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If you love dancing babies and the First Amendment, watch this video. The happy toddler is rocking out to “Let’s Go Crazy,” by Prince. The video has been viewed nearly 2 million times by people looking for a feel-good moment in a sometimes dreary day. What could be wrong with that? A copyright violation lawsuit by the music company?! Are you baby-caca kidding me?! It started 10 years ago when Stephanie Lenz posted a YouTube video of her child pushing a toy around the kitchen and bouncing to the Prince beat....

What was the judge thinking when he sentenced four men to prison for a $25 million sweepstakes scam? The prosecutors asked for a 20-year sentence for Matthew Pisoni and heavy sentences for his co-conspirators as well. But U.S. Judge Darrin Gayles sent Pisoni, the ring-leader, to prison for seven years and his co-defendants for lesser times. Was it out of sympathy for Pisoni, who lost a son to a drug overdose after the conviction?...

According to a recent survey by the Legal Technology Resource Center at the ABA, approximately eight percent of responding lawyers reported that they used a Macintosh in their practice (Macbook, Air, etc.). That doesn’t sound like a lot, but it sounds more impressive when you note that the number used to be a little under six percent in 2014 when the same survey was taken. That means the number is growing, but it’s still surprisingly low....

In the middle of a two week trial, news of a settlement shocked reporters and courtroom observers, who had all come to watch the Uber v. Waymo trial drama unfold, in real life, in San Francisco. And while Waymo’s billion dollar demand went unfulfilled before trial, Uber was willing to break off about a quarter billion dollars worth of equity and a public apology (if you could call this Uber blog post a public apology)....

In plaintiff’s age discrimination suit against his former employer, district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of defendant is vacated and remanded as, under the three stage burden shifting framework set forth in McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, 411 U.S. 792 (1973), several aspects of the evidence, taken together, are more than sufficient to support a factfinder’s conclusion that defendant was motivated by age-based discrimination, thus raising a genuine issue of material fact that defeats summary judgment....

If Hillary Clinton’s email problem wasn’t enough, Ivanka Trump’s should be enough to remind us all not to use our private email at work. Of course, their problem was using private email for government work, which is way worse. We’ll talk about that in a minute. But let’s start with the fundamentals: so-called private email isn’t private at all. It’s not the hackers you have to worry about; it’s your employers....

Ah, taxes. They’re like one of those LSAT logic games. If you bought A in year 2 then you can deduct G in year 3. Some people (okay, most people) find this to be a pain in the rear, but for those practiced in the game, they can get away with paying far less in taxes than the novice filer. Accounting Fees Education Expenses That’s right - skip this whole mess and hand it off to a CPA....

Arshavir Iskanian was a limo driver for CLS Transportation in Los Angeles. In an unremarkable turn of events, the relationship soured and Iskanian sued, alleging labor law violations, specifically a failure to pay overtime, provide breaks, and reimburse employee expenses. Despite an arbitration clause in his employment contract, Iskanian sued under California’s Private Attorneys General Act of 2004 (PAGA), which allows private parties to bring suit on behalf of the state’s department of labor for violations of labor laws....

Not so long ago – like seconds ago – it would be business as usual for a law firm to promote only male partners. Today, it shouldn’t be unusual for a law firm to promote only female partners. But it is; and that’s why it’s news. No matter which way you slice it, however, it is good news. Welcome, ladies, to the class of 2018. The Trendsetter Cravath Swaine & Moore has been a trendsetter for years, largely for setting the standard for associate salaries....

The recipients include individuals Hope Olsson from New York and Gordon P. Erspamer from San Francisco. Both have demonstrated long-term commitment to addressing a particular need. Olsson, who completed her law degree in her forties, has gone on to counsel over three hundred clients in finance, bankruptcy, and other debt-related issues through a debt clinic that she was instrumental in establishing. Erspamer served the veteran community for over thirty years in pro bono capacity, including filing a lawsuit against the government for failing to care for veterans who experienced post-traumatic stress disorder....

