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A criminal defendant offers to pay someone to kill his lawyer, but aren’t there people who would do it for free? Bad joke, but seriously when a client is willing to pay $30,000 to literally terminate his attorney, it’s obvious there is an attorney-client conflict. That’s why a judge allowed the New Jersey attorney to withdraw. The public defenders aren’t exactly happy to take the case, however. $30,000 Question First, there’s the question about qualifying as an indigent defendant....

“My client was the victim of a bug in an application. The bug has caused him problems in his private life.” While probably true, these are most likely not the words that are going to save your marriage. Also generally not a winning legal argument, but you can always try. Those are the words of one man’s lawyer, after his client’s wife kept getting Uber alerts on her phone about his whereabouts....

In recent years, the debate over whether NCAA athletes should receive compensation for playing sports has gotten hot. Although it is recognized that college sports, especially football and basketball, generate massive piles of money for colleges across the country, paying student athletes is often regarded as taboo. This week, the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the decision of the lower court denying student athletes minimum wage under the FLSA, and denying that student athletes are even employees....

What’s wrong with this picture? Literally, take a look at this video of Judge Leticia Astacio being led through the courthouse in handcuffs. The judicial procession was captured at the Monroe County Hall of Justice, where police and reporters were waiting for her. If you didn’t notice, the judge is smiling. That’s unusual for a judge anytime, but unprecedented for one in handcuffs! No Joke, Judge Astacio was arrested for failing to appear at a mandatory meeting in her drunk-driving case....

Due to Mother Nature’s wintery ways, the D.C. Circuit is rescheduling oral arguments that were originally set for Thursday, February 13, 2014 to be heard on Wednesday, February 19, 2014 at 2:00 p.m. While it’s unclear if the Court of Appeals itself will be closed, attorneys who have oral arguments scheduled for tomorrow will be getting an unexpected extension on their case. In the meantime, grab some hot cocoa and get to work....

In a drug prosecution of a minor in juvenile court, order denying the minor’s request for deferred entry of judgment is reversed where the jurisdictional hearing did not commence with the suppression hearing and, thus, the minor timely requested deferred entry of judgment after his suppression motion was denied. Read People v. A.I., No. C058506 Appellate Information Filed August 25, 2009 Judges Opinion by Judge Scotland Counsel For Appellant: Michael Allen...

Call it “Dude, Where’s My Car Seat?” A pot-smoking teen mom in Arizona faces criminal charges after she strapped her infant son into a child safety seat – which she placed on the roof of her car and then absent-mindedly drove away. The car seat fell off the roof and landed in a nearby intersection, Phoenix police told Reuters. The mom, 19-year-old Catalina Clouser, apparently didn’t notice. Witnesses called police, and soon the young mother returned to claim her 5-week-old child, who was not hurt....

It looks like it may be possible to add NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to the list of those who felt wide receiver Donte Stallworth got off just a touch easy with a 30-day jail sentence after pleading guilty to DUI manslaughter. Goodell may be taking it upon himself to make up somewhat for the lack of jail time, as the AP reports that the league Commissioner has suspended Stallworth indefinitely....

Schools almost always have a list of guidelines and policies. We’ve all heard that before. But what’s the different between a policy and a guideline? And should there be more policies regarding teachers’ social media interactions with students? Generally speaking, policies are rules with teeth. If a school has implemented a specific policy, and that policy is broken, then there is a specific consequence that can be attributed to that policy violation....

Do you remember when you were excited to go to work? Chances are it wasn’t that long ago. Sure, your job pays reasonably well and you’re probably not very inclined to go and search for another position now that people have begun stoking fears of another market crash. Be that as it may, perhaps you should consider looking for greener pastures. If you’ve been making excuses to stay, do yourself a favor and keep an eye out for these telltale signs that you should start looking for another firm....

A beach bag should include sunscreen and a good book so you’re always ready for relaxation. But when you eat, sleep, and breathe law, it’s hard to disconnect and find good summer reading that doesn’t require highlighting. If you’ve spent too much time on work to know what to page though when you’re looking for an easy beach read, look no further. Check out our list of the top 5 books to read this summer that won’t weigh you down....

