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Violence doesn’t generally solve anything but Lamarcus Williamson was apparently compelled to punch his defense attorney in the face after his sentence was read. It didn’t improve his position in court. Not only had the judge given him the maximum sentence for the crime at issue in the hearing, he got additional time for what happened in the courtroom. It’s a general rule that judges like order and they’re willing to punish people who go for chaos instead....

Five-time Grand Slam champion Maria Sharapova has been banned from competitive tennis for two years by the International Tennis Federation (ITF). The ban is the result of positive tests and Sharapova’s own admissions that she had used meldonium, an alleged performance-enhancing drug that was just placed on World Anti-Doping Agency’s List of Prohibited Substances and Materials this year. Here’s a look at the ban, and Sharapova’s options to appeal the decision....

McKesson Corporation, a pharmaceutical distributor and health care information technology company, suffered a setback in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals this week after decades of dairy litigation. That’s right: McKesson has spent years crying over spilled milk. But with good reason. Sherkat Sahami Labaniat Pasteurize Pak (Pak) is a joint venture between San Francisco-based McKesson and private Iranian citizens. McKesson’s had a 31 percent ownership interest in Pak at the time of the 1979 Islamic Revolution....

Call it FIFA Lite. The treasurer of a Manhattan nonprofit youth baseball organization allegedly embezzled $90,000 over the course of three years. The only man with access to the league’s account made over 50 withdrawals and spent almost $3,000 on car repairs. His ruse was discovered when another league employee demanded access to the account and prosecutors are promising swift justice. Born on Third Base William Jacobvitz was allegedly skimming cash from the New York Gothams Youth Baseball program’s coffers since 2011....

Scores of tenants have sued San Francisco’s largest landlord for allegedly trying to drive them out – as if rent weren’t already a problem. “Jaw-dropping rent” and “San Francisco” are practically synonymous for those who can barely afford to live there. At a median price of $3,460 a month for a one-bedroom apartment, it’s enough to send city dwellers to the country. Now, plaintiffs say, Veritas Investments is turning the screws on them to ratchet up rent....

A California appeals court said a construction company has no “contractor” claims against SpaceX because the company was not licensed. Phoenix Pipeline Mechanical performed services for the private aerospace business, but it was not licensed for construction work. The Second District Court of Appeal in Los Angeles said the company can only sue for non-contractor work. “Phoenix Pipeline has not alleged one contract, but rather a series of agreements for each separate task that it was asked to perform,” the court said in Phoenix Pipeline Mechanical, Inc....

Hate the LSAT? If this American Bar Association proposal goes through, you maybe able to sneak into law school without taking the ubiquitous exam. Somewhere in New Jersey, Rutgers-Camden officials are shaking their heads in frustration, however. One wonders how much their six-year pilot program and censure have to do with the current proposal. The LSAT is Currently (Pretty Much) Mandatory Standard 503 requires accredited schools to use the LSAT [PDF] in their admissions process, unless, per Interpretation 503-1, a school obtains a variance after proving the veracity of an alternative exam....

Just like lawyers, judges must abide by ethical standards. If a judge has engaged in conduct that is prejudicial to the role of the court, then you would be doing the legal professional a favor to call foul. Recently, Nevada Judge Conrad Hafen handcuffed a defense lawyer in court in order to quiet her down. In the context of this incident, many have been wondering about the pros and cons of calling an ethics complaint against a judge....

It’s been an exciting week for Apple and the International Trade Commission (“ITC”). Last week, the ITC and the Obama administration dealt a blow to Samsung when it vetoed a ban on older Apple products, paving the way for imports of older devices, reports Fast Company. And in what seems like Bizarro World 2.0, at the end of this week, Apple and Samsung will meet again in the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals, as Apple appeals a district court’s ruling blocking Apple’s request for an injunction against the import of older Samsung devices, namely tablets and smart phones, reports the San Jose Mercury News....

In the movie Wonder, a child shares the wisdom of choosing between right and kind: “Choose kind.” It’s a quotable precept in a story about a boy adjusting to life with a birth defect. It is worthy of repeating in any life, but with a twist for the life of in-house counsel: When given a choice between an academic or practical approach, choose practical. Choose Practical Going in house requires a change in the approach to law practice....

