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Holy felony, Batman! Michigan’s own Caped Crusader, played by a character named Mark Wayne Williams, is at it again – and once again, his antihero antics have landed him behind bars. Williams, 33, of Petoskey, Mich., is well known to locals (and local law enforcement) as “the Petoskey Batman.” He dresses up in a homemade Batman costume and sets out to fight crime, though he hasn’t always been successful. In May 2011, Williams was caught hanging off the side of a building with a variety of weapons in his utility belt....

With “The Hunger Games” currently tearing up the box office, it’s easy to pass the movie off as a simple teenage popcorn thriller. But lawyers can actually learn some choice practice lessons from the film. The movie takes place in a dystopian post-apocalyptic world and centers around a young girl named Katniss Everdeen. She volunteers to take her sister’s place in the annual “Hunger Games,” a competition where teenage children fight to the death until only one remains....

Many people dreamed of the big firm job when they entered law school. But how many considered being a contract attorney? With hiring for full-time attorney positions down since the recession, many new graduates are turning to contract work as an alternative career path. Should you consider a career as a contract attorney? Here are some pros and cons: Pros Practical experience. Law school doesn’t teach you how to practice law, but due to the high cost of training, many employers want someone who already has experience....

What kind of thief steals a television from a carwash? The same kind that gets caught on Facebook. A thief hid a 27 in. flat screen television that he stole from the men’s restroom of a Taunton, Mass. car wash under his sweatshirt, Gearlog.com reports. While no one actually witnessed the thief take the television, car wash manager Nicole Telles reviewed a video surveillance tape in order to identify the thief....

The legal profession has too many lawyers and too few jobs. California has too many lawyers, and too few jobs. So how does the California State Bar Board of Trustees plan to combat this problem? By creating a new class of professionals who could give legal advice, reports the California Bar Journal. Except, wait. That compounds the problem, doesn’t it? California currently allows non-lawyers to perform some legal tasks that don’t constitute the practice of law, such as helping people fill out legal forms, the California Bar Journal explains....

A judge in Los Angeles, California is facing some rather shocking allegations that he sexually harassed court employees and even another justice, with some allegations dating back nearly two decades. The allegations against Justice Jeffrey Johnson, who sits on the California’s Second District Court of Appeals, includes some rather untoward conduct, such as actual groping and making inappropriate and suggestive comments. In addition to the sexual harassment, Johnson reportedly has “appeared drunk in public” a few too many times, and had a habit of yelling at staff....

From a lawyer’s perspective, watching actors portray the profession has gone from frustrating to even worse. Especially when The Grinder got cancelled. (Seriously, who’s in charge of these things?) Not only are lawyers routinely cast in roles where deceit and trickery are shown to just be part of the job or their personalities (see Better Call Saul or Billions), but there seems to be a voracious thirst for stories about lawyers falling from grace....

I remember it clearly: during a 1L career center presentation, our presenter told us that “black or navy suits” were the appropriate choice for job interviews. Being the broke student that I was, I raised my hand to inquire about charcoal, as the only suit in my close was a recent Goodwill acquisition: a charcoal, two button, single-breasted ensemble. “Charcoal is a bit edgy,” I remember him saying, “But it’ll do in a pinch....

Certain types of dancing will get you into trouble in Vegas and no, it’s not what you think. This was not an incident involving the “do a little dance, make a little love” kind of dancing, but more of the do a little dance, bet a little money sort. This particular type of table dance also ended in the casino that was the scene of the festivities having to fend off a little complaint by the Nevada Gaming Control Board....

The sidewalk, when used improperly, can be a deadly weapon. The Second Appellate District Court upheld a juvenile offender’s conviction for assault with a deadly weapon this week, finding that the defendant didn’t actually have to touch the sidewalk to use the sidewalk as a deadly weapon. (Here, the defendant allegedly punched, stomped, and kicked the victim’s face while the victim was lying on the sidewalk.) Fourteen-year-old appellant J.L. got in a fight with two schoolmates in his driveway in 2010....

While you were off eating away your dateless sorrows, Oregon couple Nikolas Harbar and Stephanie Pelzner were spending their Valentine’s Day behind bars. The problem? The couple just couldn’t contain their love – or their kink. Police spent 20 minutes looking for Harbar’s blue Suburu Legacy after a witness reported having seeing a naked woman bound and gagged in the backseat. When questioned about Pelzner’s compromising state, the couple explained they were just “doing some Valentine’s Day role-playing....

