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The First Circuit decided a case brought by a pro se prisoner against an attorney and a flight attendant’s action for negligence against Delta Air Lines for her injuries despite having received a lump sum payment under Delta’s workers’ compensation policy. In Hall v. Curran, No. 09-1354, the court dealt with a diversity issue in a pro se prisoner’s action against an attorney for the New Hampshire Department of Corrections claiming fraud, breach of contract and tortious interference with beneficial contractual relations....

Looking for more and better qualified clients than your current client development strategy is producing? Search engines like Google and Yahoo! have pulled ahead of the printed Yellow Pages as the leading source for local business information. Three out of four Americans now use the Internet on a regular basis. Join a free webcast next Thursday, November 12, to learn how your firm can create an effective Web presence. The one-hour webcast will show you how to develop your firm’s Web site into a valuable marketing tool that will drive more well qualified clients to your firm....

Ezekiel Elliott, a running back for the Dallas Cowboys, runs really fast. Last year, he led the National Football League in rushing yards. But Elliott can’t run faster than the law. The player has been suspended for six games for violating league rules against domestic violence. A trial judge blocked the suspension, but the Fifth Circuit vacated the order. Bad Block U.S. Judge Amos Mazzant had granted a motion for preliminary injunction against the league last month, halting the suspension before it took effect....

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) officially weighed in on corporate social media policies for the first time by invalidating Costco’s policy. The NLRB has issued several reports regarding the agency’s thoughts on social media policies. But the Costco decision is the first time the board actually issued a decision, reports Inside Counsel. And the decision may be bad news for many companies, as you may get sent back to the drawing board to develop a policy that would pass NLRB’s muster....

It may be the worst of times for gun sellers in America, or at least in the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Valley Guns and Ammo wanted to open a store in Alameda County, California, but the county limited gun sales to areas at least five hundred feet from residential zones, liquor stores, schools, and day care centers. The business owners sued on Second Amendment grounds, but a trial judge dismissed the case and the appeals court affirmed....

PACER is no one’s favorite database. Sure, the Public Access to Court Electronic Records service gives you online access to federal court documents, saving you the hassle of calling a courier or heading down to a courthouse yourself. But the service is not particularly user-friendly, intuitive, or functional. The fact that it nickel-and-dimes you (literally) for every page of public records you view is just icing on the “God, I hate PACER” cake....

FindLaw columnist Eric Sinrod writes regularly in this section on legal developments surrounding technology and the internet. This report indicates that the targets specifically have included Hillary Clinton’s associates from her time at the State Department, the Clinton Foundation, and most recently her presidential campaign. The report goes on to state that U.S. authorities believe that the Russian hacking campaign came from direct orders from the Kremlin and “is an attempt to influence the presidential election and advance the broader strategic objectives of the [Vladimir] Putin regime....

Georgia executed death row inmate Kelly Gissendaner Wednesday morning, having defeated an 11th hour legal appeal that sought to spare her life. Gissendaner, who was sentenced to death for conspiring with her boyfriend to kill her husband, became Georgia’s first female prisoner to be executed in 70 years. Advocates, including Pope Francis, had argued for clemency. The Pontifex Maximus wrote a letter urging Georgia to commute her sentence and her children attended a parole board hearing to argue on her behalf, missing her execution in the process....

So, some smart contracts are not so smart after all. According to a new study, about 34,000 smart contracts built on blockchain technology are vulnerable to hackers. An “accidental bug” in an Ethereum blockchain, for example, cut off users from $150 million to $280 million in their virtual wallets last year. It’s hardly a death knell to the wildly popular technology, but it does raise some second thoughts. Like, what is going on?...

Shared workspaces are popular in cutting edge industries like technology but it could also be a boon for law firms, both large and small. Rather than working in offices or cubicles, technology companies turned to collaborative group spaces where employees can share communal tables for working rather than hiding behind office walls. Now that way of thinking has caught on at law firms as a way to keep costs down....

