For those closet Harry Potter attorney fans logging in billable hours, industriously working away at non-profit firms, or lawyering in the government, this may be just be the thing to combine your loves for all things Hogwarts and the law. The symposium offers CLE credits, along with a Quidditch match in Golden Gate Park, could the weekend be looking any better? Here are a few session topics that, well, speak for themselves:...
Much hot air and blog space has been devoted to the quaint story of one man who likes to call himself a “post-theist” and whether or not he can hold elected office in the great state of North Carolina – readers, here’s a bit more. In its infinite wisdom, the Tar Heel State has decided that its citizens may exercise their freedom of religion, but those who do not believe in God cannot hold office....
Trial court order granting relief on a habeas corpus petition is reversed where: 1) the prison warden’s notice of appeal was timely filed under California Rules of Court 8.308(a); and 2) the court erred in determining defendant was entitled to additional work/school performance points for the time he did not actually participate in any work, school, or vocational program, as the department’s interpretation of the applicable regulation and decision to deny defendant the additional performance points he sought has a rational basis and was not arbitrary, capricious, or irrational and thus must be upheld....
Juvenile court order terminating parental rights is affirmed where the court did not abuse its discretion in declining to find an exception to termination of parental rights based on the minor’s tribe identification of guardianship as the permanent plan for the minor, as the court is not obligated to adopt the permanent plan designated by a child’s tribe without conducting an independent assessment of detriment, and there were no appropriate families that were willing to assume guardianship of the minor....
One lucky feline has just been spared the eternal slumber of euthanasia. Boots the cat was slated to be put down according to her former owner’s will, but an Illinois judge has blocked the execution. The 11-year-old cat will be headed to her new home at Cats are Purrsons Too, a no-kill animal shelter in Chicago. But why did Boots’ former owner want the feline put down? Georgia Lee Dvorak, Boots’ deceased owner, was worried that the cat’s old age would keep her from finding a good home once Dvorak died....
Do you ever feel like you’re dying a slow death toiling away as an associate underling at BigLaw? Don’t worry, that’s how you’re supposed to feel (we wish we were kidding). BigLaw may be known for BigBucks, but it’s also known for nothing short of misery. Sometimes it’s not just the looming specter of billable hours that makes you miserable, sometimes it’s the people you work with. Here are some ways to deal with annoying coworkers....
The War on Christmas. The removal of the Ten Commandments from capitol buildings. The onslaught to our rights of religious freedom is real and it is everywhere. Even from the department of transportation and its insistence on putting bicyclists between us and our god. That’s right – the Washington D.C. District Department of Transportation is exploring the possibility of protected bike lanes on a busy street. And if we can’t park our cars, how can we say our prayers?...
Law firms and law schools often tout their “diversity,” so you’d think that lawyer demographics would reflect that, right? Wrong. Turns out the legal industry, as a whole, isn’t as diverse as many would like to think. Law is still an old boys’ club and make no mistake, that’s an old white boys’ club. At least, that’s what the latest numbers from the American Bar Association seem to indicate. The report was compiled based on numbers from the ABA’s Lawyer Statistical Report and the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar....
Know, first, who you are; and then adorn yourself accordingly. – Epictetus It seems we’ve come to a crossroads in the legal industry, both within our ranks and amongst our clientele. The issue is fashion and it is not going away any time soon, apparently. On one end of the spectrum, we have attorneys preaching the merits of $20,000 watches, multi-point pocket squares, and, of course, the three-piece suit. And on the other, we have clients showing up to court with exposed underwear, pajama pants, and in one extreme case, a crack spoon tied around his or her neck....
The Supreme Court heard the case of the Mojave War Cross in 2009 and recently ruled in a narrow opinion that the cross could stay. The cross in question was first placed on Sunrise Rock by Veterans of Foreign Wars in 1934, to honor WWI troops. A former park employee sued, arguing that the cross was a religious symbol and was an unconstitutional government endorsement of Christianity. In order to attempt to save the memorial, Congress transferred the piece of land the cross stood on into private hands....
