Gone are the days when you could get away with a website and wall of text. Today, the Internet is dominated by the visual as much as the textual – and savvy lawyers know that they need to take advantage video and images, especially when it comes to social media. But what about GIFs? Those moving images have taken over the Internet and now, thanks to a Twitter update, are even easier to get into your social media stream....
At the end of January, Apple CEO Tim Cook announced that the Apple Watch, the vaunted smart timepiece introduced in September, would start shipping in April. The lowest-end version of the watch is the Apple Watch Sport, which rumors believe will start at about $350. The high-end 18K gold version, called Apple Watch Edition, might fetch $3,000. Fancy lawyers will (and do) pay well over $350 for a fancy watch, but is the Apple Watch worth it?...
Marvin Mitchelson, the famed Hollywood divorce lawyer, had an office that stood out. From his office-length window across from the Los Angeles Country Club, he could see the hustle headed toward Rodeo Drive. He adorned his space with antique furniture and ornaments that rivaled Hearst Castle – a reproduction of Botticelli’s Venus hung over his desk. But that’s not really what we’re talking about when it comes to having a law office that stands out....
Will this be the year lawyers are replaced by computers? Are law firm destined to be attacked by hackers in 2016? We hope not! In the spirit of camaraderie, we feel it’s our obligation to highlight some of the most likely legal predictions for 2016. “Skynet” and Human Obsolescence Remember how we laughed in the late 80s and early 90s when the Terminator franchise (when it was good) fleshed out this bleak picture of the future inhabited by a computer system called “Skynet” that waged war on humanity?...
This question is becoming increasingly relevant every day: who owns the product of an artificial intelligence? Why, the owner of the machine, of course. But is that answer really quite so obvious? After all, who owns the machine if the machine itself is difficult to define? And even more curious, can an intelligence be owned? And should it? AI Is Here Quasi-versions of artificial intelligence are already around us. We’re on the cusp of self-driving cars, self-directed surgery machines, and machines that we can literally have a conversation with....
Yeah. Stand there. That’s right. Put your hands above your head. Yeah. That’s good. Okay, you can go. Next. Yeah. Did we mention that the scanners may (may, evidence still shakey) cause cancer and aren’t especially effective at detecting booty bombs or strategically-placed metallic objects? Jeffrey Redfern, 27, and Anant Pradhan, 23, are former Harvard Law students who were given the unholy choice and chose the pat down. It was uncomfortable, to put it mildly, and as a result, they sought an injunction to prohibit use of the scanners and pat-down procedures, as well as a declaratory judgment that TSA procedures violate our constitutional rights....
“I love myself, I want you to love me.” Those words, spoken in a 1990 smash hit with a title a bit too inappropriate to repeat, or even link to (we bet you can guess it though), sum up how we’re feeling right now. No, the love part. Oh, never mind. We’ve done good work on this blog, and on the rest of our legal professionals blogs, this year. We’ve put up more content, refocused on the content that we think interests you, and as a result, our traffic is up and we made the ABA’s big list....
Tracking hours isn’t exactly what inspires bright, idealistic youth to pursue a career in law – but it’s a pretty inescapable reality of the profession. If you run an egg timer every time a client calls or if you attempt to recreate your day in the evening, you could benefit from a better system. As annoying as timekeeping can be, it’s a pretty straightforward task. Thankfully, there’s plenty of lawyer-focused timekeeping apps out there, apps which help make the timekeeping easier, simpler and more intuitive....
FindLaw columnist Eric Sinrod writes regularly in this section on legal developments surrounding technology and the Internet. There has been concern, rightly, that the Internet might provide a further means for waging war or dismantling the means of waging war by others. For example, a few years ago, Stuxnet, a computer worm, reportedly was launched by a U.S. and Israeli intelligence operation to attack and cause the tearing apart of programmable logic controllers of certain Iranian centrifuges that were designed for potential nuclear purposes....
Few will mourn Clayton Lockett. He was convicted, beyond a reasonable doubt, of shooting 19-year-old Stephanie Neiman with a sawed-off shotgun before watching his friends bury her alive. Along with Charles Warner, a man convicted of raping and murdering an infant, he was set for a double execution in Oklahoma on Tuesday. Lockett’s death should give both sides of the capital punishment debate pause, so long as cruel and unusual punishment remains unacceptable....
