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In late 2013, a wave of armed bank robberies occurred around Washington, D.C. In October, a bank in Rockland, Maryland, followed by one in Vienna, Virginia, was hit. The next month, a Wells Fargo in Arlington. Just a few weeks later, on New Year’s Eve 2013, three men were arrested, just after they robbed another Arlington bank, caught with nearly $48,000 of cash in hand. It’s hard to beat a charge of armed robbery when you’re caught literally leaving the bank....

Law enforcement vehicle searches have become increasingly expansive over the last few decades, but sometimes the Fifth Circuit just has to put its foot down. In U.S. v. Cotton, the Court determined that Marvin Cotton, who was stopped and searched by an officer on suspicion of drug trafficking, did not give consent to have an officer search his vehicle, only his luggage. Cocaine Found in Door Panel Cotton moved to appeal in his criminal case after losing a motion to suppress the evidence of 280 g of cocaine which was retrieved from inside the panel of the driver side rear door....

Lars Aanning has a warning: When it comes to medical malpractice claims, don’t expect doctors to testify honestly against each other. “In essence, no supporting testimony from a defendant physician’s colleagues can ever be deemed trustworthy, truthful or true – because those colleagues have essentially sworn an oath of loyalty to each other,” he writes. Aanning should know, as he’s done it himself. A surgeon in South Dakota, he says that he lied on the stand in a medical malpractice trial almost two decades ago and that doctors feel intense pressure to protect their colleagues from lawsuits, even if it means breaking their professional oaths....

You’ve earned that vacation – or stubborn head cold – so let the world know about it. Or at least let them know that you won’t be around to check your messages. When you’re out of the office for an extended period, make sure you’ve turned on your out-of-office auto-reply. You should also switch your office voicemail message if no one else will be handling your calls, but much more common is the use of an automated email message....

Those darn lawyers, always filing frivolous litigation. We need to curb the rampant abuse and frivolous litigation that plagues our court systems! Yep. You’ve heard it before. We’ve heard it before. And even if there is a problem with frivolous motions and litigation, we’re not so sure that the solution proposed by the Lawsuit Abuse Reduction Act of 2013 will do anything whatsoever to help. In fact, if the history cited by the ABA is any indication, it’ll have the opposite effect – clogging the docket with Rule 11 litigation....

Maybe you helped Donald Trump close a deal on a New Jersey shopping mall. Or maybe he consulted you, way back when, for some legal advice. Now he’s running for president and you want to speak out – without revealing anything too confidential, of course. Can you? Of course, for the vast majority of us, this is simply a hypothetical. But for some lawyers, it’s a very real question – and some lawyers have started talking publicly about their time with Trump, raising very real questions about the ethics behind discussing former clients, even when you don’t reveal any non-public information....

Lawyers generally are thought to fall into two camps: those who went into law to “change the world” and those who went into it driven by greed. No surprise, but it seems like money isn’t make greedy lawyers much happier. Make Your Own Space: Spend the time to customize your space and to make it your own. Fortunately, one can simulate being someplace else through the judicious use of background noise and headsets....

Convicted murderer Jesus Delgado will remain in jail after losing his double jeopardy appeal in the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals this week. In 1994, Delgado was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder, one count of armed burglary, and one count of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Those convictions were later set aside on appeal by the Florida Supreme Court. This week, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals followed suit and concluded that Delgado was not entitled to habeas relief because he was not “twice put in jeopardy” as that phrase is defined in federal constitutional law....

Kim Dotcom, the owner of now defunct Megaupload.com, which used to be one of the biggest websites in the world, had his assets seized after the site was shut down by U.S. authorities. After an appeal to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals was unsuccessful, Dotcom made a plea to the U.S. Supreme Court. But the High Court just refused to even hear the case. Kim Dotcom was not born with that unusually modern last name, but rather changed it from Schmitz in 2005....

Yes, we tech savvy lawyers might consider ourselves to be sharp enough to spot every single phishing attempt that hits our email inboxes. After all, if we can spot a bad client, or a good case, we can spot a suspicious email, right? Well, you might want to guess again, or at least confirm what you may or may not already know. And you can do that easily thanks to a simple online quiz Google designed, that won’t take more than a couple minutes....

