Ah, summer. For incoming law students, it means more than just getting warmer weather and longer days. With your acceptance letter comes not only the promise of the start of your legal career, but also perhaps a move into a new town, state, or even country, for law school. This means new roommates, possibly. During my 1L year, I lived with three other law students, two of whom were in my section....
The effects of BlackBerry’s decline are being felt beyond the company-formerly-known-as-RIM’s offices, beyond the shareholders’ wallets, and beyond the frustrated fingers of those loyal to the company’s ubiquitous QWERTY keyboards. Judge Raymond Voet was in the midst of listening to a prosecutor’s closing arguments when his new Microsoft Windows Phone began speaking to him a sultry, seductive voice: “I can’t understand you. Say something like Mom.” Courthouses across the nation have varying policies regarding electronic devices....
Not so long ago, lawyers started ‘appearing’ in court wearing pajamas. That’s when judges first allowed appearances by phone. It has been a cost-saving innovation with limitations, of course, because you can only hear but not see what’s going on in the courtroom. But that was yesterday. Tomorrow, attorneys may put on a pair of virtual reality glasses and see everything as if they were really there – and still wear pajamas....
A selfie taken by an Indonesian monkey with a wildlife photographer’s camera is raising some interesting copyright law questions. British wildlife photographer David Slater was in Indonesia in 2011 when he set up his camera equipment to photograph a crested black macaque monkey, reports The Huffington Post. The monkey then grabbed Slater’s camera and began taking photographs, including a surprisingly decent selfie. When this monkey selfie was posted online and began going viral, Slater assumed that he owned the copyright to the image....
Sports betting may become Delaware’s path out of a projected budget shortfall, or at least lawmakers in the state are hoping so. The AP reports that governor Jack Markell today signed a bill legalizing betting on sports in the state. Further, it looks like state officials aren’t going to be stopping at just sports betting either, as the story noted they expect to also have “table games such as poker, blackjack, craps and roulette, in play in no more than six months....
A Kentucky man’s unauthorized, after-hours supermarket feast apparently left him stuffed, but sleepy. Police found Trevor Runyon, 30, asleep in the rafters of the store’s ceiling, with much of his alleged late-night smorgasbord caught on tape. Not only did surveillance video show Runyon helping himself to six steaks, some shrimp, beer, cigarettes, and a birthday cake, but the manager of ValuMarket in Bullitt County, Kentucky, also found 57 empty cans of whipped cream in the trash, Louisville’s WAVE-TV reports....
An Ohio magistrate gave Mark Byron a difficult choice: Go to jail, or post a long-winded public Facebook apology to his estranged wife – every day, for the next 30 days. “It’s outlandish,” Byron told The Cincinnati Enquirer. “I’m afraid to do anything. People are even fearful that Facebook can be regulated by a judge.” But a judge affirmed the magistrate’s ruling, and found the Facebook apology fitting in Byron’s case....
Authorities in Kansas City have more questions than answers after a meerkat was stolen from the Kansas City Zoo, except to the latter question – they now know what the furry animal is. A meerkat is a small mammal and a member of the mongoose family, and were made famous in the popular Animal Planet show “Meerkat Manor.” They live in all parts of the Kalahari Desert in Botswana and in South Africa....
Petition for writ of mandamus to compel the State to reinstitute the Homeless Adults Program Mental Health Ass’n in California v. Schwarzenegger, A125937, concerned a petition for a writ of mandate brought by several organizations dedicated to providing advocacy, education and support services in the field of mental health and several individuals, to compel the State of California to reinstitute the Homeless Adults Program, which was removed by the state budget as the result of a gubernatorial veto in 2007....
The NCAA’s board of directors voted Thursday to give the five largest football conferences the freedom to begin paying their athletes small stipends as part of their scholarship packages. The vote came as the five largest conferences – the Pac-12, Southeastern, Big Ten, Big 12, and Atlantic Coast conferences – had threatened to splinter off to form their own association if not granted greater autonomy, according to Time. The vote comes amid ongoing lawsuits pitting players against the NCAA on the subject of athlete pay....
