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Chief Judge Randall R. Rader, of the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals, has announced today that he is resigning his post as Chief Judge of the Federal Circuit. In a speech he gave at a Federal Circuit Bar Association program this morning, Judge Rader stated: Why the sudden resignation? May 30, 2012 was my first day as Chief Judge of the Federal Circuit. May 30, 2014 will be my last. In a week, I will step aside as Chief Judge of the Federal Circuit, opening the position for the new Chief Judge Sharon Prost....

Trevor Douglas says he believes in the “botanical messiah” and that smoking marijuana is a holy sacrament. But a Colorado judge disagreed. He was found guilty of possession of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia and driving an unregistered vehicle, the Associated Press reports. Douglas argued that cannabis is similar to the breaking of bread and drinking of wine in Catholic Holy Communion. “I believe that, as mentioned in the Bible, cannabis is the tree of life,” said Douglas who represented himself in a two-hour long trial....

One of Ben Ferencz’s most important cases was also his first. He was 27 years old. It was 1947. Ferencz, fresh from fighting World War II, was made chief prosecutor of the Einsatzgruppen Case, part of the post-war Nuremburg trials. It was his first trial. Ferencz won, obtaining convictions for 22 Nazi leaders who had organized and led death squads throughout Europe, killing more than one million people. That trial alone could have cemented his legacy....

Malla Pollack, a lawyer and resident of Kentucky, wants work for the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts in Washington, D.C. The Administrative Office rejected her application because she doesn’t live or work in the Washington metropolitan area. So she sued. Considering that Pollack just wiped the floor with the government’s lawyers in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, maybe they should consider hiring her. Pollack applied online for a job as an Attorney-Advisor at the Administrative Office (AO), the central administrative support organization for the federal judiciary....

The last pain anyone would expect to experience in a tattoo shop is from cuts and bruises caused by a sword attack. But in one Orlando, Florida tattoo parlor, that’s exactly what happened when homeless convict Jason Lynn Gay attacked the shop owner and his client. There were also a guitar and glass table involved. For some reason, Gay thought Walker and his customer had called him a “chain gang punk,” so he decided to retaliate....

If you want to know what lawyers do and how they think without shelling out the big bucks to go to law school, enrolling in the University of Colorado’s “Mini Law School” may be the answer for you. The mini law school is based on the university’s popular mini med school that has been going on for the past 25 years. Attending real law school can cost you roughly $35,000 a year not to mention the costs for books, housing, and other expenses....

If you were a prisoner in upstate New York looking for help with your parole case, the NYS Prisoner Assistance Center and an attorney named Mario Vrendenburg might’ve looked like a good option. Over 400 other prisoners and their families thought the same, handing over more than $23,000 to have the firm handle administrative parole appeals and other legal matters. The only problem, according to the New York Attorney General’s office, is that there was no NYS Prisoner Assistance Center, Mario Vrendenburg was actually Antonia Barrone, and the fake firm was run out of Barrone’s home....

After the Dunkin’ Donuts robbers and the Dunkin’ Donuts snot, you knew this was coming: A Dunkin’ Donuts prostitute. Police in Rockaway, New Jersey have arrested Melissa Redmond, a night-shift employee, for offering up her own sexual services along with coffee and donuts. They cheekily called the sting operation “Extra Sugar.” Launched by an anonymous tip, the six-week investigation had Rockaway police staking out the Dunkin’ Donuts on Route 46, reports the Daily Record....

Three-time Olympic runner Suzy Favor Hamilton has apparently been living a double life as a Las Vegas call girl. The former Olympian, the married mother of a 7-year-old girl, has been working as a $600-an-hour call girl named “Kelly Lundy,” according to The Smoking Gun. When confronted by a reporter, Favor Hamilton allegedly said, “I’m owning up to what I did. … I made a huge mistake. Huge,” the website reports....

Americans in search of a legal high used to fly to Amsterdam for its pot cafes. Now, with marijuana legalization and decriminalization spreading across the country, that is less necessary. But many states still have limitations on the canna-biz, allowing medical marijuana sales only to people with a prescription, or no legal pot at all. And none have done what Alaska has, which is pass a law that allows public consumption in a civilized setting, like a cafe....

