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Don’t expect to get anything done in any of San Francisco’s superior courts today: All the clerks are on strike. The clerks, members of Service Employees International Union Local 1021, voted last month to authorize the strike, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. The strike was prompted by pay raises – or, rather, the lack thereof. Clerks received a 3 percent pay raise last year, but that’s it. The union claims that the court has “refused to bargain over mandatory issues […] withheld information from the union […] and threatened the jobs of union members at the table,” according to SF Weekly....

This story is disturbing on so many levels, but perhaps that’s life with teenagers. Two teen girls in Davis, California apparently baked sugar cookies containing the ashen remains of one of the girls’ grandfather, and fed them to nine fellow students at their high school, Da Vinci Charter Academy. Some students were totally unaware of the cookies’ contents, and were horrified when they learned the truth. Others knew exactly what they were eating....

Lawyers all too often get a bad rap for being greedy. However, with the exception of lawyers that break the ethical rules and boundaries (looking at you Prenda Law), being a greedy lawyer can actually benefit your clients and society-at-large (yes, that is a big distinction). Sure, there are bad apples, and some lawyers, like everyone else out there, will let greed get the best of them. But, in reality, greed is the status quo almost anytime money is being exchanged for goods and services: Waiters and salespeople upsell for better tips and higher commissions, businesses entice consumers with financing in order to squeeze out a bit of interest, and everyday people will drive across town to save $0....

Reacting to a widely controversial sentence, Californians voted to recall a judge who sentenced a man to six months in jail for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman. Aaron Persky, a Santa Clara County judge, drew national attention after a jury convicted Brock Turner of three felony charges in 2016. According to reports, Turner sexually assaulted a woman who had passed out drunk near a dumpster. As precincts closed Tuesday, nearly 60 percent of the voters decided to recall the judge....

You did it. You graduated from law school. And passed the Bar. There was joy and relief. And now there is a new reality. As a new associate or solo practitioner you need to let people know that you’re out there. And while buying an ad spot on an overhead Blimp is tempting, you might be looking for more useful, online ways to announce your legal services, expertise, and offerings....

There’s no doubt that while working as an associate, grinding out billable hours better than any robot ever could, attorneys are going to need some stress relief. However, relying on alcohol as the primary method of stress relief can lead to serious health consequences. Many law firms host weekly happy hours, or may even have a fully stocked bar onsite. Some real life lawyers even have those fancy crystal glass liquor decanter sets you see in TV lawyers’ offices....

YouTube turns 9 years old today. To commemorate this joyous occasion, it only makes sense to share some of the most ridiculous YouTube videos that have led to legal action. From the mom who used YouTube for a home circumcision to a man’s fake grenade launcher video, YouTube is a legal disaster gift that keeps on giving. Here are nine wacky ways YouTube videos have led to legal action: Happy Birthday, YouTube!...

A Hong Kong couple is suing an education consultant because the couple’s two children did not get into Harvard. They got into two other Ivy League schools instead. Heaven forbid! The couple says that they hired the Boston-area consultant and handed over $2 million to help get their two sons into the hallowed halls of Harvard, reports ABC. The money reportedly went to getting their sons into top prep schools in the U....

A law professor at law school graduation: “from today forth, please call me by my first name, because now I am no longer your professor, I am your colleague.” And like that, 3 years of law school are done, and the real world awaits. Though you’ve been anticipating this day since law school orientation, when it actually comes it can lead to a mixed bag of introspection. From considerations of a looming Bar exam, to broad questions about what the degree means to you and where you hope to go with it, you may be looking for sage advice…and a little good fortune....

Kurt Shore is an advertising man. So naturally he fancies himself quite clever. When a thief stole his MacBook computer out of his car, he decided to pursue the thief with a unique angle, by offering an ounce of pot as a reward. He also posted surveillance footage of the incident on YouTube. I think Shore’s idea is half baked. (Get it? I know, lame.) The ad says, “Reward. Fabulous drug stash....

When the FDA appointed twelve members to the Tobacco Products Safety Advisory Committee to advise the commissioner on tobacco products, three members were fairly anti-smoking. They testified as expert witnesses in lawsuits against tobacco companies, for example, and worked with smoking-cessation companies. After that committee issued an unfavorable report on menthol cigarettes, two tobacco companies sued, alleging that the three Committee members had unlawful conflicts of interest which would require the report to be invalidated....

