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The government just got a blank check for managing employees with reduced oversight, thanks to the Federal Circuit, and critics are already the worst. When a federal employee has a grievance, often, their remedy is to appeal the issue to the Merit Systems Protection Board. Common appeals include whistleblower claims and furlough complaints, which are extremely popular in the time of sequestration. Now, after the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals extended the Supreme Court’s Egan v....

Drinking. It sure is fun, isn’t it? It’s as much a part of the common law as misprision. Lawyers drink, and soon enough, there will be a happy hour consisting of you and your fellow awkward associates, plus a partner or two. How do you survive such alcohol-fueled social interactions with other human beings after spending the last four months in Supermax (aka your law firm cubicle)? Here are some “dos and don’ts” to get you started:...

Nobody wants to work today. Nobody at all. It’s lovely outside, family members are on vacation, the beach is calling, but alas, you must work, especially if you are a summer associate gunning for a post-graduation gig. How do you stay productive during the days of summer, when there are many more fun things to do? Here are a few tips: Fix the Temperature This is a big one, and not just because it feels like a sauna in our office today....

When most teenagers need a ride to a concert, they call Uber, or maybe take public transportation. But not this 19-year-old from Texarkana! He tried to steal a commercial jet so he could fly to Chicago for a rap concert. In the end, he missed the show, pleaded guilty to attempted theft of property and commercial burglary, and was sentenced to five years of probation. Zemarcuis Scott hopped aboard an empty American Eagle jet at the Texarkana Regional Airport, hoping to fly to Chicago....

Gender confusion is one thing. But Scout confusion? Evidently that’s a thing too. As the old saying goes, the best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry. The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) tried to be more inclusive after the backlash they received over sexual abuse scandals and excluding gay members. Some dens opened their doors to female members. In an effort to be politically correct, they started using the gender-neutral term “Scout” as in “Scout Activities” and “Scouting....

It’s been a busy few weeks in California with so much legal news to write about that we couldn’t just pick one issue. Today, we take a brief look at the teacher tenure case, Propositions 9 and 89, and a new suit filed against U.C. Berkeley. Vergara v. California A group of students is challenging five statutes that regulate the dismissal, tenure and layoff of teachers in Vergara v. California, reports LA School Report....

There was a time when Olympic competition meant that the best amateur athletes would compete against each other. Amateur athletes would compete solely for the love of the game and were not marred by things like money (money being what distinguishes amateurs from professionals). But this illusion that Olympic athletes were unpaid amateurs has been wiped away for the most part ever since the 1992 Dream Team. Now Olympic advertising is heavy and accepted – so long as you make money for an Olympic sponsor and not your own....

There is a well-understood if little-discussed quid pro quo when it comes to political campaign contributions: people and businesses give their money to candidates they feel will best represent their interests. Generally this entails voting how they would vote when it comes to pending legislation. But what about when elected officials have to vote on their campaign donors specifically? As Vice reported, many (if not all) of President Donald Trump’s picks for cabinet positions were major contributors to campaigns for senators who are now tasked with confirming those picks....

In a wrongful eviction action, judgment in favor of plaintiffs-tenants concluding that defendants violated the San Francisco Rent Stabilization and Arbitration Ordinance is affirmed where: 1) defendants’ interpretation of the Ordinance as conditioning a tenant’s right to reoccupy the unit upon compliance with a 60-day notice is rejected; 2) substantial evidence supports the trial court’s finding that the stipulation gave defendants temporary possession of the apartment for up to three months to make repairs and the plaintiffs retained their rights under the Ordinance to reoccupy the premises; 3) the litigation privilege did not apply to defendant’s conduct in refusing to allow the plaintiffs to reoccupy the apartment; 4) trial court did not err in granting judgment on the pleadings on the affirmative defenses; and 5) trial court did not abuse its discretion in awarding plaintiffs’ attorney’s fees....

Choosing a law school isn’t easy. It’s almost as tough as getting chosen by one. Sure, a large number of law students will either be going to a hometown school, or whichever one will take them. But those with the academic credentials to be choosy might want to consider whether the school they choose can actually teach them about the newest and most innovative legal tech out there. With the way legal tech is headed, schools are now offering courses that will help students learn about the newest innovations in the legal tech sector....