FindLaw columnist Eric Sinrod writes regularly in this section on legal developments surrounding technology and the Internet. Some people wonder whether social networking is a passing fad that will diminish in importance and attention over time. However, a recent social networking study by the McKinsey Global Institute concludes that more than $1 trillion can be realized annually by the value chain of social technologies. When used across enterprises, these technologies have the potential to raise the productivity of high-skilled workers as much as 25%....

Alvarez v. Royal Atlantic Developers, Inc., No. 08-15358, concerned a national origin discrimination action under Title VII claiming that defendant terminated plaintiff because she was Cuban-American. The Eleventh Circuit affirmed summary judgment for defendant in part on the ground that Title VII did not require the employer’s needs and expectations to be objectively reasonable; it simply prohibited the employer from discriminating on the basis of membership in a protected class. However, the court reversed in part, holding that plaintiff’s letter to management contained no threats against the company or anyone else, nor did it provide a reasonable basis for inferring that she would try to disrupt operations....

In a physician’s action against a health insurer for tortious interference with contract, plaintiff’s appeal from a denial of his motion to proceed with the action despite a class action settlement agreement releasing certain claims against defendant is dismissed for lack of jurisdiction, where the order was nonfinal because: 1) the summary denial of plaintiff’s motion did not expressly rule that plaintiff’s claims were released; and 2) even if the order implicitly advised plaintiff that his claims were released and that he was enjoined from prosecuting them, the order did not dispose of the matter because it did not hold plaintiff in contempt or impose any sanction for violating the injunction....

So you made it to the promised land: The General Counsel’s office. Congratulations. It’s normal to be nervous about your first in-house gig, especially if you’re diving into a new practice area. Fear not. Here are five tips for new in-house attorneys that can help you navigate the learning curve in your new job: The early months at an in-house job can be intense while you bridge the knowledge gap. Become a sponge....

A former Toyota in-house lawyer’s appeal of an arbitration decision has hit the skids. Dimitrios P. Biller must pay his former employer $2.6 million, the Ninth Circuit ruled Feb. 3. An arbitrator awarded Toyota Motor Corp. $2.6 million after finding that Biller disclosed confidential company information in violation of the parties’ severance agreement, the Associated Press reports. A state court, and later a federal district court, confirmed the award. Biller appealed to the Ninth Circuit, asking the court to vacate the award....

By now you’ve heard: Zika is in the United States and it’s spreading. As with anything, this too shall pass. Not to say that a national dialogue and public diligence is a bad thing, but people tend to get caught up in irrational panic when a new disease threatens the public. Remember swine flu? A few employers are wondering how the virus will implicate employer and workplace laws. Today, we’ll step into the weeds and give our take on this issue....

Guest post by Jennifer K. Halford, Esq. Being a solo practitioner has many perks. You are your own boss. No office politics or vying to make partner. And you generally can work as much or as little as you like - as long as your clients consistently pay. Of course that is the major downside to being a solo practitioner - if clients don’t pay, you don’t eat. So how do you get your clients to consistently pay?...

New Year, new rates? It’s something your law firm may be considering for 2012 as the economy slowly improves. But what’s the best way to implement a law firm rate increase without losing clients? Experts say it comes down to communication, calculation, and timing. Here are some tips on how to handle each prong of the law firm rate increase test. 1. Communication If you have specific reasons to justify your law firm rate increase, communicate those reasons to your clients....

Another nor’easter is bearing down on New York. It’s a balmy 37 degrees in Chicago. Even Los Angeles was hit by cold and rain yesterday, their equivalent of a snowpocalypse. Winter is still here, and it’s not going anywhere for a while. If the bad weather, lack of sun, and bulky coats are getting you down, we understand. It’s bleak out there. But you don’t just have to suffer through the winter doldrums....

In plaintiffs’ appeal from a denial of a motion to remand in a case removed pursuant to the Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA), the appeal is dismissed where, as a result of the elimination of the unique issues under CAFA and the desire not to resolve complex issues of federal versus state jurisdiction on a limited record with abbreviated briefing and decisional deadlines, the court of appeals’ original permission was improvidently granted....