When critics slammed a freshman congresswoman over an old video of her dancing, little did they know it would make her a viral sensation. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez responded perfectly by posting another video of her doing a jig outside her congressional office. The next thing you know, the lawmaker’s dance is a thing. The next generation of lawyers get it. It’s not just a dance; it’s the law in motion....

Perhaps there is a light at the end of the tunnel for law school graduates, as a new report shows the first-time bar pass rate inched up three percent nationwide last year. The American Bar Association released the report, which shows bar pass rates by law school, and explained that is designed to help students decide “whether and where to attend law school.” Overall, it is a bright spot in the law school landscape with the best schools continuing to produce the best bar pass rates....

Usually, workers sue their employers after they have been fired. And sometimes, employers sue their workers after terminating them. But these are lawyers suing lawyers, and there is nothing usual about their lawsuit. Kerrie Campbell, a partner at the 400-lawyer firm of Chadbourne & Parke, sued the firm for $100 million for underpaying women. The partnership sued back for breaching confidentiality and smearing the firm. Now, after eight months of litigation, Chadbourne is thinking about letting the partner go....

Cornell Law School announced late October the launch of a LL.M in Law, Technology and Entrepreneurship. According to Cornell, the primary impetus behind this move is to help fresh law grads and practicing attorneys learn the legal and business considerations that technologists and entrepreneurs need to operate in an increasingly technology driven world. The new program already seems to be generating a lot of interest … from employers. Although the first LLM class is slated to have between 10 and 15 students, the number is expected to increase over time....

Just because marijuana is now legal under some states’ laws, that doesn’t mean it’s any easier to get a hold of it. In Colorado, however, some Craiglist “free pot” ads have made it a little easier. Colorado voters have twice legalized cannabis for different purposes. In 2000, voters passed Amendment 20 relating to the medical use of marijuana. This law allowed patients to possess up to two ounces of medicinal marijuana and to cultivate no more than six plants, three of which were allowed to be flowering at any given time....

Emergency dispatch services are always available to handle a range of issues, but pizza delivery complaints are not among them. A woman in Hartford, Connecticut, who remained unnamed in media reports, called 911 to say that she ordered a small half-bacon pizza and instead got a half-hamburger, according to UPI. The 911 dispatcher took this in stride and by all accounts was extremely reasonable, considering the nature of this lady’s emergency....

In plaintiff’s action against the Ford Motor Credit Company (Ford) claiming that Ford’s billing practices under a retail installment sales contract in charging late fees is prohibited by the Rees-Levering Motor Vehicle Sales and Finance Act, and actionable under Unfair Competition Law and the Consumers Legal Remedies Act, dismissal of the suit is affirmed where: 1) Ford’s conduct of charging successive late fees for successive late payments does not violate Civil Code section 2982(k)’s prohibition on charging more than one late fee per delinquent installment; 2) plaintiff cannot allege Ford’s billing practice is an unfair business practice within the meaning of UCL because the alleged injury is one plaintiff reasonably could have avoided; and 3) although Ford was the prevailing party, it cannot recover its attorney’s fees pursuant to the Rees-Levering’s reciprocal attorney’s fees provision because the alleged Rees-Levering violation was merely a predicate to the UCL claims, and a prevailing defendant cannot recover attorney’s fees under the UCL....

In fifteen plaintiffs’ statewide clergy sex abuse case against defendants, trial court’s order sustaining defendants’ demurrers without leave to amend is affirmed as childhood sexual molestation victims whose claims were time barred before January 1, 2003, had to sue during the ensuing one-year revival period regardless of whether they had yet discovered the link between the earlier abuse and their adult outset of psychological injuries from that abuse. Read Doe v....

The Federal Circuit Court of Appeals dealt a small victory to Amphastar Pharmaceuticals and Watson Pharmaceuticals in a patent case against Momenta Pharmaceuticals. Last Friday, the court vacated the grant of a preliminary injunction after the district court denied an emergency motion to dissolve or stay the injunction. Essentially, the Federal Circuit’s opinion came down to the fact that the district court had applied the wrong interpretation of the Hatch-Waxman safe harbor....