It sounds like the ultimate path to job security: Become a federal judge and serve for the rest of your life. So how best to prepare if you’re eyeing a spot on the federal bench? Let’s start with the basics. Article III Federal judges include district court judges, appeals court judges, and Supreme Court justices, according to the Constitution. All federal judges are nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate....
Tomorrow marks the passing of one-year after the disturbing attack on runners and attendees of the Boston Marathon, allegedly carried out by the Tsarnaev brothers. One year later, and we are closer to trial, yet there may still be delays. Attempts at finding out exactly what is happening in the case against the only surviving Tsarnaev brother, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, are difficult at best to confirm because of the secrecy surrounding the trial....
There’s never enough time. If this is something you find yourself repeating again and again, you’re not alone. Some studies that suggest that this feeling of “too much to do, too little time to do it” might actually be an indication of our ability to handle stress. But there are a few surprisingly easy tricks that can help you improve your productivity. If you need to work faster in your law practice, three these three tricks:...
We’ve heard of moral victories, but is there a losing equivalent? Moral losses? Gracious defeat? Unlike the Ninth Circuit, which is regularly bench-slapped by the Supreme Court, the Fourth Circuit may not feel bad about being reversed twice in one morning. Earlier this week, the Supreme Court issued decisions in Alleyne and Maracich. One was a heavily-fractured opinion about a truly ambiguous statute. In the other, the Fourth Circuit was actually correct under controlling law....
If Alexa is not your office assistant, that’s okay. Chances are you have a different digital assistant working for you. If you’ve met one smart device, you’ve met them all. In any case, Alexa, Google, and Siri are not who you thought they were. They are AI middlemen – in a generic, non-gender specific, marketing sort-of way. And your AI assistants are far more powerful than you can imagine. AI Assistants Of course, it’s complicated....
Big tech companies have pledged not to engage in cyberwar, but isn’t it a little late for that? Facebook, the biggest name on the pledge list, was apparently an instrument of Russia in an attack on U.S. voters. The fallout may even topple the president, if another scandal doesn’t get him first. So what do you call it when 34 major companies promise to have no part of cyberwar? A good start?...
Yesterday, I was having dinner with a friend, one that is definitely a Crackberry addict. Where the NRA says, “From my cold, dead hands,” about firearms, she feels the same way about her QWERTY-equipped BlackBerry Q10. I mentioned the company’s upcoming devices, specifically the 4.5-inch BlackBerry Passport, a phablet with a square screen and, of course, the QWERTY. Her response? An unhesitant “When?” BlackBerry has one fan, at least. But will they gain additional productivity-obsessed fans with their new square screen phone?...
In a world where the internet contains copyrighted materials that were posted without the permission of the copyright holders, Playboy magazine is making an effort to hold an internet media company liable for posting a link to another person’s online post (on a different web host) that allegedly infringes on Playboy’s copyright, or maybe actually 746 of their copyrights. The website Boing Boing posted an Imgur link to an archive of 746 Playboy Centerfolds and commented on how awesome it was to see the progression over the years....
Perhaps you have an offer to be a company’s first in-house attorney or perhaps you’re trying to convince a company that they need to take you on, alone. Can you be a legal department of one? Is there such thing as a solo in-house attorney? Of course you can and of course there is! In fact, it’s fairly common for there to be only one in-house lawyer at many companies....
Lawyers are often asked to safeguard sensitive information, but their ability to do so can be undermined by weak cybersecurity and determined hackers. Should a firm’s security be breached, cyber insurance may help protect against subsequent losses. Cyber insurance is a growing industry, bringing in more than $2 billion in premium payments in 2014. Major players in both cyber security and insurance have begun to focus on this niche market, with former U....
Your state has legalized – or partly legalized – marijuana and now you’ve got a client who wants advice on how to lawfully consume or sell it. Maybe she wants to open a dispensary and needs your help to make sure she complies fully with the state’s laws. What could possibly go wrong? Plenty. You might be committing an ethics violation by helping her. Starting with Ethics Rules … The problem is that marijuana is still prohibited by federal law and (according to ABA Rule 1....
