When will the recession in the legal job market finally end? It may be now. Or not. The National Association for Law Placement noted last week that BigLaw jobs for recent grads has risen 27 percent over the last two years, to more than 3,600 jobs. That’s good, but not great. In 2009, there were more than 5,100 jobs and the Class of 2012 was massive. Overall, only 64.4 percent landed jobs requiring bar passage....
One mother’s disturbing discovery has led a California appellate court to distinguish the rules on when secret recordings are permissible. Although California is one of the few “all party consent” states, meaning everyone who is audio recorded must consent to being recorded, there are a few exceptions to that rule. One of the main exceptions to the “all party consent” rule allows a person to obtain evidence of a violent felony, extortion, bribery, or kidnapping via a secret recording....
From the “here’s what you can do when you don’t want to be a lawyer anymore” files, have you tried becoming an Internet entrepreneur? Of course you have, but you aren’t as inventive as Matthew Homann. Among his many projects, Homann created a website where people can create fake profiles for significant others they don’t have in order to convince their family and friends that they have a girlfriend or boyfriend....
On Wednesday, Judge Susan Nelson will hear a motion for a preliminary injunction requested by the players in the NFL lockout antitrust suit. The motion requests that the judge enjoin the NFL from continuing its lockout, permitting players to return to work. Thus far, there is no indication about how Judge Susan Nelson will rule, but her decision will determine just how and when the NFL lockout will end. Which means millions of NFL fans will be very interested to know how this might shake out....
If you couldn’t get into the University of Wisconsin-Madison Law School, you may wince knowing that cyber-hackers managed to do it. The law school has notified 1,213 applicants from 2005-2006 that hackers got into the school’s computer system. The school said the attack “exposed records containing your name and Social Security Number.” Taking measures in response to the hack, the school told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that they have implemented additional vulnerability identification programs and are “evaluating current computer applications and decommissioning those no longer needed, tightening credentials for access to databases, and deploying additional network intrusion detection....
The U.S. Supreme Court’s opinion in NFIB v. Sebelius wasn’t the last challenge to the Affordable Care Act (aka “Obamacare”); oh, no, not by a long shot. As you’ll recall, Chief Justice John Roberts decided that, while the ACA’s individual mandate and accompanying penalty wasn’t a valid exercise of Congress’ Commerce Clause authority, it was permissible as a tax. Enter Timothy Sandefur, who represented the petitioner in Sissel v. U.S. Dept....
In Suh v. Sup. Ct., No. B219174, the court of appeals was asked to review an order by the trial court compelling arbitration involving anesthesiology contracts entered into by the plaintiffs (anesthesiologists) with a hospital, arising from plaintiffs’ lawsuit against a hospital alleging various causes of action including, age and national discrimination. First, the court concluded that there was no evidence that plaintiffs were ever signatories to the agreement, and that as shareholders of a corporation, plaintiffs did not sign the agreement individually nor on behalf of the corporation....
In San Joaquin County Human Serv. Agency v. Marcus W., No. C060965, the Third District faced a challenge to the juvenile court’s decision ordering a minor (a Jehova’s Witness), who has sickle cell anemia, to undergo periodic blood transfusions to prevent him from suffering a third stroke and possibly death. In reversing the order, the court held that the juvenile court lacked jurisdiction to issue the order against the minor’s will and over the objection of his parents because the requirements of Welfare and Institutions Code section 369 were not met....
An ambitious prisoner is suing Jaz-Z, Kanye, and Beyonce, claiming that they stole billions in song lyrics from him. Inmate Richard Dupree claims in his suit that the illustrious music stars (in addition to Rihanna and Chris Brown) stole 3,000 songs from him, and he’s seeking $2.4 billion in damages. Dupree also alleges that the pop/rap idols were in cahoots with the CIA, FBI, and Department of Homeland Security to pull off the musical heist, reports the United Press International....
You Should See the Size of the Hats in the Lake Gift Shop Chargoggagoggmanchauggauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg. It may look like the result of someone falling asleep on their keyboard, but it’s actually the name of a lake near the town of Webster in central Massachusetts, and it’s got a local chamber of commerce scrambling to fix not-so-glaring spelling errors on highway signs. The Worcester Telegram & Gazette reports that the signs are mistakenly spelled “with an ‘o’ where a ‘u’ should be, at letter 20, and an ‘h’ instead of an ’n’ at letter 38....