FindLaw columnist Eric Sinrod writes regularly in this section on legal developments surrounding technology and the internet. Distributed denial of service (DDOS) attacks are not creatures of the past. Indeed, they still are with us, as exemplified by the recent DDOS attack on WordPress, a blogging site. According to recent press reports, this attack impacted connectivity for a large number of the 25 million WordPress bloggers. The press reports indicate that the magnitude of this distributed denial of service attack was multiple gigabits and tens of millions of packets of information per second, impacting data centers in Chicago, San Antonio and Dallas....
Steven M. Cohen apparently was concerned about his client’s oral hygiene in jail, so he gave the man a toothbrush. That resulted in a felony conviction for delivering illegal articles to an inmate. Then the state Supreme Court suspended Cohen’s bar license and ordered him to pay $8,600 as a penalty. So what’s the lesson here? If your inmate client has really bad breath, do not give him a toothbrush? Or maybe it’s more about timing....
Benjamin Franklin said death and taxes are certain, but he was an American. Americans shouldn’t have to worry about foreign taxes, right? According to reports, however, foreign countries are trying to tax internet giants like Facebook and Google. They can’t collect income taxes from the U.S.-based companies, so they want “digital taxes” for services in their countries. Benjamin Franklin might be rolling over in his grave except for one thing: he was quite the foreign diplomat....
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments about a Texas town’s immigration policy in en banc rehearing on Wednesday. In March, a three-judge panel ruled that the sole purpose of the ordinance was to exclude undocumented aliens from the city, which is an impermissible regulation of immigration. In April, Farmer’s Branch asked the Fifth Circuit to review that decision. The appellate court granted the request in July. Federal preemption seemed to be a sticking point with the court....
Thanksgiving is on the horizon, which means that the holiday party season is just a step behind it. Once you hear Nat King Cole singing about chestnuts roasting on an open fire – so Friday, basically – get ready to be inundated with winter party plans. Of course, the holiday party isn’t just a chance to down some eggnog and sample gingerbread cookies. It’s a prime networking opportunity. Here are some tips to help you network right this holiday season....
House Republicans are considering a new bill that could drastically curtail class action litigation. The proposed law, the Fairness in Class Action Litigation Act of 2017, was introduced earlier this month by Congressman Bob Goodlatte of Virginia, the current chair of the House Judiciary Committee. The bill would enact several major changes to the way class actions are currently litigated, including by limiting attorney’s fees and narrowing the types of plaintiffs that can be grouped in a class....
Often times, when high profile or legally fascinating cases get some media attention, the lawyers not handling those cases will be left wondering: how did THAT lawyer get THAT case? While a lawyer’s personal reputation and personal network still has quite a bit to do with it, there’s no magic bullet to attracting the cases and clients you want in the modern world we live (thanks internet!). But like winning the lottery, it’s not going to happen unless you buy a ticket....
Stormy Daniels’ lawyer has been riding the publicity from her case all over the place. Attorney Michael Avenatti has raised his public profile on any major news program that will take him. Whether he wins the case or not, a book deal is sure to follow. But at some point, Avenatti should stop the promotion. That’s because it’s not a good idea to advertise when there is a skeleton in your closet....
Since last week’s announcement of Microsoft Office for iPad, more details have leaked on the company’s newest addition to the family, including a couple significant limitations that were discovered by third-party reviewers. Meanwhile, the Office for iPhone and Android, apps that we barely noticed? They’re still largely insignificant, due to extremely limited feature sets, but there’s a new silver lining: they’re free! Every other alternative app is superior, but yeah, free!...
Years ago, Google Apps was free for any organization that signed up. That meant you, and your fifty closest employees, could get free personalized @yourlawfirm.com Google accounts, which came with Gmail, calendars, and every other Google service. A lot of small firms and small businesses focus on shrinking their overhead. Who wants to pay $5 or $10 monthly per user in addition to legal research, practice management software, and the other toys that keep your business running smoothly....
