The speculation following the Fourth of July weekend was rampant. Rumors were flying that New York Giants defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul had seriously injured himself in a fireworks mishap in Florida. ESPN appeared to confirm those rumors Wednesday when it reported that medical records showed Pierre-Paul had his right index finger amputated. So how did ESPN get the medical records? And did the publication of the records violate medical privacy laws?...
Introducing our Ex-Lawyer of the Week: Esther Kang. Kang walked away from a cushy gig as an entertainment lawyer in Los Angeles to pursue her true passion: baking. It’s not that she couldn’t stand the heat of a demanding legal job. She just wanted to follow her heart into the kitchen. Coincidentally, as Kang considered quitting the law, Fox began airing an American version of the reality/game show “MasterChef.” Kang was torn:...
Welcome to “First Week at the Firm,” a FindLaw feature for beginning associates, focused on helping you navigate the transition into firm life. We hope you’ll enjoy this new series and come back regularly for more insider tips. Your first week at the firm will probably find you worrying about your work load and stressed about performance as you start getting this whole lawyering thing down. But don’t forget to make sure you have everything settled down HR-wise as well....
Former University of Virginia lacrosse player George Huguely V was found guilty of second-degree murder in the brutal beating death of his ex-girlfriend, also a UVA lacrosse player. A jury found Huguely, 24, guilty in the death of 22-year-old Yeardley Love, ABC News reports. Huguely now faces up to 60 years in prison. Love, a star UVA lacrosse player, was just weeks away from graduating when a roommate found her beaten, face-down, in a pool of blood in May 2010....
When lawyers want to make money, in many practices, all it takes is working more hours in the day, generating more revenue, and racking up those billable hours. For contingency practices, more hours may not translate to more pay right away, but the same idea still applies. Work more, earn more. If your firm can support you by providing an endless amount of work, and incentivizes you to exceed minimum billable hour requirements, then the decision to put in extra hours is limited only by your own desire to make money....
Conviction of defendant-minor for arson after defendant and his friends lit a firecracker in a wooded area and caused a fire that burned five acres of forest land is affirmed but modified where: 1) the juvenile court misapplied the principles stated in Atkins and there was no evidence that the act that caused the fire was done with the requisite mental state, i.e., maliciously; and 2) the trial court should have found the minor guilty of the lesser included offense of unlawfully causing a fire....
Decision of the PTO affirming the examiner’s rejection of petitioner’s claims of his application involving a manuscript for playing golf is vacated and remanded as the record does not contain sufficient evidence that the prior art reference relied upon by the Board was publicly accessible more than one year prior to the date on which the petitioner filed his patent application. Read In re Lister, No. 09-1060 Appeal from: United States Patent and Trademark Office Board od Patent Appeals and Interferences...
Trial court’s order declaring plaintiff a putative spouse on the ground that the parties’ marriage was invalid because the husband already had a wife when he married plaintiff is affirmed as, applying the unambiguous language of Family Code section 2251, the parties’ union is a putative marriage and the property acquired during that union is quasi-marital property subject to division as community property. Read In re Marriage of Tejeda, No. H033001 [HTML]...
Landing an interview is great. You can impress the interviewer with your penchant for witty quotes from “Spaceballs” and then you’re off to the races! What? It’s an informational interview? That sounds like the booby prize of interviews: “Yes, I’ll go spend my time to get a guarantee of absolutely nothing in return.” Well, maybe. There are varying schools of thought about the informational interview. In the interest of public service – because, if anything, we’re here for you – here are some things to consider about informational interviews:...
Judges are just like everyone else. They love, they fear, they cry, they tweet. But on Monday, the New Mexico Supreme Court cautioned judges against crossing lines on social media. Sure, judges can go ahead and repost that funny cat pic or hop on a trending hashtag. But the state supreme court wants them to keep the social media drama out of the courtroom – something that several judges have proven they’re not too good at....
When Grammy winners come to your parties, you got something. Attorney Thomas J. Henry has it – it’s called money. He had enough to drop $4 million on his son’s 18th birthday party, and $6 million on his daughter’s quinceanera. Henry also had enough for a dozen rap and hip hop stars to entertain guests, not to mention some off-the-chain gifts for his kids. So where are you going to party for the holidays?...
Law school is really expensive. For prospective law students, sticker shock is common, and tends to set in when the realization dawns on you that the price you just saw is only for a single semester, and that it doesn’t even include living expenses. However, in the end, there’s a pretty good chance you’ll actually land a job that allows you to pay off those loans, eventually, if you graduate and pass the bar....
The Mayo v. Prometheus case from last week is already generating the effect that many legal analysts predicted it would. On March 20, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a decision from the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals, citing in its decision that companies cannot patent their observations on a natural phenomenon. In light of that ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court is sending another case back to the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals....
It’s looking more and more like there will be an NFL lockout. It might sound crazy but that’s sports law. Unless a new collective bargaining agreement for next season is reached, a lockout (NFL owners not permitting NFL union players to show up to work) could happen. So what will that mean for NFL season ticket holders? Will there be an NFL refund for cancelled games? Will fans be stuck holding the proverbial bag?...
You’ve probably heard of pedophile teachers who prey on young children, but what about pedophobic teachers? There have been some strange employment discrimination cases over the years, but this is certainly one for the books. An Ohio teacher is suing her ex-school district over claims she was discriminated against because of her disability. Her alleged disability: Pedophobia, or the fear of young children. One of those ailments was a specific phobia, namely pedophobia....
Taking the “real” out of “realtor”, Benjamin Eitan Ackerman allegedly posed as a high end Los Angeles real estate agent in order to plot robberies, and may have a multi-million dollar stash to show for it. According to police, Ackerman had a thing for showing up at open houses driving high-end luxury cars and wearing designer clothes, signing in as a realtor or potential buyer under an alias, and scoping the place....
Pundits often whine about legal education not preparing students for the practice of law. And practitioners often bemoan the annoyances of practice, such as grumpy judges, poorly formatted pleadings, or indecipherable local rules. Professor Ray Bernstein, of Santa Clara Law, teaches Legal Analysis, Research, and Writing (LARAW), a long-winded variant of the same legal writing class that every law school requires. The point of these classes is to teach students to write like lawyers....
Dan Johnson, a South Carolina prosecutor, is the kind of boss that almost everybody loves. He drops $6,000 on a Christmas party and $2,000 on a Super Bowl bash. He spends thousands on flowers and plants for staffers, including Valentine’s Day roses for the ladies at the office. Of course, Johnson is using taxpayer money and that doesn’t sit well with everybody else. But the prosecutor is in real trouble because a newspaper just busted open the bank records, and it looks like this public employee is living over his pay grade....
Ray-Ray Armstrong is a third-year linebacker for the Oakland Raiders. Ray-Ray is not a regular reader of our blogs. If he were, he’d know you can’t go around barking at police dogs. Instead, while coming onto the field in Pittsburgh on Sunday to play the Steelers, Ray-Ray lifted his shirt, pounded his chest, barked at the dog and allegedly told the K9’s handler to “send the dog.” Ray-Ray now finds himself under investigation for a felony....
They say that your name reveals a lot about you. If you have the same name as trouble-making TV cartoon character, should it be any surprise if you find life imitating art one day? Let’s ask Bart Simpson. Or rather, Barton Simpson of Eccleshall, England. He appeared before Mr. Burns in a courtroom recently, reports The Huffington Post. No, really, he did. In real life. Talk about an odd coincidence. What’s even stranger is that the character Bart Simpson from the long-running TV series is frequently seen with a tiny weapon – although it’s a sling and not a firearm....
