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Nordstrom’s “TweetUp” promotion is pretty standard fare, as far as stores’ social media campaigns go. When a store is set to open, they’ll have a preview day for bloggers, the Twitterati, Pinterizers, and others of that ilk. The social media elite who are invited are given gifts, including $50 gift cards, to write or tweet about the event. This is an area that the FTC is increasingly monitoring. Earlier this month, they released updated guidelines for “Dot Com Disclosures,” which essentially require that social media wizards provide easy to understand disclosures when they are tweeting, blogging, or otherwise writing about a sponsored product or advertisement....

“Law & Order” is chock full of situations where a lawyer elicits some damning testimony from a witness, the other side objects, and Sam Waterston cheerfully says, “Withdrawn.” And what’s been heard, while “disregarded,” can’t really be unheard. That’s TV. In the real world, of course, there’s no cheeky “withdrawn.” A Philadelphia lawyer learned that the hard way, when she got hit with nearly $1 million in sanctions last fall. (Read that in your best Dr....

Plus, a Criminal Matter Involving Sex Offender Registration Kennedy v. Allera, 08-8513, concerned a challenge to the district court’s denial of petitioner’s habeas petition and a motion for an injunction to prohibit the Parole Commission from requiring him to register as a sex offender and challenging the constitutionality of SORNA. In affirming the district court’s judgment, the court held that the probation officer acted within his discretion in imposing the registration requirement as SORNA lawfully imposes, as a matter of federal law, registration obligations directly on sex offenders, such as defendant....

Ever see contemporary art and think “I could do that.” Well, actually doing it could cost you a pretty penny, as one real estate billionaire recently found out. Igor Olenicoff, the 156th richest person in the world, was accused of ripping off the work of Donald Wakefield. A federal jury awarded Wakefield $450,000 – though the court intervened, allowingOlenicoff to walk away without paying a dime. Until now. On Monday, the Ninth Circuit upheld the jury’s award, as well as the court’s ordered destruction of the knock-off sculptures....

Despite a recent ruling from the United States Supreme Court seeming to put Bobby Moore in relative safety (well, off death row), it was not long lived thanks to Texas’s Supreme Court. The state high court took the opinion of the nation’s High Court quite literally and adopted the DSM-5 standard for intellectual disability. Then, it applied the new standard to Moore’s case and concluded that Moore was not intellectually disabled, and thus could be executed....

John D. King was mad when he discovered the government had settled a case for $7.5 million – because it was his case! Or so he alleged in King v. United States Government. King said the government secretly settled his qui tam action, which he had initiated on behalf of the federal government. In that underlying case, he claimed several corporations violated the False Claims Act. But to get a share of the recovery, he had to get around the United States’ sovereign immunity....

College students often rally around the First Amendment, but sometimes lack the knowledge to go with it. Ross Abbott, for example, helped organize a “Free Speech Event” at his university. It stirred controversy because some students were offended by a swastika display, a “wetback” poster, and other allegedly racist statements at the event. In Abbott v. Pastides, the young organizer and others sued the university for violating their First Amendment rights....

In US v. Suarez, No. 08-13675, the court of appeals affirmed defendants’ alien smuggling convictions and sentences, holding that 1) there was no reasonable basis to believe that the testimony of the aliens defendant was alleged to have smuggled would be material and favorable to him; 2) an agent’s testimony regarding the contents of the affidavit in support of a wiretap provided ample support; 3) an excluded statement by a witness was made after the fact, not at the time of the incident, and thus was not an expression of state of mind; and 4) the evidence supported the district court’s sentencing enhancements for special skills and substantial risk of death....

“But for the grace of God, goes John Bradford.” It’s a quote attributed to the religious reformer, commenting as prisoners were led to execution. He was later burned at the stake. It’s also apropos for lawyers who have advocated for clients, only to have them threaten them. Like Jack Swerling’s client, who was convicted after holding him at gunpoint. At Gun Point Swerling had defended Jimmy Causey in two criminal cases, helping him get reduced sentences in the 1990s....

It happens to every attorney who has appeared for a deposition. It’s that moment when it goes south, when the witness says something so cringe-worthy you don’t know what happened. If only there were a pause button or a way to delete that last sentence… You can use objections and instructions to reel in the problem witness, especially if it is your client. But then there are the inevitable pitfalls....

