As technology makes it feasible to work from just about anywhere, at anytime, the issue of telecommuting is getting more and more press. Last year, Marissa Mayer made headlines by requiring telecommuters to come in to the office, and this week Parade reported that a recent study “found that working from home enhances feelings of physical and mental fatigue in those who are having a hard time balancing their personal and professional lives....
Few names reverberate in the media today like ‘Weinstein.’ It’s no longer just a name; it’s a label. If you see it in a headline, it means “a sexual harasser who used his power to prey on women.” “Kozinski” is like that. It used to mean a judge of exceptional intellect and a talent for writing, but it doesn’t mean that anymore. “Open Secret” Like Harvey Weinstein, Alex Kozinski’s name has been tainted by his behavior....
Running your own law firm is no easy task – and then come the growing pains. Inevitably, there will come a time when you need to bring more people onto your team. First, you’ll consider whether you should hire a contractor or a full-time employee. Then, you’ll consider whether to hold a contest for the position (uh, probably not). Well, we recently learned of a tip that aims to make your whole interviewing process a lot easier....
FindLaw columnist Eric Sinrod writes regularly in this section on legal developments surrounding technology and the internet. These days, major software systems make the world go around. Software is used to assist every day mundane functions. Software also is the backbone behind mission critical systems that ensure the health and safety of our society. But does that mean that software always is procured and supplied without controversy and disputes? Absolutely not....
Think everyone else is billing more hours than you? You’re probably wrong, according to a new report by Clio, the case and practice management software company. Clio’s “2016 Legal Trend Report” provides an overview of the legal industry, based on data from its users. It’s the sort of analysis that’s common for BigLaw firms, but it’s one of the first times we’ve seen it done for solo, small, and medium-sized practices....
Some law firms have unfortunately learned the truth behind the age-old saying: Money talks, and underpaid associates walk. Fortunately, due to the way most law firms are structured, the management may be able to incentivize associates so that if they feel underpaid, those associates will have no one to blame but themselves. While the adversarial process is still a kill or be-killed process, in recent years, many law firms have moved away from the eat-what-you-kill model for associate, and even partner, pay....
The Supreme Court has yet to announce whether it will consider Gill v. OPM — or any of the seven gay marriage petitions pending before the Court, but today it announced that it will not review the First Circuit’s National Organization for Marriage v. McKee ruling. In January, the First Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a Maine law that requires groups that spend more than $5,000 on referendum advocacy to disclose the identity of donors that gave more than $100....
We’ve all been there … it’s late, you’re trying to get your pleading finalized and ready for efiling, when all of a sudden, your formatting snaps out of place. And unfortunately, the age old remedy of just whacking your monitor isn’t going to fix it. Formatting documents can be among the most painful tasks that attorneys have to tackle, particularly when it’s after hours and the support staff has long since gone home, and your lines just won’t line up with the numbers....
Look around a courthouse, high-rise office building or over-priced martini bar and it seems you can’t swing a dead cat without hitting an attorney glued to their smartphones. Skype. Skype is useful not only if you’re an attorney, but if you are one you can end up easily using the app to make some free phone calls. Skype offers free phone calls via a Wi-Fi connection. You can call other Skype users for free, but calling landlines or cell phones will cost you some change....
As streamlined as your in-house counsel staff is, requesting help from outside counsel is often necessary for certain projects. How do you keep a good working relationship with your outside counsel, and what can you do to improve your outside counsel relationships? Of course, making sure that you have hired the right kind of outside counsel for your company is the first step in the process. And, if you’ve worked with the same group of outside counsel before, maybe your established relationship will help your deals go together more smoothly....
President Trump may be losing some battles in the courts, but he is winning the war in remaking the federal judiciary. The Senate handily approved the president’s latest nominee, Kevin Newsom, for the U.S. Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals. It marks Trump’s fifth successful nomination, easily outpacing his recent predecessors in judicial appointments. Barack Obama had no appointments in his first six months, and George W. Bush had only three in about the same time....
Your tweets, never very private to begin with, are about to get much more public. Google, the Goliath search engine company starting integrating tweets into its desktop search results this weekend. They’ve been experimenting with Twitter content for awhile now, but they only began to show tweets in all English language desktop searches starting last Friday. Since Google controls two thirds of the world’s search traffic, that means that your tweets could end up in front of a lot more than just Twitter’s somewhat insular community....
Everyone’s done it – logged on to an email account or the cloud when at a coffee shop, airport or other public place. It’s the beauty of living in a wireless era. But the fact is that beauty may not be so absolute. When you log on in a crowded space, you’re not only inviting the prying ears and eyes of nosy neighbors. You may also be inviting hackers to dig through your computer and any confidential data you’ve saved....
Forcible Medication Order Affirmed In US v. Diaz, No. 09-15421, the court affirmed the district court’s order granting permission for the government to medicate defendant involuntarily with anti-psychotic medication to render him competent to stand trial for two armed robberies and other firearm offenses where, given the ample evidence presented by the government that defendant had, repeatedly and for a time period of over a year, refused to take medication, and that alternative treatments would be ineffective, the district court did not clearly err in concluding that the government had shown by clear and convincing evidence that involuntary medication was necessary to render defendant competent to stand trial....
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals just affirmed the Southern District Court of Texas’s ruling that Walmart cannot be held liable for the death of Karalee Williams. Karalee died in her car in a Texas Walmart’s parking lot. She died due to excessive huffing of canned air, a.k.a. dusting (you know, those aerosol air dusters meant for tech), which is a serious problem across the country. Notably, during a 27 hour period, Karalee made several visits to the same Walmart and purchased approximately 60 cans of the stuff and a towel....
Privacy and data security are some of the most significant emerging legal issues of our day. (If you don’t believe us, check out the continued fallout from the Panama Papers, or the OPM hack, or the billions of dollars spent on corporate cyber insurance policies.) Seventy-six percent of corporations bring on outside counsel to help with privacy and data security issues, according to a survey released last week by Bloomberg Law and the International Association of Privacy Professionals....
While any attorney that’s really thought out their fee agreement knows, filing an appeal costs extra and requires a new agreement. However, sometimes after a loss, you may need to file the notice of appeal while the client sorts out new counsel. And after some losses, like when a judge refuses to approve an administrative filing due to the judge’s own religious beliefs and pens a detailed opinion supporting their decision, you may actually want to file the appeal yourself....
Entrepreneurs and franchisors are not the same; they’re not even synonyms. But too many people think that if they can start a business, they can run a franchise. Forbes writer Fione Simpson says, not really. “It’s a whole different ball game,” she says. Without the right skills in a franchisor, it could be the the Red Sox v. Dodgers all over again. Ball Game If you weren’t watching the 2018 World Series, Boston won it in four games straight....
According to some 10,000 senior executives, strategic thinking is the most important skill required of business leaders. The Harvard Business Review conducted the survey, which showed “the most critical leadership behavior” is being strategic. Without it, the future of business is at stake. When everybody is saying the same thing, there must be something to it. Here are three ways to break it down into a skill set. 1. Vision Forbes writer Paloma Cantero-Gomez has “vision” at the top of her list for strategic thinkers....
For trial attorneys and litigators, losing your cool in the courtroom is highly inadvisable. As we learned from Tom Cruise in 1992, as well as countless other media representations, both real and fictional, demanding the truth from a witness at the top of your lungs can both make the case and result in a contempt order. Unfortunately, in real life, contempt orders aren’t handed down by a lovable, well known, fictional judge played by J....
