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A lawsuit filed by a wrongfully convicted Michigan man seeks to hold the county, its investigator, and prosecutor liable for intentionally withholding critical exculpatory evidence. The case involved the conviction of a former state trooper for child molestation of his own step-daughter. Curiously, when it was discovered before trial that the victim’s story changed after being confronted with evidence that failed to corroborate her allegations, that evidence was never disclosed. The defense first learned of the changed story during trial....

Just south of Hotlanta, things are getting messy in Georgia. In late 2008, a deputy’s patrol car caught assistant public defender Kim Cornwell in the steamy embraces of local Judge Paschal English, known more widely as the fourth-place finisher on “Survivor: Marquesas.” The pair were recorded by the cruiser’s camera, allegedly engaging in a sexual act in the back of a car. Obviously, this created a few issues, not the least of which were the hundreds of cases that she’d handled in Judge English’s courtroom over the preceding few years....

While we lawyers will find no shortage of opinions on what sort of computer bag best reflects upon our profession, when push comes to shove, your computer bag better provide good protection for your computer, and be able to carry whatever else you need. And let’s be real for a second, ye ole standard briefcase is a relic of the past and rarely provides decent protection for laptops. Good computer protection means that there should be a dedicated place for your laptop, that isn’t too big for your machine and has enough padding to protect against a drop....

Earlier this week, Corporate Counsel released the results of its 2014 GC Compensation Survey, which lists the top 100 (with caveats) best-paid general counsel. And while we all know that GCs make a lot of money, when you actually see the figures, I assure you, your jaw will drop. So here goes, let’s all turn green with envy picture what we would do with $5 million as we take a look at the survey results....

So Pokemon doesn’t go after all. At least not for now in China, which is considering whether to allow the popular game to play out on phones there. Government officials are concerned about reports that Pokemon Go players are wandering around looking for Pokemon characters and carelessly causing accidents. In nearby Japan, two people were killed in car accidents last year because gamers were distracted. In China, the government is also concerned about security problems with the app’s geolocation services....

Did some kid use an app to morph your selfie into a picture of you with dog ears? Or did someone snag your profile picture and post it somewhere that you would rather not see? Maybe these questions are funny, but the U.S. Copyright Office seriously wants to know what is happening to your photos. The Copyright Office is seeking comment from the public about how to better protect photos and other arts from unlawful exploitation....

As the use of visual aids and technology during litigation increases, it’s imperative that you keep up with presentation trends so that you can use all the tools available to you to persuade a jury. Increasingly, attorneys need to hone their design skills as PowerPoint presentations move away from bullet points, to graphics. Here are some tips and resources for you to upgrade your PowerPoint skills. 1. Keep It Minimal You want your slides to be easy to see and free of clutter....

When is a court procedurally inaccessible under Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure (FRAP) 26(a)(1)? The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals considered the issue recently, and released an opinion on the matter this week in an immigration appeal. Xue Yun Lin filed an application for asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the Convention Against Torture on behalf of herself and her husband, Chao Lin, claiming that she feared that she and Chao would be persecuted if they returned to China because she had given birth to two children in violation of China’s one child policy, and she was pregnant with a third child....

Ogunfuye v. Holder, No. 09-60074, involved a petition for review of a final order of removal entered by the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA). The court of appeals denied the petition, on the grounds that 1) because petitioner was an aggravated felon, the court had no jurisdiction to reach her argument that the lack of notice constituted “good cause” warranting a continuance; and 2) the immigration judge did not err in determining that it could not adjudicate petitioner’s prima facie eligibility for naturalization....

Florida attended LegalTech because the event offers law firms and legal departments the opportunity to monitor the evolving industry and to improve their law practice management. Karl Florida said that he is seeing a lot of interest in mobile technology and cloud computing as mobile becomes a part of the legal technology landscape. In particular, Florida noted a lot of interest in social media, especially how it impacts law firms practice and marketing....

