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When most people envision First Amendment civil rights challenges against college campuses, student protest groups come to mind. However, the University of Alabama just fought off a seemingly random Evangelical preacher’s federal First Amendment lawsuit, and Eleventh Circuit appeal. Fortunately for UA, both the district and appellate courts agreed that the preacher’s case did not merit granting a preliminary injunction against the campus. Whether or not the case will get much further is a different story, but the facts are rather curious, and don’t seem to bode well for the well-meaning plaintiff preacher....

In US v. Garcia, No. 09-40575, the court of appeals affirmed defendant’s cocaine possession conviction, on the grounds of 1) defendant did not qualify his consent to the police, who therefore had general consent to search defendant’s truck; and 2) when the officers requested permission to search the truck after asking defendant whether he was carrying “anything illegal,” it was natural to conclude that they might look for hidden compartments or containers....

FindLaw columnist Eric Sinrod writes regularly in this section on legal developments surrounding technology and the internet. Most of us regularly use the surface level of the internet. But there are other deeper and darker levels. So, let’s briefly explore three levels of the internet. This part of the internet probably is the most familiar to you, so you might think that it comprises the vast majority of the internet. Wrong!...

Balancing work-life can be like balancing a tire. When changing tires, a good mechanic will balance new tires before putting them back on an automobile. The task requires moving lead weights strategically around the circumference of each wheel until it rotates evenly. Balancing is important to ensure a smooth ride and a long life for the tire. Time Management Skills Being available to your clients 24/7 may impress them, but it will not leave time for you, your family, your friends....

US v. Celestin, 09-1161, concerned a challenge to a conviction of a defendant for bank fraud and conspiracy to commit bank fraud. In affirming the convictions, the court held that the district court did not abuse its discretion in denying defendant’s motion to sever defendant’s trial from that of his co-conspirator who represented himself. The court also held that there was no abuse of discretion in the district court’s rejection of defendant’s Brady claims, and that defendant failed to show any violation of his Fifth Amendment rights....

Paper is passé. You no longer need a legal pad to track your favorites during jury selection. You can do doc review from your tablet. Printing cases? What is this, 1994? You don’t even have to lift a pen to record the six-minute-intervals of your work day: There’s an app for that. But in a time where the trend is to go digital, law remains tactile. Sometimes you need to kill a tree to help your client....

As we saw from the woman who quit her job through a two-minute interpretive dance video set to Kanye West’s “Gone,” keeping employees happy, engaged and loyal is essential to preventing an ex-employee viral social media sensation at the company’s expense. But how do you crack the code of what makes employees disenchanted enough to literally shimmy out the door? The formula for a happy workplace may more of an art than science (sometimes literally), but there are a few common pressure-points that can trigger the employee tipping-point-of-no-return....

If law firms are shamed for being “slick,” then tech companies should be called out for their “tricks.” At least plaintiffs are complaining about it in ads posted on Facebook. They allege companies are discriminating by posting job advertisements on the social media platform that target younger workers. Through computer tools and algorithms, older workers never even see the ads. In an age of targeted marketing, the lawsuit alleges, that is targeted discrimination....

Yesterday, my fellow FindLaw blawgger Marky Mark wrote about Maverick Ray, a lawyer who was hired to represent a capital murder defendant despite having only a few months’ experience. That’s still happening, apparently, because the client has a Sixth Amendment right to hire whomever the hell he damn well pleases, and besides: Whatever, bro – the “Top Gun Lawyer” can bang out a cap. case like that. While we were all sitting around mocking the self-proclaimed “Assassin of Suppression,” someone stumbled upon Mark Bennett’s point that Ray calls his firm “The Law Offices of Maverick Ray,” despite only having one office....

A recent criminal complaint filed by the SEC in the Southern District of California federal court charges the cryptocurrency Blockvest with fraud relating to its ICO. The most notable charges relate to the company and founder claiming that the crypto was both licensed and regulated, and their fraudulent use of the SEC seal denoting that it had been approved by the SEC. The agency has already secured a preliminary injunction freezing the company’s assets, as well as halting the planned ICO and stopping the pre-ICO purchases from moving forward....

