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Welcome to law school. You’ve made it through orientation, and now all that’s left is surviving the year that gives law school a bad name. Here are some sought-after tricks and tips to see you through first year, simply known as 1L. Advice for 1L’s: Related Resources: Don’t worry too much about how others answer questions in class. Hearing your last name preceded by a “Ms.” or “Mr.” is enough to make any law student suffer from sweaty palms and a pacing heartbeat, and when your classmates begin being called on you may find yourself lost in the Socratic haze....

Did anyone not see this coming? We’ve seen sign after sign after sign of decreased demand for law school seats: fewer LSAT takers, fewer applications, dismal post-graduation job prospects, and more. We’ve seen some schools cut class sizes, one cut a campus, and a few that obstinately refuse to correct for market forces and actually increased the number of seats available. How’s the situation looking industry-wide? According to the ABA’s latest enrollment data, there were a few ticks’ worth of decline, which, coming on the heels of a few past years’ worth of decline, amounts to the lowest number of law students matriculating in decades....

The fun police at the FAA have struck again, grounding a beer drone operation that served as a promising new way to locally deliver microbrews. Minnesota-based Lakemaid Beer was experimenting with delivering its product – called “the fisherman’s lager” – to ice fisherman on the state’s frozen lakes via unmanned drone, NPR reports. That is, until the Federal Aviation Administration dropped the hammer. Why are drone beer deliveries so high on the FAA’s radar?...

Good news for those that love buying signed collectibles: As of January 1, 2017, dealers in the state of California that sell signed collectibles are now required to provide a certificate of authenticity for any signed collectible worth over $5. While the law doesn’t apply to private individuals conducting sales, there are still several concerns about the new law for consumers. Whether it is a piece of fine art, a Jeremy Bulloch signed Star Wars action figure, some ultra-rare Christopher Rush signed Magic: the Gathering cards, or a signed Darryl Strawberry rookie card, if it’s worth more than $5, a collectibles dealer risks serious legal consequences by not providing the legally required and rather specific certificate of authenticity....

California. This state, often derisively referred to as the “People’s Republic of California,” has a reputation as a wee-bit left-leaning. It might come as a surprise to some, then, that the state’s high court is actually almost exclusively made up of Republican appointees, and is seen by many as a moderate to conservative court. That might be changing soon, however, with Gov. Jerry Brown expected to nab a second term in the fall....

The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals has given the Federal Trade Commission a week to file a response to a lawsuit against search giant Google’s new privacy policy. The D.C. Circuit’s decision to expedite the case came two days after the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) filed a lawsuit against the FTC last Wednesday. EPIC reportedly contends that Google’s new privacy policy violates Google’s settlement with the FTC over previous allegations of privacy invasion....

The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeal refused to review a direct appeal of a U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission rule on position limits on Friday. Holding that neither the Commodity Exchange Act nor the Dodd-Frank law gave it the jurisdiction to consider a direct appeal, the court ruled that the petitioners must take the position limits rule to a trial court first. “Initial review occurs at the appellate level only when a direct-review statute specifically gives the court of appeals subject-matter jurisdiction to directly review agency action,” the D....

Employers need social media policies. After all, pretty much everyone is on a social network today, even my luddite stepfather, who refuses to carry a cell phone, yet has Google+ and LinkedIn profiles. And the combination of social media, search engines, and blogs writing about lawyers makes it easy to find and magnify the biggest blunders lawyers make online. It’s no surprise then that BigLaw firms, such as Milbank, have social media policies....

This may come as a shock to many, but if you are under federal jurisdiction in the ocean, you can go fishing with your favorite Glock. The video posted to YouTube last month by Courtland Hunt, a Floridian, shows off his prowess at shooting Lionfish with his modified Glock 9mm pistol while underwater. Lionfish are an invasive species that Florida wildlife officials are asking fisherman to actively seek as the species is destroying reefs at an alarming rate....

A Florida woman decided the strippers at a Clearwater strip club weren’t quite getting the job done. That’s when Natalie Behnke, 25, strutted onto the Baby Dolls Lounge stage and started to disrobe and dance. She took her clothes off, danced, and asked customers for money, according to the Huffington Post. Baby Dolls Lounge is a gentleman’s club, so why was Behnke’s strip show so improper? It’s because Behnke doesn’t actually work at Baby Dolls Lounge....

