It’s a classic defense: The child porn on the computer wasn’t mine, it belongs to my roommate … or, or my girlfriend! A jury didn’t buy this line when James William Smith’s counsel sold it in his criminal trial, but his conviction was overturned for lack of evidence. Then the Fifth Circuit overturned the lower court, affirming the jury’s conviction. How much is enough evidence to sustain child porn charges?...
When it comes to law and technology, if you throw a rock, you’ll hit someone claiming that legal tech is about to revolutionize practice. But it’s not just Big Data and virtual paralegals that are changing how things are done. Even in DUI defense, new technology is amplifying attorney resources and reshaping the balance of power in discovery, especially when it comes to video footage and audio recordings. Using Technology for a Better Defense Of course, you wouldn’t know about these developments if you looked at law enforcement....
The bad news is some practice areas are gone. The good news is others are taking their place. According to reports, scores of new practice areas have evolved in recent years. Fifteen years ago, they didn’t even exit. It’s a trend that gives attorneys opportunities that they’ve never seen before. Most have evolved out of emerging technologies, new legislation, and social changes. Here are some of the new niches: Technology Artificial intelligence, cryptocurrencies, social media and other technologies have taken over our daily lives....
Even the best conflict checking system won’t be able save you from getting disqualified if a case unfolds into a conflict, or some other insurmountable issue rears its ugly head. And while opposing counsel and parties may be happy to get you thrown off the case, what you do after getting kicked off can make all the difference (as to whether you or they will regret it). After the initial shock wears off, you might be wondering what you actually need to do after a judge declares that you or your firm can no longer represent your client in court....
What is the best law firm perk of all time? Plenty of firms provide meals and coffee, but Washington D.C.’s Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner thinks much bigger than caffeine and carbs. It offers tuition reimbursement to cover 100 percent of staffers’ law school tuition, The Washington Post reports. That’s a potentially hefty sum. According to the Post, the firm – which specializes in intellectual property work – has 761 employees in the D....
Sometimes we send ourselves gentle reminders to avoid repeating mistakes of the past. A note on the freezer that almonds are a healthier snack than ice cream? Totally okay. Changing the client-from-hell’s name in your phone to “Do not Answer: Client from Hell”? Not such a good idea. Even if that jolt of caller-ID recognition would save you from an unpleasant conversation, it could come back to haunt you in other ways....
You’ve probably heard about the inevitable development of the Ray Rice saga. The NFL Pro Bowl running back, who was cut by the Ravens yesterday, was previously suspended for two games after he was charged with felony domestic violence. A video of the aftermath of the incident – Ray dragging his unconscious fiancé (now wife) out of an elevator – emerged, creating quite the public relations nightmare, but little in the way of actual consequences....
Jason P. Fiume was convicted of wife beating in 2010, which predictably resulted in a protective order. As nearly as predictable was the response: defiance. He attempted to contact her via Facebook, text messaging, emailing, phone calls, and possibly via pigeon carrier, though the pigeons were never recovered. When his overtures were not reciprocated, he traveled from New York to Maine and left a message on the tree outside her parents’ house, where she was staying....
Face it, you got a bit spoiled at BigLaw. Between the sporting events, summer lunches and weekly free booze happy hour, you got accustomed to the finer things in life. Now, you’re in-house counsel – you’ve switched columns. You were once a rainmaker and now you’re an expense on the balance sheet. But does that mean that you, and the rest of the company should suffer? No way. According to Nancy Koehn, Harvard business professor, employee perks do matter....
According to a recent report out of local Silicon Valley newspaper, the Mercury News, tech companies in the Silicon Valley area being targeted by Russian spies employing the “honeypot” routine. What’s a “honeypot” routine, you ask? Well, it’s basically the stuff movies are made of. In short, it involves a spy engaging in a romantic relationship with a target in order to extract information. And in Silicon Valley, where tech companies rely on investor confidence, these honeypot spies present a potential security hole that tech visionaries might not be equipped to handle....
