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Employers can, in most cases, monitor employee email. The problem is, that’s a time-consuming chore. Unless litigation ensues (or is threatened), most employers would rather spend their time doing something more productive. At it’s best, the system could be helpful in minimizing e-discovery traps. We’ve seen story after story about someone saying something stupid in an email, only to later have that email pop up in court. This would presumably minimize smoking-gun emails....

Police received a call about a domestic assault and arrived to find that the lady of the home had fled and the husband, Joseph Yengel, Jr., was angry, agitated, possibly armed, and threatening to shoot law enforcement officers. He was eventually talked into coming out of the house unarmed and was then placed under arrest. Sergeant Staton interviewed Mrs. Yengel, who indicated that there were many firearms and a grenade in the house....

You’ve likely heard about big-time companies that have felt the sting of the FCRA knife. Workplace background check violations are serious issues employers shouldn’t ignore. Below, we provide a quick overview of The Fair Credit Reporting Act. We also cover some steps you can take as in-house counsel to best protect your company from the new federal cloud passing over corporate clients. Fair Credit Reporting Act Home Depot, Wells Fargo. These are some of the more memorable names that have been embroiled in recent scandals involving the Fair Credit Reporting Act....

Sequestration was bad enough. Court budgets were slashed to the bare minimum, setting the “wheels of justice” to permanent slow-motion. Fees for appointed attorneys were slashed and deferred, just to keep the budget from collapsing. Justice delayed, justice denied, and a bare-minimum court system barely struggling to meet speedy trial demands became the status quo. Imagine how the courts feel now, with the shutdown ravaging the rank-and-file of the government in general, not to mention the courts, which have constitutionally-mandated duties, including a duty to handle criminal cases in a timely manner....

FindLaw columnist Eric Sinrod writes regularly in this section on legal developments surrounding technology and the internet. Eric Sinrod is a partner in the San Francisco office of Duane Morris LLP (http://www.duanemorris.com) where he focuses on litigation matters of various types, including information technology and intellectual property disputes. His Web site is http://www.sinrodlaw.com and he can be reached at ejsinrod@duanemorris.com. To receive a weekly email link to Mr. Sinrod’s columns, please send an email to him with Subscribe in the Subject line....

Are you for Hillary or Trump? Yeesh, let’s step back from that minefield for a moment and consider what it could do for company morale – and stability. Many companies can be lax about what conduct should and should not be restricted within a workplace environment, including political speech. We all invariably start talking about politics at work, even if we know better. But should we? And more importantly, should employers watch their lax policies?...

I don’t know about you, but I really, really hate paper checks. Clients “put them in the mail,” though they rarely arrive on time (if at all). When they do, you have to make a trip to the bank, or try a wonky cell phone app, to deposit the check in your account. You’ve got better things to do, as do I. We were excited when Google announced that they would allow users to attach cash to emails....

Defendants convictions for crimes relating to a conspiracy to rob armored vehicles and the shooting death of an armored vehicle guard during a robbery committed in furtherance of the conspiracy is affirmed and most of defendants’ challenges are rejected, except with respect to the government’s concession that the convictions on counts eight and nine violated double jeopardy and that one of the defendants must be resentenced on a count because he was not allowed the opportunity to allocute for that count....

For some lawyers, when clients push to cross the line, it can be difficult to push back. However, when push comes to shove, a single client isn’t worth putting your license or reputation at risk, even if that means losing the client. In many cases, it may not be readily apparent at the outset that a client will ask you to push ethical boundaries down the road. What starts as a seemingly typical, though stubborn, contract litigation may have all been a ruse to get some confidential trade secret discovery that your client wants to see, despite an “attorney eyes only” protective order being in place....

Feeling less ambitious lately? You may not be alone. A new survey suggests professional women’s ambitions are waning, and that most would prefer flex time over a pay raise. The survey by More magazine did not focus specifically on female lawyers, but it offers some insight into what professional women – with college degrees, between 35 and 60 years old, and making at least $60,000 a year – are thinking in general....