It’s that time again! Legal hiring projections for the fourth quarter are out, and they’re looking semi-good. Overall, 24% percent of legal employers plan to hire in the next three months, according to the Robert Half Legal Hiring Index. That’s six points lower than last quarter’s projections, but still well above a number of other similarly situated professions. Eighty-two percent of lawyers also expressed confidence in their companies’ growth prospects for next quarter....

A recent ruling of the California supreme court is likely sparking even more controversy among California’s universities’ administrators over what should be done to protect students from violence. The court ruled that when a university is aware of a threat or foreseeable violence towards a student, it has a duty to protect and warn, and can be held liable for injuries that result. In the case at bar, the state high court remanded the matter to the appellate court to allow the case to move forward to trial if it finds triable issues of material fact....

Todd Standing, director of “Discovering Bigfoot”, has little doubt about the existence of a sasquatch, or some hominoid or primate type of species living within British Columbia. The Canadian court system, however, is not similarly convinced. B.C. Supreme Court Justice Kenneth Ball dismissed Standing’s lawsuit against the province, asking for a declaration that sasquatch exists and alleging a “dereliction of duty, in regard to recognizing and protecting the Sasquatch species.”...

If you’re a patent lawyer looking for the ideal combination of continuing legal education credit (CLE) and Texas charm, you’re in luck. The University of Texas School of Law (UT Law) is hosting its 16th Annual Advanced Patent Law Institute October 27-28 in Austin, Texas. Standard registration for the conference, which will be held at the Four Seasons Hotel, is $645. The registration rate increases to $695 after October 19. Registration can be completed online on UT Law’s CLE website....

The D.C. Circuit wasn’t fooled, even if the initial labor board was. A number of resignations and protests ensued, including an event where approximately twenty employees duct taped their mouths shut. Unfortunately for Ampersand, the tape didn’t stick and more protests followed, including a campaign to convince subscribers to cancel their subscriptions in protest. In the meantime, one employee contacted a union and began to organize. A list of four demands were presented to the owners, including restoring journalism ethics, inviting back the recently resigned staff, negotiating a wage and hour contract, and recognition of the union....

Bob Orr, formerly a justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court, has a problem with the American Bar Association. The ABA put pressure on his old law school at North Carolina Central University over admission standards, compelling NCCU to cut off applicants who score less than 142 on the LSAT. “To imply the school is somehow admitting a lesser-talented group and the administration is somehow responsible defies comprehension and is insulting in so many ways,” Orr complained....

Silver v. Pac. Am. Fish Co., Inc., B214450, concerned a plaintiff’s cross-complaint against defendants, raising claims stemming from an asset purchase agreement and a related employment agreement. In dismissing the trial court’s judgment in favor of the defendants in part, the court dismissed plaintiff’s challenge to the order awarding attorney fees to defendant for lack of jurisdiction as plaintiff’s purported notice of appeal from the postjudgment order awarding defendant attorney fees is untimely, and his notice of appeal from the judgment does not encompass the separately appealable postjudgment order awarding attorney fees....

Whaaat? Did he just say that? The guy who blogs constantly about the barren job market? Yeah. But before we get into it, there is one small qualifier: now is the time to go to law school if you have great admissions numbers. If you’re rocking an LSAT score in the 140s, sure, you might get into an accredited school now that no one else is applying. However, you’ll still graduate with a mountain of debt and no employment prospects whatsoever....

Two young children appear to be under a lifetime “gag order” when it comes to fracking activities and a shale formation near their home in Pennsylvania. The order stemmed from their parents’ settlement in a high-profile lawsuit over an underground deposit known as the “Marcellus Shale” in western Pennsylvania. It’s not uncommon for fracking settlements to require plaintiffs to keep mum about details. But insisting on applying the nondisclosure agreement to the kiddies, too?...

The election of Donald Trump in November means that government regulatory programs could undergo a massive shift in the near future, as industries are deregulated, government enforcement priorities are shifted, and federal rules are rolled back. But don’t expect things to change instantly come Inauguration Day. When it comes to your compliance regime, the best strategy is to stay the course, according to experts. President-elect Trump has promised to eliminate two federal regulations for every new regulation created....