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There are times when even best attempts to obtain a particular outcome fail, and the case of Sanofi-Aventis v. Breckenridge represents that fact in spades. Federal Magistrate Judge Lois Goodman ruled that in-house counsel may view “outside counsel only” documents because the lawyer in question was sufficiently walled-off from conflict. In-House Attorney Access Drug maker Sanofi-Aventis brought a couple of suits against defendant Breckenridge Pharmaceutical alleging patent infringements on its drug Jevtana....

Some things can’t wait, like when a Florida lawyer desperately needed to leave the courtroom to go the bathroom. But poor Jeff Tomberg had to wait 18 months for a court of appeal to excuse him. The appeals court said the trial judge should have allowed Tomberg to argue a motion, even though he was late to a hearing because he was in the bathroom. The justices said the judge abused his discretion in refusing the lawyer’s request to be heard....

Free TV still exists, and some of the new digital antennae even resemble the bunny-ears of years past. However, just like stealing cable became a thing decades ago, stealing streaming subscription TV is becoming a thing in our 21st century digital world. The claims of the legitimate streaming media providers may fall upon unsympathetic ears of a public sick of being nickel and dimed by the TV providers, but it is hard to deny the fact that the Dragon Box and devices like it are specially designed to help individuals stream pirated media....

It is stupid to falsify legal documents instead of admitting your mistake and requesting accommodations from opposing counsel. It’s even more stupid to get caught due to electronic service of documents with metadata indicating the true date that the document was created. And it’s downright idiotic to copy previous certificates of service from the same case and try to pass them off as authentic. Jeffrey McGinness, a former NCAA national champion in wresting and Iowa attorney, probably knows how stupid his conduct was, and if he doesn’t, he’ll have six months to figure it out....

In a petition for review of the EPA’s approval of Virginia’s Clean Air Interstate Rule State Implementation Plan, the petition is dismissed where petitioner lacked standing because its alleged injury flowed from Virginia’s Nonattainment Provisions, which were separate emissions standards. Read Mirant Potomac River, LLC v. EPA, No. 08-1277 Appellate Information Argued: May 12, 2009 Decided: August 12, 2009 Judges Opinion by Judge Duncan Counsel For Petitioner: Jeffrey R. Holmstead, Bracewell & Giuliana, LLP, Washington, DC...

Keurig 2.0. It’s the new version of Keurig’s ubiquitous pod-based single-serve coffee machines. What’s the 2.0 about? The machines come with DRM protection and the ability to brew larger pots. DRM, if you’re unfamiliar, stands for Digital Rights Management. In plain English, Keurig 2.0 machines will only take Keurig-authorized cups which have a special ink marker on their foil tops, reports The Verge. Except, that DRM may have already been broken by rival companies before the 2....

They beat “youthful offenders” with broken broomstick handles. They allowed inmates to box one another, and beat them when they tried to quit or didn’t use proper technique. Corrections Officers Butler, McQueen, and Griffin were all allegedly involved in the beatings, while a fourth C.O., Dawkins, sat by idly and watched. The brutality can’t be understated. At one point, after an inmate sucker punched his boxing opponent, McQueen beat the inmate with a broomstick before Griffin choked the inmate until he passed out....

If you’re the owner of one of the 1 million drones out there in the United States, get ready to have another one of your vehicles registered with the US Government. The Department of Transportation and the Federal Aviation Association announced yesterday that they would require drones to be registered – ostensibly to promote safer, friendlier skies. Just yesterday most of the public dismissed drones as children’s toys that were the modern incarnation of your father’s RC airplanes that he would buy at the local model store and build on the weekend....

There’s the one percent, then there are one percenters. And then there are these three alleged one percenters who sued law enforcement after the improper use of their driver license photos was discovered. The three motorcycle club members were part of a group of seven, singled out by law enforcement, to have their driver license pictures used for lobbying purposes. On the assumption that their images would frighten state lawmakers away from passing an open carry law, the plaintiffs’ pictures (without any other identifying information) were distributed to the lawmakers by the department’s government liaison alongside information explaining that these were the type of people who would utilize the open carry law....

Amber Maughon allegedly got into a physical altercation with her ex-husband’s new girlfriend at her son’s baseball game. The girlfriend reported the incident to Officer Kevin Fuller of the Covington Police Department in Newton County. The victim’s statements corroborated by the scratches observed on her person as well as two witnesses’ accounts. At this point, the court reminds us that even though facts are taken in a light most favorable to the plaintiff at the summary judgment stage, implausible facts or those plainly controverted by the record will not be accepted....