While a combined expedited appeal is pending in the Tenth Circuit regarding Oklahoma and Utah’s bans on gay marriage, the Fourth Circuit will be looking over opening briefs and the combined appendix. The briefing schedule for the appeal is out, and briefing will occur through April and May, with no hearing yet scheduled. Meantime, Lambda Legal and a class action lawsuit challenging Virginia’s gay marriage ban is also pushing its way thorough the lower court....

A man who, contrary to his employer’s policy, kept a locked gun in his car in the company parking lot can sue for wrongful termination under Mississippi law, says the Fifth Circuit. This case is fundamentally about the clashing of state laws with company policy with regard to dangerous arms. The circuit court’s ruling recognizes a new public policy exception to the doctrine of at-will employment. Swindol’s Dismissal Robert Swindol was an employee at Aurora Flight Sciences Corp....

Zimmerman v. Puccio, 09-1416, concerned a challenge to the district court’s grant of plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment in a class action lawsuit against defendant-Cambridge Credit Counseling Corporations (Cambridge) and other corporate defendants, pursuant to the Credit Repair Organizations Act (CROA), and unfair or deceptive acts or practices in violation of the Massachusetts Consumer Protection Act. In affirming the judgment, the court held that Cambridge was a credit repair organization within the meaning of CROA....

FindLaw columnist Eric Sinrod writes regularly in this section on legal developments surrounding technology and the internet. Some of us are old enough to remember the Jetsons cartoon show from the 1960s in which George Jetson and his family darted around in the sky using jetpacks and futuristic spacecrafts. Well, the future is here and now when it comes to using jetpacks to fighting skyscraper emergencies. According to Popular Science, the city of Dubai, within the United Arab Emirates, entered into a contract with Martin Aircraft Company to buy 20 jetpacks for use by first responders in 2015....

In a trademark dispute between companies in the hair care industry involving a settlement agreement entered into nineteen years ago in which their predecessors stipulated to the withdrawal of the parties’ respective claims and to not object further to the registration of the others’ trademark, district court’s grant of plaintiff’s request for declaratory judgment is affirmed as, notwithstanding possible arguments on each side about potential confusion between their respective phrases, “Great Cuts” and “Great Clips”, no evidence is offered that the parties sought only to allow each to register its mark but to reserve for future litigation the practical consequences of registration....

Is your personal data safe out there in cyberspace? This is the question so many people have been asking lately based on seemingly endless computer hacks. And, unfortunately, the answer to this question might not be what you want to hear. In terms of recent noteworthy developments, unless you have been living in an isolated cave, you undoubtedly have heard about the Ashley Madison hacking disaster. The Ashley Madison hack does not only present a problem for the site’s users who thought that their personally identifiable information would be secure, but it points to a larger problem beyond this one specific site....

Everyone has a theory about how to boost employee productivity and morale in the office. Some firms try to do it with perks and money, and others with making small changes around the office. It’s important to gauge how employees experience the workplace, but one study has found that one thing employers have been taken for granted: the power of compassion. ‘Culture of Compassion’ A recent study conducted by Wharton Professor Sigal Barsade and George Mason University Professor Olivia O’Neil shows the benefits of “companionate love” in the office, reports Inc....

Remember online publication Gizmodo’s iPhone 4 post that was (literally) ahead of its time? In 2010, the leaked iPhone 4 made headlines when a Gizmodo writer Jason Chen, posted a story about the prototype. Brian Hogan and Sage Wallower originally found the phone at a California bar. They then decided to shop around to see if any tech blogs would pay for the then-unreleased phone. Jason Chen, Gizmodo writer, took them up their offer....

A recent survey showed that more women than ever are serving as general counsel at Fortune 500 companies. So does this mean the glass ceiling is finally broken? The study shows that the number of women serving as general counsel at Fortune 500 companies has more than doubled from 1999 to 2008, writes Business Insider. The survey was conducted by Minority Corporate Counsel Association. The study indicates that there were 92 women general counsel at Fortune 500 companies in 2008, compared to only 44 in 1999, reports Business Insider....

Things aren’t looking too great for the defendants in an antitrust class action filed by Silicon Valley’s high-tech workers. The suit accuses Google, Apple, Pixar, Lucasfilm, Adobe, Intel and Intuit of illegally agreeing not to “poach” one another’s employees. A Justice Department investigation into the matter settled in September 2010, but it is only now that some of that evidence has been released. The evidence appears to validate many of the claims made in the Apple poaching lawsuit....