Ross William Ulbricht, founder of the notoriously successful Silk Road, didn’t want the fame. He just wanted the fortune. He didn’t even want anyone to know that he created the website, which did more than $180 million in business in just a few years, for people to make “darknet” purchases. He worked anonymously because, after all, it was a drug-trafficking site. The government discovered his real identity, however, and sent him to jail for life....
A disability discrimination lawsuit can be a major blow to any company, not just because they can be expensive to defend against, but because they can also tarnish an employer’s reputation. Yet, disability discrimination claims are common, and growing. In 2015, disability discrimination made up 30 percent of EEOC bias charges, the third most common charge and an increase of six percent from the previous year. But disability discrimination claims can be avoided....
UK reporter Guy Adams was kicked off Twitter this weekend after posting a tweet that included the email address for NBC executive Gary Zenkel. Adams’s account was reactivated on Tuesday and he’s back on Twitter. Adams posted a tweet on Friday criticizing NBC for tape-delaying their broadcast of the Olympics and singled out Zenkel as the executive behind the idea. He included Zenkel’s NBC email address in his tweet. Several days later, Twitter notified Adams that he had violated Twitter’s terms of use and that as a result they were suspending his account....
Looking to spur some innovation in your legal practice? Maybe it’s time to take some advice from Matt Homann, founder of Invisible Girlfriend, an actual, real-life company that offers a digital version of a real girlfriend “without the baggage.” (Don’t worry, there’s an Invisible Boyfriend service too.) What’s the founder of a sort-of-sad fake girlfriend company know about the law? Well, before he was creating digital fauxmance, Homann was a solo practitioner, and he’s dedicated years to thinking about innovation and the law....
No wonder there are so many complaints about judicial shortages, both in the First Circuit and beyond. For the first time since June of last year, our legislature has approved a nominee to the federal courts. It should come as no surprise then that Judge William Kayetta, Jr. was probably the least controversial appointee imaginable. The Bangor Daily News opines that his personal politics probably played little role in the delay either, as according to FEC records, he had only made a few minimal donations to Democratic candidates in the last few years....
During times of relative stability, it’s so tempting to grow complacent. Sure, there are those professional risks you’ve fantasized about taking to boost your practice. But the dreaded string of “what ifs” soon follows and puts those fledgling temptations to rest. But here’s the thing: Those “what ifs” are crippling and can actually hurt the longevity of your business. Risks are not only necessary to thrive, they’re crucial to survive....
Between its bankruptcy restructuring and union battles, American Airlines is keeping its lawyers busy. In June, the struggling airline won a federal court order temporarily blocking its passenger-service employees from conducting a union representation election, Bloomberg reports. District Judge Terry Means ruled that American was likely to succeed on its claim that the election violated labor laws because the union’s request for the election in December 2011 met a then-applicable employee-interest standard of 35 percent; the threshold was raised to 50 percent, effective immediately, in February before the National Mediation Board ordered the vote....
This meant the end of Conde Nast’s internship programs. As part of a massive wave of unpaid/underpaid intern lawsuits, you have to wonder if this will mean more large corporations will wise up and stop offering illegal internships. Conde Nast just squashed the beef in a class action brought by former interns, agreeing to fork over $5.8 million to put the suit behind them. The class includes roughly 7,500 ex-interns who worked at Vogue, Vanity Fair, and other similar publications, reports Capital New York....
A federal judge cleared the way for an anti-trust lawsuit against six of the biggest banks on Wall Street. The proposed class-action alleges the banks engaged in an “illegal conspiracy” to drive out competitors from the $2 trillion stock lending market. Big litigation has hurt big banking in recent years, but the latest allegations haven’t seemed to change the landscape on Wall Street. The banks have paid for anti-trust violations before, and their stocks are up....
We often go on and on about how AI lawyers will one day be the end of the legal profession as we know it. Fortunately, a recent take on Recode explains that we attorneys won’t be the only ones losing money thanks to robot lawyers. We’ll be joined by governments. Interestingly, it’s not just that AI legal services have the potential to impact a government’s revenue stream. When the tech is ready, some government service jobs, like residential trash collection, are just bound to go to robots....