Contact manufactures can’t patent a method for making contact lens material, the Federal Circuit ruled this week. That’s because the process used is simply too obvious to be eligible for patent protection, the court found. The court’s ruling came 35 years Dome filed a patent for a method of making lenses which had increased oxygen permeability. When the patent was filed in 1980, contact lens makers were still struggling to move away from the unbreathable plexiglass lenses which were standard in the 70s....

People v. Landon, No. A123779 involved a challenge to the trial court’s imposition of a four to eight months’ imprisonment upon a defendant for a DUI conviction with four prior DUI convictions and another subsequent DUI arrest. In affirming the conviction and the sentence, the court rejected defendant’s claim that the trial court’s refusal to grant her probation based on section 1203(e)(4) violated her due process rihgts as she failed to establish prejudice....

It’s kind of like In Cold Blood meets Dumb and Dumber. Jamie Harris and Kevin Phillip of Drexel University are accused of breaking into a female student’s apartment armed with guns and demanding cash, as part of a bizarre criminal scheme. Allegedly they conspired with Devin Bond, who believed the a Drexel student had a sizable amount of cash in her off campus apartment located in West Philadelphia. According to the Associated Press, Bond knocked on the door and asked to speak with the roommate of the woman who answered....

A dumb street racer was arrested after he pulled up alongside an unmarked state trooper’s vehicle in Washington state, flashed a peace sign, and tried to race the officer. After the racer’s VW Jetta allegedly reached speeds of 120 miles an hour – a bit too fast and too furious for the trooper – the officer turned on his colored lights. In a state of shock, the Jetta driver hit the brakes “so hard that the back end of the vehicle was fish tailing,” the trooper told The Olympian....

A former pro wrestler known as “Gangsta of Love” made some bad moves in bed. Now Andre Davis is headed to prison for failing to tell his sex partners he was HIV-positive. Davis, 29, was sentenced to 32 years in prison after a Cincinnati jury convicted him of felonious assaults on 11 women, The Oxford Press reports. The charges stem from an Ohio law that requires people who are HIV-positive to disclose their status before engaging in sexual conduct....

Prosecutors rested their case in the Jerry Sandusky trial this morning. But before closing arguments, prosecutors may seek to introduce unaired portions of the Bob Costas interview with Sandusky from last November. Apparently, in the interview, Sandusky admitted that, “I didn’t go around seeking out every young person for sexual needs that I’ve helped,” reports the New York Post. This admission could have serious consequences for Sandusky and his attorney Joe Amendola....

Judge Jack Robison said God spoke to him, and that was a problem. In a criminal case in Texas, Robison interrupted jury deliberations to say he had a revelation. God, the judge said, told him the defendant was innocent. The jurors were not believers, however, and they convicted the defendant. The judge, as they say in Texas, “bless his heart,” got chastised. God Made Him Do It Robison couldn’t help himself....

“Tell Me Where the New Summer Line Is. TELL ME WHERE THE NEW SUMMER LINE IS!” The following took place between 2 a.m. and whenever he sobered up: Kiefer Sutherland, who portrays tough guy Jack Bauer on the hit Fox drama “24”, allegedly headbutted fashion designer Jack McCollough outside a New York City nightclub earlier this week. Sutherland originally claimed that he was coming to the aid of actress Brooke Shields, who McCollough had bumped into, or so Sutherland said....

Call it proper planning and preparedness, but law students can save themselves a lot of grief with regards to their student loans if they work hard and they begin looking in the right places. What we’re talking about is student loan assistance from the law schools themselves. And this next bit will no doubt come as a surprise: several law schools are even offering programs that give notable debt relief even for grads who don’t go into public service....

Purdue student Alyssa Chambers is suing basketball player Isaac Haas for $1 million in damages, claiming Haas knowingly infected her with chlamydia during a sexual encounter last year. She is also suing the school for allegedly providing Haas with undocumented medical treatment for STDs, as well as Haas’s ex-girlfriend, claiming she either intentionally inflicted emotional harm on Chambers via text messages about the case, or is trying to aid in a cover-up....