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Maybe you heard about the senior prank du jour for 2018 – posting your high school for sale on Craigslist. You may have seen a news story about seniors listing their schools in Arizona, or Kansas, or Illinois, or Missouri. The Missouri one might’ve caught your eye since, instead of having a little fun with the obvious prank, school administrators took language in the ad as a threat, got the police involved, and even issued an emergency subpoena to Craigslist to track down the source....

The fall semester will soon start for law students across the country. So will the fall recruiting season, and all the related tears of frustration that accompany it. But along with the usual weeping, fall OCI might bring a few smiles this year, with reports that offer rates are up and both Skadden and Bingham McCutchen are increasing 2012 summer class sizes. So, is the legal market improving for newly minted 2Ls and 3Ls?...

It happens. Despite years of hard work and dedication, every year thousands of attorneys fail to pass the bar exam. This year was particularly bad, with some of the lowest pass rates ever in many states. So, don’t worry, if you failed, you’re not alone – and you can still go on to have a successful career. But what should you do in the meantime? Failing the bar exam is disappointing, stressful, sometimes embarrassing, but beating yourself up over it isn’t going to help....

It’s not easy being green, and it’s probably not easiest being the son or daughter of an attorney either. The bar is set high, no pun intended (okay, maybe a little one) and arguing for your freedom becomes all the more challenging when the case is made to professional arguers. But that never stopped anyone from finding their own spotlight. Coming off the heels of the Oscars, here are a few notable celebs who have found stardom of their own, despite–or maybe because of -their litigating parental(s)....

You’ve probably already received your W-2 or 1099 and are gearing up to file your taxes. And you’re probably hoping for a nice return as well, especially if you can claim a few tax deductions this year. But tax laws have been in flux over the past couple years: some deductions are new, some are gone, and some have shifted a little bit. So here are five big tax deductions you should look for in your filing, and several that are no longer applicable....

Partner John Siegal of Baker Hostetler has reportedly been retained as Rep. Anthony Weiner’s lawyer. That’s right, now that he has scarred us for life with unflattering shirtless pictures, crotch shots and bad puns, the Congressman appears to be gearing up for battle with the House Ethics Committee. Let’s just hope he remembers his shirt and pants. Now that Weiner has admitted that he spent days lying about his inability to use Twitter and his penchant for inappropriate self-portraits, House Minority Rep....

A few weeks ago, the Arkansas governor signed a new gun law, backed by the National Rifle Association, allowing individuals with concealed carry permits to carry their concealed handguns into all sorts of new places previously prohibited. However, one of those places, college athletics stadiums, has attracted the criticism of the all powerful Southeastern Conference (affectionately known to college sports fans as the SEC), which brings millions of dollars to the state....

Despite everyone knowing that the super-machismo wrestling that gets aired on prime-time TV to delight pre-teen boys is scripted, the athletes, wrestlers, performers, or what-ever-you-want-to-call-them, suffer real injuries. Even with the matches being scripted, the wrestlers still make contact, hit each other, throw each other around, and face real life risks of permanent injury. This year, the WWE is facing a lawsuit from over 50 former wrestlers claiming that the organization knew about the dangers of repeated head injuries and did nothing to warn or help their performers....

Yesterday, we blogged about law school marketing buzzwords. The buzzwords and marketing gimmicks don’t end upon graduation, however, because job statistics count towards law school rankings as well. For all the current law students out there, the ones that delusionally think that “things will be better when I graduate!,” we’re going to give you a quick vocabulary lesson on post-graduate employment. Job Corps: There’s the ABA Legal Access Job Corps, which so far as we can tell, consisted of a few grants to a few Midwestern states to convince law grads to hang out their shingles in the middle of nowhere....

The American Bar Association won’t lose its ability to accredit new law schools, at least not in the immediate future. The Department of Education informed the bar association last week that it was rejecting a recommendation that it suspend the ABA’s power to accredit new law schools for a year. In June, the National Advisory Council on Institutional Quality and Integrity had recommended the accreditation suspension, after criticizing the association for failing to pay sufficient attention to student achievement....

