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Attorney Nora Phillips had a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day at the U.S.-Mexico border. The immigrant-rights lawyer, an attorney colleague, and others were detained after somebody flagged their passports. The lawyers think the U.S. government did it to retaliate against them for fighting against President Trump’s immigration policies. The adults will continue their battle over the border, but there’s a really lousy chapter in the detention story. Phillips’ seven-year-old daughter, who was along for a planned vacation, had to sleep on a cold floor and wait in another room while authorities questioned her mom....

Richard Evan Kriger walked into a bank with a fake beard, dark glasses, and baseball cap. He walked out in handcuffs. Kriger, a Washington state attorney, wanted to rob the bank. He demanded $50,000 and said his nephew was waiting outside with a gun to shoot anybody who tried to stop him. Fortunately, police were waiting outside and arrested Kriger at the scene. That’s what happens sometimes when lawyers think they can get away with anything....

In what is clearly an attempt to garner media buzz and increase brand recognition, Lawyer.com has decided to enlist the help of an “intriguing” celebrity spokesperson: Lindsay Lohan. Lawyer.com brought on Lohan for an exclusive 12 month partnership (endorsement) deal, where the celeb will also serve as a marketing and brand adviser. And while the deal is sure to be successful at attracting the eyes of the public, countless lawyers are all asking themselves the same few rhetorical questions:...

Lois Ann Goodman was arrested at a Manhattan hotel for allegedly killing her husband. The 70-year-old U.S. Open tennis referee is accused of bludgeoning her husband to death with a coffee mug at their home in California, reports The New York Times. While the tennis referee was quietly apprehended by police at her hotel, police indicate they were prepared to arrest her at the tennis tournament if necessary. Instead, police believe that Goodman smashed a coffee mug over her husband’s head, and then stabbed him with shards from the mug, reports the Times....

It was the final straw for Angela Mejia who was frustrated by her video game addict son. She was so overwhelmed by his incessant video game playing that she called the cops on him. According to the Associated Press, the Boston woman made a 911 phone call to say she couldn’t get her 14-year-old son to stop playing video games and go to sleep. Mejia is among thousands of parents struggling with today’s video-game obsessed youth....

A New York mother has been fired from her job at a school after she faked her daughter’s death to enjoy an extended spring break. Joan Barnett, 58, worked as a parent coordinator at a Manhattan high school, and took a spring break trip to Costa Rica in 2010, the New York Daily News reports. Barnett apparently wanted to extend her break so badly, she forged her daughter’s death certificate in order to get time off for bereavement....

“I’m wit cha, I ain’t mad at cha Got nuttin but love for ya, do your thing boy.” -Tupac Shakur I ain’t mad at cha, Album: All Eyez on Me Tupac told his followers not to be mad, but he never said not to sue. So we shouldn’t be surprised that Austin Linford, the owner of Pac12.com, is suing the Pac 10. The NCAA conference has been trying to acquire the domain for its website which it plans to expand to 12 teams....

Pittsburgh defensive end Jaball Sheard turned an early morning trip to an art gallery into a bit of live performance art and wound up under arrest. Sheard was visiting La Fond Galleries when he allegedly got into an altercation with another man and threw him through a glass door and continued attacking him, even after police officers tried to restrain him. He was pepper sprayed and eventually subdued. Sheard has been charged with resisting arrest, disorderly conduct, felony aggravated assault and criminal mischief, SeattlePI....

It turns out the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) isn’t too amused by Hebron, Maine’s first annual Redneck Olympics–a weekend filled with wife-carrying, bobbing for pigs’ feet, and lawnmower races. Under the guise of protecting its intellectual property, the USOC has threatened event organizer Harold Brooks, warning him to drop the name “Olympics” or else. Ready to battle, he gave them a big, fat “no.” Despite his willingness to fight for the right to call his games the Redneck Olympics, Harold Brooks is ultimately fighting a muddy uphill battle....

A former journalist at the Houston Chronicle filed a complaint with the EEOC last week, and is accusing the paper of gender discrimination. Sarah Tressler says she was fired after a local alternative paper revealed that she’s a part-time stripper. The article also pointed readers to her anonymous blog, Diary of an Angry Stripper. Soon after the article ran, the stripping reporter was told that she was fired for not disclosing the information when she applied for the job....

