The year of the 2015 will now be marked as year of the student loan-crisis. Last year, the number of students who applied to have their student debts forgiven under the Education Department’s obscure defense to repayment (DTR) program capped out at somewhere north of 7,500. This doesn’t sound like much, but it’s a jump from the five that were filed between 1990 to 2015. When students try to escape their loans, the general rule is, “tough luck....
Maybe you’re in that group of attorneys who always wanted to practice patent law, but couldn’t because you were hampered by not having earned a B.S. in your undergrad years. And the thought of having to go back to school to earn enough science credits just so you can sit for the exam…? Agh, does it ever end? Well, the next best thing for you IP types is copyright and trademark law....
The Supreme Court has decided to stay out of the Minnesota state court case involving two Minnesota Vikings’ alleged drug violations. National Football League defensive lineman Kevin Williams and Pat Williams sued the NFL over violations of the league’s anti-doping policy after they allegedly tested positive for drugs. The Supreme Court recently refused to consider an appeal in the Vikings drug violations case made by the NFL. The NFL had argued that the Williams, who are not related, should not be allowed to sue because their union contract as well as federal law trumps state law in such cases....
In a petition for review of an FCC order denying Petitioner’s petitions for forbearance from its unbundling obligations under Section 251 of the Communications Act, the petition is granted, where the FCC’s analysis departed from FCC precedent by relying solely on actual, and not potential, marketplace competition. Read Verizon Tel. Cos. v. FCC, No. 08-1012. Appellate Information On Petition for Review of an Order of the Federal Communications CommissionArgued November 17, 2008Decided June 19, 2009...
Another week passed, and still no word whether the Supreme Court will hear a decision originating in the Federal Circuit, that could have an effect on how soon generic versions of a drug show up on the market, reports Reuters. And in more recent Federal Circuit jurisprudence, the court looks at overtime compensation for Federal Aviation Administration (“FAA”) air-traffic control specialists. Teva et al., v. Sandoz, Inc., et al. Teva manufactures Copaxone, a multiple-sclerosis drug, and has been seeking to delay introduction of generic competing drugs....
Two words: buy low. With many of us law graduates carrying over $100k in debt, home ownership may seem like a pipe dream. And in many parts of the country, there are no jobs. If you’re going to be unemployed, why not do so in a place where houses cost $500 (plus property tax)? Even if you can’t find law-related employment, a job as a barista would cover the property tax and cost of restorations....
Obvious advice of the day: If you care about your job, don’t date in the office. The reasons are obvious, but we’ll recap them in as few words as possible: drama, office gossip, and sexual harassment. But you are an associate! You spend 100 hours per week in the office. You never have the chance to meet anyone if you don’t date coworkers. We get it. You’ve got this whole career thing standing in the way of happiness....
Earlier this month, the California Supreme Court announced that the state’s justices had unanimously adopted amendments to the California Code of Judicial Ethics based upon the recommendations of the court’s Advisory Committee on the Code of Judicial Ethics. The changes take effect January 1, 2013. The amendments address: Campaign contributions in judicial elections Conduct by candidates for judicial office (including incumbent judges) Ex parte communications Definitions of impartiality, integrity, impropriety, and independence Disqualification of judges who make extrajudicial statements committing themselves to reach a particular result....
In re Maes, No. C062967, concerned a defendant’s petition for habeas relief claiming that he is entitled to conduct credits during service of his term for spousal abuse conviction. In denying the petition, the court held that section 2933.2 bars such credit as a defendant convicted of murder and sentenced to an indeterminate life term is not entitled to earn post-sentence conduct credit against a consecutive determinate term imposed for a separate offense, which section 669 directs to be served first....
While many questioned if the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals was turning soft on subject matter jurisdiction when it ruled in July that genes can be patented, you can rest easy knowing that they still take the Bilski machine-or-transformation test seriously. Last week, the Federal Circuit invalidated a patent in Fort Properties v. American Master Lease after determining that the investment tool that was the subject of the patent didn’t satisfy the machine-or-transformation test....