We don’t come across many television spoilers in our line of work. Case law and court transcripts generally don’t contain juicy plot points. Thankfully, the judicial powers-that-be sent us Nicollette Sheridan’s Desperate Housewives lawsuit, and, for once, we have an interesting piece of non-legal gossip: A Desperate Housewives character will die this week. We read enough People.com to know that television spoilers must occur after the jump so as not to ruin the surprise for readers who like to be surprised....

Senators Chris Coons and Marco Rubio introduced the American Growth, Recovery, Empowerment and Entrepreneurship (AGREE) Act on Tuesday. While this is primarily a jobs bill, it includes a clarification of the Trade Secrets Act that could benefit your copyright/trademark/patent-holding clients. According to the sponsors, the bill will help protect American intellectual property from counterfeit and otherwise-infringing commercial activity by clarifying the Trade Secrets Act. If passed, the AGREE bill would eliminate the ambiguity, and arguably prevent counterfeit merchandise from crossing the border....

The brave city council of Beaver Dam, Wisconsin responded swiftly and decisively to the scourge of kangaroo service animals in the town. After a woman brazenly took her therapy kangaroo into a McDonald’s in February, the city was thrown into a crisis over which species can be used as service animals. By categorically limiting service animals to dogs and mini horses, Beaver Dam has saved an untold number of lives and potentially millions, if not billions, of dollars....

Rural Galesburg, Ill., isn’t a hotbed of crime, but a reported sex toy burglary has townsfolk talking. Whoever allegedly broke-in to Tiara Likes’ apartment ignored her pricey high-tech devices and other valuables, the New York Daily News reports. Instead, they went straight for her bag of sex toys. And Likes had a lot of them. Tiara Likes, 23, actually sells adult novelty items for a living, the Daily News reports. She’d left town for a convention in Las Vegas, where she was hawking her sex toy business, and returned home to discover the alleged sex toy burglary....

Happy 10th Anniversary Facebook! Since your inception, you’ve dropped the “The,” you’ve added photo albums and chat, and, along with Google, have basically made it impossible to stay anonymous on the Internet. That’s not always a problem. Most of us are, after all, unremarkable and uninteresting. But when searching for a job, we’ve learned a few lessons about reasserting our privacy. For those on the job hunt, here are six tweaks you should make now to hide your personal life from your potential professional one:...

Would you like fries with that? This is America. Land of the free. Home of the brave. We’re busy, and we don’t have time for things like getting out of the car. Not to eat. Certainly not to shop for sex toys. It’s a fast paced world. Enter Sherri Williams, who created a sex store that has an adult drive thru window. Just like a fast food restaurant, the adult drive thru sex store, Pleasures, features a lighted sign offering vibrators, lubricants, lingerie and other risqué items....

Consumer Disinterest in Pretending to Kill Babies May Be Linked to Economic Downturn Apple has pulled the controversial Baby Shaker application from its iPhone App store, after a wave of backlash over the program, which sought to liven up the tedium of down time by making virtual infanticide fit neatly into the palm of your hand. The 99-cent Baby Shaker app, created by a company called Sikalosoft, let iPhone users try to stop a virtual infant from crying by violently shaking their iPhone until two red “x"s appeared over the baby’s eyes....

The Washington Wizards’ Gilbert Arenas won’t be stepping onto the basketball court again any time soon. According to the Washington Post, three-time all-star guard Gilbert Arenas has been suspended without pay for the rest of the NBA season following his guilty plea on gun charges involving a locker-room argument over gambling debts with his teammate Jarvaris Crittenton. Crittenton also has been suspended without pay for the remainder of the NBA season....

The California Amnesty Program for Traffic Tickets is winding down. Speed demon attorneys and lead-footed clients only have two more weeks to get a discount on unpaid tickets. The California courts have been offering a traffic ticket amnesty program since January 1, 2012. The program offers drivers a 50 percent discount on certain unpaid traffic tickets. But all good things come to an end, and half-price traffic violations will end Saturday, June 30....