In a class action lawsuit brought by former employees alleging unlawful wage deductions, failure to pay overtime and other employment violations, class counsel’s obligations to the class do not end with the entry of judgment and his obligations continue until all class issues are resolved, which may include enforcement of the judgment. Read Barboza v. West Coast Digital GSM, Inc., No. B215454 [HTML] Read Barboza v. West Coast Digital GSM, Inc....

Although some litigation attorneys might claim that patent law may as well be Greek to them, when it comes to the rules governing discovery disputes in patent cases over Biosimilars, the attorneys for Amgen are learning a hard lesson: the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure apply as they would for any other case. The case, Amgen v. Hospira, centers around Hospira attempting to patent a biosimilar to Amgen’s EPOGEN, a drug that is used to increase the production of red blood cells in order to treat various medical conditions....

Who’s that? Is it Paul Bunyan? No. It’s a ninja! For years, a mysterious man, known as the Brighton Tree Ninja, has been vandalizing and damaging newly planted trees and shrubbery in Boston’s Brighton neighborhood. Police had never been able to make an arrest, but the problem was getting serious. So, they set up a sting operation. Lo-and-behold, police caught a man attempting to chop down a tree with a hammer....

In a petition for review of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) order increasing the permissible return on equity for a regional organization of transmission owners, the petition is denied where: 1) nothing in the law or FERC’s stated purposes required FERC to adduce evidence that the order would produce new transmission investment; and 2) FERC adduced substantial evidence for the proposition that the incentive was likely to increase the speed with which projects were completed....

It’s official. DLA Piper has overtaken Baker & McKenzie as the biggest dog on the block. The whole block. We know how much BigLaw loves to rank itself. And after adding DLA Phillps Fox’ Australian attorneys, DLA Piper now employs 700 lawyers in the Asia-Pacific region. That’s a total of 4,200 lawyers in 76 offices in 30 countries. The merger depended on a favorable vote of the partners of both firms....

ESPN reporter Erin Andrews has filed a lawsuit against Nashville’s West End Marriott and her stalker Michael Barrett. The $10 million invasion of privacy suit claims that Erin Andrews’ peephole videos, taken by Barrett, caused her “great emotional distress and embarrassment.” Barrett stalked the ESPN personality to three different cities. He took video of her through hotel peepholes, catching her in private moments. He then posted the footage online. Barrett was sentenced for 2 1/2 years in prison in 2010 after pleading guilty to stalking charges....

Steal $7.8 million from your law firm. What’s the worst that could happen? Go to jail? Lose your license? Get posterized on a law blog? It’s all relative, but none of it is good. For Keila Ravelo, it took some time. Apparently, that’s what happens when you fake your bills. Dummy Corporations Ravelo, a former BigLaw partner, was arrested in 2014 for wire fraud, embezzlement, and other crimes. She and her husband allegedly created dummy corporations to funnel phony “legal consulting fees....

The end of the year is near, and in this not-so-busy period, it’s a great time to brush up on the administrative basics – and that’s what the Federal Circuit is doing. With revised rules, fees and schedules, here’s the latest info to keep your appellate practice moving smoothly… Effective December 1, 2013, the Supreme Court adopted amendments to the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure. Only two amendments are relevant for practice in the Federal Circuit: changes to Fed....

Nine people were wounded in a mass shooting outside a Houston mall yesterday morning. The gunman wore a military uniform decorated with Nazi symbols as he opened fire on passing cars, according to witnesses, until he was killed in a shootout with police. Houston’s mayor, Sylvester Turner, identified the shooter as Nathan DeSai, 46, a “disgruntled” attorney. “He was either fired or had a bad relationship with [his] law firm,” Turner said....

A federal judge has stopped a voter-approved law that would have forced gun owners to surrender magazines that hold more than 10 bullets. Californians voted Prop. 63 into law last year, outlawing the high-capacity magazines, requiring background checks of people who buy ammunition and imposing other gun restrictions. Judge Roger Benitez said the bullet ban went too far. “The State of California’s desire to criminalize simple possession of a firearm magazine able to hold more than 10 rounds is precisely the type of policy choice that the Constitution takes off the table,” he said in granting a preliminary injunction against the law....