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Minor league ball player Ian Kahaloa got in a whole heap of trouble after posting a few short videos on the popular social media site Snapchat. The videos depict Kahaloa snorting a line of white powder while wearing a Reds t-shirt, as well as marijuana and paraphernalia. The 19 year old player’s alleged lack of judgment in his use of Snapchat has sparked some discussion on how players should be engaging on social media responsibly....

When Shashank Tripathi sent out tweets about Hurricane Sandy and an alleged flood in the New York Stock Exchange, he probably should have added a “JK” to the end of his posts. But he didn’t, and now his tweets have critics calling for criminal charges. During the deadly storm that wreaked havoc along much of the East Coast, Tripathi sent tweets under the handle @ComfortablySmug and stated that the New York Stock Exchange had flooded and would be closed for a week....

A Colorado inmate accused of falsely complaining about finding a hair in his food is facing felony charges after police say he planted the hair himself. Earlier this year, Summit County jail inmate Ray Wolfe told jail staff that he found a long, dark hair mixed in with the beef stroganoff he was served for dinner, reports Denver’s KCNC-TV. Jail officials launched an investigation to discover the source of the hair – and found surveillance footage that they claim shows Wolfe placing a hair in his own tray....

Sometimes there’s a fake lawyer, and sometimes there’s a fake lawyer, and sometimes there’s a fake lawyer. And sometimes that fake lawyer is someone who has a history of trying to put one over on the entire system. A recently arrested former law student probably didn’t think he’d be caught this time, and probably thought the consequences wouldn’t be so bad if he was. Obviously, he was wrong. While on parole for one of the most unbelievable, unfathomable, attempted hoodwinking of a court, he sent a resume to a recruiter claiming to be a patent attorney and to hold a JD....

The Abbey, West Hollywood’s most famous gay bar, has a new policy in place and some are calling it discriminatory. Owner David Cooley has instituted a bachelorette party ban – at least until marriage is legal for everyone. When asked about his motivation, he explained, “It’s great to see my straight women coming in celebrating with their girlfriends… [but] it was hurtful to me being gay, as well as my clientele, that we cannot have that same type of celebration....

Sun-tzu, a Chinese general and military strategist, is credited with coining the phrase about 2,400 years ago: “Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.” Sanford “Sandy” Wadler, formerly general counsel at Bio-Rad Laboratories Inc., might be feeling that about his former employer today. Wadler, who worked for Bio-Rad for two decades, is suing the company for allegedly firing him after he blew the whistle on its conduct in China. He contends that he was forced out of his job after he advised the company about potential bribery in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act....

So, we get it. It’s OCI time. There’s no moot court competition going on and yet more than half the 2L class seems to be running around the law school in suits, or waiting anxiously in the halls for their interviews. Don’t feel left out if BigLaw isn’t the track you want to go down. In fact, some would tell you – good call, friend. (Seriously, good call.) But, still, if you’re feeling a little anxious about the fact that you should be doing something more productive with your time while many of your classmates sit in on nerve-wracking interview after interview, don’t fret there, either....

A Florida lawyer recently noted the obvious – that there are a lot of new lawyers but not a lot of law jobs. So the lawyer came up with a resident at law practice. Similar to the medical residency program, the resident at law program would train recent grads on the practicalities of the legal practice that you may not necessarily learn in law school, reports the ABA Journal. In addition, residents would be trained on the business side of law and hopefully develop tools to go out on their own or become more hirable....

One of the drawbacks for filing for patents is that those patents, when issued, become public documents. And for a company as secretive as Apple, that means a whole lot of people getting glimpses of your new tech and then guessing what it could be used for. So when the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office published a patent application from Apple for what appears to be vaporizer technology, the natural speculation was that the tech company was trying to cash in on booming cannabusiness....