Thurman Nesbitt III is likely seeing red after police arrested his girlfriend, the mother of his child, for allegedly poisoning him with Visine eye drops. But Vickie Jo Mills, 33, of Ayr Twp., Pa., “never meant to kill” Nesbitt, 45, a police affidavit states, according to ABC News. Instead, she “only wanted him to pay more attention to her.” Now the mother is getting national media attention for her alleged poisoning, which took place in drips, literally, over more than three years, police say....
Matters seem to continually be going from bad to worse and then getting even more worse for the president’s former lawyer and self-proclaimed “fixer,” Michael Cohen. The most recent news involves a federal DOJ subpoena to American Media, the publisher of the National Enquirer. Apparently, before the Stormy Daniels debacle, Karen McDougal, the Playboy Playmate of the Year for 1998 received a $150K payment from the “news” company to buy the exclusive rights to her story....
In plaintiff’s request for a writ of mandate to seek civil damages against a university for retaliation, trial court’s denial of plaintiff’s request is reversed as, the university did not satisfactorily address plaintiff’s complaint because it applied an incorrect standard in evaluating whether his retaliation claims were made in good faith, and also failed to address the matter of discipline and punishment despite having found retaliation. Read Ohton v. California State Univ....
A New York lawyer who claims to have once played drums for Michael Bolton is suing a woman for $10 million for ruining his Pink cover band with her alleged “subpar” musicianship and unattractiveness. According to The New York Post, Long Island lawyer Charles Bonfante had grand plans for the area’s first cover act dedicated to the Grammy-winning pop star Pink – until those plans were foiled by 40-year-old singer Collette McLafferty....
If you’re going to live the life of a burglar, you’re going to need to spend some time planning your escape routes. After all, you can’t rob someone if you can’t actually take anything off the property, right? Burglar Ronald Dennis of St. Joseph, Missouri never learned this lesson. Trying to rob a storage unit over the weekend, he found himself locked inside. For a burglar, storage units are ripe for the picking....
Time will tell, but Robert Khuzami may go down in history as the lawyer who took down the lawyer who took down the President. That’s because Michael Cohen testified that Donald Trump directed him to violate campaign finance laws to influence the 2016 presidential election. It was a bombshell overshadowed only by the conviction of Paul Manafort the same day. Khuzami, for his part, did not run for the microphone after the convictions like other lawyers....
The California Court of Appeal for the Second District decided two criminal cases, insurance reimbursement claim, an attorney’s anti-SLAPP motion to strike a lawsuit by a former client, and a child custody and support case. In In re Mille, No. B217102, the court dealt with whether to grant defendant’s request for habeas relief based on his 84-day delay in transfer from a county jail to a state hospital after the superior court ordered the sheriff to transport him for evaluation and treatment....
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has denied the Saints’ appeal, leaving intact his initial punishment for the team’s bounty program. The move comes as no surprise to individuals who read Goodell’s original statement regarding the pay-for-pain scheme. He called the team’s actions “particularly unusual and egregious” and expressed concern about the intentional injuries and the team’s “willful disrespect of the rules.” Still, the NFL’s decision to deny the Saints’ appeal does not come without a glimmer of hope....
You don’t need clairvoyance to know that something is amiss if your psychic asks for your credit card and returns $4000 later with bags from Ralph Lauren. Perhaps Dane Chan was just innocent at heart, not cynical like the rest of us. No, she actually believed that her psychic needed to do such expensive rituals for Chan’s personal and spiritual cleansing. After all, who was she but a mere mortal, one who failed to understand the complexities and expenses involved in spiritual laundry....
In plaintiff’s action against its insurance company claiming that it had improperly declined to defend plaintiff in litigation arising out of its advertising activities, trial court’s judgment sustaining defendant’s demurrer to plaintiff’s complaint is affirmed where: 1) the fact that a third party complaint mentions an element of a covered claim does not trigger the duty to defend when the facts known to the insurer, viewed as a whole, establish that no such claim is potentially asserted; 2) there was no potential for policy coverage in view of the nonconformity exclusions, which bars coverage for advertising injury arising out of the failure of goods, products or services to conform with any statement of quality or performance made in the insured’s advertisement; and 3) trial court properly sustained the demurrer without leave to amend....