James Robinson might be the most expensive security guard in the world. The former employee of Pretty Girl clothing in Brooklyn, who previously pled guilty to assaulting his coworker, just cost his employer $4.7 million. Why? Not only did Robinson punch his Yemeni-born coworker, Osama Saleh, in the face, fracturing his cheekbone, but he repeatedly verbally harassed Saleh before escalating to physical violence. Robinson allegedly repeatedly called him “bin Laden” and ranted about hating “dirty” Arabs....

LinkedIn is an increasingly popular social media tool for professionals like attorneys. As you may know, a LinkedIn page is essentially an online resume, and it makes connecting with work colleagues, former colleagues, clients, and anyone else really easy. However, with the connectivity of LinkedIn comes specific dangers for attorneys. Here are three things you should consider when incorporating LinkedIn into your legal marketing strategy: LinkedIn is a fantastic networking tool for attorneys....

My fellow writer, Mr. Peacock, is known around these parts as the resident bad lawyer commercial expert. Inspired by his ceaseless ability to find truly offensive lawyer commercials, I found one ad that I would be remiss to share, thanks to Above the Law. And with this post Mr. Peacock, a tip of the hat to you. But we can’t just endlessly make fun of people, can we? Well, we probably could, but in the spirit of trying to help my compatriots in law, I thought I’d give aspiring TV-ad-having lawyers a few pointers....

FindLaw columnist Eric Sinrod writes regularly in this section on legal developments surrounding technology and the Internet. It seems like just yesterday that the Ashley Madison site became big news. The Ashley Madison site claimed that it was the world’s largest place on the Internet for married people to find adulterous partners. Indeed, the site boasted that it had more than 38 million users. And importantly, the Ashley Madison site claimed that people looking for affairs could do so anonymously....

Gregory Raymond Keiner was an ambitious personal injury attorney from Maryland. But, his ambition caught up with him. He is now disbarred after engaging less-than-ethical behavior. Keiner was an associate at the Law Offices of Evan K. Thalenberg, where he earned a high $268,700 salary, reports the ABA Journal. However, it seemed that Keiner wanted to set up his own personal injury shop. And, he wanted to do it with clients from his current office....

FindLaw columnist Eric Sinrod writes regularly in this section on legal developments surrounding technology and the internet. Google’s attorneys have seen all manner of lawsuits come across their desks. The search giant gets blamed for a lot of things. Here’s another: Google was sued recently for injuries sustained after a pedestrian was injured by a car after she used Google Maps - she alleged that Google did not adequately warn her of the dangers of automobiles in the area....

College student: ‘I am interested in pursuing law, and I was just wondering, on average, how many weeks of vacation a starting out lawyer would receive?’ Columnist: “Ha, ha, ha. Oh my gosh! That’s a good one. Next question.” As if lawyers actually take vacations … it’s more about managing the time you take to get away from the office. The “checking-in” method can help. Checking In It’s a method we have all used, typically with people we care about – like a spouse or a child....

Want your documents safe protected from U.S. snooping? Store them on servers located outside the United States. That’s the lesson from Microsoft’s landmark win in the Second Circuit, yesterday. In that case, a unanimous 3-judge panel ruled that communications controlled by American companies but stored on foreign servers are outside of the reach of domestic warrants issued under the federal Stored Communications Act. Microsoft is believed to be the first company to challenge such warrants and its win has been hailed as a victory by privacy advocates....

The First Circuit decided mostly criminal cases and a case brought by police officers against the town for violating the FLSA. In US v. DePierre, No. 08-2101, the court faced a challenge to a conviction for selling drugs to a government informant. The court rejected defendant’s wrongful inducement argument that he was “induced” into selling crack cocaine the second time after he initially sold cocaine powder the first time. The court also rejected defendant’s wrongful manipulation sentencing factor argument and held that the jury instructions and the verdict accorded the precedent, and as such, the mandatory minimum sentence was properly imposed....

A friend in need is a friend indeed. Former GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) lawyer Lauren Stevens may be asking for a little help from her friends. Stevens, who was charged with obstructing a regulatory probe of GSK, has asked U.S. District Judge Roger Titus to order the Justice Department to name any uncharged individuals who may be called as witnesses at her upcoming trial, according to News Observer. Stevens intends to tell jurors at her trial that she relied on “advice of counsel” when making allegedly false statements about sales tactics....