Hell hath no fury like a Florida judge who receives an improperly formatted brief. Luckily for the BigLaw lawyers for Darden Restaurants, the line spacing violation only landed them a scolding and striking, and not a denial, nor sanctions. The pleading in question here was a motion for summary judgment. Rather than the standard double-spacing required by court rules, the motion had lines spaced at one and a half. Additionally, compounding the matters of form were nearly double the amount of acceptable lines of footnoting (clearly this brief was submitted before the lawyers had a chance to read our post on excessive footnoting)....

Tech companies have been criticized for their lack of diversity for years. Consider the fact that 94 percent of Facebook’s technical employees are white or Asian; the median employee age at Google is allegedly 29 years old; and no large social networking company has more than 2 percent of black employees. With all the criticism tech gets, you might think it’s the least diverse industry around, but you’d be wrong. That award goes to lawyers....

In golf, a mulligan means a do-over. It’s an informal golf rule that allows a player who muffs a shot to take another one, and it’s not counted on the score card. In SureShot Golf Ventures v. Topgolf International, the plaintiff got the legal equivalent of a mulligan. SureShot sued Topgolf, only to have its antitrust complaint dismissed. The U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal affirmed, but gave the plaintiff another chance....

Porn. Dominatrices. Online privacy. Judges dropping F-bombs. And one badass Army Captain blogging about her experience with the JAG Corps. Welcome to “Holler,” a weekly piece where we’ll give shout-outs to the best things we’ve seen that week in the legal blawgosphere. If any of those topics interest you, read on. And if you have a suggestion for next week’s roundup, tweet me @PeacockEsq. Above the Law Redline: Won’t Somebody Please Help This Aspiring Dominatrix​?...

You need experts to prove cases. It’s just a fact. If you’re going to litigate, you’re probably going to need an expert, at least when it gets to damages, if not on liability too. However, when there’s a battle of the experts, or your opponent has eschewed the use of an expert, how you handle or rebut questions about expert witness fees can be critical for the credibility of your expert(s)....

UpCounsel, a service that matches small to mid-sized businesses with attorneys, was started in 2012. CEO Matt Faustman stated that he co-founded UpCounsel to provide affordable legal services to small business owners, reports Small Business Trends. So how does it work? Thinking about giving your small practice a boost and trying UpCounsel? Here are some ways to stand out from the rest: 1. First Impressions First impressions are everything. The first thing a prospective client will see is a profile picture....

The Fourth Circuit overturned North Carolina’s voter identification law this morning – and it didn’t pull any punches in doing so. In a blistering, strongly-worded opinion, the court found that the North Carolina legislature enacted the voter ID requirement and ended same-day voter registration and preregistration “with discriminatory intent.” It apparently didn’t take the Fourth Circuit too long to reach these conclusions, either. The ruling comes just three months after a federal district court upheld the voting law and little over a month following oral arguments....

In-N-Out Burger, everyone’s favorite West Coast burger chain, and one with a reputation for treating employees better than its competitors, recently found itself in hot water with the NLRB over a “Fight for $15” pin worn by a couple employees. The “Fight for $15” campaign is all about food service workers banding together to fight for a $15 minimum wage. The burger-maker appealed the NLRB order to the Fifth Circuit, while the NLRB filed a request that the appellate court enforce their order....

What do you get when you cross a lawyer and a pig? Nothing, because there are some things a pig won’t do. If you didn’t laugh at that one, maybe it’s because you heard it before. But maybe it’s because you can’t take a joke. Seriously, one of the keys to being likeable is not to take yourself too seriously. Whether you like it or not, your personality has a lot to do with business success....

Ever wonder why you can’t buy a car directly from the manufacturer? Tesla has. In trying to sell directly to consumers, the California-based manufacturer of sexy (and expensive) electric cars has run up against legal obstacles in the form of state laws prohibiting direct-to-consumer sales of cars. Such laws were originally meant to protect dealerships from manufacturers, but over the years, they’ve become more of a way to limit entry into the business of automobile sales....