Trial court’s decision not to interject itself into the still on-going process of preparing an EIR concerning plaintiff-developer’s proposal to develop single-housing and commercial structures is affirmed where: 1) developer’s contention that the one-year time limit for certifying an EIR established by CEQA section 21151.5 constitutes an iron-clad, one-size-fits-all rule that permits of no exception is rejected; 2) Gov. Code section 65589.5 cannot be used to halt the decision-making process specified by CEQA that is still on-going; and 3) developer’s active participation in that process for more than three years, which included numerous changes in the size and composition of the project, after the date it now claims the city lost its discretionary amounts to laches....

We cover some strange and stupid crimes here on Legally Weird, so it’s always nice to have an opportunity to look back on the strangest and the stupidest. And the year-end gives us just that opportunity. So here are five of the dumbest crimes and criminals we’ve written about this year, for your reading pleasure. The first rule about doing crime is to avoid police detection. And it’s pretty hard to avoid detection if you’re the one texting the cops offering to sell them crystal meth....

The world’s oldest law firm is one you’ve never heard of: Thomson Snell & Passmore. The England-based law firm has offices in the towns of Dartford and Tunbridge Wells near London. Part of the reason you might not have ever heard of the firm is because the firm has changed its name a number of times throughout its long and storied life. Well, you would expect something like that from a law firm has been around since Shakespeare was writing his sonnets....

Life as a tenured academic in an ivory tower sounds nice, right? You don’t have the stress of billable hours, ungrateful clients, angry opposing counsel. Instead, you get to research the fascinating intricacies of eleventh century forest law while taking summers off. If that sounds like a dream come true, well, you might want to think again. Turns out, teaching law isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. It’s worth noting that most of those who think academics have an incredibly easy life aren’t, well, academics themselves....

At first glance, a judge saying the iconic Civil Rights anthem ‘We Shall Overcome’ has the same copyright protection as the iconic birthday anthem ‘Happy Birthday’ (which is to say, none) doesn’t seem that odd. After all, both songs are older than any living person, come from indefinite origins, and are sung so ubiquitously that paying royalties every time a line is uttered seems absurd. And yet, none of those reasons for denying copyright protections is a legal one, and the path to the public domain for the former song was a bit different than that for the latter....

Flu season is upon us once more, and the plague is particularly bad this year. The Centers for Disease Control suggest three simple steps for fighting the flu: Get a flu shot, take preventative actions – like hand-washing and cough-covering – to stop germs from spreading, and take flu anti-viral drugs when prescribed. Those of us who follow the CDC recommendations each year know that three steps aren’t necessarily enough. What’s worse, a case of the flu can jeopardize your case as a lawyer....

The final score of the San Francisco 49ers’ victory over the Green Bay Packers may have been 45-31. But the scarier numbers may be 92, 29, and 62. Ninety-two for the number of people who were kicked out of the game. Twenty-nine for the number of arrests made. And 62 for the number of people who needed medical attention. Across the bridge in Oakland, Raider Nation may get all the publicity for having rowdy and violent fans....

This is the firm life. Even in boom times, advancement up the ladder was a numbers game. Today? When partners are being laid off? This is Lord of the Flies, and you ain’t Piggy. Does that call for sabotage? Rumor-mongering? Back-stabbing? No. Once you’re labeled a snitch, no one will trust you - even if they benefited in the past from your loose lips. That doesn’t mean you can’t benefit from a little office gossip, however....

An Ohio man’s ‘artsy’ undead nativity scene has earned him the national spotlight and a $500 fine. Jasen Dixon, of Sycamore, Ohio, has a Christmas tradition that is causing an uproar for its ghoulish depiction of Jesus and other biblical figures, The Washington Post reports. Dixon calls it art and is not an atheist. But his zombie manger scene has enraged neighbors and got him in hot water with Sycamore Township....

Comparatively speaking, the ‘best law school for landing a BigLaw-job’ is in the eye of the beholder. If you are looking for a BigLaw job based on the best paycheck, that’s one thing. If transactional or litigation experience is your goal, that’s another. Maybe advancement opportunity, specialization, or work-life balance is your priority. In any case, the “best” law schools typically provide students with tickets to the “best” law firms. With that in mind, behold the following law schools:...