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A Michigan man drove 1,900 miles with his girlfriend’s corpse in the passenger seat, and he neglected to report to anyone that she had died. Ray Tomlinson, 62, and his mother, 93, had picked up Tomlinson’s 31-year-old girlfriend from a mental health facility in Arizona and began the long drive home to Detroit. Only one problem: His girlfriend died at some point during the trip. At some point while they drove through the Southwest, Tomlinson discovered that his girlfriend was stone dead in the seat next to him....

Looks like someone took my advice. Just kidding. They probably never read the post. But we do applaud the two law students’ ingenuity and time management skills. When we were in law school, there wouldn’t have been enough time to revolutionize email in between classes and cocktails studying. Revolutionize email? It seems so, if Pluto Mail can deliver. The law student-created startup promises to have unsending, editing (after sending), and auto-expiring features, all of which sound enticing to anyone who has ever accidently sent an email with an unfortunate typo or accidental recipient....

Depending on your law school professors, you may or may not learn the following legal idiom: A lawyer that represents himself or herself has a fool for a client. Unless you’re filing or defending a small claims action, if you’ve got a case, representing yourself is a veritable minefield. Everything you do or say can be held against you, and only those things you say under oath can be used to help you....

If Charlotte School of Law reopens for the spring semester, a different class will be facing administrators: a class action. Students Robert Barchiesi and Lejla Hadzic have sued the law school for taking tuition without telling students that the school was on probation for failing education standards. The American Bar Association cited the school in July for substandard admissions practices, which contributed to consistently low bar pass rates, and ordered administrators to advise its students....

It is too early to tell how the U.S. Supreme Court will rule on patent trolling in a closely watched case, but the justices didn’t seem especially interested in arguments from 32 internet companies that filed as amicus curiae in the case. The companies want the Court to cut off “patent trolls,” who use venue to channel patent litigation to forum-friendly courts – primarily in Texas. But some justices seemed tired of hearing about it....

Does your legal department have an operations professional? If not, it could soon. The legal department operations professional, or LDO, is becoming a key role in many legal departments, according to the 2016 Thomson Reuters Legal Department In-Sourcing and Efficiency Report. Twenty-one percent of departments have an LDO, according to the report, and that number appears to be growing. As corporate legal departments handle more work in house, with little commensurate growth in resources, an LDO can free up attorneys to focus on legal, rather than operational, tasks....

Michael Avenatti is expected to emerge unscathed from the recently argued motion for a gag order against him. The high-profile attorney has a media, and social media, presence that would make most defendants want to seek a gag order against him. However, the federal court judge expressed skepticism from the bench that gagging Avenatti would be constitutional, let alone legal. Judge Otero explained that doing so would have a chilling effect on civil rights....

Now that one of the most dogged voices of social conservatism has passed away, many are wondering what the implications will be for many of the SCOTUS cases that are scheduled to be heard by the justices. As Capitol Hill sets about tripping over itself after Scalia’s death, let’s consider what the implications for the DC Circuit will be. Back before the latest generation of lawyers were even born, Antonin Scalia was confirmed as a sitting judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit....

Supreme Court law clerks are like professional athletes; they work under the bright lights of a world stage. But there are 400,000 more reasons that those law clerks are like the pros. That’s how many dollars some law firms will pay them as a signing bonus. Not to compare apples and oranges, but many pro athletes don’t command that much coming out of college. At this clip, some rookie attorneys will be looking for endorsement contracts, too....

Time is running out to buy gifts for law students, with just a few more days until the winter holidays hit. But you’re not too late. If you move fast, you could still grab something special for the law students in your life. And believe us, they need it. You can deck out the tree with ornaments from the Supreme Court Historical Society this year. Options include a Supreme Court “winter scene,” a very blingy High Court rosette, and one “wise old owl,” in glass....

