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Texas is set to execute the 14th woman in the U.S. since the Supreme Court upheld state use of the death penalty in 1976. After almost four decades of uninterrupted capital punishment in the Lone Star State, Suzanne Basso is scheduled to be put to death on Wednesday evening for horrible crimes she committed in 1998. The Associated Press reported that Basso’s request for a stay of execution was denied by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, leaving the U....

Regulation. The word itself sends chills down the spines of many. Fortunately, this past week’s Food and Drug Administration news isn’t exclusively restrictive. In fact, the pharmaceutical industry just got a jolt of good news with loosening of retractions on morning-after pills, though the new rules are indescribably complicated. Meanwhile, five years after the FDA was granted the authority to regulate cigarettes, and four years after flavored cigarettes were banned, menthol may be the FDA’s next target....

Even though the flying car is still a fantastical concept that is nowhere near ready for a mass consumer market, time sure does fly when it comes to new tech. Based on what we’ve seen this past year, 2018 surely seems poised to be another banner year for tech companies, and especially those that cater to the legal industry. Though investment in legal tech may have slowed, it may be due to a shift in focus to production and sales of that tech....

Being an attorney opens doors to many things but one of the most common career moves is to go into politics and run for public office. Even if you want to stay in the practice of law, attorney generals, city or state public defenders, and even some judges are elected to their posts. If you work for a big firm it’s not so hard to find people to cover your work while you’re campaigning....

A pair of jeans, Mickey Mouse and Karl Lagerfeld walk into a bar. Sounds like the makings of a bad joke, but they all are making their way to a bar – just not the kind that provides booze. The Gap, Disney and Karl Lagerfeld are all getting sued. Read on to see why they are getting sued, and take note – your company could be next. Gap’s Alleged Misleading Sales Flyers A miffed consumer is suing The Gap, in a California class action lawsuit, for misleading sales flyers both in store, and online, reports Top Class Actions....

Do you think you can confuse LexisNexis with the State Bar of Wisconsin? One is, well, a state bar. And the other is a research services. But, if you’re simply looking at Lexis’ logo website, you might think you’re actually looking at the logo used by the State Bar of Wisconsin. And, lawyers for the State Bar of Wisconsin would tend to agree with you. They say that the logo for one of LexisNexis’ website, lawyers....

Accused murderer George Zimmerman remains in hiding, but his legal team is raising its online profile by launching a social media strategy. Zimmerman’s legal team, led by attorney Mark O’Mara, created a website over the weekend (gzlegalcase.com) that includes blog-style press releases and is set to collect donations for Zimmerman’s defense. O’Mara’s staff also set up Twitter (@gzlegalcase) and Facebook accounts. “Using social media in a high-profile lawsuit is new, and relatively unprecedented, but that is only because social media itself is relatively new,” a May 1 post on the website states....

The Eleventh Circuit affirmed a lower federal district’s conviction of Ronald Francis Croteau who was convicted of several tax crimes in 2015. It seems to be the end of the line as far as appeals go for the self-proclaimed “Ambassador to the Kingdom of Heaven.” Croteau plied his magic touch to filing ten fraudulent tax returns between 2008 and 2010 – with claimed refunds totaling more than $3.8 million. $3.8 Million in Fraudulent Tax Refunds Croteau filed – interestingly – over ten fraudulent tax returns and claimed refunds that topped nearly $4 million dollars....

Electronically stored information is vulnerable to hacking, point blank. Even some of the most sophisticated computer systems can find themselves vulnerable to a sophisticated cyberattack – or, more likely, a careless employee. And so long as you have valuable information stored on computers, you need to be ready for a potential data breach. To help you out, here are our top tips for in-house counsel on preventing and responding to data breaches, from the FindLaw archives....

Pro bono work is a duty that shouldn’t be brushed off as some annoying obligation. From SEC filings to redlining, when you’re in-house counsel, it’s easy to feel as though you’re too busy to volunteer your legal services. But pro bono work can actually be well worth your time. Here are five reasons why you should give your corporate soul a break and make a (genuine) foray into the pro bono world:...

