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For many years, it was understood that college athletes retained little, if any, right to their likenesses while they fell under the pseudo-legal “student athlete” distinction. The NCAA was free to use player and school names and images to advertise single games, tournaments, and even video games. That was until Ed O’Bannon sued, and federal courts ruled the NCAA couldn’t deny athletes of the monetary value of their names, images, and likenesses when used for commercial purposes....

High school teachers should be corporate compliance trainers. Why? Because high school teachers have already scaled that pedantic mountain of teaching people information they don’t really want to know. Frankly, if you haven’t noticed, employees are tuning out your corporate compliance training. So if you are charged with teaching such unwilling students, take some cues from your most effective high school teacher – if you can remember that far back....

Law students these days are more diverse than ever before. And going hand in hand with a more diverse law student body, law school leadership is as diverse as it has ever been too. Simply put, diversity is important in education because students benefit from the varied perspective of their classmates and instructors. The real world is diverse, clients and co-workers will be diverse, and when students are exposed to diversity in school, they will be more equipped to handle the real world after graduation....

On social media, for attorneys, there’s a fine line between cracking a few jokes and sharing stories and info, and just being irresponsible and stupid. Believe it or not, what you say on the internet matters for a lot of different reasons. For lawyers, one of the biggest reasons is your and your firm’s potential clients. This isn’t a free speech issue. It’s a what-your-speech-reflects-upon-your-character (and your firm’s character) issue....

Just two weeks into his presidency and Donald Trump has moved quickly to upend the status quo when it comes to immigration. That includes, of course, his recent executive order banning entry of refugees and pausing immigration from seven nations. But it doesn’t end there. Trump could have his sights set on visas for highly skilled workers as well. A recently released draft executive order would overhaul the work-visa programs relied on by many industries, leaving some companies worried....

Former NFL player Kwame Harris has been charged with allegedly attacking his ex-boyfriend outside a California restaurant. And before you reread that, yes, Harris is accused of attacking his ex-boyfriend – confirming that gay people once played (and perhaps currently play) professional football. Kwame Harris was the San Francisco 49ers’ first-round pick in 2003 and played offensive tackle for five seasons. He and his ex-beau, Dimitri Geier, apparently got into a heated argument over soy sauce and underwear, reports the San Mateo Daily Journal....

Should I wear a Santa hat or a Christmas sweater to the office party? Is it alright to drink at the office before New Year’s Eve? Does this fruit cake make me look fat? Decisions about holiday etiquette; they’re almost as hard as deciding what gifts to buy. So here are some general principles, suited particularly for lawyers and their clients at those office parties. Dress for Excess Come on, it’s a party....

Sitting through class in law school can often be tedious. But for students in New York affected by Hurricane Sandy, those make-up classes are going to be even more painful. Like any good dictatorial leader, the American Bar Association mandates down to the minute how much time students must spend in class if a law school wants to keep its accreditation. Without accreditation, a school’s graduates can’t sit for the bar exam in many states, among other disadvantages....

For a professional school you’d hope that the courses offered at law school would all be useful for a career in law. But we’d bet you already know that there are some classes that are worthless when it comes to actually being a lawyer. Black letter law classes are good for exploring different practice areas and practical skills classes can be invaluable if taught well. But then there are those classes that you wonder how they got onto the course list at all....

Increasing tension between Washington and California over the fate of Mexican migrants, Los Angeles joined a growing list of sanctuary cities. The city council unanimously approved a resolution declaring Los Angeles a “sanctuary city,” formally adopting a state law that declared California a “sanctuary state” in 2017. It comes as President Trump fights for a border wall, a battle that shutdown the federal government for weeks. Trump, who wants $5.7 billion for the wall, said he will pull out all federal immigration agents from the state over the sanctuary measures....

A New Jersey man has been charged with burglary after taking a car for a test drive – at midnight, long after the dealership had closed. When David Fletcher, 44, went to a Kia dealership after midnight and saw that a shiny new 2014 Kia had keys in it, he allegedly “decided to take the vehicle for a test drive,” police in Mount Olive, New Jersey, said in a statement, according to NJ....

Major League Baseball has been operating with the benefit of an antitrust exemption for almost a century, a benefit the Ninth Circuit recently declared “one of federal law’s most enduring anomalies.” Many challengers have come at the king of all protections, and, thus far, all have missed. The latest attack came from the city of San Jose, California, who claimed the effort of MLB and the team owners to block the Oakland A’s from relocating to the South Bay was unlawful under laws designed to prohibit monopolies, collusion, and price fixing....

People v. Valdez, G042837, concerned a challenge to the trial court’s conviction of defendant for being an unlicensed driver and fleeing the scene of an injury accident, and the jury’s finding that defendant personally inflicted great bodily injury in the commission of a felony. In reversing in part and remanding, the court held that, because the defendant in this case was not committing or attempting to commit a felony at the time of the accident, the injury suffered during the accident was not inflicted in the course of the commission of a felony or attempted felony within the meaning of Penal Code section 12022....

Every struggling homeowner dreams of sticking it to his mortgage company. Well, one man is living this dream against Wells Fargo, and he has the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act to thank. Patrick Rodgers is doing well for himself. He runs a thriving music promotion business, is up to date on his mortgage, and his house is not “underwater.” In fact, his house is arguably worth more than he owes, which is something his mortgage company, Wells Fargo, isn’t too fond of....

During his State of the Union address, President Trump urged Congress to allow government officials to fire workers who “undermine the public trust or fail the American people.” But under a federal court decision issued the next day, it’s not going to be that easy even for the president. The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia said the head of a consumer protection agency can only be fired for cause....

Why spend years and years of your life going through college, medical school, and residency when you could just steal a white coat and impersonate a doctor instead? A repeat impersonator, Terrance King, of Texas, allegedly dressed up as a doctor at Dallas’ Children’s Medical Center. His escaped included a stolen ambulance, a police chase, and an ignominious end crashing into a BMW. Catch Me If You Can Earlier this week, King reportedly stole a temporary badge and a lab coat, and pretended to be a doctor....

Law and art regularly collide. There are intestacy and divorce battles over art collections. There are copyright infringement lawsuits against pop stars who base their music videos on famous photographs. There are models charged with public lewdness for posing nude … among nude paintings. From March 9 through April 19, SOMArts, located at 934 Brannan Street in San Francisco, will take a closer look at the intersection between law and art in a special exhibition called, “I Am Crime: Art on the Edge of Law....

Today, the D.C. Circuit decided an appeal in an action brought under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) and related statutes. In Schuler v. PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP, No. 08-7115, plaintiffs alleged that defendant accounting firm refused to make plaintiffs partners because of their ages, in violation of the ADEA and its District of Columbia and New York counterparts. The district court granted summary judgment for defendant on the ADEA and D....

Two women, Mrs. Burden and Mrs. Coleman, appealed the decision of the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, denying their claims of indemnity and dependency compensation. Though the fact patterns in each case were different, they had one similarity: at the time of the veterans’ deaths, they were not married. In Mrs. Burden’s case she attempted to show that she was in a common law marriage with Mr. Burden for six years before their ceremonial marriage....

We’ve noted before that, while Reddit’s legal advice section was a decent source of humor, it’s not such a great source of legal advice. So when we saw one humorous looking post, we couldn’t resist taking a look at the ensuing legal advice. “[M]y mom has power of attorney for me (im in my mid twenties) [sic] and now because I haven’t cleaned my room I’m on the verge of being kicked out of the house, sent to a group home, and having my phone turned off,” wrote one user....