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If you’re sick of hearing Edward Snowden’s name, join the club. If anything, the buzz should make one thing clear – cyber security was one of the biggest issues of 2013. To deal with this ongoing security concern, Kroll, a company dedicated to risk management and response, has outlined seven areas that will be heading up the cyber security debate. For your reference, we’ve distilled Kroll’s findings and found three main areas of concern for cyber security in 2014: evolving standards, understanding threats and achieving accountability....

In plaintiffs’ civil rights case against the members of the State Electoral Commission of Puerto Rico challenging the Commission’s decision to print ballots in the November 2008 elections solely in Spanish, district court’s judgment in favor of the plaintiffs and a permanent injunction compelling the Commission to print bi-lingual ballots is vacated and remanded where: 1) district court’s judgment should be vacated because it was rendered moot by an independent, intervening act of legislation mandating the Commission to use bilingual ballots under Puerto Rican law; 2) plaintiffs were prevailing parties entitled to attorney’s fees for the costs of the district court litigation notwithstanding the subsequent mootness; 3) district court did not abuse its discretion in reducing plaintiffs’ award of attorney’s fees; and 4) motion for substitution of parties by the defendant, former President of the Commission, is granted....

Taylor v. Acxiom Corp., 08-41083, involved an action against various defendants alleging misuse of DMV records in violations of the Driver’s Privacy Protection Act (DPPA). The court of appeals affirmed the dismissal of the action on the grounds that the DPPA allows states to turn over their entire drivers motor vehicle database at the request of certain private entities. A person who buys DMV records in bulk does so for the purpose of making permissible actual use of information therein under 18 U....

The Department of Justice is planning on filing an antitrust lawsuit to halt two massive healthcare mergers, Bloomberg reports. The move could halt Aetna’s $37 billion merger with Humana and Anthem’s $48 billion takeover of Cigna. If the deals go through, they would reduce the largest health insurance companies from five competitors to three, leading to concerns over stifled competition and harm to consumers. If the DOJ successfully blocks the deals, it could signal a further shift away from the merger mania that’s spread throughout large corporate firms in recent years....

How often does a U.S. trial judge get to decide a Spanish case over artwork painted by the French impressionist Camille Pissarro in 1897? Once, unless of course the case is remanded. That’s what is happening in the case of Cassirer v. Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection Foundation. The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has reversed and remanded the case to find out whether a Spanish museum lawfully acquired the artwork from the plaintiffs’ great grandmother....

Who says law is no longer lucrative? A guy gets sexually harassed by his female boss. She sends him vulgar texts, including one about banana “Luv cake” which involved milk jugs and is far too gloriously offensive to repeat here. (See the unpublished appellate court opinion for all of the naughty texts.) She also comes on to him, and other male coworkers at work. But bottom line, the jury (a) didn’t think that the company knew about the harassment and (b) didn’t think his emotional distress lasted a full four years, as he claimed....

It could be a long voir dire for the attorneys and jurors on the Barry Bonds perjury and obstruction of justice trial. The problem is of course figuring out how to seat an impartial jury in San Francisco, when Bonds, the all time home run king, played in the city. News organizations have called on Judge Susan Illston to publish the names of the jurors, as well as their answers to the questionnaire....

Chances are you have a tool in your possession that has fundamentally changed how law is practiced, particularly in the area of gathering evidence: your smartphone. Cell phones and their recording abilities have completely changed the game. We no longer have to rely on dubious eyewitness accounts of what happened. Now, lawyers don’t need to rely on equally dubious accident reports. If you have an auto injury case on your hands, you should be asking your client a simple question first: “Did you take pictures?...

After school shootings left dozens dead this year, authorities began searching for new ways to prevent another campus tragedy. They found one, ironically in the same place the mass-murderers first lashed out: on social media. Lawmakers are focused now on how students can use their social media to police suspicious activities. In an age when the internet is virtually everywhere, it was bound to happen. But in 1984, nobody thought Big Brother would be a high school student....

The Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) and Serengeti Law released their 8th Annual “Managing Outside Counsel” survey last month, revealing some interesting trends in the inside-outside counsel relationship. According to their findings, over the past 8 years in-house counsel have been more demanding of their outside counsel. The study suggests that in-house has taken on the role of manager to outside counsel to heart and has opted for a variety of measures to ensure competitive productivity....

