Posts

Every relationship has its ups and downs, and sometimes we just need a little break from a loved one to get some relief and some perspective. And other times we tell our wife we’d “rather be in jail than at home,” walk into a bank, hand a teller a note that reads “I have a gun, give me money,” and wait to be arrested. That was 70-year-old Lawrence John Ripple’s domestic situation when he robbed the Bank of Labor in Kansas City earlier this year....

The CIA cafeteria is a strange mix of beef stroganoff and secrets. But some of that incredibly valuable information has been leaked … sort of. No it wasn’t a double agent, some loose-lipped informant, or even Edward Snowden. Rather, this juicy cafeteria info came after a regular ol’ Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request: from a government agency, care of a government information protocol. So, thanks to a website called Muckrock, we present to you seven of the most pressing issues facing America … if you eat at the CIA’s cafeteria, that is:...

How do you balance a state budget that has you spending $250 million more than you’ll take in? Most conservative lawmakers would slash funding to education and social services or roll back Medicaid or social security benefits. The last thing you’d expect a Republican-led state legislature to do is raise taxes. But that’s what Alabama is doing. And not just any tax – Alabama is planning on taxing porn to the tune of 40%....

Federal judges often make less money in their life-tenured appointments than they would in the private sector. While they receive relatively comfortable salaries — the current salary is $174,000 for district court judges and $194,000 for circuit court judges — they have been fighting for years for annual cost of living adjustments (COLAs) that other federal employees receive. (If those COLAs had not been withheld, the current salary for district judges would be $247,086 and $261,968 for circuit judges, according to the D....

Yes you can. If you’re flying down a Barcelona street and manage not to get caught in the act, apparently. One disabled daredevil tested the limits of traffic enforcement in the Catalonia capital recently and got away scot-free, so far. So is this brave soul a commute revolutionary or a cautionary tale? Let’s take a look. Reckless Rover In a scene reminiscent of any office around 3 p.m. on a Friday, here is a man, weaving through traffic on a busy Barcelona street:...

In an action brought by a professional model for the misappropriation of his likeness by defendant-Nestle, a court of appeal ruling reversing a trial court jury award of over $15 million is affirmed in part and reversed in part where: 1) the trial court erroneously ruled that the single-publication rule does not apply to claims for appropriation of likeness; but 2) the court of appeals erred to the extent that it held that, for purposes of the statute of limitations, plaintiff’s cause of action necessarily accrued when Nestle first “published” the label pursuant to the rule of Shively v....

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg turns 84 next Wednesday. But if you’re worried about her health, don’t be. The Notorious RBG isn’t just eating her kale – and urging her colleagues to as well – she’s killing it at the gym. And this feminist octogenarian’s regime might be too tough for you. Justice Ginsburg may be the oldest jurist on the Supreme Court bench, but she’s doing her best to not let her age slow her down....

Ever thought about working with headhunters? And, no, unfortunately we don’t mean Herbie Hancock’s jazz masterpiece, we mean legal recruiters. Most often used by experienced lateral attorneys making the hop, skip and jump from one firm to a better one, or from BigLaw to in-house life, recruiters can also help newer attorneys, or attorneys out of the market for some time. Though working with a headhunter won’t guarantee you a job, if you keep five things in mind, it may make the whole job hunt experience less painful for you....

To be a great lawyer, you’ve got to walk the walk, talk the talk, and work till your eyes bleed. But if you want to feel more like the dapper attorneys you see on prime time, and less like an overworked associate, you need more than just a J.D. and a job. You need a bit of style. To help you out, here are our top legal lifestyle tips so that you can be the most lawyerly lawyer you can be....

In a petition by a city seeking to overturn a school district’s final environmental impact report (FEIR) evaluating a plan to construct a high school, the denial of the petition is affirmed where respondent-district proceeded in the manner required by law where the FEIR adequately analyzes the challenged impacts of the project and is sufficient as an informational document. Read Long Beach v. L.A. Unified Sch. Dist., No. B207721 Appellate Information...