The grant of the state’s petition to make Defendant a ward of the state is affirmed where Welfare and Institutions Code section 7331 allows a juvenile court to commit a ward to the Division of Juvenile Facilities (DJF) for a violation of probation: 1) if the offense for which the ward received the probation is a DJF-eligible offense; and 2) no petition alleging a more recent non-DJF-eligible offense has been sustained....
Would you rather go to jail or give evidence that could put your fiance in jail? This is the impossible questions Shayanna Jenkins, fiancee of former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez, must wrestle with. Hernandez is charged with murder for the shooting death of Odin Lloyd. The prosecution seems to think that Jenkins is a key witness for their case and want to compel her to testify. If she refuses, she could face jail time, the Hartford Courant reports....
People v. Pacheco, H034454, concerned a challenge to the trial court’s order placing defendant on formal probation for a period of three years subject to various conditions and imposition of various fees and fines, in a prosecution of defendant for welfare fraud in violation of Welfare and Institutions Code section 10980(c)(2). The court modified the imposition of fees and remanded where: 1) defendant’s claims are not forfeited or waived on appeal; 2) there is no evidence of defendant’s ability to pay the $100 in attorney fees, the $259....
The University of Miami scandal may be one of the biggest to hit college football in recent history. Ex-booster Nevin Shapiro is claiming that he gave dozens of UM football players illegal gifts and financial support, including hosting lavish sex parties in South Beach hotels and on his yacht, cash, jewelry and electronics. Some may question Shapiro’s credibility. Much of the information Shapiro is sharing with the press stems from a jailhouse interview, as he is currently serving a 20-year sentence over a $930 million Ponzi scheme....
An Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) air quality rule may be the next individual mandate. The EPA finalized a new rule in July to reduce air pollution and attain clean air standards. The rule, called the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR), requires 27 states to reduce power plant emissions that contribute to ozone and/or fine particle pollution in other states. CSAPR replaces the EPA’s 2005 Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR), another EPA rule challenged in the DC Circuit Court of Appeals....
Women have made great strides in the legal field, but still fall short when it comes to being heard. A recent study reports that female law students are less likely than male law students to participate in classroom discussions or seek advice from professors. They’re also more likely to be motivated by fear. This phenomenon is not just limited to law schools, but instead plagues the legal profession as a whole....
Today’s #DearFindLaw deals with 1L dilemmas. Now that you’re getting the hang of law school, should you join or form one of these study groups everyone’s talking about? And while you’re at it, is it too early to think about this summer? Are Study Groups Worth It? Law school study groups will be forever memorialized in popular culture thanks to the smarmy, backstabbing students in “The Paper Chase” – aka “The Only Movie About Law School, Other Than ‘Legally Blonde....
Ex-NFL star Aaron Hernandez was indicted for two more murders Thursday, adding to his prior indictment for the 2013 slaying of Odin L. Lloyd. The former New England Patriots tight end was charged with the 2012 murders of Daniel Abreu and Safiro Furtado, who were shot and killed at a stoplight. According to the Boston Globe, Hernandez allegedly orchestrated Odin Lloyd’s murder in 2013 to silence him about Hernandez’s alleged role in the killings of Abreu and Furtado....
So what’s wrong with a judge having a billionaire for a friend? Nothing, but there are a billion reasons that people may wonder when it comes to a nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court. Actually, that’s not possible because there are only 325 million people in the United States. However, there are more than 1,000 cases in which Neil Gorsuch recused himself while on the U.S. Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals because of possible conflicts....
In People v. Mathers, No. C060425, the Second District faced a challenge to a conviction for possession of a forged completed check, second degree burglary, and other crimes and sentenced to a prison term of nine years four months. Trial court’s conviction of defendant is reversed as to passing or possessing a fictitious check in violation of section 476 because the checks were genuine rather than fictitious. In People v. Tepetitla-Cruz, No....
