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Some say imitation is the best form of flattery. But that’s not always the case, especially in the highly competitive tech industry where everyone chases the industry leader. Apple is the unofficial king of tech gadgets. Everyone wants what Apple has to sell. And Apple protects its territory viciously. In a recent court win over rival Samsung, Apple was able to temporarily enjoin the Korean company from selling its Samsung Galaxy tab in the U....

When you’re in the zone, banging your fists against the keyboard trying to knock out that brief, stopping to open up the list of “symbols” and scrolling through them can be a real flow killer. Luckily, there are a few options that you may not even realize exist. If you have the desk space and money to burn, you can buy one of the new “legal” keyboards or keyboard attachments. These have quite a few useful keys that you won’t find on a standard keyboard....

A lot of outside counsel are going to lose their jobs if they don’t improve their cybersecurity. According to a new report, seventy percent of companies are “somewhat confident” that their outside attorneys adequately protect their data. Nine percent are “not at all confident.” For the law firms with superior cybersecurity, that could be good news. For the rest, it’s time to get serious about it. ‘The Weak Link’ The Association for Corporate Counsel issued its cybersecurity report for 2018, and it reveals some big problems....

Employers who opt out of providing health insurance coverage for contraceptives don’t have their religious exercise burdened by those opt out procedures, the Fifth Circuit ruled on Monday. The Circuit joined the Seventh, Sixth, Third, and D.C. Circuits in rejecting a challenge to Obamacare’s contraception mandate by religious nonprofit organizations. Under Obamacare, religious nonprofits can opt out of directly providing contraception to their employees. To do so, they need simply fill out a short form and send to the Department of Health and Human Services for certification....

IDEA Action Alleging Denial of Special Education Services In D.A. v. Houston Indep. Sch. Dist., No. 09-20551, an action claiming that defendant school district failed to provide special education services to plaintiff, the court affirmed summary judgment for defendants where plaintiffs did not furnish proof of intentional discrimination as required by the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act, and 42 U.S.C. section 1983 offered no additional cause of action for plaintiff....

We dropped the ball. On Friday, we were distracted by casket-building monks being bullied in court by the Louisiana State Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors. We completely overlooked the fact that the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals had issued a Prison Litigation Reform Act opinion in a vampire lawsuit. (Brief thanks to Staci Zaretsky at Above the Law for bringing this matter to our attention.) Courtney Royal, Vampsh Black Sheep League of Doom Gardamun Family Circle Master Vampire High Priest, (that’s actually how he is listed in the court filing), sued a lot of people in the Texas prison system for violating his civil rights by not providing him with the resources he needed to practice his religion, Vampirism....

Ever read an opinion and think this would be perfect for a casebook? Matias was a drug dealer. He regularly bought weed, in bulk, from Ruiz. Ruiz is a snitch. He told Matias that due to a drug debt, both himself and his family were in danger. As a result, he’d really like to sell some cocaine to Matias. After a few aborted attempts and a lot of recorded conversations, Matias finally agreed to buy twenty-two kilos of blow and met Ruiz, along with an undercover agent, with $214,000 in cash....

Companies like to hire attorneys who’ve had previous in-house experience, so getting an in-house internship as a law student can boost hiring potential. Although it’s only March, companies already have or are starting to hire their summer interns – and the competition is stiff. So to get employers to notice your internship application, here are some cover letter tips. To differentiate yourself from other applicants, start your letter off with a line that highlights your accomplishments....

A suit over whether handicapped parking is reasonable accommodation for a qualifying disability was dispatched by the Fifth Circuit on Monday, with the Court giving a resounding … maybe. In Feist v. State of Louisiana, the appellant Pauline G. Feist, a former assistant attorney general for the state of Louisiana, is appealing her disability discrimination claim after the district court granted a summary judgment motion against her. The state of Louisiana didn’t want her to have her own handicapped spot, but was it illegal?...

