Posts

California’s State Constitution does not guarantee children a minimum quality K-12 education, according to the First District Court of Appeal in San Francisco. The decision was reached amidst broad attention being directed towards the K-12 spending debate. The disappointed plaintiffs have announced that they will appeal to the California Supreme Court. The court upheld the lower court’s decision to throw out the consolidated cases of Campaign for Quality Education v. California and Robles-Wong v....

In the wake of Jovan Belcher’s murder-suicide, it is now being reported that Baltimore Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs was recently required to surrender several guns to authorities as part of a domestic dispute. Suggs’ long-time girlfriend Candace Williams reportedly filed for a court order last month following a domestic violence incident, The Baltimore Sun reports. Suggs lawfully possessed the guns, but turned them in to police as part of the court order....

And now for a little Friday fun. We’re big fans of Texas Supreme Court Justice Don Willett around these parts. He’s an Ice Cube fan and consistently brings a levity to Twitter that feels rare among his judicial colleagues. It seems like there’s nothing this justice can’t make funny, but what about when it comes to one of the most sacred announcements concerning human relationships? Congratulations! Among his normal stream of wit and writerly advice to young lawyers, Justice Willett tweeted this yesterday:...

Last year, associate attorneys topped the Forbes list of unhappiest jobs, beating out customer service reps, clerks and legal assistants. Garbage collectors, dishwashers and janitors didn’t even make the list. Seriously? People who have to clean up other people’s messes have less to whine about than associates? Well, they’re doing a job that makes the world a better place every day; maybe that makes a difference. Or maybe we should look at The Wall Street Journal’s longer and arguably more sensible list....

And they say all the ahem, unique individuals live in California. Here is a dispatch of legal and possibly medical mayhem from Santa Fe, New Mexico. One Arthur Firstenberg, is suing his next door neighbor for $530,000 for making him sick. By using her iPhone. According to the excellent account by the Santa Fe Reporter, plaintiff Firstenberg claims he suffers from hypersensitivity to the low-level electromagnetic radiation emitted by cell phones and Wi-Fi routers causing him “nausea, vertigo, diarrhea, ringing in the ears, severe headaches and body aches, crippling joint pains, insomnia, impaired vision [and] impaired muscular control....

Cease-and-desist letters are an everyday thing for owners of intellectual property, especially since the advent of the Internet. A site shares content without permission, and you, young lawyer, must convince them to take it down immediately. It sounds simple, right? Just write a letter, recite some law, and the site owner will see the light or be scared into submission. And yet, the simple cease-and-desist task is so often botched, that at least once a month, a bad letter makes the rounds on the law blogs....

It’s bar study season, once again. If you’re one of the many thousands of miserable JDs currently in that process, it’s not going to be a picnic for you. Unless you really hate picnics and find them ant filled, sun-screen coated miseries, in which case, it will be exactly like a 2-month-long picnic. It’s expensive. In other words, you will be broke. The bar does not leave much time for you to commit to your other sources of income....

A pair of Pennsylvania teens has been arrested for allegedly burglarizing a suburban Philadelphia home to bake pot brownies. Police in Perkiomen Township say that the two 17-year-old boys were found with drug paraphernalia and more than two pounds of marijuana. The two are currently facing charges in Montgomery County Juvenile Court, reports The Huffington Post. How could the teens be accused of burglary if they didn’t take anything? Burglary: No Theft Required The crime of burglary is most commonly associated with unlawfully entering a house or business in order to commit theft, the taking of another person’s property....

Not to be outdone by President Trump, who is poised to nominate a new justice to the U.S. Supreme Court, Gov. Jerry Brown stepped into the limelight by naming 12 new judges in California. Unlike the president, the governor does not have to go through a confirmation process for most of his appointees. There is no confirmation for Superior Court judges in California. Brown’s appeals court nominees, however, will have to be approved by the state Commission on Judicial Appointments....

A weight-loss doctor is facing sexual assault charges after touching patients inappropriately during ‘fat-burning’ massages. Arie Oren, who labeled his sexual advances as an “extra-special treat” for shedding pounds, was arrested Monday in Montgomery County, Pa. on indecent-assault charges. Investigators believe he told at least one that sex with him would help her lose weight and another she could burn 200 calories by having an orgasm. Prosecutors say Arie Oren, 64, touched at least six women inappropriately when they came for consultation at his Conshohocken Weight Control clinic, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports....