It’s the topic of the day: the United States Patent and Trademark Office has invalidated the Pro-Football, Inc.’s trademarked variations on the Washington Redskins name, calling the term “redskin” derogatory. The ruling, if it stands, invalidates the team’s ability to protect its intellectual property and brand and effectively forces a change that many in Congress and elsewhere have been requesting for years. What does the opinion mean for the team, and more importantly, for your company’s ability to protect its IP?...

The hot business news today: Walmart is raising the pay rates for its lowest-paid workers, its full-time and part-time “associates.” Hourly full-time workers will earn at least $10 an hour by February 1, 2016, while hourly-part-time workers will earn at least $9 an hour starting this April, Reuters reports. It’s great that Walmart recognizes the need to increase wages, but the average hourly wages for full-timers and part-timers is going up by only 15 and 52 cents an hour, respectively....

On Tuesday, Google Glass Explorer Cecilia Abadie was pulled over for going over the 65 mph speed limit in San Diego. While the officer was writing up the ticket, he noticed Abadie was wearing Google Glass and added a second violation to her ticket for “using a video screen,” reports The Washington Post. She immediately posted the ticket on her Google+ profile and asked “Is #GoogleGlass ilegal [sic] while driving or is this cop wrong?...

When I was a wee lad in law school, Evernote did not exist. There was, however, OneNote, which comes with Microsoft Office. Then I left law school, and OneNote, behind. Almost. All of those notes you make and pictures you take are uploaded to the cloud and transferred to your devices automatically – but there is a cap on data transfer for free users. Obviously, this could create a problem if you are relying on it for business purposes....

In court documents released last week, a former CIA officer currently facing prosecution for leaking classified information to the New York Times is accusing former Senate Intelligence Committee general counsel Vicki Divoll of being the actual leak. Connecting a number of events, the defendant asserts that Ms. Divoll was terminated from her post for breaching confidentiality rules. She has denied the allegations. The filing–a motion in support of a subpoena–explains that, in March 2003, Jeffery Sterling properly met with Vicki Divoll and two other members of committee staff to provide information about the CIA’s classified effort to impede Iran’s nuclear program....

Right on the heels of last week’s deadline for companies to come into compliance with the GDPR, lawsuits were filed against Google, Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, alleging violations of the new law. And unfortunately for Facebook, the company owns both Instagram and WhatsApp. An Austrian privacy activist filed each of the cases alleging that the “take it or leave it” privacy policies offered by these major tech companies violate the GDPR....

Michelle Winspur has shown up to court drunk on three separate occasions. She’s caused at least one mistrial. She recently left a teenage murder suspect at a preliminary hearing without an attorney. And now the Visilia, Calif. attorney has pleaded not guilty to driving under the influence, driving with a suspended license, and being under the influence of a controlled substance. She may soon be disbarred. But currently, she’s been put on inactive status while she seeks treatment, presumably through the Bar’s diversion and assistance program....

Mickey Mouse is running out of protection. In five years, the world’s most famous mouse will lose copyright protection. The famed Disney character will then fall into the public domain. It’s not like Mickey Mouse will die. But little did the hero of “Steamboat Willie” know he would run out of steam. Copyrights Expired Steamboat Willie, released in 1928, was a landmark in the history of animation. It was also a celebrated debut for Mickey Mouse....

Mauna Kea is the largest mountain in the world, bigger than Mount Everest when measured from the sea floor. Because of its height and position on the Earth, it is also the site of some of the world’s largest telescopes. One – planned to be the biggest in the Northern Hemisphere – has been at the center of protests because the mountain is considered sacred in traditional Hawaiian culture. Even so, the Hawaii Supreme Court has approved a construction permit for the Thirty Meter Telescope....

If you’re looking to get some information from the federal courts, now is the time. PACER fees are increasing about 25%, from 8 cents a page to 10 cents a page. The fee hike is said to be a response to inflationary pressures. PACER fees haven’t been touched since 2005, when the fee was raised from 7 cents a page to 8 cents a page. It’s estimated that the new fee increase will mean that the PACER system will rake in about $100 million a year, Ars Technica reports....