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District court’s decision revoking supervised release and sentencing defendant to a further term in prison following his arrest for allegedly shooting at an officer, is set aside and remanded where, given the relatively weak evidence, district court’s decision is undermined by reliance on guesswork regarding the event. Read US v. Oquendo-Rivera, No. 08-2481 Appellate Information Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico Decided November 5, 2009...

District court’s conviction of defendant for assaulting a federal officer in violation of 18 U.S.C. section 111(a) is affirmed as a rational factfinder could have concluded beyond a reasonable doubt that the officer was acting within the scope of her official duties for the purposes of the statute. Read US v. Troy, No. 08-2002 Appellate Information Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Maine Decided September 25, 2009...

Law firms are for lawyers. Allowing non-lawyer ownership and investment compromises a lawyer’s independence and dilutes her commitment to the client. Or so the story goes. But evidence from countries that actually allow non-lawyer ownership indicates that non-lawyer owned firms might actually be more ethical and somewhat more independent, at least when it comes to funding. Is it time to stop worrying about non-lawyer ownership? Non-lawyer ownership is verboten in most of the U....

Every time the phrase “post-PC” is uttered (or written) in my presence, I stifle internal laughter. The PC is dead. People are moving to tablets. Blah, blah, blah. I think to myself: it won’t happen. Law firms and corporations can’t run on Android or iOS, and even if they could, they wouldn’t. It would require a massive hardware changeover, retraining of staff, and a whole new suite of programs (such as a Microsoft Office replacement)....

Apparently lawyers who are poised to take the lead in the legal tech industry may soon be living the most glamorous life out of any lawyer that ever came before. After all, the legal tech industry is thriving, and lawyers finally do have a real chance a recreating the wheel. But, according to the opinion of one Forbes contributor, lawyers trying to pioneer legal tech are currently lost. Many lawyers with pioneering ideas lack either good legal tech or a good go-to-market strategy....

Did you always want to be a little bit more like Mike? Were you disappointed when you discovered it took more than some really sweet shoes? If you’re a lawyer who consumes any sort of news media, you might actually want to be more like Michael Avenatti. You know, that 47-year-old lawyer who considers himself a “dragon slayer” and happens to be representing Stormy Daniels. Regardless of your partisan beliefs, it’s simply hard to deny that he is a media savvy attorney that certainly knows how to work an audience and create a brand for himself....

You’re just starting out, and there’s so much to do: logo design, business cards, a website, website content, social media … and clients. You’ll of course need clients. But to get the clients, you have to do a bit of preparation, a bit of marketing, and a bit of branding. And for those of you who are cash-strapped, there is a solution: microjob websites. Now, you’re not going to get a Monet for $5 to $10, but sites like Fiverr, and its less popular competitors Gigbucks and Fourerr, are all sites where you can get “microjobs” done for a nominal fee....

In US v. Banegas, No. 08-10915, the court of appeals reversed defendant’s drug conspiracy conviction, on the ground that the trial court failed to state particularized reasons for requiring defendant to be shackled while defending himself pro se. In US v. York, No. 09-40309, the court of appeals affirmed defendant’s conviction and sentence for arson and carrying a destructive device, holding that 1) there was sufficient evidence that the fire at issue was intentionally set; 2) the district court did not abuse its discretion by denying defendant’s motion for a mistrial, because defendant failed to show that he was prejudiced by a jury note requesting to hear again defendant’s confession; and 3) evidence that defendant had harmed his girlfriend went to issues other than defendant’s character because it explained that she withheld information from the police due to her fear of defendant’s threats....

The Hartsfield-Jackson Airport has been, and probably still is, charging planes that refuel there local taxes on the aviation fuel. And while that’s legal, according to the FAA’s interpretation of the rules, the tax money collected from local aviation fuel tax can only be used for aviation related purposes. After attempting to reach a resolution with the FAA, the county filed a lawsuit seeking to invalidate the interpretation of the rule....

It’s approaching back-to-school time for law school, which means students will be looking for internships and externships (if they don’t have them already). With all these students out there, should your small firm get in on the action by hiring a law student intern? Maybe – but maybe not. Using unpaid interns in any for-profit business is under increased scrutiny, as a lack of jobs for fresh-out-of-college twentysomethings has given rise to an “internship” economy that may violate labor laws....

