Posts

Earlier this year, T-Mobile, as part of its “Un-Carrier” strategy, did away with long-term carrier contracts and device subsidies on its calling plans. Instead of being locked into two-year deals, all plans are month-to-month, at a lower rate than their competitors, with unlimited talk and text. The end of device subsidies somewhat negates these benefits, as the cost of an iPhone 5S or Galaxy Note 3, paid in installments over two years, brings T-Mobile’s price to near that of its competitors....

As the government shutdown drags on, so do immigration proceedings. Immigration court hearings are being pushed back – some by years – because of a political battle over the border wall. President Trump has threatened to continue the shutdown unless he gets $5 billion to build the wall. Immigration law was hard before the political stalemate, but now it is practically impossible. If you want a hearing, take a number and get in a very long line....

Jail time is becoming ever more likely for former Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell, who was convicted of public corruption charges last year. McDonnell’s conviction stemmed from accepting $177,000 in loans, gifts, and other perks in exchange for promoting a friend’s dietary supplements. McDonnell was sentenced to two years in prison but has remained free while he appeals the conviction. The Fourth Circuit rejected his appeal last week, bringing him one step closer to serving time....

A New York attorney working a New Jersey case missed a filing deadline, but that was not her biggest problem. According to court records, she lied about it to a judge. She claimed to be in Mexico for a family emergency, when actually she was on vacation. It came out because the lawyer posted Instagram pictures of herself in New York and Miami at the time. The judge sanctioned her $10,000, but every lawyer should take notes: Don’t lie to judges and don’t put everything on social media....

If you get a creepy, crawly feeling as your server slows down, it may be the robots scraping your website for information. And if you get that nauseous, pit-of-your-stomach ache, maybe it’s the legal bills you sense coming on. That’s because it will take lawsuits or legislation to catch up with web scrapers, and the future is not certain. Courts allow some companies to scrape websites, but not others. It depends in part on how judges apply old principles to new technology....

Here’s a fun statistic: 31 percent of traffic to law firm websites comes from mobile search. That’s nearly one-third of all of your Web traffic coming from smartphone and tablet users. And make no mistake about it, mobile Google results are very different from desktop Google results, which means you’re playing a whole different game when marketing your practice online to that 31 percent. Plus, that 31 percent is likely to grow....

How many times have you stumbled upon a blog that was once active, but hasn’t been updated since 2009? Or you go to someone’s website and see the infamous WordPress placeholder: “Hello world! Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!” Gross. It’s easy to start a blog. It’s far more difficult to keep one alive. If your firm’s blog has stagnated, and you’re in desperate need of a little motivation, here are five reasons to resurrect your blog, including SEO benefits, two easy types of posts for when you’re stuck, marketing benefits, and of course, the creative outlet:...

Microsoft Word’s “track changes” feature has some obvious benefits. After all, you can see the edits you or someone else made to your document and can compare different versions of documents to one another. However, seeing the edits you made may not always be a good thing. This is especially true if you are sending documents to opposing parties, who in many cases can simply click “track changes” and get some sense of your thought process....

FindLaw columnist Eric Sinrod writes regularly in this section on legal developments surrounding technology and the internet. Natural phenomena, such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, hurricanes, tornadoes and tsunamis, have occurred on this planet for many millennia. And such phenomena have become disasters where humans have populated in heavy concentrations in areas subject to such phenomena. In the internet era, so much of life has seemed to move online. People spend many of their waking hours in front of their computer screens or staring into their smart phones, that they can actually forget the real world around them....

Whether you’re a Democrat or a Republican or neither, the one thing you can agree on after Tuesday’s election is it’s time to party in three more states! Alaska, Oregon, and Washington, D.C., all voted to legalize recreational marijuana. Each law is slightly different, though, so if you’re practicing in any of these jurisdictions, it’s helpful to know just what they cover and when they go into effect. There are actually lots of issues here for many attorneys, including criminal defense, tax, corporations, and property....