Order of the Bankruptcy Appellate Panel reversing an order of the Bankruptcy Court is affirmed as a late alimony payment penalty was not a domestic support obligation, and as such, the ex-wife’s claim was a general unsecured claim not entitled to priority status and consequently dischargeable. Read In re: Smith, No. 09-9005 Appellate Information Appeal from the Bankruptcy Appellate Panel Decided November 6, 2009 Judges Before: Boudin, Torruella, and Saris, Circuit Judges...

Consumers who critique businesses through Yelp, TripAdviser, and other websites may breathe easier now that a new law is on the president’s desk. The Consumer Review Fairness Act, which Congress passed to stop businesses from punishing consumers who post negative reviews, received widespread support in both houses. The U.S. Senate approved the bill unanimously yesterday, sending it to the President Obama for signature. “Reviews on where to shop, eat, or stay on websites like Yelp or TripAdvisor help consumers make informed choices about where to spend their money,” said Sen....

Julius “Jay” Richardson has a long and distinguished resume. His most high-profile case involved prosecuting the notorious Dylann Roof. Now Richardson can add another notch to his belt: he was just nominated to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals by President Trump. Interestingly, Richardson’s nomination may seem out of left field, but the prosecutor has some experience on the other side of the bench, though not as a judge. He served as a law clerk to U....

The principle of “one person, one vote” seems abundantly straightforward in principle. In application, this principle seems to elicit never-ending conflict. In Evenwel v. Abbott, the Supreme Court will have another say in the matter. The desire for a vote to be heard is presumably driven by a desire for fairness. That’s the underlying basis of the appellant’s argument: the current voting arraignment for state Senate districts in Texas in not fair....

Rule #1 of staying anonymous on the Internet: never use your real name. Yesterday, we brought you the tale of Captain Jack Sparrow Dread Pirate Roberts, a/k/a Ross Ulbricht, the alleged founder of The Silk Road, a website on the anonymous Tor network where users buy and sell drugs, firearms, and services, such as hacking and murders for hire. Ulbricht was indicted yesterday on drug conspiracy charges and for multiple murder for hire plots....

Starting your own legal practice involves a lot of hard work and dedication, which is why you’ll want to take advantage of every possible opportunity you have to succeed. Perhaps the biggest part in any firm’s success is its ability to market itself, ensuring a steady income and stream of clients. If you’re not sure exactly where to begin when it comes to law firm marketing, here are a few suggestions to get you started....

President Trump took out Obamacare’s tax penalty for individuals who don’t have health insurance, but attorneys general across the country want to kill off the rest of the health insurance legislation. The President and fellow Republicans repealed the “individual mandate” of the Affordable Care Act that requires Americans to have health insurance or pay a fine. The mandate will expire in 2019. In the meantime, 20 states have sued to undo the entire act....

If you were playing ‘Call of Duty,’ what would be the point of pausing the game right before taking a lethal hit? If your strategy was to come back later to try some new move, you were still going to die. The game won’t let you avoid an inevitable death. That’s kind of how things played out in the U.S. Supreme Court in Microsoft v. Baker. Here’s what happened to the plaintiffs, who claimed their Xbox 360 consoles scratched their game discs....

Is it a violation of due process when a jury issues a judgment against you for more than half a million dollars, all for illegally downloading thirty songs? This is the question Joel Tenenbaum put before the First Circuit, but his hopes were dashed when the Court affirmed that this monetary award was not excessive in light of his conduct in its Sony BMG Music Entertainment v. Tenenbaum decision on Tuesday....

For those who value their privacy. For those who need to change phone numbers frequently (cough, drug dealers, cough). For those who want a $10 per month phone bill (paid in three-month increments). Meet the so-called “Snowden Phone” (officially and more blandly referred to as the Privacy Phone), a re-tooled (and admittedly ancient) Samsung Galaxy SII that is equipped with encrypted calls and text messages, a Virtual Private Network (VPN) for disguising Internet traffic, and a phone number that you can change as often as you want....