In the wake of prosecutors who seem to have tepid interest in charging police officers for shooting unarmed black men, Marilyn Mosby, the State’s Attorney for the City of Baltimore, is a breath of fresh air. Last week, she announced criminal charges against six police officers allegedly involved in the death of Freddie Gray, who was arrested and placed in a police van, then emerged half an hour later with a severed spine....
He’s only trying to help. That is the way that lawyers for billionaire Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban are spinning an usual request to the judge in Cuban’s insider trading case. Due to a huge number of documents in the case, it is taking the Securities and Exchange Commission attorneys a long time to review the relevant documents and produce the ones Cuban’s attorneys want to review. So Cuban has offered to dig into his own deep pockets and hire some contract attorneys to help the government out....
Beards were once fairly common in the legal profession, even if they were never the norm. Portraits of the Supreme Court under Justice Waite show a few Stonewall Jackson look-alikes, though the last Justice to sport a full beard, Justice George Sutherland, stepped down in 1938. A few generations later, beards are booming again. From Brooklyn hipsters, to college professors, to Hollywood stars, beards are everywhere. But, are they appropriate for lawyers?...
For Keith Simmonds Jr., chewing off his fingertips to conceal his identity after escaping from a cop car would perhaps be less painful than the thought of going back to prison. An ex-convict from New Jersey, Simmonds was arrested on drug charges during a traffic stop after police found marijuana in a car he was driving, the Associated Press reports. Apparently, going back to prison was not an option for Simmonds....
Shopping for lawyers is never easy, especially if you consider the fact that the person you are shopping for is a lawyer, or will be one very soon. Lawyers are, by nature, picky, and by trade, generally able to buy whatever they want for themselves, or will be able to very soon at least. And with Black Friday fast approaching (or already past depending on when you read this), time is already running out to find that perfect gift....
After three years of lobbying, cab drivers in Chicago finally got their wish – a Chicago cab vomit tax. When a cab driver gets a call late on a Friday or Saturday night, there’s a pretty good chance that the cab driver is picking up an inebriated passenger. Just how inebriated these passengers are (and just how sturdy their stomachs are) is purely the luck of the draw. Unlucky cab drivers could get stuck with a customer with a weak stomach and too much to drink, leading to puke all over the cab....
Look, no one really likes jury duty, but it’s not really a good idea to lie your way out of it. Or to brag about doing so on the radio. Susan Cole of Denver was arrested Thursday and is accused of faking PTSD to get out of jury duty. She allegedly showed up to court in clown makeup, a t-shirt, a dress skirt and reindeer socks. She was also wearing hair curlers and two different shoes....
So much for being reformed. Former LSU safety Tyrann “Honey Badger” Mathieu has been arrested on drug-related charges. Mathieu and three other former LSU football players were busted on a variety of charges related to marijuana, reports ESPN. Honey Badger’s chances of returning to LSU, not to mention his NFL prospects, may have just gone up in smoke. And just like on the football field, these former LSU players can point their finger and blame ex-quarterback Jordan Jefferson....
Late-night TV or sex with your girlfriend? A Florida man chose TV – and then called the cops after his rejected lover attacked him in a fit of rage. The dramatic confrontation began when the cohabitating couple returned to their Port St. Lucie, Fla., home after a night of drinking at a friend’s house, the website The Smoking Gun reports. It ended with the 27-year-old boyfriend running down the street dressed only in his underwear, and calling 911 with his girlfriend in hot pursuit....
Everyone can feel the changes taking place: marijuana, for better or worse, is gaining wider acceptance amongst the general public across the nation, despite its continued status as a controlled substance under the CSA. But where does this leave weed in the Golden State? Or more importantly, where does this leave cannabis businesses in California? The law is shaky in this area. Maybe one of the best things lawyers can do is to become at least broadly familiar with the law and understand how we got here....
A bear mauled a man after he drunkenly tried to feed the animal, according to Alaska State Troopers. Now the man may get bitten again – this time, by the law. The unidentified man was at a church picnic at a lake north of Anchorage when he decided to break away for a bike ride, bringing with him leftover food from the barbecue, according to the Anchorage Daily News. Troopers report that he flung barbecued meat at the bear....
As a lowly summer or first-year associate, one of the things you will definitely be tasked to do is write a memo. And while you wrote a legal memo in your legal writing class, you can be sure that writing one at your fancy BigLaw firm will be nothing like your law school homework assignment. Getting an assignment to write a memo should not send you screaming home trying to dig up your legal writing book to figure out what the hell goes into a memo....
Behind every lawsuit, there is a true story. It may not be apparent in the complaint, but it drives the litigation. In People of the State of California v. Ashford University, the real story starts with the second defendant named in the caption: Bridgeport Education, Inc. Bridgeport owns the private university, which rocketed to $120 million in profits annually in ten years. State Attorney General Xavier Becerra says the defendants defrauded students....
In subscriber’s suit against defendant for disseminating false advertising to induce him and others to purchase more expensive high definition services, trial court’s order denying plaintiffs’ motion for class certification is affirmed as the trial court did not apply an improper criterion in addressing the class certification issue and because it stated at least one valid reason for denying the motion for class certification. Read Cohen v. DIRECTV, Inc., No. B204986 [PDF]...
Will the Department of Health and Human Services be forced to carve out an Affordable Care Act exemption for religious institutions that are opposed to paying for health insurance that includes contraception? There’s a regulatory mandate under the Affordable Care Act which requires employers to include contraception coverage in their employer health plans. Some religious organizations are exempt from the regulation. The appellants, Bellmont Abbey College and Wheaton College, are not....
Last week, we reported on a patent malpractice case that was brought in the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals. The Federal Circuit, while the proper court for patent infringement cases, can also be the proper court to bring an action for malpractice in patent law. The law firm of Gibbons P.C. was sued in the Federal Circuit by Herman Minkin and H&M Aeronaut Tool Company, Inc. The plantiffs’ alleged that the law firm committed legal malpractice in prosecuting the patent application for a hand tool called “extended reach pliers....
The Independence Institute, a Colorado nonprofit, wanted to run a radio advertisement before the November 4 election. The ad urges the two U.S. senators from Colorado to support the Justice Safety Valve Act. Not really a problem, except that Independence Institute didn’t want to have to disclose the contributors to the communication, as required by (what’s left of) the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA). Trying to Move the Goalposts “Issue advocacy” involves attempting to get voters to vote some way on a particular issue without naming candidates; “express advocacy” urges voters to vote for or against a specific candidate....
Another summer, another drunk ice cream man. Yassir Hassan was arrested in suburban Philadelphia on Friday on suspicion of driving under the influence. But his inebriated state was quickly forgotten after officers searched his treat truck. In addition to ice cream, he was toting around bottles of urine–one of which was stored in the freezer. As officers tell it, a do-gooder alerted emergency services after he saw Yassir Hassan weaving down the highway, reports the Philadelphia Daily News....
A Utah man is being charged for making a terrorist threat by federal authorities. He allegedly called in a false bomb threat to a hospital while his wife was giving birth there; apparently, he was upset because he couldn’t attend the event, the Associated Press reports. Michael Morlang was indicted Wednesday and faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Utah said in a press release....
Ted Kaczynski. He made the black hoodie famous at least ten years before Mark Zuckerberg even became a blip on your radar. He has his own manifesto and some hardcore aviators. Want a piece of him? Check out the Unabomber auction. Pursuant to an order granted by federal Judge Garland Burrell, the U.S. Marshals Service will be holding a Unabomber auction next week that will include personal documents, typewriters, letters, tools and photos that belong to Ted Kaczynski....
