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An order dismissing plaintiff’s defamation suit for forum non conveniens is reversed in part and vacated and remanded where: 1) denial of plaintiff’s motion to amend to join another defendant is reversed as the district court abused its discretion in preventing plaintiff’s amendment as of right; and 2) dismissal of the case for forum non conveniens as to defendant is vacated as the ruling was premature because another defendant was rightfully added as a defendant....

Lawyers, are you ready for your Gmail to finally get the update you wish it had years ago? The two most exciting features in this update might actually save you a couple minutes. One is something so simple that you may not have even realized you wanted it, while the other is just awesome. Soon you will no longer have to open a separate tab to calendar something from your Gmail....

Google can’t seem to stay out of the news. The Edward Snowden leaks have resulted in an avalanche of issues that are bringing in to question the tech giant’s integrity and commitment to user privacy. That, and then some. On Monday, Google filed an amended motion to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (“FISC”) after failed attempts at negotiating with the Department of Justice regarding the transparency that Google can have with its users....

Football, perhaps more than any professional sport, is not ready for women on the field. But some women, like Hannah Gordon, are making an impact on the sport. She is general counsel for the San Francisco 49ers, and may be the coolest in the businesses. After all, how many general counsel get to run down on the football field and high-five a team for winning a championship? “Momma Fox” The players call her “Momma Fox,” and that’s what you would expect from an all-male squad of hulking, professional athletes....

Nobody likes a bully, especially the ones in black robes. They are like ogres, trolls that drag people under the bridge and eat them raw. Only judicial bullies do it front a courtroom audience, and no one dares come to the rescue. That’s why you have to come to court prepared for the worst. Either that, or get outta there while you still have your briefs. Bad Judges It’s hard to complain publicly about a judge, but there are some bad ones out there....

The Association of Corporate Counsel recently met to discuss pressing in-house counsel concerns and issues. What took center stage? Cybersecurity and damage control. Threats from cyberhackers has increasingly been the headache of general counsel from companies large and small. And if you think that this party was American invitees only – think again. The annual meeting of the Association revealed that companies are biting their nails over cyberattacks how to handle a crisis at their firms....

It now appears that the UN’s proposed Internet treaty will fail, given opposition by many delegates from Western nations including the United States, the UK, and Canada. The treaty was proposed at the World Conference on International Telecommunications, a summit being held in Dubai. It deals with telecommunications and the Internet, and has been a topic of hot debate over the past two weeks. Negotiations hit a rough patch over the potential inclusion of language about “human rights obligations....

FindLaw columnist Eric Sinrod writes regularly in this section on legal developments surrounding technology and the internet. When the internet exploded beyond the early confines of US military and academic communications in the late-1990s, the US Congress believed that the internet should grow and flourish relatively unfettered by potential litigation and government regulation. This was reflected in Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which generally provides that internet service providers are not liable for content posted by third-parties on their websites....

At the end of each day, Elinor’s disabled daughter had to crawl four flights of stairs to their apartment. It took more than an hour to get in and out of her building to attend school. She spent 30 minutes sliding down the steps just to reach the wheelchair stashed under the stairwell. But by the grace of legal aid, Elinor was able to fight for a ground floor apartment without losing her $700 rent-control rate....

A survey of in house counsel and other attorneys ranked all 50 states in terms of their “lawsuit climate.” In the survey, a state’s lawsuit climate basically means how the business world perceives the state’s judicial and tort liability system. It’s not entirely clear what the point of the survey is nor what attorneys are supposed to get out of it. However, there are some definite trends in the ten years that attorneys have been surveyed regarding a state’s lawsuit climate....

TrustLaw. Would some find that name an oxymoron? Thomson Reuters is working to make attitudes like that a thing of the past. Thomson Reuters TrustLaw is a free global pro bono service designed to connect organizations with limited means to free legal services. For attorneys, this is a place where those who want to make an impact, can. Many in-house corporate legal departments are in a strong position to reach out and help, and many have....

Petition for review of a final order of the BIA denying a Ugandan national’s application for asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the CAT is denied where: 1) petitioner has not met her burden of proving past persecution nor likelihood of future persecution on her return to Uganda as no evidence other than speculation was presented; 2) there is nothing to compel a factfinder’s conclusion that the petitioner would more likely than not be tortured if removed....

In a husband’s petition for wrongful removal under the International Child Abduction Remedies Act, 42 U.S.C. section 11601 against his wife for taking their four children from Australia to the US after their failed marriage reconciliation attempt, district court’s order denying his petition is affirmed as: 1) district court properly determined that the husband failed to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the quadruplets’ habitual residence was Australia; 2) the district court’s finding that there was no shared parental intent to abandon the US as the quadruplets’ habitual residence is not clearly erroneous; and 3) there are several objective factors supporting the district court’s conclusion that the quadruplets never became acclimatized to Australia during their two-month stay....

First, employers tried to spy on employees by making them hand over their social media account credentials. Then a bunch of states made that illegal, so that didn’t work anymore. Then, employers monitored Internet traffic. But that only meant employees chatted offline. So that didn’t work anymore. What’s the next big thing? Impersonating a union member! If this post had to be divided into either “Goofus” or “Gallant,” put it in the “Goofus” column....

Plundering was once the exclusive purview of pirates and scoundrels. Then, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals realized that, as a coastal appellate district, it too was ripe for some plundering fun. And so the Eleventh Circuit decided to get in the pirate game, pillaging appellants’ somewhat-stolen splendors of the seas. But, as facts are never quite as simple as alliteration allows, we have to go back to 2007 to see how the Eleventh Circuit’s plundering proclivities developed....

Are you and your firm prepared to interview the next candidate for that open associate, paralegal, or intern position? Sure, the pressure is on for the candidate to be on his or her best behavior and to impress you, but it’s a two-way street – you and your firm have to impress them in return, as well. Otherwise, what’s going to compel the very best candidate to pick you? Why would they want to accept an offer?...

Have you read about the Canadian law firm that accidentally disbursed $2.5 million in client funds to hackers? It’s not a joke. It happened, and now the firm is caught in a nuanced legal battle over coverage with their insurer. In our increasingly technological world, clients may often want you to use tech for their convenience. However, when it comes to disbursing funds, doing so electronically should be done very, very, very carefully, and only after some form of multi-factor authentication....

US v. DiTomasso, 08-2567, concerned a challenge to a conviction of defendant for failure to register as a sex offender under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA). In affirming the conviction, the court held that, in framing subsection (d), Congress did not contemplate a statutory scheme in which the application of the general rules outlined in subsections (a), (b), and (c) to previously convicted sex offenders would hinge on action by the Attorney General....

Facebook. Twitter. Instagram. Pinterest. LinkedIn. Google+. There are more, but those are the big six social networks that you should be aware of in 2014. But you don’t have time for that, do you? You’re a lawyer, not a tween with a smartphone. Between practicing law, abusing and interrogating associates, and dropping knowledge in blog posts, you don’t have time to spend all day on Fapintwistagramin+. Fair enough. These tools should help....

For designer Tory Burch, a lawsuit has netted her a $164 million judgment against counterfeiters and fake websites touting her name and trademark. The lawsuit was filed against more than a hundred different counterfeit websites that were selling fake Tory Burch branded products, including Burch’s popular Reva ballet flats and other items that carried the Tory Burch logo, reports NBC New York. Burch brought the lawsuit after legal precedent was set down by Ralph Lauren and The North Face which allowed the two companies to file suit and collect damages against third party payment operations that facilitated the counterfeit sales, reports NBC New York....