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Those seasonal workers can be a boon for employers, providing quick, temporary labor during the busiest part of the year. But seasonal work also brings with it some major risks that corporate counsel should be aware of and guard against. You want to avoid claims that a seasonal employee was terminated in violation of an implied employment contract, so avoid any references to a term of employment. Tell hiring managers not to describe jobs as lasting “through December” or to say that someone will be kept on “through the holidays....

Email gaffes are practically a rite of passage. Everyone seems to have an embarrassing reply all story, or a tale of a forgotten attachment for a major client. While not as commonly lamented as “reply all” and attachment debacles, the blind carbon copy (BCC) lays claim to its own type of office drama. That’s why some websites — like SlawTips — suggest that lawyers should never use the BCC. But is it really so terrible?...

British Petroleum made a bad bargain, a settlement that contained a formula that made it possible for parties not affected by the massive Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster to gain windfall payouts. Though that formula was tweaked last year, and again this year, BP still wants to freeze the payouts. Too bad, said the Fifth Circuit, both in a panel opinion and an en banc denial. Now, the oil company is reaching out to the Supreme Court in hopes that the nine justices will save the company from its own bad bargain, one that some argue has already been “fixed....

“Metro, boulot, dodo,” the French saying goes. It’s the catchy summation of the modern tedium: commute, work, sleep, over and over till you die. They should have added “preso” to the mix. For when it comes to corporate monotony, the predictable, boring presentation reigns supreme. And nothing represents that more than PowerPoint, Microsoft’s ubiquitous slideshow software. Thankfully, there are alternatives to the norm. (We’re talking presentation software here, not bohemian lifestyles....

US v. Carter, No. 09-4451, involved a challenge to a district court’s imposition of an enhanced sentence for a possession with intent to distribute cocaine base conviction. Defendant argued that the district court clearly erred in applying the enhanced sentence in finding that he recklessly created a substantial risk of serious bodily injury when he entered another person’s residence while fleeing from the police when that person was not present. However, the court affirmed the sentence and held that regardless of whether the resident is present at the time of the entry, applying the reckless endangerment enhancement is appropriate....

If you’re the one designing your law firm website, you might be tempted to craft one that speaks to what you think is important. But really, what you think isn’t important. What the client thinks is important is really what’s important. Research has shown that your website needs to cater to your clients’ needs, not your needs or what you think should be important to the client. So how well is your website speaking to your potential clientele?...

The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last month that forced decryption is self-incrimination. The Justice Department must have found the Atlanta-based appellate court’s ruling thoughtful and compelling, because a DOJ spokesperson confirmed on Wednesday that the Department will not appeal the ruling, reports The Wall Street Journal. The Eleventh Circuit decision was one of two decryption rulings that grabbed headlines in February. In the case, In re Grand Jury Subpoena, the court decided that a defendant fighting child pornography charges could invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and refuse to decrypt computers and hard drives seized by the government....

Have you received an email threatening you or your firm with a ransomware attack? If so, you may want to think twice before panicking, or paying the scammers threatening to lock down your files. A new phishing email is making the rounds trying to squeeze a little bit of Bitcoin out of anyone with more paranoia than sense. Basically, as pointed out by Forbes, the scammers are trying to capitalize on the success of the WannaCry ransomware hack that plagued individuals and businesses last year....

In Bath Iron Works Corp. v. Fields, No. 08-2235, the court addressed an employer’s burden of rebutting a presumption under the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act (LHWCA) section 20(a), which provides that certain disabilities are presumed to be work-related in absence of substantial evidence to the contrary. The employer, a ship manufacturing facility, argued that the Benefits Review Board erred in awarding disability benefits to the employee-plaintiff as claiming that it produced substantial evidence to rebut the statutory presumption....

While every lawyer may know what it means if a case or issue is given the old moot boot, consulting a dictionary could lead to some serious confusion. That’s because the term “moot” derives from our ancestors across the pond and has a meaning in the UK which belies our American understanding. Interestingly, in England, the term moot means “subject to debate, dispute, or uncertainty.” Here in the U.S., where we speak English without an accent and have a much less colloquial lexicon, moot means “having little or no practical relevance....

