What should you wear to the cocktail party? What should you drink at the cocktail party? How much should you try to schmooze partners at the cocktail party? When can you leave the cocktail party and get back to finishing that memo? If you’re a new lawyer just starting out, getting by in the legal world involves a seemingly endless series of daunting questions – and not just about legal minutia....
Texas prosecutors have filed paperwork requesting that Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson’s bond be revoked after he allegedly told a drug tester that he had smoked marijuana. Prosecutors in Montgomery County, Texas – where Peterson was arrested on charges of felony child abuse last month – want the running back re-arrested for violating the terms of his release, reports ESPN. How might Peterson’s alleged slip of the tongue result in his bond being revoked?...
The simple answer to that is, yes. But to what extent? And do we care? Recently, two Democrat senators sent a letter to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) requesting the agency to investigate privacy issues surrounding smart TVs, which are TVs that are connected to the internet. We already learned through the Vizio investigation that these Trojan horse TVs are capable of gathering all sorts of information. It is unclear, however, if the TV manufacturers are actually gathering, processing, and/or selling this information....
BigLaw firm Sidley Austin is on the Chicago Tribune’s Top Workplaces list, along with Perkins Coie. Yes, you read that right. Sidley Austin has something called a “culture of collegiality.” For you BigLaw associates who are more used to a “culture of swimming with the sharks,” you might want to consider a change in employment. It seems that at Sidley, people actually support each other. They believe that the law is collaborative, and that everybody is in it together....
Assembly Bill 2878, the proposed law that would have fundamentally changed the makeup of the California State Bar’s board of trustees by doing away with elected reps and membership dues, died on the floor of the California legislature. This despite many vocal critics of the state bar’s exposed shortcomings and lack of transparency. It is difficult to tell whether or not the bill was blocked because of broad-based unpopular sentiment or if it was blocked because the proposed changes didn’t go far enough....
When does a boy become a man in the eyes of the law? In one Russian courtroom, it apparently depends at least partially on the size of your genitals. A boy suspected of theft, whose family claims is only 13 years old, is set to be tried as an adult after an examination of his teeth and his genitals led doctors to believe he was actually between 16 and 17, a Russian newspaper reports....
Wong v. Jing, H034059, concerned a challenge to the trial court’s denial of defendants’ anti-SLAPP motion to strike plaintiff’s claims, in a pediatric dentist’s suit against defendants, husband and wife, and the Web site Yelp.com, based on allegedly false assertions contained in a review posted on Yelp that criticized the dental services the plaintiff had provided to the couple’s son. Toyota Motor Sales, USA, Inc. v. Superior Court, B226902, concerned defendants’ petition for a writ of mandate seeking to compel the trial court to set aside portion of its order permitting plaintiff’s counsel’s presence in an adjoining room and his contemporaneous monitoring of plaintiff’s psychiatric examination, in plaintiff’s suit against Toyota Motor Sales, U....
A week before Uber’s founder resigned under pressure from investors, a board member blurted out a sexist remark at a staff meeting. David Bonderman was meeting with fellow board member Arianna Huffington and others on the same day a law firm released a report on sexual harassment and gender bias at the company. Huffington said that having one woman on the board often leads to another. “Actually, what it shows is that it’s much more likely to be more talking,” Bonderman said....
‘F*** you. F*** you. F*** you.’ Not always the most diplomatic tack to take with a police officer, but should it get you arrested? Tracy Smith doesn’t think so, but then again, he probably didn’t think he’d end up in handcuffs after a neighbor complained about a dog that he didn’t own, pooping in a yard that wasn’t his. So what did the Founding Fathers say about dropping F-bombs to the fuzz regarding some furry friend’s fecal matter?...
College athletes settled with video game giant EA Sports last week, leaving the NCAA the sole defendant in a lawsuit seeking payment for using college players’ likenesses in EA Sports’ video games. The settlement comes just after EA Sports announced on its website that it would not publish a college football game in 2014, The New York Times reports. This lawsuit will affect how hundreds of thousands of players are compensated for their likenesses, and the case is still not resolved....