When most people think of the Better Business Bureau, they think of consumer protection. After all, the BBB has a handy Scam Tracker to root out shady businesses and sales tactics. But the BBB might be most famous for its business rating system, where it provides grades for local shops and national chains based, ostensibly, on the level of customer service and amount of customer complaints. Or perhaps infamous is the proper term there, after the BBB was nabbed in a pay-for-play scheme, handing out A’s to stores that paid annual membership fees and F’s to those that didn’t....
Three Delaware women were charged with operating a toddler fight club at the daycare center where they worked. [The first rule of toddler fight club is do not talk about toddler fight club.] If you’re wondering what a toddler fight club is, it’s exactly what it sounds like. The three women are accused of throwing two- and three-year-olds into an arena where the toddlers were told to duke it out, reports CBS....
You know you want to quit, but something is holding you back. Is it that you are afraid of an uncertain future? Maybe you’re worried about making less money? You think people will look down at you for getting out of the business? These may be the reasons you aren’t leaving, but they are bad reasons for staying in a job you can’t stand. Here’s why: Of course, the future is uncertain!...
In the all-too-familiar saga of immigrant children separated from their parents, a few toddlers are still getting left behind. Though President Trump did sign a bill authorizing the reunification of “tender age” children with their families months ago, there are a few that continue to be separated from their parents, over six months and counting. These parents have been deemed “ineligible” for reunification, based on past crimes. Though this makes sense for some crimes, such as child or sexual abuse, one three-year-old girl in particular is being separated from her father for misdemeanor crimes he committed over twelve years ago....
Who is the “Yale poopetrator”? Yale University police are hot on the heels of a serial laundry-tamperer who is pooping and peeing all over students’ laundry. Considering how much effort it takes to do laundry – let alone for silver spoon-fed ivy league college students – this is truly the crappiest prank to pull. Yale Police have opened an official investigation. But will the po-pos catch the poopetrator? Students coined the unknown culprit or culprits “the poopetrator” after fellow student Lucy Fleming’s clothes were crapped on while in the laundry room’s dryer on Sept....
Lilly the Deer gets her happy ending, after all. We previously discussed the legal uncertainty of Lilly’s future with her human family – technically, the family needed to a permit to keep her. But now, the 5-year-old white-tailed doe will be allowed to stay with the family. The humans have raised the animal from birth after her mother was killed by a car. Attorney and former Genesee County Circuit Judge Val Washington won the legal battle with Michigan’s Department of Natural Resources (DNR) over Lilly’s fate, reports the New York Daily News....
A man dubbed the “Hipster Bandit” has been busted after a series of bank robberies in Oregon. Harvie Dale Oglesby III was arrested by Portland police after he allegedly robbed a credit union last week, reports the Portland Police Bureau. In true hipster fashion, the 40-year-old Oglesby reportedly made his getaway on a bicycle, because even alleged bank robber hipsters must be environmentally conscious. Oglesby earned his “Hipster Bandit” nickname based on his appearance during prior bank robberies....
Applying to law school is an exciting time for prospective law students. And for those applicants that are more interested in starting law school than going to a particular law school, applying to a couple “safety-net” schools isn’t the worst idea. Of course, minimally, you need to ensure that every school you apply to is ABA accredited. However, there are a few benefits to carefully selecting your backup schools. Below you can read three tips on figuring out which backup school is right for you....
Despite how annoying it is, law profs across the country still use the Socratic method, often referred to as cold calling. Naturally, this means that law students across the country actively do their best to not get called on in class, or just over-prepare out of fear of being called on. In some classes, professors will keep count to make sure they call on everyone fairly, while other profs will just look to see who isn’t paying attention and call on them....
Renting a storage unit is usually a run-of-the-mill experience. You rent a space, you buy a lock, you put stuff in the space, you put your lock on the door, then return once a year to add more stuff until you need to upgrade to a larger or second space. Occasionally though, you hear about crazy crimes or just really weird occurrences that happen at self-storage locations, and you feel thankful that you’ve never had that experience....