Great Steaks beat a court rap for treating its female employees like meat in 2009, but lost an argument for attorneys’ fees this week in the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission accused Great Steaks of subjecting female employees to a sexually hostile work environment in 2005. The EEOC claim went to trial, and a jury ruled in favor of Great Steaks four years later. Great Steaks, in turn, moved for attorneys’ fees under several federal statutes, including a Title VII’s fee-shifting provision and the Equal Access to Justice Act’s (EAJA) mandatory fee provision....
When the court disagrees with a movant, sometimes it can constructively reflect on how the litigant could have been mistaken, and sometimes a First Circuit Court of Appeals justice can just let a group of plaintiffs have it. In the Ellis v. Fidelity case, the appellate court really didn’t hold back their criticism of plaintiffs’ theories. In short, the plaintiffs claimed Fidelity was liable for acting in its own self interest over its investors’ interest by acting too conservatively in managing the most conservative investment fund option available....
Does your judge own stock in the company you’re suing? Unless they’re a major shareholder, like more than 5 or 10 percent major, it’s not likely to be easy to dig up information that’ll pop up in a regular old Google search. Clearly, if a judge has a 5 or 10 percent stake in a publicly traded, or any, company, they shouldn’t be hearing cases about it, but even if a judge has an infinitesimal stake, they probably still shouldn’t be hearing cases about it....
HP is releasing it’s Slate 500 for $799. No one seems particularly excited about this. But no one seems to be saying it isn’t a decent device either. HP seems to be downplaying the Slate, saying that it is not intended to compete with the iPad and that it is a “bussiness-oriented device.” The Slate 500 comes with a lot of power, and weights 1.5 lbs. The computer has 2GB of RAM and a 1....
What can Apple’s iCloud do for attorneys? That’s the question on the mind of technology-savvy attorneys everywhere - especially those with several Apple devices. And, with the iPad, iPhone, MacBook, iMac and iPhone all popular tech products, many attorneys are mini Apple-aficionados. The iCloud can integrate all of an attorney’s Apple iOS products together, leading to a more organized and streamlined life. Theoretically, at least. Apple’s iCloud service is similar to the services that other cloud-based storage devices offer, like DropBox or Box....
Law firms will likely see a modest growth in profits in 2012, but other factors point to “a year of challenge and uncertainty,” a new forecast suggests. The 2012 Client Advisory, released Feb. 15 by the Hildebrandt Institute and Citi Private Bank’s Law Firm Group, foresees soft demand and rising costs, Reuters reports. [Hildebrandt, like FindLaw, is a division of Thomson Reuters.] “The revenue dynamics will likely not be as dire as 2009, but we have yet to see firms address the current pressure on expenses,” the Citi Law Firm Group’s chairman said in a statement....
Read this, even if you think your phone is secure. This update is about the law as much as the technology. Recent court decisions should give you more reasons to double check your cell phone. And if you haven’t secured your phone in the first place, then start with some basics: 1. Change your Passwords If 1.5 billion email hacks are not reason enough to make you change your passwords, then consider that Yahoo’s general counsel lost his job over it....
As a child, you might have dreamed of arguing before the Supreme Court, swaying The Nine to the side of justice, righteousness, equity. Then you went to law school, started to practice and, well – things change. Most solo practitioners and small firm attorneys gave up on Supreme Court dreams a while back. Now, you probably dream of clients who pay on time or landing an in-house gig. You were right to abandon those dreams....
Colloquy of Petulance After the trial date was postponed five times, four of them because the complaining witnesses were nowhere to be found despite subpoenas, the court finally ordered that the trial proceed, and told the prosecutor to continue with other evidence and ten other witnesses while the police tracked down the “well known” missing convicted felon witnesses. THE COURT: . . . . It’s a quarter to eleven and [the witnesses] have not appeared on their own will, so I’m going to bring the jury in now then to swear them....
