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In plaintiffs’ section 1983 suit against various town and school officials alleging that defendants advocated for approval of budgets and spending through various channels of communication media while denying plaintiffs access to the same communication channels, the district court’s judgment is affirmed where: 1) district court correctly concluded that the three added plaintiffs in the amended complaint lacked standing as they could not show any actual or imminent injury; 2) district court did not err in dismissing plaintiffs’ claims besides those pertaining to the town website and the 2006 annual report on res judicata grounds based on the earlier state court action; and 3) district court’s grant of summary judgment to the defendants on plaintiffs’ town website free speech claim is affirmed but on the ground that the claim fails because the town defendants’ actions in setting up and controlling a town website and choosing not to allow certain hyperlinks constituted government speech....

Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘The Tell-Tale Heart’ tells the tale of a man, so wracked with guilt and paranoia after a well crafted murder that he begins to hear the beating of his victim’s heart from under his floorboards and (spoiler alert) confesses to the crime. Now, Poe’s classic tale seems to have come to life in Middletown, Ohio. Well, almost. There’s no murder, just alleged arson and insurance fraud. And it’s not a dead man’s heart that matters here, but the supposed arsonist’s....

When it comes to law and technology, the future is wide open. Will artificial intelligence transform the practice of law? Will electronic surveillance mean that nothing can be truly confidential? Will you ever be able to find a password that you can remember? Yes. No. Maybe. The future of the law and technology is an unanswered question. Here are the ones we’re asking. Machine learning, the ability of software to improve itself over time, is becoming increasingly common....

Can the corporate law department transform the legal profession? Yes. And it is. In-house law departments are leading the change in legal technological innovation, reimagining how legal services are delivered, and even reshaping the face of the legal industry itself. To celebrate those efforts, ALM and Inside Counsel have recently named the recipients of the seventh annual Transformative Leadership Awards, recognizing “pioneers in the economic empowerment of women in corporate law....

One of three men convicted of the “Angola 3” prison guard murder is getting a second chance for a retrial in his case before the Fifth Circuit. A three-judge panel heard Albert Woodfox’s case in oral arguments on January 7, urging the court to consider giving Woodfox a third trial for the 1972 murder of prison guard Brent Miller, reports The Times-Picayune. What’s at stake in this 42-year-old case? While it may seem ludicrous to grant a second retrial in a case which is over four decades old, the allegations of racial discrimination are similarly ugly....

For many lawyers across the country, there are two significant lulls throughout the year: the holiday lull from Thanksgiving to New Years, and the Summer lull. During the holiday lull, most lawyers know what to do: prepare for the end of the year, consult your accountant for end of year deductions you should be spending toward, backing up your systems, updating your form library, and other digital housekeeping. However, during the Summer lull, there are some things you can do to keep your workload interesting, while also helping to generate downstream revenue to recover from the slow-down....

When it comes to Gchat etiquette, it can often feel like a free-for-all. But there are a few ground rules you should keep in mind before you ping someone at work. First, before you even start chatting, you’ll probably want to have a photo. If you must use a selfie, zoom in and make the frame tight on the face so it’s more professional looking – oh, and make sure you have clothes on....

Way back in 2004, those of us who first joined Facebook had a simple metric for success: friend count. The more friends we had, the cooler we were. (Okay, we were sad little nerds for even caring, but still, Internet friends are better than imaginary ones.) At a certain point, however, it stopped mattering. What was more important was logging on and seeing a friend’s new baby, or sharing a funny link on your brother’s wall....

Apple and Samsung are waging a global battle over patent infringement, and Apple was recently vindicated in a U.S. court. While Apple “won” the case and can now seek to enforce its patents in the U.S., the company shelled out millions in attorneys fees and a considerable amount of time and manpower to achieve victory. It’s always good to win, and it must feel really good to be vindicated in court....

Let’s face it: law practice is a business. Sure, we may aspire to help the homeless, free the tempest-tossed, and breathe life into the standard of liberty and justice for all. But if lawyers can’t bring in business, then they will be out of business. Here are a few soft skills to develop in your business that you may not have learned in law school. According to studies at the University of Chicago Law School, leadership is a key trait for successful lawyers to develop....

