Ugh, it happens every day like clockwork. It’s about 3:00 p.m., you’re fighting back yawns and your eyelids are heavy. You can actually feel yourself turning into Jabba the Hutt in your Aeron chair. What’s a lawyer to do? Snap out of it! Here’s how. For many people, the most productive part of the day is the morning – so leave the heavy lifting for then. You can schedule the easy stuff for 3:00 like billing and getting back on easy emails....
Soy: it’s what’s for dinner. At least if you’re stuck eating prison food in Florida. Sick of the Southern BBQ, meat loaf, and meaty macaroni, inmate Eric Harris has filed suit against Lake Correctional Institution. He believes that that eating so much fake meat is akin to cruel and unusual punishment. The soy is apparently causing some painful bloat and cramping. It may or may not also be threatening his manhood....
In most cases, someone taking your beer probably does not rise to the level of an emergency. But a Florida man made multiple 911 phone calls to report that his mother had taken his beer away. Charles Dennison of New Port Richey, Fla., was arrested for allegedly calling the police to complain that his mother had taken his beer away from him. He is now facing criminal charges, the St. Petersburg Times reports....
Being an attorney can be stressful. It requires skills in time management, people management, business administration, bookkeeping – not to mention meeting strict filing deadlines while upholding ethical standards and exercising due diligence on behalf of clients. The stress of practice can often wear on a practitioner’s mental health. Mental health is really important. An attorney that isn’t taking care of their health, either physical or mental, is doing their clients a disservice....
Trial court’s denial of defendant’s motion to dismiss the citation for driving at an unsafe speed and conviction of the infraction is affirmed where, although the trial court violated Rule 4.210(b)(7) by failing to bring defendant to trial within 45 days of receipt of his request for a new trial, the violation does not require dismissal of the citation. Read People v. Benhoor, No. B212593 Appellate Information Filed September 24, 2009...
“Don’t f*ing shoot!” Those are the words of Bud, an African gray parrot in Ensley Township, Michigan. And they may have also been the last words of Martin Duram, Bud’s owner who was shot and killed in his home last year. So who’s the prime suspect, according to Bud? And will he be able to testify at trial? Bud’s version of events hasn’t changed much. Duram’s parents believed the foul-mouthed fowl witnessed the murder and has been reciting his late owner’s last words ever since....
Compare and contrast: In Michigan, budget cuts have left Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worth unable to prosecute some felony cases because she doesn’t have enough staff to try cases, The Detroit News reports. In Ohio, district attorneys’ offices are flush with funds, so a local attorney has decided to prosecute a groundhog for bad weather advice. Oh yeah… and he’s seeking the death penalty. To my knowledge, Punxsutawney Phil didn’t just pop out of his groundhog hole one day to say, “Hey everyone!...
Women have achieved equality in law school but not in the profession because fewer are admitted to top-tier schools, according to a new report. The study says that women earn as many law degrees as men but less than 20 percent of those women become partners at law firms. Women are also underrepresented among judges, corporate counsel, law school deans and professors, according to the authors. Deborah Jones Merritt and Kyle McEntee, law professors at Ohio State, claim that law school rankings and job placements may be partly to blame....
How many of you wish you could knock out some of those required continuing education credits with a little blog reading? Well you can’t, so deal with it. Or, at the very least, be wise with your time and only read the ones that everyone else does. Seriously–you already permitted law school and law firm rankings to dictate your career path, so why not let visitor numbers dictate what you read?...
Another day, another “person arrested for drunk driving” story. Whatever. Dog bites man. Move on. Well, here at FindLaw’s Legally Weird, we hope you know by now that a person isn’t just drunk; we wouldn’t be blogging about him unless he ate the Breathalyzer results, or he drunkenly fell down while urinating and sued for workers compensation, or he got drunk and stole an airplane. Carolyn Kesel of Seneca Falls, New York, was arrested for driving while intoxicated....