Tobacco companies won’t have to include disclosures stating that a federal court has ruled they deliberately deceived the American public, the D.C. Circuit ruled last week. While statements about the health consequences and addictiveness of cigarettes can be required, forcing the companies to announce the court’s findings is too backwards looking to be allowed under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. The case is the fifth appeal in a suit that was filed 15 years ago, when the U....

It’s a scene from a zombie apocalypse movie, but with thousands of undead attorneys walking the streets, arms out-stretched, grabbing at anyone in their way. It’s not that hard to image in the United States, which has more lawyers than any other country. And according to a new report, American companies dramatically outspend the rest of the world on legal services. Talk about a corporate nightmare! In House Horror The InHouseBlog reported that American companies are spending “dramatically more on legal services” per every dollar of revenue than their peers around the world....

Welcome to our series about bar prep, something that we know you eager young graduates are concerned about. You thought studying for a law school exam was crazy? Well, welcome to a whole new level of lunacy as you study for the test that determines whether you get to actually be a lawyer. So, you’re wondering, how could I possibly fit all of this studying into one summer? Because I have an economy of time, what’s the most important thing to study?...

When The Huffington Post broke the news that an undercover Al Jazeera investigation uncovered evidence that Peyton Manning received performance-enhancing human growth hormone (HGH), Manning took to ESPN to issue a stern denial: “It’s completely fabricated. Complete trash, garbage.” And now that the documentary featuring the allegations has aired, Manning has told Sports Illustrated’s Peter King that he will “probably” sue Al Jazeera over the report. Defamation claims are notoriously difficult to win for public figures, and Manning has yet to file any lawsuits....

A list of which law firms pay the highest starting salaries may seem strange in today’s economy. After all, you’re bombarded with job market news that’s pretty dismal for attorneys. Many lawyers aren’t getting jobs at all, and many of the ones who do are landing jobs that pay very little. Fortunately for those in the rarefied world of BigLaw, some firms are still pumping out salaries in excess of $160,000 a year, as Above The Law’s David Lat recently pointed out....

An arrest warrant has been issued for the New England Patriots’ Aaron Hernandez, according to media reports. The football star has been in the headlines all week, as authorities investigate the shooting death of his friend Odin Lloyd, whose body was found close to the tight end’s home. Hernandez’s arrest warrant, however, apparently does not accuse the NFL star of murder. Rather, the warrant is being issued for obstruction of justice, according to Boston’s WBZ NewsRadio....

Cocktail parties have been around for a long time, so attorneys have heard for years that legal advice in cocktail party conversation could result in an attorney-client relationship, whether or not the attorney intended to enter such a relationship. Offering legal advice over the Internet can create similar relationships, without the drinks. How can a lawyer keep current on latest trends and rulings at the intersection of attorney ethics and technology?...

Cryogenics, or the practice of freezing dead bodies so that they can be revived in the future, currently occupies a special place between junk science and fraudulent fantasy land. There are a handful of places across the world that will take your money and put your dead body in a frozen tube, until the power fails or gets shut off. While the hope is that your dead body will be revivable in a few hundred, or thousand, years, there’s quite a bit to be skeptical about....

The Federal Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last week in Berry v. Conyers that federal employees in “noncritical sensitive” positions are out of luck if their agencies decide that they are ineligible to hold their jobs. Relying on the Supreme Court’s decision in Department of the Navy v. Egan, the appellate court concluded that the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) cannot review an agency’s determination concerning eligibility of an employee to occupy a “sensitive” position, regardless of whether the position requires access to classified information....

The American Psychological Association (APA) is a nonprofit organization, so it can’t use membership dues for lobbying. That’s why the APA established a subsidiary, the APA Practice Organization (APAPO), to engage in the lobbying that the APA can’t. Of course, the APA still can’t shuttle any part of its membership dues into the APAPO, so it came up with a new tactic: including a line item for a separate “special assessment fee” in its members’ dues statements....