Last month, charges were brought against two of the three traders alleged to have taken part in the London Whale scandal at J.P. Morgan Chase, while the third participant agreed to serve as a cooperating witness. No charges were filed against any executives, even though the company’s failed oversight led to $6 billion in losses. After the charges were announced, we couldn’t help but wonder: how does the government expect banks to reform their practices when the only disincentive was a temporary dip in stock prices?...

What do the United States, Mongolia, and Papua New Guinea have in common? According to Bloomberg, they’re amongst the last few holdouts in a world-wide push to upgrade credit card security. While most of the world, Europe especially, have moved to “Chip-and-Pin” systems, the United States is still plodding along with magnetic strips – a 1960s technology that makes data breaches far easier to accomplish. Why does your law firm care?...

In the old days, if your law office wanted to take credit cards, you would probably have to sign a years-long agreement with a credit card processor and pay exorbitant fees on each transaction. Heck, in even older days, you would have had to use one of those heavy metal machines that used carbon paper. (True story: I saw one of those in use at a restaurant the other day.)...

The health care industry continues to be reshaped by changes in federal law and technological developments. Health care companies are merging at greater rates and putting more attention towards corporate governance. Patients are starting to receive their first video consultations and turning to health care apps. Many of these industry developments have legal implications that will directly influence health law practitioners this year. And you don’t need a crystal ball to see what those issues will be....

Castro v. US, No. 07-40416, concerned an action under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) alleging that the government’s negligence caused the wrongful deportation of plaintiff’s son. The court of appeals affirmed the dismissal of the action on the ground that the government was protected from suit by 28 U.S.C. section 2680(a), the discretionary function exception of the FTCA. In re: Velocita Worldwide Logistics Inc., No. 09-10416, involved an appeal from the district court’s judgment affirming the bankruptcy court and declining to imply a right of contribution among defendants who agreed to be jointly and individually liable for a payment as part of the settlement agreement for a state tort action....

And those terms include a hidden zombie clause, relaxing restrictions on Lumberyard should the world be overrun by brain-eating reanimated corpses. In Case of Zombie Attack, Gamify Nuclear Reactors Lumberjack, after all, is just for games. But the prohibition is not universal: But don’t think that a zombie apocalypse is suddenly a free-for-all. The terms won’t be waived if the zombie apocalypse is merely bacterial in origin, for example, or if causes a lust for bone, not brains, or if the CDC is overwhelmed before being able to certify the outbreak or establish a successor agency....

In the latest round of the Apple/Samsung lawsuit in Silicon Valley, Apple was the loser after it lost a petition to ban the sale of certain Samsung devices. Shortly after the jury ruled in Apple’s favor earlier this year, the company filed a motion asking the judge to ban the sale of Samsung’s smartphones in the United States. Last week, Judge Lucy Koh rejected the request. The ruling is the first in a series of decisions Judge Koh will be making in the coming weeks and months....

If you need to satisfy continuing legal education requirements - we’re talking to you, New Hampshire and Rhode Island attorneys - or brush up on the particulars of estate planning, you still have time to register for the Massachusetts Bar Association’s Basics of Developing an Estate Plan CLE course on Thursday, July 28. The seminar will provide advice for developing an estate plan from beginning to end, and address estate taxes, long-term care, and providing for minors....

The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals recently heard oral arguments in Loudoun County (Virginia) Chair Phyllis Randall’s request to overturn the federal district court’s ruling that her blocking constituent Brian Davison violated the First Amendment. The case, like others that have been recently decided, raises many questions about whether and when social media becomes a public forum, and what limits government officials have when it comes to censoring constituents and others on various social media platforms....

After Racheal Wilson, a new recruit for the Baltimore City Fire Department, tragically died during a “live burn” training exercise, her survivors and estate filed a civil rights lawsuit against the Baltimore mayor and city council, alleging that the Baltimore City Fire Department violated Wilson’s substantive due process rights by staging the exercise with deliberate indifference to Wilson’s safety. This week, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court’s decision to dismiss the claim on a 12(b)(6) motion....