In a patent infringement case involving patents relating to the production of the protein erythropoietin using recombinant DNA technology, district court’s judgment is vacated in part and remanded where: 1) district court’s grant of summary judgment and of judgment as a matter of law (JMOL) to plaintiff-Amgen of no invalidity for obviousness-type double patenting of certain claims of one patent is vacated and remanded for an obviousness-type double patenting analysis of these claims; and 2) district court’s grant of JMOL to Roche of non-infringement of one claim of another patent is vacated and remanded for a new trial on infringement of that claim....

Can you imagine ever feeling so angry that you threaten to blow up planes? Most of us probably can’t. But maybe you could imagine a scenario where you would threaten something violent. Like, if you found your best friend in bed with your wife. Whatever it is, most of us have a snapping point. For Soraya Evette Billinge, a housewife from Fort Myers, Florida, her snapping point was her husband’s work schedule....

Jay-Z once said, “Moral victories is for minor league coaches.” Grammatical issues aside, we couldn’t agree more – except we’d amend that to “Moral victories are for minor league coaches and blogger-lawyers.” I’ll let you in on a little secret: In 2008, when I entered law school, I couldn’t even fathom the concept of working as a law blogger. I wanted that BigLaw money – $160K of pure, unadulterated happiness. Yes, money does buy happiness....

Two lawsuits have been filed over the botched call in the NFC Championship game that led to an overtime win by the Los Angeles Rams. Are these filers the epitome of sore losers? Is this lawsuit the legal equivalent of a Hail Mary pass? Or is there actually some substance to this filing? The Missed Call For those of you that missed it, the New Orleans Saints were winning the NFC Championship game with less than two minutes to go in the fourth quarter....

Calling ahead to rob a bank may save you time, but inevitably could tip off authorities too. Cops nabbed two criminal suspects accused of calling up front to collect cash and rob a bank. That’s what happened to Albert Bailey, 27, and a 16-year-old. When they showed up to rob a bank they were greeted by the cops instead, NBC reports. Sgt. James Perez, Fairfield police spokesman, described the bank robbery suspects as “Not-too-bright....

You’re walking down the beach, hand in hand with the love of your life, staring into each other’s eyes, and leaning in for a kiss. Next thing you know, you’re doing the sideways tango. On the beach. In broad daylight. Surrounded by people. A Florida couple got carried away, or just didn’t care, when they were caught having sex on the beach by bystanders. Scandalized witnesses recorded the encounter and called police....

The California Supreme Court said the state medical board did not need a warrant or subpoena to obtain a doctor’s prescription history for his patients. In Lewis v. Superior Court, the court said that the board’s interest in protecting the public outweighed any privacy rights. The board acquired the patient information through the state’s Controlled Substance Utilization Review and Evaluation System, “CURES.” “[W]e find that the balance tips in favor of the Board’s interests in protecting the public from unlawful use and diversion of a particularly dangerous class of prescription drugs and protecting patients from negligent or incompetent physicians,” Justice Goodwin Liu wrote....

Money will not insulate you from the problems of life. However, it will get you a very good defense should one of those problems turn out to be a terrible hit and run accident that leaves a wealthy money manager in jeopardy and a talented doctor in pain for life. Did Martin Erzinger’s money got him into the trouble he now faces and will it help pull him out of it?...

Age, like beauty, is sometimes in the eyes of the beholder. When 50 is the new 40, it seems like 10 years doesn’t really make a difference. But as anyone with arthritis knows, it sure feels like it. And so it is with age discrimination claims. Sometimes it feels like age is the problem, but really it isn’t. According to reports, few age discrimination cases have legs because the problem is the law....

Under current state laws in Florida, public school districts are given the option of providing classes that include the “objective study” of the Bible. But a new statute would require public high schools to offer an elective course on the Bible and religion, and students would have the option to enroll. “It’s the book that prepares us for eternity, and there’s no other book that does that,” said the bill’s co-sponsor Representative Brad Drake....