When we talk about heavily regulated industries, we are usually talking about things like toxic waste management, health care providers, or public utilities. But there’s one highly regulated trade that often goes unrecognized: the beer, wine, and spirits industry. The mess of regulations, and regulatory bodies, that make up the industries is, well … enough to make you drink. But thankfully, the beer, wine, and spirit industry’s regulatory system isn’t completely unnavigable....

A North Carolina legislator has proposed allowing non-lawyers to buy into law firms, giving outside investors a chance to participate in legal profits on a direct basis. The rules against non-lawyers investing in the business of law parallel similar restrictions on doctors, which were designed to make sure physicians answered only to their patients. Whenever the intersection of law and the business of law come together like this, ethical concerns often loom around the corner....

It’s a fine line between domestic terrorism and enemy combatant, isn’t it? Dzhokhar Tsarnaev allegedly took up arms against the people of the United States. He committed despicable acts of terrorism and, some might argue, treason. For that, he will face charges in a civilian federal criminal court in the First Circuit, despite calls from many lawmakers to try him in a military commission. It’s the right choice. He is an American citizen who committed an act of terrorism on American soil....

FindLaw columnist Eric Sinrod writes regularly in this section on legal developments surrounding technology and the internet. Data Center Alley has been referred to as the “bull’s-eye of America’s Internet,” with more than 70% of the world’s Internet communications flowing through there. On top of these reasons, the cost of power in this region is relatively inexpensive. And, being adjacent to Dulles International Airport is advantageous. Plus, a Metro station is under construction there that will facilitate commuting to and from Washington, D....

Appeal of defendants’ sentences for conspiring to distribute a controlled substance is dismissed as each defendant signed a valid and enforceable waiver of their rights to appeal their sentences in their respective plea agreement under the standard set forth in US v. Teeter, 257 F.3d 14 (1st Cir. 2001). Read US v. Gonzalez-Colon, No. 08-1024 Appellate Information On Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico...

Interested in attending West’s Managing Litigation CLE course? Through a special arrangement with West, FindLaw readers can attend for free! The 9-hour course offers 6.75 of CLE credits for many jurisdictions, and is titled “Managing Litigation 2011: Litigation Readiness and Project Management for In-House Counsel.” The program will be held on October 11, 2011 at the Network Meeting Center at Techmart in Santa Clara, California. Specifically tailored for in-house counsel, the course will cover project management tips and tools....

Patent attorneys are often cast out from the traditional legal community of sharks, rainmakers, and ambulance chasers. But, unlike every other type of lawyer, of which there seems to be too many, there is a constant demand for patent attorneys. The demand is driven by two primary factors: the ever growing economy, and the lack of qualified patent attorneys. Unfortunately for new attorneys, becoming a patent attorney isn’t as easy as choosing a specialization like family law, contracts, or civil rights....

I’ve said it before, the issues facing women in the workplace are not women’s issues but family issues – but, this time I don’t need to say it again. Instead, I’ll let President Barack Obama say it: “This is not just a women’s issue. This is a middle-class issue and an American issue.” Today, the President and First Lady hosted The White House Summit on Working Families to kickstart the “conversation on working families for a 21st century workplace....

The days of collecting business cards to stuff in the rolodex are long gone. When it comes to networking, technology has proven rather useful as anyone you need to meet or know is simply a Google search and email away (though your email could fall into the digital ether if you the person you’re reaching out doesn’t know you). However, just because you can email and digitally meet almost anyone, that doesn’t mean you should avoid in-person networking....

The Apple iPhone’s Siri may not work exactly like it does on TV, but it’s still “cutting edge,” the company asserts in a motion to dismiss a class action lawsuit. The suit by unhappy iPhone 4 users alleges false advertising about Siri’s supposed skills, The Wall Street Journal reports. TV commercials show people using Siri “to make appointments, find restaurants, and even learn the guitar chords to classic rock songs,” the suit states....