We often lament the consequences of the barren job market for recent law graduates, such as defaulted student loans and minimal hope of home ownership, but did the barren job market just cost a woman custody of her child? Above the Law reported on the story of Michelle V., a Cornell Law School graduate, who took the only job offered, four and a half hours away from her child’s father, and subsequently lost custody of the child....

Giacometti v. Aulla, LLC, B217615, involved employees’ suit for professional negligence against an accounting firm, claiming that the firm negligently or fraudulently over-reported income on their W-2 forms by including tip money taken by the restaurant managers as income to the employees. People v. Nazeri, G041897, concerned a challenge to a conviction of defendant for first degree murder of his wife and mother-in-law. In affirming, the court held that there was sufficient evidence to sustain defendant’s convictions as defendant, believing that his wife was unfaithful, perceiving himself to have been mocked by his mother-in-law, and afraid that both wife and mother-in-law were plotting to kill him, took an ornamental knife, normally kept in the upstairs bedroom, went down the stairs with it, specifically intending to kill both women....

If the thought of posing for the DMV without your “spiritual antenna” scares you more than walking around in public naked, we have some welcome news out of Millinocket, Maine. Goat horns are now considered religious attire, and, as long as they don’t obscure your face, you’re free to wear them when you get your driver’s license photo snapped. “Many practicing Pagans are afraid of being public,” Phelan Moonsong told the Washington Post, “but when they see my horns it reminds them it’s okay to be yourself....

Teens in New York were busted by police for illegal sales recently. It’s not what you might think, however. The 13-year-olds weren’t charged with selling drugs, they were busted for selling cupcakes. Young entrepreneurs Andrew DeMarchis and Kevin Graff were turned in to local cops for running their illegal operations selling cupcakes, cookies, brownies and other items that were a threat to public safety. According to the New York Daily News, when local Councilman Michael Wolfensohn spotted the stall the kids were running with two schoolmates, he promptly ratted them out....

Aiming a shotgun at a crop-duster is apparently a crime in Tremont, Illinois where prosecutors have charged 66-year-old Kenneth Phillips with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and disorderly conduct. Phillips claims the small plane was “dive bombing” near a family gathering at his home on July 21, and that he was merely trying to protect his guests. With a shotgun. From a small plane spraying chemicals. Though he never actually shot the gun, and the pilot was left unharmed, if the above facts are true, Kenneth Phillips technically did commit aggravated assault under Illinois law....

What do you get when you put together a golf cart, a bottle of whiskey, and a scarecrow? You get Jacqueline Hamilton, 59, of Indiana. Hamilton was arrested last week after police responded to reports of an intoxicated woman weaving on the road on a golf cart. Turns out that “intoxicated woman” was actually Hamilton, who had decided to go to a CVS pharmacy store to purchase some Halloween decorations for her grandchildren....

As if the Sandusky name had not been sullied enough, Jeffrey Sandusky, adopted son of former Penn State football assistant coach and convicted child molester Jerry Sandusky, was arrested and charged yesterday on a multitude of child sex charges. The charges involve text messages to two girls – one 15 and the other 16-years-old at the time – asking for naked photos and oral sex. Centre County District Attorney Stacy Parks Miller told the AP Sandusky “made statements....

A long-haired woman is suing Walmart after a shampoo purchase allegedly forced her to cut several feet of her hair. Jennifer Fahey, 30, of Portland, Oregon, alleges that she bought a bottle of Equate Everyday Clean Dandruff Shampoo at Walmart and was dismayed to find that the product made her long-grown locks “irreparably tangled.” Fahey is suing Walmart and the shampoo’s manufacturer for the suffering caused by her de-coifing. Can Fahey’s hair-related suffering make Walmart pay out?...

Who’s bad? Apparently John Ernest Cross. He forced another man to “moonwalk” at gunpoint, the Bonner County Daily Bee reports. Idaho sheriff’s deputies arrived at Cross’ home after receiving a report that the 30-year-old was on drugs. Cross was allegedly holding a rifle at a man while demanding him to do Michael Jackson’s iconic dance move. So what does one get for forcing someone to pay tribute to Jacko at gunpoint?...