Lunch breaks are the best time of the day. Workers get to rest and stuff their faces and employers don’t have to pay them for that time – so long as the break is about 30 minutes or more. Cut into that time, however, and you no longer have a lunch, you just have a rest, even if workers were able to chow down between tasks. Take, for example, the naval base security guards who had their lunch breaks eroded by travel requirements....
The National Labor Relations Board has been a thorn in the Fifth Circuit’s said these past few years. Several days ago, however, the panel court made it perfectly clear that it hadn’t changed its mind with regards to the proper scope of the National Labor Standards Act. The issue at bar (now apparently settled) is whether or not employers can require the signing of mandatory arbitration clauses that preclude employee lawsuits against the company....
Macy’s is suing Martha Stewart’s company for an alleged contract breach involving J.C. Penney that could affect billions of dollars in sales. But the contract at issue contains a legal loophole, attorneys for Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia contend, according to Reuters. As Martha Stewart herself might say, “It’s a good thing” for her company. The Macy’s/Martha Stewart dispute centers on a 2006 contract that allegedly granted Macy’s exclusive rights to make and sell products in the “Martha Stewart collection” line until 2018, Reuters reports....
Attorneys love their gadgets. They also love getting what they want and right now. But sometimes that just isn’t possible. In the case of the iPod Nano Wristwatch, not only is it not yet available, but…gasp…it won’t be available in time for the holidays. Minimal, a company out of Chicago, has caused an internet sensation with its iPod wristwatch, though the company has not released any watches yet. In fact, according to Scott Wilson, the founder of Minimal, the project is the first Kickstarter project to surpass the half million dollar mark....
Whether it’s just being proficient with word processing and email (including the use of attachments), or being able to navigate around in a cloud-based case management portal, or knowing enough to not embarrass oneself on social media, in these modern times, lawyers really can’t afford to not get along with technology. While a client may not care that much if your law firm is green, if you can’t use email, or even provide more advanced tech that another firm boasts having and using, the client will care....
When Donald Trump tweets about the New York Times, that’s one thing, but when Edward Snowden tweets about it, that’s something else. After the New York Times reported that the National Security Agency will stop collecting Americans’ email and text messages, Snowden tweeted an “I told you so.” The former CIA agent, who is on the lam for leaking intelligence secrets, said “the truth changed everything.” “Contrary to denials, NSA was in fact sifting through Americans’ emails,” he tweeted....
What would you do if your client came to her hearing simply to strip in court? For most attorneys, the first thing they’d do is to pray that the judge doesn’t slap their client with a contempt charge. That’s probably what Holly Van Voast’s attorney wished for when his client, a staunch public nudity advocate, disrobed in the middle of a hearing in New York City. And his wish came true....
Preserving productivity. Increasing efficiency. Nothing quite warms the cockles of a manager’s heart quite like those phrases. You know what dooms productivity and efficiency? A disabled computer or network. And one of the quickest ways to kill a computer or network is for one of your employees to do something stupid, like clicking on one of those “Your computer is infected. Click here to remove the virus” scams. The Wall Street Journal ran an article recently on security firms that design fake hacking schemes and use them on a company’s employees....
As if lawyers need any more reasons to fear for their livelihoods in a tight job market, here’s another: Predictive coding is becoming more popular, and could make human document review somewhat obsolete. Yes, the rise of robots is reaching into the realm of entry-level and contract legal work, the website Lawyerist reports. What used to take a roomful of document reviewers days, weeks, or even months to complete, can now largely be done by computer programs designed to quickly sift through terabytes of electronic data....
FindLaw columnist Eric Sinrod writes regularly in this section on legal developments surrounding technology and the Internet. I believe that I have the world’s greatest commute. I board the ferry at Larkspur Landing in Marin County, California and travel thirty minutes across the water to the Ferry Building in downtown San Francisco. Friday morning was a gorgeous day. The sun was shining, the sky was crystal clear with the moon still hanging high, and the water was sparkling....
For Target, the $10 million settlement would have closed the door on one of the biggest data-breach cases of the time. The company had already agreed to pay banks with MasterCard $39 million and Visa $67 million. Even the consumer class action – representing up to 110 million Target customers – had been approved. But then this happened. One person objected, and an appeals court agreed with him. The settlement, based on the data-breach of 2013, will be on hold for now....
It’s not just telemarketers that are at risk of being sued under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. Any company that makes customer phone calls, sends texts or faxes faxes could be open to liability under the TCPA. The TCPA prohibits unsolicited advertising by phone, text and fax. It provides $500 to $1,500 for each violation, plus allows for the recovery of lawyer fees and costs. TCPA lawsuits are a booming business....
FindLaw columnist Eric Sinrod writes regularly in this section on legal developments surrounding technology and the Internet. Does it ever seem that everyone around you constantly is engaged in smartphone checking? Do you even find yourself to be one of those incessant phone-checkers? Well, surprise, surprise: the average American goes for his or her smartphone 46 separate times daily, according to a recent study released by Deloitte. The attraction to our smartphones is only increasing over time....
No one likes clients who lie – at least, not one the ones who lie to their lawyer. When clients lie or fail to disclose necessary information, they make it hard for lawyers to do their job. When a client’s lie is discovered, it can raise messy ethical, profession and practical issues for the lawyer. Here’s what to do, and what not to do, when your client’s pants catch on fire....
Preparing for trial in the biggest self-driving car case ever, attorney Melissa Bailey is focused on damages. In Waymo v. Uber, she asked the trial judge to allow the plaintiff to present financial projections about the size of the self-driving market. The judge denied the pre-trial request, saying he didn’t want to tempt the jury with “big numbers.” But the stakes are no secret. Last year, Intel projected the self-driving car market could be a $7 trillion industry in the near future....
If you’re arguing before the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals (or just stopping by on your federal circuit tour of the United States), you’re going to end up at the Lewis F. Powell Jr. courthouse in downtown Richmond, Virginia. You might only be there for a day or two, but that doesn’t mean you can’t avail yourself of the things Richmond has to offer. As soon as I get into a new city, that’s the first question I want to have answered....
Many lawyers are frustrated actors, but that doesn’t mean they should be making movies. After all, how many people actually want to watch a lawyer video? According to a new report, not that many. The good new is, however, the numbers explain what consumers really want from attorney videos. And it’s not special effects. Please Explain Jason Bland, a legal marketing leader, studied 53 law firm websites with 3,000 visitors per site....
In a down economy, law firms and solo attorneys are scrambling to get the attention of new clients. But, let’s not forget that client retention is also vitally important to any firm’s bottom line. What are some general tips that any attorney can use to help manage their business and foster good relationships with their clients? Client Retention Tip #1: Demonstrate your legal knowledge. This might seem like common sense, but it’s easy to lose sight of maintaining your legal prowess when you’re embroiled in marketing yourself to clients....
Cornell’s Tech-arm and Law School announced late October the launch of a LL.M in Law, Technology and Entrepreneurship. According to Cornell, the primary impetus behind this move is to help fresh law grads and practicing attorneys learn the legal and business considerations that technologists and entrepreneurs need to operate in an increasingly technology driven world. It’s designed to provide practicing attorneys and recent law grads “with specialized skills to support and lead technology companies into the digital economy....
Raymont David Brown was busted for cocaine possession after a positive urine test. For an ordinary person, that might mean a little trouble. For Brown, who was on supervised release after an earlier crack distribution conviction, it meant jail time. Upon determining that Brown had violated the terms of supervised release, the district court classified the violation as a Grade B violation – rather than a less serious Grade C violation – reasoning that Brown could have been prosecuted for a recidivist drug offense under federal law....