Oh, Ryan Leaf. Arrested two times in one weekend? Such a shame. But not at all surprising. Montana police picked up the former NFL quarterback on Sunday, just two days after he was released on a $76,000 bond. The first arrest, which occurred on Friday, involved accusations of burglary and felony possession of prescription drugs. The second arrest? The same exact thing. Leaf is currently serving 10 years of probation on a suspended sentence for a similar crime....

The Federal Aviation Administration is cracking down on the use of drones near major sporting events. Regulating the airspace around sporting events isn’t new. Following the 9/11 attacks in 2001, the FAA designated stadiums as national defense airspace, prohibiting aircraft from coming within 3 miles or under 3,000 feet of stadiums during games, reports The Verge. But the agency recently clarified how this rule affects the use of remote controlled and unmanned drones....

Gilda Indus., Inc. v. US, 09-1492, concerned the government’s challenge to the decision of the Court of International Trade holding that a retaliatory duty order assessing duties against certain imports of a Spanish company had terminated by operation of law in ordering liquidation of the company’s goods without assessment of the duty, and ordering the government to refund, with interest, the 100 percent ad valorem duty the company paid on products imported after the retaliatory duties expired....

Decisions in patent appeals often involve long winded explanations that delve deep into technical specifications, discuss the various merits of the competing interests, and provide detailed exposition of how the ultimate decision was reached. However, sometimes, on appeal, all the circuit court really needs to say is “no error, judgment affirmed.” In the most recent of Google’s patent appeals on the Federal Circuit Court of Appeal’s docket, the court rejected the search giant’s contention that a patent held by Network-1 was actually unpatentable....

Employers are required to file a W-2 for every paid employee. The W-2 lists the identities of the employer and the employee, the amount that an employee has been paid, and the taxes that have been withheld by the employer. The Social Security Administration (SSA) processes Forms W-2 for the IRS. On occasion, the employee’s name and Social Security number as listed on a Form W-2 do not match the SSA’s database....

Step back, New York Times. Law students and attorneys no longer need you to tell the world that law school is a losing game. No, the hedge fund managers have entered the discussion, and they’ve got numbers on their side. One such manager, Daniel Ades, has gone so far as to call law school a “sucker’s bet”–something that has low returns for both students and investors. He suggests that burgeoning lawyers head to technical school instead....

It may not be a good life choice, but law school can be pretty amazing. Thanks to the lockers – and Barrister’s Ball – it’s essentially your second shot at high school. Except in law school, you can drink beer legally. Hell, the school may even provide it. Perhaps it was in one of those glorious law school moments – under the influence of awesomeness, nostalgia, and just a few beers – that a trio of friends decided to trade lives as members of the bar for lives behind the bar....

To hear one lawyer’s story, you really can get lost in the paperwork. He was a “discovery attorney” at a BigLaw firm, where he nearly faded into anonymity. After 10 years in the basement answering and writing interrogatories, he quit with a question to his colleagues: “Who are these discovery attorneys?” he posed. If you don’t know, he said, they actually exist. Discovery Attorney The lawyer emailed his co-workers at WilmerHale that he was leaving “with a heavy heart....

Life lesson of the week: “No good deed goes unpunished.” - Wicked In Georgia, Michael Hammons, hero to animal lovers, saved a dog from a hot car, and was awarded with a pair of handcuffs. This debacle all started when Hammons and a group of shoppers noticed a dog left inside a Mustang convertible on a hot day. While other shoppers called police, Hammons, an Army veteran, jumped into action. He used his wife’s wheelchair leg to smash the window and save the dog....

Eating competitions or challenges are not always about quantity, like the famous Ol’ 96er from the Great Outdoors. A relatively recent trend involves spicy food – specifically the heat of the ghost pepper. A quick Youtube search for “Ghost Pepper Challenge” will bring up countless videos of individuals attempting to eat the incredibly hot fruit, and generally failing to not remark on the pain. However, ghost peppers can be downright dangerous....