Until the 24-hour news stations ratchet up the individual mandate discussions before the Affordable Care Act arguments in March, the university affirmative action review will be the talk of the legal community. Last week, the Supreme Court voted to review Fisher v. University of Texas, a Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals decision upholding a race-based admissions policy at the University of Texas (UT). Now, the Internet is buzzing with questions over whether the Nine will end university affirmative action 14 years before the soft deadline retired Justice Sandra Day O’Connor set in her 2003 Grutter v....

Eric Lundgren said he was e-recycling when he made 28,000 discs to restore computers with Windows operating systems. Microsoft fights e-waste, too, but accused Lundgren of copyright violations. That triggered a criminal prosecution for counterfeiting goods, which didn’t end well for the recycling advocate. After a decision from the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in United States of America v. Lundgren, he will have 15 months in prison to think about other ways to clean up his act....

It’s pretty standard for employers to use Facebook for screening job applicants and cutting candidates they think have unsavory traits. But a new study from North Carolina State University shows that those companies may be missing the mark entirely and eliminating excellent job candidates. The core of the problem, the study suggests, is a fundamental misunderstanding of online behavior. The researchers then compared their real-life traits to their Facebook behavior. They noted which Facebook behaviors were linked to specific personality traits and the results are surprising — and worth mentioning to your HR department....

FindLaw columnist Eric Sinrod writes regularly in this section on legal developments surrounding technology and the internet. Information technology overload can be a very real thing. Don’t get me wrong - technology is fantastic. Instantaneously we are on top of fast-breaking news developments. And we are in immediate and constant contact with our “friends.” But sometimes doesn’t it all seem a bit too much? Do you ever just want to turn off, take a breath and simply observe the real world around you?...

A device installed in many GM and Ford vehicles has driven a music-industry group to seek a court’s intervention. The Alliance of Artists and Recording Companies, an organization that collects fees levied on the sale of home recording devices, has filed a class action complaint accusing Ford and General Motors of placing certain types of hard drives in its cars without paying the requisite fees. The drives in question are “capable of making a digital audio copied recording for private use,” the lawsuit asserts....

The Gang of Eight just got one step closer to creating more paths for workers of all levels to come to the U.S. legally. The comprehensive immigration reform bill is set to head to the full Senate after the Judiciary Committee approved the bill 13-5 on Tuesday night. As a nation and as lawyers representing many small and large U.S. companies, we are closely watching the developments of this controversial bipartisan bill that will affect our businesses....

The holidays are a great time of year to do some fun legal marketing. Yes, usually the words fun and legal marketing in the same sentence will cause some sort of breach in the space-time continuum. However, the exception to that is when your legal marketing takes the form of a party. Even if you don’t want to think of your office holiday party as marketing, if you have invited clients, potential clients, and/or colleagues from other firms, it’s marketing....

In US v. Garcia, No. 09-10534, the court of appeals affirmed defendant’s conviction for illegal reentry into the U.S., on the ground that the district court did not abuse its discretion in failing to dismiss the indictment on statute of limitations grounds. However, the court reversed defendant’s sentence, on the ground that the district court committed error by enhancing defendant’s sentence based on his conviction for aggravated assault under Arizona law....

Many lawyers underestimate the importance of keeping in touch with clients off the clock. Being proactive in client communications and contact may be the key to client satisfaction – and retention. Making your clients feel like a priority is one of the best ways to keep them around, and an off the clock visit, lunch, or call is a great way to accomplish that. Your existing clients will be the source of most of your business, so check in, off the clock, regularly to make sure that your clients know they are valued and feel satisfied....

It’s the first day of spring – unless you live on the East Coast, in which case, you might be in for continued snow storms. Still, with the technical beginning of spring comes spring cleaning. If you’re like me, you’ve got piles of things hanging around the office that don’t need to be there anymore. Time to get rid of all that old junk! As we told you last fall, the best thing to do with client files, in order to save space, is to digitize and give away....