FindLaw columnist Eric Sinrod writes regularly in this section on legal developments surrounding technology and the Internet. Internet ads can be annoying. At times, for example, you may be seeking to read an article or watch a video clip online, but first you have to click off an advertisement that is in the way, or you have to wait out a video ad before you can watch the video content of your choosing....

Civil liberty advocates and privacy proponents rejoiced recently when a district court judge in Washington D.C. ruled that the NSA’s “almost Orwellian” metadata collection program violated the Fourth Amendment. On Friday, those same advocates felt the all too familiar frustration of a novel legal issue being decided by two different courts, and to make things worse, the second just may be correct, legally, if not from a policy standpoint. U.S. District Court Judge William H....

It’s OCI season at law schools all across the country. This means that hoards of anxiety-ridden, nail-biting, expensive-suit-clad 2Ls are running around between classes to interview for a coveted summer associate position at a BigLaw firm this summer. But, OCI, (on-campus interviews), are not exclusively just for BigLaw firms. Many government agencies, mid-sized or smaller firms, and non-profits are thrown into the mix, or have their own version of an on-campus interview session....

Companies get hacked. Or receive data requests from the NSA. Or scan your data for purposes of displaying relative advertising. It’s all bad. These scenarios are all even more problematic for lawyers with sensitive client information. The solution, it seems, is a heavily encrypted, zero-knowledge cloud storage system, such as SpiderOak. Love It Encryption. DropBox, the most popular free cloud storage provider, lacks zero-knowledge and encryption features, though third-party tools are available that can add that layer of security....

Square is a pretty nifty product. It’s a simple quarter-sized device that plugs into your iPhone or other smartphone and allows you to swipe a credit card for payment. The small business, such as a food truck, can now accept credit cards with little to no effort, and Square gets a small percentage of the transaction. What do the two have in common? Headaches over state laws. According to TechCrunch, Square ran afoul of Illinois’ “Transmitters of Money Act,” which states:...

The most successful general counsel show low “excitability” but are highly “mischievous,” according to a new report that highlights the eight habits of highly effective legal executives. Just what does being “mischievous” mean? It means going “well beyond spotting legal issues to helping the business actually take risks and find creative solutions,” according to the report by executive-search firm Russell Reynolds Associates. In fact, the”best” legal executives are 11% more willing to take risks than less-effective legal execs, the report found....

Conviction of a defendant for conspiring to distribute illegal drugs and other drug-related charges is affirmed where: 1) the district court did not abuse its discretion in admitting testimony of a witness regarding defendant carrying a baggy, as it tended to make the evidence of the fact that defendant was involved in a conspiracy to distribute cocaine more probable than if the evidence had not been admitted; 2) the district court did not commit plain error in admitting witness testimony regarding threats by the defendant as its probative value was not substantially outweighed by danger of unfair prejudice....

James Donovan, portrayed by Tom Hanks in Bridge of Spies, was a real-life insurance attorney who volunteered to defend a Russian spy in the 1950s. His true story is stranger than the fictional account, but the message of the movie is just as true for lawyers today. “Everyone deserves a defense,” Donovan said. “Every person matters.” It’s a surprising truth for some, especially when a high-profile defendant seems really guilty. Matthew Keys, who is in prison for hacking, is one of those defendants....

You wouldn’t walk into court wearing a T-shirt and jeans, would you? Then why are you filing documents written in a 12-point monospace font with tiny margins? And if you don’t know the difference between monospace and sans serif, that’s a problem, too. Enter Matthew Butterick, a graphic designer-turned-lawyer whose book and accompanying website “Typography for Lawyers” instructs the font-challenged of us on the finer points of desktop publishing. As you may recall, this blog talked about Butterick several years ago, but on recent reflection, there are still things we can learn about good page layout....

Whether you’re a new attorney who’s just found nonprofit work or a seasoned associate looking for something new, nonprofit legal services can provide a break if you spend your day on M&As. And if M&As were never really your thing to begin with, volunteering could lead to a paying job if you eat your peas and say your prayers. Note, however, that you shouldn’t walk into a volunteer gig expecting a paying job out of it....