It’s back-to-school season, and that includes you law students. So, we hope you’ve enjoyed your summer internships. If you’re lucky, you might have even gotten a bit of vacation in there. Now, it’s back to the grind. Here are five tips to help you get back into the law school state of mind and to help keep you at the top of your game when you’re there, from the FindLaw archives....

Gov. Jerry Brown has released a revised California budget, and it does not include new money for the courts. State Supreme Court Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye is not impressed. “Under this proposed budget, trial courts receive a little more than a penny for every general-fund tax dollar, less than what the courts were receiving before the Great Recession,” she said in a statement. “This is neither fair nor just.” In his initial budget, the governor added $35....

In US v. Celis, No. 07-3075, the D.C. Circuit affirmed defendants’ convictions for conspiring to import cocaine and to manufacture and distribute cocaine for import into the United States, on the ground that, in issuing and managing a protective order, the district court accommodated the government’s law enforcement interests in a manner that did not impermissibly intrude upon appellants’ Sixth Amendment rights and did not result in prejudice that would require reversal of their convictions....

It’s not racism because I’m a minority too. It’s not sexist because I’m a woman too. It’s not a hate crime because I’m gay too? On Cinco de Mayo, two gay men were beaten during a brawl. The victims claim it was a hate crime. The defendant claims he’s gay too, so it’s not a hate crime. Is being gay a defense to a gay hate crime? The Brawl Jonathan Snipes and Ethan York-Adams were leaving a New York restaurant called Dallas BBQ....

We’re probably a long ways away from colonizing Mars, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t plenty of people out there giving space exploration their best efforts. And unlike the Space Race, a lot of our extraterrestrial adventures now involve private actors. Elon Musk, the Silicon Valley billionaire behind Tesla and SpaceX, wants to send humans to the Red Planet ASAP. Virgin Galactic is planning on flying you to space – some day....

What does transparency mean to you? For J.D. Ethan Haines it means a lot. Haines, who authors the blog UnemployedJD and describes himself as a “self-designated J.D. Class Representative”, is on a hunger strike to promote transparency among law schools with specific regard to their employment statistics. He tapped 10 random law schools from the top 100 to respond to 2 requests: There’s not a ton the world seems to knows about Mr....

Former Reagan press secretary James Brady’s death earlier this month has been ruled a homicide by the District of Columbia medical examiner, apparently based on his being shot in 1981 by John Hinckley Jr. Hinckley was trying to assassinate President Reagan but failed; instead, he wounded both Reagan and Brady, who was shot in the head. A jury found Hinckley not guilty by reason of insanity (he said he’d shot Reagan to impress actress Jodie Foster, whom he had been stalking), though he didn’t go free....

The last person one would ever expect to accuse an item of being distasteful and “nausea-inducing” is Lady Gaga. A U.K. ice cream parlor–The Icecreamists–made headlines when it began to sell Baby Gaga–a breast milk ice cream flavored with vanilla and lemon zest. Local officials confiscated the concoction, returning it only after it tested safe. In an odd turn of events, Lady Gaga is accusing the parlor of promoting a nauseating and intentionally provocative product....

Cris Carter, who is a former all-pro wide receiver, current NFL broadcast personality, Hall of Famer, and most certainly not an attorney, nevertheless had some sage legal advice for NFL noobs at last year’s rookie symposium: “If y’all got a crew, you got to have a fall guy in the crew.” Children, listen to your elder, who was banned his senior season in college for signing with an agent, cut from his first pro team for drug and alcohol abuse, and seemingly has no idea how the criminal justice system works....

A North Carolina man’s attempt to get his 15 minutes of fame landed him behind bars for assault, after he shoved a local news reporter and yelled a racial slur on live TV. Justin Moore, 20, of Charlotte, N.C., jumped in front of a TV news camera in Myrtle Beach, S.C., and pushed the reporter “nearly to the ground,” WMBF-TV reports. The incident aired live during the station’s 11 p.m. newscast April 18....