless if you can’t get clients to pay. Sure, you can put liens on delinquent clients or even take them to court, but often your firm’s collections practices can be drastically improved by enhanced at your internal practices first. Here are 11 ways to improve. We were inspired to think about collections by a recent post by Michael Baker over on Attorney at Work....

Every lawyer likes to cut costs and save time. Inefficiencies throughout the office harm productivity and eat into your bottom line. Attorneys frequently have to do deal with clients who refuse to pay. Consider implementing a policy that clients pay up-front for services – particularly expensive services such as discovery. The attorney ought to strive to work with the client. But the rules of ethics don’t require you to bend over backwards and to be your client’s creditor....

When it comes for planning for your practice’s growth, your business development plan and your marketing plan shouldn’t be the same. Sure there’s some overlap. In the way that all bugs are insects but not all insects are bugs, all lawyer marketing is part of business development, but the two require distinct approaches. Here’s how law firm business development and legal marketing differ and why your firm needs a unique approach to each....

Reality Winner is a real person, but she is also something between a hero and a criminal. She has been sentenced to more than five years for leaking to the media a top-secret report about Russians hacking election officials. That makes her a criminal. On the other hand, she leaked a top-secret report about Russian hackers targeting election officials. So, yeah. “Make No Mistake” Winner, 26, was sentenced in federal court after pleading guilty to transmitting national security information....

Cyber defamation has been the tech tort that has dogged companies and individuals for almost a decade now. Who knew that the anonymity of the Internet would lead to some people to venture off into a character murdering campaign? We all pay a price for the ability to be able to reach literally millions of people almost instantly. But what are some of the legal considerations a company must think about when addressing this pervasive problem we call cyber defamation?...

iCONECT Development focused on eDiscovery solutions, among other topics, at last weekend’s Legal Information Technology Conference show “LIT-Con.” The event featured two of the company’s senior team members, including chief operating officer Ian Campbell, who moderated a panel covering risk management. Victoria Edelman, director of training, moderated a panel on eDiscovery project budgeting. iCONECT offers litigation support software for law firms, corporate legal departments, and government agencies. The software has been used with document review, mergers and acquisitions, eDiscovery, and multi-party international cases....

Every ten years, states draw new election districts after the census. In most states, the legislature executes this task, which means that the controlling party creates a redistricting map that looks more like a Picasso than a rational division of the state’s voting populace. Florida voters decided to kick cubist gerrymandering out of the state in 2010 with Amendment Six, a compact district amendment proposed by FairDistrictsFlorida.org. This week, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the voters, rejecting a challenge from politicians who wanted to stick with the golden days of incumbent-favoring redistricting maps, reports the Associated Press....