In plaintiff’s 42 U.S.C section 1983 case against a city and a police officer claiming his Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights were violated when a police officer stopped him in front of a courthouse to investigate plaintiff’s possession of a handgun, district court’s judgment in favor of the defendants is affirmed where: 1) district court had ample reason to conclude that officer’s investigatory stop was justified at its inception; 2) district court correctly concluded that officer acted within the permissible scope of his initial Terry stop of plaintiff; 3) plaintiff failed to properly raise a Second Amendment claim in court; 4) district court correctly dismissed plaintiff’s claims against the city sua sponte....

It used to be that meetings meant everyone had to be in the same room to get the full effect. But our mobile lifestyle makes remote meetings are more feasible so long as participants have an internet connection. Unlike the old conference call, remote meetings allow you to see everyone in the conversation. It avoids interruptions and also means that everyone is more engaged. A professional meeting doesn’t have to take place in a boardroom....

Always remember to say thank you – even when you’re a high rolling attorney. You should especially remember to thank other lawyers who send business your way. These referrals can be an important source of clients and are definitely worth a sign of gratitude. But what’s the best way to say thanks? A card, a car, an ethics violation? Here are some ideas on the best ways to give thanks for a referral:...

Thanks to television advertising, many of us have fond memories of our hometown personal injury attorneys’ commercials. In South Louisiana, where I grew up, there were two attorneys whose slogans dominated the air waves: Morris Bart (“I’m Morris Bart, and I’m on your side”) and E. Eric Guirard (“Get the E guarantee!”). Bart is still going strong. Guirard was disbarred in 2009. There are plenty of sketchy things that warrant disbarment – charging excessive fees, witness-tampering, etc – but Guirard’s sins were comparably tame....

Defendants’ drug convictions are affirmed, where the government improperly used a law enforcement officer as the first witness in a multi-defendant drug prosecution to provide an “overview” of the prosecution’s case, but it was highly probable that the testimony did not influence the verdict. Read US v. Flores-de-Jesus, No. 06-2670. Appellate Information: APPEALS FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF PUERTO RICO. Hon. Jay A. García-Gregory, U.S. District JudgeDecided: June 18, 2009...

Ah yes, the Mac vs PC debate. It’s a debate that never seems to die, and has filled up countless pages of comments from trolls. The truth is, there is not a consensus in this debate. Back in 2008, the ABA Journal did an excellent piece comparing the Mac vs PC. Regarding the reliability and functionality of the systems, the ABA article remains relevant today. It’s an excellent, albeit long piece, which is worth checking out....

District court’s denial of defendant’s petition for habeas relief is affirmed where: 1) deferential review is required when it is clear that the state courts either used their own state standard, which is more generous than the federal standard, or used the federal standard, although the state courts did not cite to any case law; and 2) even if the petitioner were entitled to de novo review on habeas, his petition must still be denied because there was no juncture at which evidence of a trooper’s prior false testimony would have been admissible under Massachusetts law....

In 2013, the theme in the Fourth Circuit was guns: concealed carry, criminal penalties for carrying, etc. This year? It’s all about Virginia: a corrupt governor, malicious prosecution, and penile photography by police officers and prosecutors. For 2014, here are your Top 10 most popular posts from the Fourth Circuit, folks: 10. Need a Job? 4th Circuit is Hiring Librarians, Chief Staff Attorney. Wait, there are legal professionals in need of employment?...

Early adopters of technology can often be made fun of for all sorts of various reasons. However, some businesses have directly felt how impactful having the right technology can be. And if you can get your hands on that before your competition, you could be looking at a serious competitive advantage. But that doesn’t mean you should blindly go about being an early adopter of every new piece of tech you find interesting, or think might be helpful....

Cybersecurity isn’t some science fiction fantasy for the big screen and television. It should be an important focus for any business or professional that maintains confidential or sensitive digital information. Attorneys are among those with the most to lose in a cybersecurity breach. After all, it’s not just a client’s information that could be on the line: an attorney’s license can be in jeopardy for failing to sufficiently safeguard a client’s files....