Posts

Student debt: It’s soul crushing, crippling to recent grads and even slowing down the whole economy. For many students, though, it’s also entirely inevitable. Thankfully, U.S. News & World Report, the world’s largest list-making conglomerate, has released a new set of rankings. This time, instead of segregating the “Top 16” from the “Third Tier Toilets,” caring Internet commenters’ shorthand for the highest and lowest ranked law schools, they focused on what really matters – debt....

Fourteen years in the NFL. Three teams. One Super Bowl championship. Five trips to the Pro Bowl. None of those statistics matter when you are suspected of at least eight sexual assaults and 11 druggings in four states. Darren Sharper, who is currently being held without bond in Los Angeles as he awaits trial on two rape charges there, also has two charges pending in Tempe, Arizona. And this morning, he was charged, along with two accomplices, with two more counts of aggravated sexual assault, this time in New Orleans, reports USA Today....

If you thought working in the litigation department of BigLaw meant that you would be litigating cases, or even see a courtroom, you are just too cute. Your innocence astonishes – I should know, I was one of those people with dreams of litigating cases in S.D.N.Y. for big corporate clients. Instead, I spent much of my time at BigLaw in an office full of boxes – doing a document review....

Former Patriot and accused murderer Aaron Hernandez had his mansion seized by the courts on Thursday as part of an pending wrongful death lawsuit. The ex-athlete’s home in North Attleborough, Massachusetts, now has a judicial hold on it, preventing Hernandez from selling the $1.26 million property, reports The Boston Globe. The court order stems from a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of Odin Lloyd, the 27-year-old man Hernandez is charged with killing....

Ahem, it’s actually the American Bar Association’s Task Force on the Future of Legal Education. Either way, they need to take another look and issue a second (technically, fourth) draft. The final report, which the ABA Journal notes is barely different than the task force’s previous working paper and draft reports, presents 41 pages of recommendations, some of which are good, and some of which are absolutely terrible. What does the task force’s imaginary “future” look like?...

While we’ve taken our shots at the “practice-ready” curriculum and “JD advantage,” if you’re at a law school where those buzzwords percolate, chances are your job prospects aren’t that awesome (otherwise, the career services office would be talking about actual practice jobs, not “sort of law-related” jobs). You’ve made your bed. No use crying over spilt milk. And other cliches. Lots of lower-tier law schools are trying to make their students attractive by giving them other skills....

BigLaw associates are still tipsy over recent news that many of the hallowed BigLaw firms (including Cravath, which has led the charge) bumped first year associate pay to $180,000. But in these uncertain economic times, it’s understandable that some parties might have some misgivings about this development. Take Bank of America’s reaction, for example: “Don’t expect us to fund your expensive new associates.” $180,000, the New Normal? BigLaw headlines have been abuzz for several weeks now with news that some of the nation’s most recognized top law firms have been competing with each other with regards to associate compensation....

South African Caster Semenya has been cleared to return to competition after the International Associate of Athletics Federations ruled that Semenya is a woman. The IAAF had been investigating Semenya’s gender for the past year. Semenya was investigated after she won the 800m by a large margin, setting a new world record. Tests allegedly showed that Semenya is a hermaphrodite. Semenya could make her return at the World Junior Championships in Canada....

Domestic violence, a crime police and prosecutors once considered a family matter, has become a central focus for law enforcement and victim’s advocates. The media has shone the most light on domestic abuse involving professional athletes. While the Ray Rice incident, with accompanying brutal video footage, might’ve gained the most attention recently, a new investigation shows that domestic abuse arrests among MMA (mixed martial arts) fighters is twice that of the general population and triple that of NFL players....

We may not quite be living in the world of Gattaca, but it seems like only a matter of time before researchers figure out what they’re actually doing with CRISPR. The recent decision in the University of California v. Broad Institute patent war over a CRISPR-cas9 gene editing method could have wide reaching implications. A panel of justices at the federal circuit court of appeals upheld the PTAB’s ruling the Broad Institute’s patent for using the CRISPR-cas9 method on plant and animal cells....