What should a parent do when he cannot afford to pay a $762 child support bill? We think asking family members for loans, selling personal belongings, or even begging for the court’s mercy are reasonable options. Aaron C. Robinson, on the other hand, tried to postpone his child support hearing by phoning in a bomb threat on the courthouse where the hearing was to occur, using a prepaid cellphone that he asked his then-14-year-old stepsister to buy for him....

GoDaddy’s user agreement has suffered a loss at the hands of a U.S. District Court Judge in Arizona. A client sued the domain registration company over its practice of “parking”– the directing of undeveloped domains to GoDaddy-created advertisements. Those advertisements bring in money, none of which is paid to the domain’s registrant. GoDaddy argued that its Universal Terms of Service granted contractual authority to engage in this practice. Like most web companies, GoDaddy....

While courts surely derive some sick and twisted pleasure by forcing attorneys on opposite sides to file joint pleadings, how you go about handling those logistics can have a big impact on your case. Since the great word processor schism, Microsoft Word has emerged as the dominant program, trouncing Word Perfect in its widespread adoption by both lawyers and courts. However, one of the potentially fatal flaws of Word involves one of the best features: Track Changes....

Juror’s tweets are wreaking havoc, and this time they’re costing Arkansas a lot of time and money. The Arkansas Supreme Court has unanimously overturned the murder conviction of death row inmate Erickson Dimas-Martinez. Prosecutors can blame Juror 2, who tweeted a number of times during trial despite repeated warnings not to do so. He even continued to tweet after being reprimanded by the judge. One of his followers also happened to be a local reporter....

The appeal of Douglas Blodgett over the 10-year sentence he received as a result of his guilty plea to criminal charges for accessing child pornography with the intent to view it has been shot down with more explanation than anyone likely expected. Blodgett was convicted in 2016 after a DHS investigation discovered that he had downloaded and viewed child pornography. However, due to a prior conviction for molesting a 13 year old in 1997, he was subject to the mandatory minimum sentence under the PROTECT Act, which was passed in 2003....

We’ve given a lot of attention to the topic of content marketing lately. This is crucial to staying alive in today’s hectic legal market – particularly if you’re a solo. But this doesn’t mean that you should disregard the good ol’ ways of getting potential clients. You’re Not Fungible One lawyer isn’t as skilled or experienced or even as competent as the next one. For the most part, clients don’t know this....

Unfair Labor Practice Injunction Affirmed In Overstreet v. El Paso Disposal, L.P., No. 09-51006, an employer’s appeal from the district court’s grant of temporary injunctive relief requiring defendant to cease and desist from alleged unfair labor practices, the court affirmed the order where 1) the district court did not abuse its discretion in mandating that defendant reinstate the striking workers; and 2) the district court did not err by ordering defendant to adopt the union’s proposed Dues-Check off provision....

An Iowa man, from the city of Sibley, has just sued Sibley over their efforts to silence him on the internet. Although the city may be understandably upset over what its own resident was saying, using governmental authority to restrict speech on the internet, even if that speech claims that you’re a smelly city, just isn’t right. The First Amendment lawsuit was filed by the ACLU of Iowa and has all the hallmarks of a fishy story....

Last week, Tesla made a big, bold move: It opened its patent portfolio to everyone. In a post titled, “All Our Patent Are Belong To You,” a reference to a poor video game translation turned Internet meme, the company’s CEO Elon Musk announced the move and explained why the company would only use the patents for defensive purposes. In short: acceleration of innovation. A cynic might amend that a bit: acceleration of adoption of Tesla’s proprietary and patented standards, ensuring that the company doesn’t develop the Betamax of electric vehicles....

Last week, FindLaw’s Chris Coble covered the story of the Texas woman who is suing the county for being falsely accused and jailed. The story was among the week’s most popular on social media for FindLaw’s consumer audience. This means, if you are a lawyer, this is the kind of case potential clients are reading. Jessica Jauch certainly needed a lawyer when she got out of jail. “Unjust and Unfair” On April 26, 2012, Jauch was pulled over and then jailed on a drug charge in Choctaw County, Mississippi....