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What’s more important for prospective law students, a school’s rank or its cost? Prestige or paper? Penny wise or pound foolish? Profit potential with risky debt or a life philosophy of mediocrity? A Friend Faced a Similar Dilemma… Why did this dilemma connect with my relatively ancient (Class of 2011) self? Because a friend faced this same choice just a few months ago – a couple of lower tier schools were offering full rides, while a mid-tier school was offering a partial scholarship....

Law school scholarship packages are more attractive for 1Ls as schools compete for the best students. After nonstop bad press, the number of applicants for law school is down which means schools have to work harder to make similarly competitive classes. To meet high quality standards some schools are offering perks to entice top ranking prospective students. For many law school applicants the decision of whether and where to attend hangs on price....

It’s hard to know the difference between right and wrong sometimes, especially when you’re taking a law school exam. But using invisible ink to cheat? That’s just wrong. And how do you even do that? Talk about blurring the line between the answers… According to authorities in England, cheating has become a serious problem in higher education. One law student smuggled notes into an exam by writing them on her textbook in invisible ink....

You’ve probably heard of going hands-free to talk on a cell phone while driving. But how about going pants-free while driving? A Washington man driving with no pants was stopped recently by State Troopers. He claimed his “manzilian” bikini wax was chafing against his jeans so he took them off. But a witness reported that he had exposed himself, so he was arrested, reports The Associated Press. Whether you just received a fresh waxing or just enjoy driving al fresco, is it legal to drive without pants?...

People have tried almost every trick in the book to get out of jury duty. But, dressing up as a prisoner to get dismissed from jury duty is definitely a novel idea. James Lowe, of Barnet, Vermont, was summoned for jury duty on Tuesday. Unlike most people, he showed up wearing a prisoner costume! He had on a black and white striped jumpsuit and matching beanie. We don’t know if he did so hoping to get out of jury duty, but, apparently, it worked....

Melton v. Boustred, No. H033148 involved a plaintiffs’ action against a defendant who hosted a party where plaintiff was attacked, beaten, and stabbed by a group of unknow individuals. In rejecting plaintiffs’ main contention that defendant owed them a duty of care not to actively creat an out-of-control and dangerous public MySpace party and that the unrestricted MySpace invitation was an active conduct of a property owner giving rise to liability for the criminal acts of a third party, the court held that no legal duty arose under the circumstances as the case presents neither misfeasance nor a special relationship....

A man sneaks into a woman’s bedroom after seeing her boyfriend leave for the night. He then has sex with the woman while pretending to be the boyfriend. Is it rape? Defendant Julio Morales went to a party with a group of people that included the victim, referred to as Jane Doe, and her boyfriend. After the party, the group headed back to Jane’s home, where she fell asleep in her bedroom....

Police ordered a judge out of a Florida home at gunpoint Easter Sunday after they thought she was a burglar, only to find they had gone to the wrong address. Broward Circuit Court Judge Ilona Holmes was ordered to come out with her hands up when Sheriff’s deputies turned up at her sister’s Deerfield Beach home following a report of a burglary, WTVJ-TV reports. The burglary report was for the home next door, but a bad address meant they turned up at the wrong place....

Shon Hopwood, a jailhouse lawyer who spent more than a decade in federal prison for a string of robberies, has been hired as a 2014 law clerk for Judge Janice Rogers Brown of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. As The New York Times’ Adam Liptak put it, Hopwood is much better at understanding the law than breaking it. His life story may read like a movie script – a cross between “Dead Man Walking” and “Cinderella” – but Hopwood is counting his lucky stars for the happy ending....

Tom Hanks, portraying a stranded survivor on a remote island, looked at a portable toilet siding and said: This could work. Forget that he was talking to a volleyball. It was his insight that a piece of plastic could be repurposed as a sail. It literally, at least in the fictional tale of “Cast Away,” saved him. So what does this have to do with mandatory vacations? Stay with me here, it’s about the journey....