On Monday, we alerted you to the possible upcoming launch of Google Keep, a note-taking addition to Google Drive that appeared to be an Evernote competitor. If so, it was jumping in to a crowded field — Evernote dominates and OneNote has a healthy share due to its inclusion with Microsoft Office. (We liked Evernote better.) Should the legal masses flock from Evernote? Lets take a look. The Android App Keep comes in two flavors for now, Android and web-based....

If you ever wanted one of those James Bond gadgets, here’s your new spyware. The app, available from Google Play, even has an international flare. The Spanish soccer league La Liga made it to track unlicensed broadcasts of its games. Download it for free and voila! You’re a copyright spy. Copyright Spy Of course, there are complications. When you activate the app, it turns on your microphone and enables your GPS....

Littler Mendelson, the largest global employment law practice, recently released a report in which it documents the “swelling tide” of class actions brought against employers under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). In the report, it discusses why the number of FCRA class actions is growing, and what your company can do to protect, or defend, itself from a class action. Here’s a brief summary of the report, which you can read in full by clicking here....

FindLaw columnist Eric Sinrod writes regularly in this section on legal developments surrounding technology and the Internet. Earlier this year, I told you about how I finally took the leap and moved off of my BlackBerry to the latest iPhone. It was a struggle for me at first, because I was addicted (yes, a confirmed CrackBerry addict) to the tactile keyboard for ease of typing on the BlackBerry device. But, as you may recall, I was won over by the many other fantastic features of the iPhone, including Siri voice recognition, the larger screen, better photography, and the vast array of iPhone apps....

By Sue Keno and Nancy Kruzel As Microsoft prepares to roll out Office 2010, law firms should consider whether to invest in the latest version of the software. The answer is: It depends. It depends on the current state of your firm’s hardware, what version of Office you are currently using, how your firm’s other software applications integrate with an upgrade and–perhaps most importantly–your technology budget and goals for 2010. There are no clear-cut answers, so firms should consider their own unique situations, variables and priorities....

A lawsuit accuses Westlaw and LexisNexis of “unabashed” copyright infringement in selling access to legal documents without permission from the authors – namely, attorneys from coast to coast. Two attorneys filed the suit in Manhattan federal court against Reed Elsevier Inc., which owns LexisNexis, and West Publishing Corporation, which owns Westlaw, The Wall Street Journal reports. West is a division of Thomson Reuters. The legal-database companies “engaged in wholesale unlawful copying of attorneys’ copyrighted work, bundled those works into searchable databases, and sold access to those works … for huge profits,” the lawsuit states....

An oil tanker, weighing half a million tons, is churning through San Francisco Bay without a crew. What could possibly go wrong? This is more than a hypothetical question. It is the future. Robot-assisted boats are already coursing through the oceans, bays, and waterways around the world. And with advances in artificial intelligence, the next big thing in the shipping industry will likely be autonomous ships. These office-building-sized tankers, filled with liquid fires-waiting-to-happen, will be creeping around the globe without a man on board to pilot them....

Once upon a time, Native American Indians won big time. It wasn’t at the Battle of the Little Bighorn, where General George Armstrong Custer learned that the native people were serious about protecting their property. It was last year, when the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe struck a deal with Allergan. The pharma giant paid the tribe $17.75 million with a promise to pay $15 million annually for patent protection. The tribe was to use its sovereign immunity against inter partes reviews....

State governments can be sued for Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) violations, according to the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals. The Atlanta-based appellate court ruled last week that sovereign immunity does not insulate a state from USERRA liability. Roy Hamilton worked for the Alabama Department of Mental Health (ADMH) at the J.S. Tarwater Developmental Center in Montgomery, Alabama from 1987 until his departure for military service in December 2003....

In an appeal from the district court’s dismissal without prejudice of plaintiff’s complaint for failure to timely serve defendant pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 4(m), the order is vacated where the failure of the United States Marshal to effectuate service on behalf of an in forma pauperis plaintiff through no fault of that plaintiff constitutes “good cause” for the plaintiff’s failure to effect timely service within the meaning of Rule 4(m)....