Lawyers for cigarette makers faced an uphill battle before the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals in their appeal on penalties from a 13-year-old case. On Friday, a three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments in U.S. v. Philip Morris USA Inc. The defendants include Altria Group Inc (a unit of Philip Morris USA), R.J. Reynolds Tobacco and Lorillard Tobacco Co. The companies are appealing the District Court’s decision from a 1999 case brought under the Racketeer Influence and Corrupt Organizations Act....

If Justice Antonin Scalia is known as one of the Supreme Court’s most flamboyant writers, Justice Elana Kagan is sure giving him a run for his money. Already praised for her conversational writing style, Kagan’s writing is also gaining a reputation for its clever humor – and humorous citations. Case in point: Kimble v. Marvel Entertainment. The case involved patent law and Superman figurines and gave the Justice ample opportunity to play off the case’s “comic” nature....

Is it retribution: man sees stripper, man goes blind in one eye? Not. It’s not karmic payback, it’s personal injury. A man has received a $650,000 damage award for injuries received during a dance. Couldn’t make that one up if we tried. Injured party Michael Ireland was popped in the eye by stripper “Suki’s” spiked high heel back in 2008, when he got up close and personal during a dance at the Cheetah Club, near West Palm Beach, Fla....

March Madness tips off today – do you know where your bracket is? Did you go all chalk? Pick the right 12/5 upset? And, more importantly, did you get your money in the right pool? A press release from the American Gaming Association estimates Americans will wager some $9.2 billion on March Madness this year, most of that illegally. The AGA estimates only $262 million of that will be wagered at Nevada sports books....

Mixing kids and guns are never a good idea. But if you happen to do so, does that make one a bad parent? That’s up for debate. The mother that was shot by her 4-year-old son wants everyone to know that she is not a bad parent for the events that transpired at her Seattle home. The Seattle Times reports that an unidentified 23-year-old mother was on the phone when she felt the gunshot....

We were wondering when we’d hear more on the D.C. Circuit’s NSA cell phone metadata case, especially after the Second Circuit allowed C-SPAN to livestream oral arguments in a parallel case earlier this month. The answer? On November 4, unlike its sister circuit to the north, the D.C. Circuit will not be televising the revolution, reports Politico. Audio recordings are typically posted on the D.C. Circuit’s website after oral arguments, however....

When is a rest period not a rest period? When you’re kept working or on call the whole time, the California Supreme Court recently ruled. In a case decided last Thursday, the court ruled that California law prohibits rest periods and breaks where an employee remains on duty or on call, such as when employees are required to respond to calls or perform basic tasks even when on a required break....

Money can’t buy happiness. But you’d think it would buy a higher class of massage parlor. The Orchids of Asia Day Spa in Jupiter, Florida is not a higher class of massage parlor. It’s a strip mall spa at the center of a months-long human trafficking and prostitution sting that netted solicitation charges against 25 people, including New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft. And that might just be the tip of the iceberg....

Professional development is a major key to success, not just for lawyers, but also across many industries. Many firms and organizations happily pay for professional development that is related to your position, or to help you advance within the firm or company. Some will even provide employees with their own budget for any kind of education. But, when your firm or company won’t foot the bill for courses to help you advance, let alone your CLEs, do you really owe it to them to do job-related development?...

The U.S. District Court for the Northern District in California refused to grant an injunction to halt the law recently approved by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors that would force very prominent warnings on ads of sugary drinks. It means that there’s effectively nothing to stop the law from taking effect as scheduled next July. Victory for Health Nuts; Loss for Diabetes Under the basic application of the law, all manner of ads within the city promoting sugary drinks – billboards, bus ads, bench ads, etc....

Californians who resell art out-of-state will no longer have to pay a statutory royalty to the artist. Under the California Resale Royalty Act, a seller was required pay a five percent royalty to the artist if the seller is a California resident selling out-of-state or if the sale takes place in California. That out-of-state provision is an unconstitutional violation of the Dormant Commerce Clause, the Ninth Circuit, sitting en banc, ruled on Tuesday....