Trial court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of a subcontractor arising from injuries suffered by two employees of the general contractor is reversed as, neither common law nor the applicable construction contract created a duty on the part of the subcontractor to take affirmative steps to protect those working for other employers from hazards not created by the subcontractor, but the subcontractor did have a duty of care created by applicable workplace safety statutes and regulations requiring the subcontractor to report hazards to which its employees were exposed, and under California law, one who breaches such a duty is liable in tort....

And the market begins to correct … Our friends at Kaplan Test Prep did another survey related to law school admissions, this time polling admissions officers, and for some of you, this won’t be surprising: law schools are cutting incoming seats. Now, we’re a little shocked, as this is an example of schools doing the right thing (well, the right thing would be to reverse the trend of ever-increasing, historically-high tuition, but we digress), but we’ve bourne witness to plummeting application rates for years with little to no reaction from schools....

Want to travel the world? See the lights of Paris one week, a bazaar in Indonesia the next? You can! Sort of. At least, metaphorically. In your legal work. With the right job, you can be handling issues that span the globe, from the frozen corners of Alaska to everywhere you can buy a Coke. For this week’s collection of cool legal jobs, presented as part of our affiliate relationship with Indeed, we’re rounding up the best gigs with a decidedly international focus....

Privacy is getting to be a rare commodity these days. That is what precious coin dealer Jon Harris of Jupiter, Florida has discovered. The angry dealer in rare and precious coins is suing Google for invasion of privacy in telling the whole world where he lives. Which might not be such a terrible thing, except for Harris’s reasonable assumption that as a coin dealer, thieves might be very interested in where he lives and what he keeps there....

A Texas car salesman may have snapped a picture worth a thousand words … and potentially two years in jail. Pedro Elimeleo Zuniga-Martinez, 22, of Brownsville, was working at a used-car lot when a female customer told police that he’d taken a picture of her buttocks with his phone. Strangely, Zuniga-Martinez allegedly admitted to taking the photo, but Harlingen’s KGBT-TV reports that the alleged butt photographer couldn’t find the illicit pic....

A Golden State Warriors player has been hit with a sexual harassment lawsuit. The Monta Ellis lawsuit claims the NBA player caught a former team employee off-guard by sending her sext messages and a photo of his genitals. The alleged harassment began in November 2010 and led to the Warriors employee, Erika Ross Smith, being fired, the Associated Press reports. Smith worked for the Warriors’ community relations department. She claims Ellis sent sexually explicit text messages to her cell phone several times a day, the AP reports....

A legal spat over a “COPSLIE” license plate may end in victory for one car owner who’s legally changed his name to “human.” Human, of New Hampshire, is an unemployed accountant formerly known as David Montenegro, Boston’s WBZ-TV reports. He argued before New Hampshire’s highest court against a DMV regulation which prohibits vanity license plates that “a reasonable person would find offensive to good taste.” What are the legal arguments for and against “COPSLIE”?...

Welcome to FindLaw for Legal Professionals’ Back to (Law) School Week! Today, we offer our Top 5 tips for 1Ls to make the most out of their first year in law school: As a 1L new to law school, you have no idea what you’re doing. Luckily, there are people at law school who have been there before. They’re called “professors,” and you’ll see them occasionally in the hallways. Mentors not only give you advise you on what to do right, but a good relationship with your mentor over the years can lead to career opportunities....

Everyone’s favorite bankrupt rapper, 50 Cent, was back in the news the other day after he won a multi-million-dollar settlement with his ex-lawyer. Garvey Schubert Barer, who unsuccessfully defended the rapper in a $16.2 million lawsuit over headphones, has agreed to pay 50 Cent $14.5 million to settle a legal malpractice claim. Curtis Jackson, III, the rapper’s real name, announced the settlement on Instagram: “I just got 14.5 million back from one Law Firm For malpractice,” he wrote....

When Henry Washington was given a citation for driving an unregistered vehicle, the ensuing fine hit him harder than it would many Californians with more adequate means. After all, the reason he purchased the vehicle was to drive his brother to and from his required medical appointments. But the car couldn’t pass smog. He choose to drive a dirty car to get his brother to his appointments. Soon, his license was suspended because he couldn’t pay the fine....