Hurricane Katrina didn’t just destroy people’s homes; it destroyed their livelihood. Before the epic 2005 storm, the St. Joseph Abbey monks in Covington, La. paid for their living costs through timber from a pine forest on the abbey’s property, reports Businessweek. When the storm destroyed the forest, the monks began selling caskets. It turns out that they were breaking the law. Thursday, the monks argued to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals that a Louisiana law allowing only licensed funeral establishments to sell caskets is unconstitutional....

The police cruiser’s camera caught the entire incident on tape. A handcuffed suspect was beaten, repeatedly, by an officer while three other officers stood nearby. District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro thought it was a slam-dunk verdict. Except it wasn’t, and Judge Ben Willard let the defendant off the hook. Last Friday, Cannizzaro was discussing the high-profile case on the radio with the two hosts of a WBOK-AM radio program. For ten minutes, Cannizzaro and the two hosts criticized the not guilty of malfeasance verdict....

The world’s most popular social networking company just hired a sitting judge to join its legal team instead of turning to the legal gray matter of other Silicon Valley companies, according to the Wall Street Journal. It’s a nice touch. The hiring of that judge, U.S Magistrate Judge Paul S. Grewal, hardly seems coincidental. After all, Facebook has its hands full when it comes to hot potato legal issues. Hiring a Sitting Judge?...

If there was any fear of the Food and Drug Administration on the part of the e-cigarette industry, those companies are now breathing a massive sigh of relief, while pro-regulation consumer groups are muttering in frustration. The “vaper” industry has grown into a multi-billion dollar market over the last few years in the absence of regulation, and over the last year, the roaring rumors of impending regulation by the FDA have intensified greatly, with some speculating that the devices could soon reach the same level of restrictions as traditional cigarettes....

Several Supreme Court Justices expressed frustration with the record in the case of Brumfield v. Cain during oral arguments on Monday. At the heart of the case is whether Louisiana is bound by the Constitution to provide a separate hearing to decide whether someone convicted of murder is mentally disabled or not. The expansive record seemed to provide no clear guidance as to how the state’s determination to not provide a hearing was made....

Tucked away on your firm website is your attorney bio. It’s beautiful. You’ve got a nice, professionally taken photo, a summary of your educational background and expertise, a list of your legal successes. And it’s horribly out of date. You’re ten years younger in that profile pic. You’ve had much more success than your bio notes. You’ve even won an award or two in the years and years that have passed since your bio was made....

In plaintiff’s civil rights case against the state of Rhode Island and a State Police representative and other police officers who had executed a search warrant of his workplace at the Narrangansett Indian Tribe “smoke shop”, jury’s verdict in favor of the defendant in the second trial is affirmed as: 1) there was no abuse of discretion in the district court’s grant of a new trial based on the second ground, that even if the jury verdict had unambiguously rested on the increased force theory, that theory would have been contrary to the weight of the evidence; and 2) plaintiff’s argument that the district court erred in granting a new trial because defendant failed to press the district court for a ruling on this motion after it initially and erroneously ruled the motion was moot is rejected....

Society seems to be getting more diverse every day. If you’re not convinced, just check out the array of bar associations in your area. You’ll find that there’s a bar association or committee for practically every geographic location, ethnicity, and legal practice area you can imagine. Did you know there’s even a National Cannabis Bar Association? That’s right, a bar association dedicated to cannabis! Formed recently by a group of San Francisco-based lawyers (no surprise there, right?...

Perhaps you’ve been following #FreeKesha on Twitter, or seen her recent contract dispute pop up in the tabloids. Kesha, the pop star, recently lost a minor legal battle in her suit against Lukasz Sebastian, the record producer known as “Dr. Luke.” But don’t write off the dispute as something just for the tabloids. There are important lessons for in-house counsel in there, too, we swear. Kesha rose to fame on the back of her 2009 hit ‘Tik Tok....

In a scene from the movie ‘All Is Lost,’ an aging Robert Redford is desperately alone in a life raft in the middle of the ocean as a cargo ship passes him as if he weren’t there. It is a painful metaphor for so many people in the world – those nameless souls who watch as the world passes them by. They sit on street corners as drivers avoid making eye contact with them; they hide from the rain and cold under cardboard shelters; they labor alone in law offices late at night …...