In a very unfortunate case of mistaken identity, an innocent man spent nearly two decades sitting in state custody for a crime that he conclusively did not commit. Darrin Hill was acquitted after DNA proved that he could not have been the perpetrator of decades’ old assault and rape. When he sued the city on various claims, issues arose as the level of qualified immunity individuals involved in the Hill’s criminal investigation would enjoy....

Interpleader and oil spills and indemnity, oh my! The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Wednesday that filing an interpleader action does not trigger an excess insurer’s responsibility in a claim.The details in this case read more like an algebraic equation than a fact pattern, (“the M/V TINTOMARA struck the DM-932”), so we’ll spare you the nitty-gritty specifics in favor of our digestible version: there was an accident on the Mississippi River that resulted in an oil spill....

For the first time, the Florida Bar has released information about the Jose Baez complaints, confirming suspicions as to their content. Both ethics complaints stem from Baez’s representation of Casey Anthony during her murder trial and the subsequent probation fiasco. And as suspected, they concern comments made by Judge Belvin Perry. Moreover, the initial investigation was recently sent to a grievance committee, which will now determine whether there is sufficient probable cause to bring formal charges....

Scott Lively has traveled the world speaking up against the “gay agenda.” He has given speeches everywhere from Oregon, to Moscow, to Kampala. But it was his speeches in Uganda that had the greatest impact. After giving a series of lectures on how homosexuals supposedly prey on children, Ugandan officials passed an extremely harsh anti-gay law that makes homosexuality a crime punishable by life in prison in some instances (earlier drafts included death as a penalty)....

In legal tech talk, a go-to-market strategy is not exactly the same as a “go-to” guy in basketball. Since it’s the NBA playoffs, we’re going to talk basketball first. Maybe we’re talking apples and oranges, but you know legal tech didn’t make up the term “go-to” first. When you’re talking b-ball, hoops, buckets, the go-to guy is that player you can count on to score. Throw him the ball, and everybody get out the way....

TD Ameritrade won a case claiming it broke securities laws, but it was one of those victories a company doesn’t usually advertise. That’s because the federal appeals court dismissed the case on jurisdictional grounds. The factual allegations – that the company got kickbacks to the detriment of customers – are part of the permanent record. Maybe court files and the internet aren’t forever, but it sure feels like it when your business reputation or value goes down....

Google Glass explorers are not very popular in some circles, and the legal repercussions of wearing Google Glass are mounting, as laws are lagging behind the popularity of the wearable technology. Driving While Wearing Glass We first saw the legal confusion surrounding Google Glass last November when Google Glass Explorer Cecilia Abadie received a citation for violation of California V C section 27602 Television, which prohibits driving a car with a video screen in front of the driver....

If you enjoy reading stories of police misconduct being properly punished, today’s Eleventh Circuit selection will warm the cockles of your heart. A handful of police officers responded to a 911 call from a drunk, lost woman. When they arrived, she claimed that she was in danger and that someone had been beating Jerry Morris’s horses. When officers woke Morris up with a knock, he tried to put on his boots to check on his animals....

District court’s order vacating an arbitrator’s award in favor of a union on the ground that the arbitrator exceeded his authority by adding a term to the underlying contract is reversed and remanded as, even if the arbitrator erred, he acted within the scope of his authority under the contract. Read PPG Indus., Incorp. v. Int’l Chem. Workers Union Council of the United Food and Commercial Workers, No. 08-2180 Appellate Information...

FindLaw columnist Eric Sinrod writes regularly in this section on legal developments surrounding technology and the Internet. Make no mistake, Cybercrime is real and its impact is huge. Indeed, a recent Norton Cybercrime report by Symantec provides some fairly startling statistics. For example, there are 1.5 million Cybercrime victims on a daily basis - that is 18 victims per second. There are 556 million such victims per year - in excess of the European Union total population....

As the composition of the U.S. Supreme Court changes, a serious question remains to be decided: Is there a possessive apostrophe after words ending in “s”? It hardly seems worth considering except that the Court actually considered the question in a decision a decade ago. In Kansas v. Marsh, 548 U.S. 163 (2006), the justices split on whether the apostrophe should come after words ending in “s” or should another “s” be added after the apostrophe....