D.C. federal courts plan to formally propose new reciprocity rules that will allow any lawyer in good standing and admitted to practice law in his or her home state to be admitted to practice in our nation’s capital. Currently, the rules only grant admission to lawyers who are admitted in a state that has a federal district which has a reciprocal admission relationship with D.C. attorneys, according to the ABA Journal....
The rallying cry for net neutrality is still gaining momentum, as the FCC announced this week that it is seeking public comment on a proposed set of net neutrality rules. And, as the future of the Internet is up in the air, a district judge upholds a D.C. gun registration law. Read on to learn more. FCC Net Neutrality Proposal Over the course of the past few years, the FCC’s authority to regulate the Internet has been challenged....
Construction of Maryland’s on-again, off-again Purple Line light rail is on again, following a ruling by a federal appeals court. The $2.5 billion project had been on hold since last year when a federal judge blocked construction. Judge Richard Leon said the federal transportation authority needed to evaluate ridership and safety issues before proceeding. The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia stayed that order, however, pending an appeal in Fitzgerald v....
Carolina Cas. Ins. Co. v. L.M. Ross Law Group, LLP, No. B215668, concerned a challenge to the trial court’s grant of plaintiff-insurer’s motion for summary judgment in the insurer’s action against its insured-law firm seeking to recover $175,000 it had paid to settle a legal malpractice suit against the law firm. In affirming the judgment, the court held that the trial court properly granted insurer’s motion on the ground that exclusion F in the policy precluded coverage of the underlying legal malpractice action....
Last week, some of the alleged victims in the Jerry Sandusky case said they screamed out for help from Sandusky’s wife, 69-year-old Dorothy Sandusky, as they were being raped to no avail. Taking the stand in defense of her husband, the first thing that Sandusky’s attorney Joe Amendola asked of Dorothy was, how’s your hearing? “I think it’s pretty good,” Dorothy Sandusky responded. This question was aimed at countering the testimony of the victims who said they were molested within earshot of Sandusky’s wife....
An academic institution’s ability to hold a student-athlete hostage for a year after they transfer to another academic institution protects “the character of intercollegiate athletics,” according to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. A football player had challenged the NCAA’s transfer rule, which bars transferring athletes from competing for their new schools for a year, claiming it violated federal anti-trust laws. The court disagreed, ruling that the “year-in-residence requirement is an eligibility rule clearly meant to preserve the amateur character of college athletics and is therefore presumptively procompetitive....
While there may be a stigma associated with telling on others, the federal judiciary has decided that enough is enough within their own ranks. The new workplace changes recommended by the Federal Judiciary Workplace Conduct Working Group include a requirement for judges to report other judges who cross the line. This is the group that formed in the aftermath of Chief Justice John Roberts’ report on misconduct in the judiciary demanding changes....
If you were flipping through Seattle radio stations last Friday, you may have happened upon KEXP’s deconstruction of the Beastie Boys’ album Paul’s Boutique. To celebrate the 26th anniversary of that album’s release, the independent radio station played every track of Paul’s Boutique, along with every track that was sampled on the album. It took them 12 hours. Borrowing and reworking other music has been central to hip hop from its inception, with early rappers freestyling over disco....
Negotiating salary is usually everyone’s least favorite part of getting a new job. Ask for too little and your base salary – which forms the foundation for your future raises and bonuses – won’t be as much as it could if you’d just haggled a little more. But ask for too much and you run the risk that the employer will think you’re “too expensive” and won’t hire you. Where do you draw the line?...
Get ready, New York lawyers. The Empire State is updating its social media guidelines. The new set of guidelines, prepared by the Commercial and Federal Litigation Section, seeks to update its policy given the increasing importance of social media in lawyers’ practice, advertising, and free time. The new guidelines are almost twice as long as the New York State Bar’s previous social media policy. The biggest change? Lawyers can no longer stick their head in the sand – understanding social media is a now a must for all New York attorneys....