As data breaches go, Uber probably set the standard for doing too little too late. The company recently revealed that hackers got personal information on 57 million riders and drivers – last year. But instead of alerting Uber users at the time, the company paid the hackers $100,000 to destroy the data and keep it quiet. The U.S. Senate is now considering a bill to require companies to disclose such breaches within 30 days....
Want to visit an Apple store in China? Make sure you’re not actually visiting a fake Apple store, because apparently the real ones and the fake ones look incredibly similar. The fake stores are so realistic that apparently they’re also fooling the employees, who think they work for Apple, according to The Daily Mail. The only real giveaway that the stores aren’t exactly legit is the signs that say “Apple Store,” which is something that the real Apple does not do, The Daily Mail reports....
In September, it was the Galaxy Tab. This week, it’s the Galaxy Nexus smartphone. Considering Samsung’s rate of injunction-reversing success, the company’s entire product line could be back on the market before the holiday rush. Thursday, the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals reversed and remanded Judge Lucy Koh’s preliminary injunction barring Samsung from selling its Galaxy Nexus smartphone, finding that Judge Koh abused her discretion in entering the injunction. Unified search refers to the ability to access information on more than one data storage location through a single interface....
Employee or not an employee? That is the question under 5 U.S.C. sec. 7511. Susan G. Roy brought suit before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in a case stemming from the termination of her appointment as an Immigration Judge by the Department of Justice. The Court of Appeals dismissed her appeal for lack of jurisdiction, on the grounds that Roy was not an “employee” under 5 U....
In a petition for a writ of mandamus overturning the trial court’s denial of Petitioner Franchise Tax Board’s motion to strike Respondent’s jury trial demand, the petition is granted in part, where Respondent did not have a right to a jury trial on Petitioner’s cross-complaint to recover a penalty; but denied in part, where a taxpayer was entitled to a trial by jury pursuant to article I, section 16 of the California Constitution in an action permitted by Revenue and Taxation Code section 19382....
Filling out every conceivable angle of coverage on President Obama’s newly minted nominee for U.S. Supreme Court justice, judge Sonia Sotomayor, Sports Illustrated had a story out today on how “well known” she is to sports fans… OK, well, maybe to those sports fans who are (a) lawyers, and/or (b) like to read legal decisions in sports cases. But setting those quibbles aside, the story also went on to noted President Obama’s words about how Sotomayor may have “saved baseball” with a key ruling during the 1994-95 baseball strike....
You finish law school. You pass the bar. Suddenly, you need a job. Your problem: The offer that comes in is $10,000 less than what you need to pay student loans, rent, and eat. Fear not: That’s just a jumping off point to start salary (or any other) negotiations. Straight out of law school, Maria Musolino was in the same situation: She knew how much money she needed to survive, and the in-house counsel offer she received just wasn’t enough....
Court of International Trade affirming the Dept. of Commerce’s valuation of plaintiff’s imports is affirmed where Commerce’s decision to use a constructed market price in valuing plaintiff’s imports was supported by substantial evidence and not contrary to law, as Commerce has shown that its new methodology of constructing a market price was permissible under the statute and that it had good reasons for the new methodology. Read Huvis Corp. v. US, No....
Some lawsuits you just shouldn’t read about until after lunch. The In-N-Out burger trademark infringement case against Smashburger is one such lawsuit, as the juicy details are bound to make burger lovers salivate. In short, In-N-Out alleges that Smashburger violated their trademark on the phrase “Double Double” which is used to describe one of the few menu selections offered at the burger chain. The allegations rest upon Smashburger’s recent menu addition from this past summer, the “Triple Double....
Guess who is running for Mayor of Miami? None other than Former 2 Live Crew rapper Luther Campbell. Campbell promoted his candidacy from the comfort of his desk, by writing a column in the Miami New Times. Campbell will be up against Mayor Carlos Alvarez who is facing a recall. The Luther Campbell Miami Mayor campaign now begins, and Campbell is of course being questioned as to whether he is up for the job....