Following last week’s U.S. Supreme Court decision in the Hobby Lobby case, women’s rights are certainly a hot-button issue. But one Florida man took his argument that it’s a “man’s world” a little too far, when police say he punched and choked his girlfriend’s pet rabbits, then threw her across the room during a heated argument about women’s rights, reports the Sun Sentinel. According to police, 28-year-old James Wertz and his girlfriend were arguing about women’s rights – particularly Wertz’s assertion that it’s a “man’s world” – inside their Boyton Beach residence when things began to get heated....

A pee wee hockey coach was sentenced to 15 days in jail for tripping an opposing player. Talk about bad sportsmanship and setting a bad example for the kids. Forty-eight-year-old coach, Martin Tremblay, lined up for the traditional post-game hockey handshake with the opposing team on the ice. But when a 13-year-old kid shook the coach’s hand, Tremblay can be seen extending his leg and tripping the child as well as a 10-year-old boy, reports ESPN....

Finding of invalidity of patents related to methods for determining optimal dosage of thiopurine reversed Prometheus Laboratories, Inc. v. Mayo Collaborative Services,08-1403, concerned a challenge to the district court’s grant of summary judgment of invalidity of plaintiff’s patents, related to claim methods for determining the optimal dosage of thiopurine drugs to treat gastrointestinal and non-gastrointestinal autoimmune diseases. Related Link: Read the Federal Circuit’s Full Decision in Prometheus Laboratories, Inc. v. Mayo Collaborative Services,08-1403 You Don’t Have To Solve This on Your Own – Get a Lawyer’s Help Civil Rights Block on Trump’s Asylum Ban Upheld by Supreme Court...

In a win for San Diego voters, a state appeals court turned back public employees’ claims to make the city pay for their pensions. Public employee unions had demanded the mayor and city council meet and confer about Proposition B, a ballot measure that would shift pension costs away from the city. City officials declined, and voters overwhelmingly approved the initiative. The Fourth District Court of Appeal said the city had no obligation to consider the unions’ demands, effectively upholding the ballot initiative....

Regardless of how you feel about marijuana legalization generally, we can all recognize that a system that allows weed weddings and pot tourism while it keeps people in prison for behavior that would be legal today is unjust. And unfortunately, not all states have applied new marijuana laws retroactively, meaning yesterday’s criminal enterprise is today’s cannabiz entrepreneur and one is getting rich where the other got a jail sentence. But at least San Francisco is trying to change that....

Writer’s block. Law students know it especially well – that blank space that stares back at you when you’re trying to write an essay. We would curse it, except that it changes nothing and all you get back is more blank space. Here’s a tip: start a blog. It’s a great way to uncork writer’s block and even launch a career. Chillax Blogging is not the same as writing an exam answer....

It was a wild weekend in Wisconsin that one teenager will never forget. An 18-year-old was cut and slashed more than 300 times – the victim of an alleged satanic sex stabbing, police say. Two Milwaukee women, 22 and 20, are under arrest in connection with the bizarre incident, which began with an online encounter. Something must’ve clicked, because the 18-year-old man decided to hop on a bus – from his home in Arizona to the ladies’ lair in Milwaukee....

A pinch of nutmeg can do wonders for a bowl of homemade mac n’ cheese. But add too much? Well, then you may have a problem. Just ask Sweden’s Llama Man. The unnamed 28-year-old first came to the attention of local law enforcement in January, when he ran around town spitting on people like a llama. And on Friday, he was sentenced to four months behind bars after a judge convicted him of making illegal threats and harassment....

Recently, high school student Anne Salvatore started a law blog. And while high schoolers start blogs left and right, not many seem to get traction, especially when a blog focuses on a subject as mundane as the Supreme Court. However, for Salvatore, her blog, High School SCOTUS, has earned the notoriety that most law firm and lawyer blogs dream about. She’s the talk of the legal town, and even had a feature in NPR and other national media outlets....

Love can be a many splendid thing… until it leads to a lawsuit. Love-gone-wrong lawsuits can be particularly nasty. After all, hell hath no fury like a woman (or man) scorned. As you figure out how you’ll be celebrating Valentine’s Day, here are five ways that romances-gone-sour can lead to lawsuits and other legal consequences: Related Resources: Divorce Lawyers Love Day After Valentine’s Day (FindLaw’s Greedy Associates) Woman Wins $900K in eHarmony Herpes Lawsuit (FindLaw’s Injured) Match....