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As Anonymous continues hacking websites and teaching the online world lessons in Internet security, more consumers will receive disconcerting email messages from businesses saying, “We’re sorry, but your personal information stored on our website has been compromised.” When we learn that a website which contains our personal information doesn’t meet proper Internet security standards, we have the same reaction as Brenda Katz, today’s First Circuit Court of Appeals appellee: We wanted to hold someone accountable....

We’ll keep this little update quick for all of you who practice in federal courts, especially the appellate branches. Starting this week, fee hikes kick in. Yes, your clients will be paying more, unless you work for the government. And yes, that’s the same government that funds the courts with your taxes, and shut down earlier this year (exhausting all reserve funds in the courts). They still get in the door fee-free, while private citizens pay the tab....

The First Circuit Court of Appeals recently upheld Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc.’s (MERS) power to assign a mortgage without having to possess a beneficial interest in the promissory note. The plaintiff in the case contended that although the actual bank mortgagee had declared bankruptcy, MERS did not have the authority to act on behalf of a non-existent entity and assign the mortgage to another institution. In a unanimous decision, the First Circuit agreed with a lower court that “legally MERS was holding the mortgage in trust,” meaning it has the authority to foreclose and assign mortgages, even though it was acting as an agent for the new owners....

The initial shock of the Las Vegas shootings may wear off, but the public is still dazed about what to do in the aftermath. According to polls, Americans have not changed their opinion about gun laws since the mass shooting. The massacre raised concerns about semi-automatic weapons – especially those equipped with “bump stocks” – yet many people don’t know where to stand on gun control. For lawyers, it is mostly about advising clients what not to do....

When it comes to government inquiries, in-house counsel has it rough. We’ve seen corporate counsel become scapegoats for bungled government inquiries. With in-house counsel and company executives receiving harsher penalties for company wrongdoing in recent years, taking precautions is essential. Here are a few tips to keep in mind when responding to government inquiries. Be candid with the feds, but do your due diligence to make sure you don’t get taken for a ride by them at your own peril....

The Hispanic population is the fastest growing demographic in the United States. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there are about 54 million Hispanics living in America, which is about 17% of the entire population. What does this mean for your legal practice? On June 24th, FindLaw is offering a free webinar to address this topic: Positioning Your Firm to Capture the Hispanic Market. Webinar Overview The webinar will examine the psychology and habits of the growing Hispanic population....

Michelle Carter, the teen convicted of involuntary manslaughter for texting a friend to commit suicide, is today’s poster child for texting gone way wrong. Carter faces up to 20 years in prison for telling her ex-boyfriend, as he filled his truck up with carbon monoxide, to finish it. Get back in the truck, she told him. “The time is right and you’re ready, you just need to do it!” the Massachusetts teen texted....

During the annual meeting of The American Bar Association in San Francisco on August 9, the ABA will announce the recipients of this year’s 2010 Pro Bono Publico Awards. Each year, the ABA recognizes the outstanding contributions made by some of its members to volunteer legal services. Pro bono work is one of the duties and privileges of the practice of law. The 2010 awards will be given to three individuals and two law firms by ABA resident Carolyn B....

Attention small firm attorneys: The future of legal research is here. The new Thomson Reuters ProView app for iPad is custom-designed for lawyers, and could make clunky hardbound books and updates a thing of the past. ProView is more powerful than other e-readers because it comes with a unique lawyerly feature: All of your notes and highlights will automatically transfer to later editions of your e-books, if you’re signed up for updates....

IE 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 , or 11. It doesn’t matter which version of Internet Explorer you are using. Stop it. That’s the message from the Department of Homeland Security after a massive security vulnerability was discovered in the browser over the weekend, reports Reuters. The exploit, which piggy-backs on Adobe Flash, could allow a hacker to gain control over your entire computer, which is especially terrifying for those of us with client files stored on our hard drives....

Por supuesto! Of course, your firm should have a Spanish-speaker. More than 50 million Americans and potential clients speak Spanish. And it’s no wonder, given that most of the Southwest used to belong to Mexico. It is a wonder, however, that most lawyers do not correctly pronounce “Los Angeles.” Demograficos It’s about demographics. If you are practicing in Small Town, U.S.A, that’s one thing. But if your firm is based in major metropolitan cities like New York, Los Angeles, Houston, Chicago, or San Diego, then you better habla Espanol....

You graduated. Perhaps you practiced for a couple years under the reign of terror of some evil boss in the name of “valuable experience.” Perhaps you just couch-surfed until the crushing weight of a dismal job market led you to the realization that starting your own firm was the only way to keep yourself in the lifestyle to which you’ve become accustomed - Olde English and Cheetos. Either way, you’ve decided to open up shop on a limited budget....

In an action for cybersquatting on a domain name identical to the name of plaintiff’s product, summary judgment for Defendant is affirmed where 1) the district court did not err in denying plaintiff leave to amend its complaint, because it waited to file a motion to amend its complaint with information it had known over a month before when it filed a motion for summary judgment; and 2) plaintiff failed to show that defendant had a bad faith intent to profit from using the domain name....

In this age of search engine optimization and online marketing, the conventional method of naming your firm after your partners’ last names may not make the most sense. Instead, you may be considering a generic law firm name like the “Los Angeles Criminal Law Firm” or the “Boston Immigration Group”. But while you may win the race to get Google traffic with such generic names, will this automatically lead to business?...

In a First Amendment challenge to Federal Election Commission regulations claiming that the regulations chilled plaintiff’s right to disseminate information about a presidential candidate, denial of a preliminary injunction is affirmed where the regulations’ words “support or oppose the election of a clearly identified Federal candidate” when used to identify regulated campaign funds were constitutional. Read The Real Truth About Obama, Inc. v. Fed’l. Elec. Comm., No. 08-1977 Appellate Information...

Now that you’re on high alert over your client data because of the revelation of Olera’s hacking into some of the nation’s most prominent law firms, you’re probably beginning to wonder: “Do I have to disclose a data breach to my firm?” That’s an excellent question, and it deserves an excellent answer. Unfortunately, an excellent answer is not easy to come by. There isn’t much case law out there tackling the issue of data breach and disclosure....

Robert George was a criminal lawyer turned criminal lawyer. At a Dunkin’ Donuts one day (this was Boston, after all), he happened to run into an ex-felon whom he once represented, Ronald Dardinski. Dardinski had gone to prison after pleading guilty in a scam in which he “sold” repossessed cars that weren’t his, then kept $750,000 from unwitting victims. George had initially represented Dardinski, but Dardinski found a different lawyer. George casually asked what happened with the money....

Ten years. Ten years of embarrassing photos, dirty jokes, drunk status updates, and other mistakes. On Facebook’s Tenth Anniversary, we’d like to remind you that Facebook, even with its ongoing mission to make everything about everyone public, has a whole bunch of privacy settings that will prevent past mistakes from resurfacing. And since ten is the magic number, here is our big list of the ten settings you should know about:...

Answering a question it acknowledged was left open by the Supreme Court’s 2012 Setser v. United States decisions, the First Circuit ruled last Friday that federal sentences may not be ordered to be consecutive to another anticipated, but not yet imposed, federal sentence. The case involves the sentencing of Heriberto Almonte-Reyes, who was convicted of conspiracy to import heroin in Puerto Rico while also facing charges for money laundering in Georgia....

So much of what we write about at FindLaw has to do with giving advice to attorneys – but what about your clients? We recently heard about a judge who lost his cool and yelled at a woman convicted of violently killing her boyfriend and stated “I hope you die in prison!” Apparently, it’s not the first time he’s said that to someone either, according to The Huffington Post. So what led him to make this outburst?...