Increasingly, students are motivated to pursue BigLaw simply as a way to eliminate their monumental debt-load as quickly as possible. It’s the price one must pay to be educated as an attorney these days. Of course, getting into BigLaw is easier said that done – and one of the most tried and true methods is going to the right school. We’ve been looking at some of the more popular lists released by the National Law Journal and the eponymous U....

Police in Boise, Idaho arrested Victoria Hill on Thursday after the 35-year-old woman walked into a local grocery store and left without paying for her 23 ounce can of high-alcohol Steel Reserve beer. Hill has now been charged with felony burglary–a crime that carries with it a sentence of no less than one year, but also no more than 10 years. Wait, since when does stealing a $1.50 can of beer from a open grocery store equate to felony burglary?...

How a sex addiction and drug addiction joined forces to ruin the career of sexting DA Kenneth Katz. Kenneth Kratz is the former Calumet County District Attorney in Wisconsin. Two years ago, Katz got in trouble when he sent sexually suggestive text messages to a victim of domestic violence during the prosecution of the woman’s ex-boyfriend. After the incident became public, Kratz lost his job, his money, and his wife. Now, Kratz says he’s never been happier, reports the Green Bay Press Gazette....

Donald Trump released a list of 11 potential Supreme Court nominees yesterday. The list included none of the usual suspects like former Solicitor General Paul Clement. Indeed, Trump seems to have avoided almost all markers of “establishment” Supreme Court candidates. There is not a Harvard law grad in the bunch. What former SCOTUS clerks are included were more likely to clerk for Justice Thomas than the Chief Justice, or even Scalia....

In plaintiff’s suit against defendants for violations of California’s Disabled Persons Act (DPA), alleging the countertops in defendant’s business establishments were allegedly too high to allow wheelchair access, dismissal pursuant to defendant’s demurrer is reversed where, because a Florida federal case was resolved by a consent decree expressly reserving any damage claims, res judicata does not bar this claim for damages. Read Louie v. BFS Retail & Commercial Operations, LLC, No....

Even the National Football League Commissioner admitted that referees botched a late non-pass interference call in the NFC championship game between the Los Angeles Rams and the New Orleans Saints. “It’s a play that should be called,” Roger Goodell admitted this week before the Rams, who won the game, will face the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl. “We’re going to make sure that we do everything possible to address the issues going forward and see if there are improvements we can make with instant replay or anything else....

Enovsys LLC. v. Nextel Communications, Inc., 09-1167, involved a patent infringement suit against Sprint Nextel Corporation and its various subsidiaries, claiming that Sprint Nextel’s iDEN and CDMA wireless networks infringed two patents covering inventions that use global positioning satellites (GPS) and ground control stations to determine the physical location of mobile devices. The jury found in favor of plaintiff in finding that Sprint Nextel infringed both patents and awarded approximately $2....

Defendant’s conviction for misdemeanor indecent exposure is affirmed as defendant’s contention that his right to a fair trial was violated by the security measures used during the trial (specifically, a deputy accompanying defendant and being near him while he testified) is rejected. Read People v. Sanchez, No. E048972 [HTML] Read People v. Sanchez, No. E048972 [PDF] Appellate Information Filed December 23, 2009 Judges Opinion by Judge Ramirez CounselFor Appellant: David L....

A psychologist’s license has been suspended after he left his laptop with a prostitute. The device contained the personal information of hundreds of his patients, investigators say. Sunil Kakar, 46, of Gig Harbor, Washington, handed his laptop to a prostitute as a form of collateral in February, hoping that she would wait for him to retrieve money from an ATM, according to The Seattle Times. Instead, the prostitute took the laptop and pawned it....

Fred Davis has no legal training. Nor does the alleged pimp who sued him. Yet both are representing themselves in this strange lawsuit that involves fights in clubs, player balls, and hilarious exchanges before a judge. Fred Davis is accused of throwing a drink on a woman’s head and then assaulting and threatening to kill her, reports the Washingtonian. Davis says the woman, Makini Chaka, made it all up because she’s mad at Davis for not picking her up at an airport....