California bar membership fees were due yesterday, as most in-state lawyers are likely aware. Depending on which boxes you check, that money makes its way to philanthropic, historical, and public interest funds, and of course, to the State Bar’s budget. For the year ahead, though, the California State Bar Association will have a little less budget to work with. No, don’t get too excited – they aren’t cutting your fees. But they are planning on trimming the fat by about $10 million....
Albert Haynesworth has been a busy guy this year – just not on the football field. He only had 13 tackles and 2.5 sacks in 8 games. Not good for a guy with a $100-million-dollar contract. Haynesworth, 29, spent most of the season feuding with coach Mike Shannahan. And now we learn that he was fueding with a follow motorist in a Washington D.C., suburb. The Albert Haynesworth road rage case has the NFL star accused of assault for allegedly punching a motorist in the face....
Modern stationary cycles have come a long way since the exercise bike you left in the basement for years after that one Christmas until you unloaded it on that sap at the garage sale. Nowadays at-home bikes can give you that spin class vibe, or replicate stages of the Tour de France. And with web-enabled software, you can track your fitness and compete with other riders without leaving your exercise room, taking you far beyond the two pedals, one wheel, and handlebars setups of the 70s....
California voters may be able to express their opposition to Citizens United when they go to the ballot box. The California Supreme Court seems poised to allow a public referendum, proposed by the state legislature, on whether the Constitution should be amended to overturn the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision, which removed limits on corporate and union political contributions. Of course, the ballot measure, if allowed, would have no actual impact on the Court’s decision or the U....
In People v. Warwick, No. G041970, the Fourth District faced a challenge to a conviction for child abuse and neglect and jury’s true finding on the enhancement that the defendant personally inflicted great bodily injury on her newborn baby. The court rejected the defendant’s contention that she did not “personally inflict” the injuries as required by section 12022.7(d), because “personally inflicts” does not preclude the failure to act where action is required....
This is never going to end, is it? Earlier this week, we reported that the Federal Circuit was giving Apple a third chance to get an injunction blocking the sale of Samsung smartphones and tablets. After District Court Judge Lucy Koh ordered an initial injunction, the Federal Circuit reversed, ordering her to apply “causal nexus” analysis. She did, and denied the injunction, but now the Federal Circuit thinks she applied the “causal nexus” analysis too harshly, and has kicked the case back again....
All those protestors against Indiana’s new Religious Freedom Restoration Act can put this news in their pipe and smoke it: the IRS has granted tax exempt status to the First Church of Cannabis. At the Altar of Pot “The law goes into effect at noon, and we’ll start our service at 12:01 p.m.,” said Bill Levin, the church’s founder. The planned service will include live music, storytelling, and discussion regarding the foundational tenets of the faith (which include “Don’t be an a**hole”), followed by the use of the church’s sacramental marijuana....
Attorneys at Pennsylvania law firm Elliott Greenleaf & Siedzikowski are not pleased. Turns out, one of their own tried to pull a fast one. Ex-partner William Balaban is accused of installing software on his firm computer before he left the firm in January. Balaban ended up joining a new law firm. But not before he remotely accessed his old files. Now Elliott Greenleaf & Siedzikowski have filed suit. They filed a motion to stop the computer hacking last week....
Like any person with self-respect, companies don’t like having to play the role of the embarrassed friend that “doesn’t even know that person.” What’s worse is when that person is a founder, or just known as a public representative, of the company. Along those lines, the Weinstein Company had to enter damage control mode after a New York Times article last week detailed a storied past of the company’s co-founder, and former Hollywood mogul, Harvey Weinstein....
The Notorious Ruth Bader Ginsburg is no fan of President-elect Donald Trump. That’s been clear since this summer, when she declared she didn’t “even want to contemplate” Trump’s impact on the Supreme Court and joked about moving to New Zealand should he be elected. Justice Ginsburg hasn’t announced any relocation plans yet and she’s been relatively silent on Trump since the election on Tuesday. That is, except in her attire....
