The California Supreme Court on Friday announced that it will hear oral arguments in Perry v. Brown from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on Tuesday, September 6, 2011, in the Supreme Court Courtroom, Earl Warren Building at 350 McAllister Street in San Francisco. The court is hearing arguments to decide whether the official proponents of Proposition 8 have legal standing to defend the measure in the case now pending before the U....
Texas lawyers want to keep their ability to have sex with their clients. Y’all come back now, ya hear? As it is, attorneys in the Lone Star State have never been ethically barred from fraternizing with clients. And they intend to keep it that way. The ban was defeated by a majority of voting Texas lawyers, reports the ABA Journal. Under the proposed rule, Texas lawyers would have been in violation of ethics rules if they got romantically entangled with paying (or appointed) customers....
In the world of big law, not many firms can claim membership in the three comma club. And of the firms with membership in the exclusive billion dollar club, one has reached new heights setting an all time high of over three billion dollars in revenue. While some cynical lawyers out there might think, well, that’s just revenue, that massive number actually generates $3.25 million in profits per partner. With close to 2,500 attorneys, and $1....
The annual survey results are in, and of all the California state judges polled, this year’s state judiciary is the most diverse it has ever been. Notably though, looking at the data over the past 13 years, this trend has pretty much been annual news every year since the judiciary started tracking the data, as every year, the numbers continue to improve. In addition to racial and ethnic diversity improving, gender diversity is also improving....
Have you caught Olympic fever yet? We have, and any time we’re not at work, we’re watching world-class athletes perform feats that leave us in awe (and make us feel pretty pathetic in comparison). No doubt the next generation of athletes watch with an eye to the future, but fear not, we lawyers can learn from, and be inspired by Olympians too. Here are three lessons for young attorneys, and law students, from Olympians....
Note to self: sitting with a hot battery on my lap for hours at a time is a bad idea. In fact, demotolgists say, it can cause “toasted skin syndrome,” a form of skin damage. Further, a medical report found that men who used laptops on their laps face a decrease in sperm production, potentially leading to infertility. Yikes! The story profiled a law student from Virginia who had a mottled skin condition on her leg....
The oldest potato chip company in the United States violated Sec. 8(a)(5) of the NLRA, according to the Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit. We hope this little procedural hiccup won’t halt the production of Mike-Sell’s potato chips. However, the future for the company hasn’t looked this dim in a very long time. Mike-Sell’s is one of the iconic American brands when it comes to potato chips. But not it’s going through tough economic times....
Recent changes enacted by a new Utah solicitation law appear to have made “acting sexy” illegal, according to a federal lawsuit filed on behalf of two Salt Lake City escort services. Putting aside the miracle that Utah is actually home to escort services (and strip clubs!), the law criminalizes the performance of lewd acts to indicate that a person wishes to exchange sex for money. In other words, the changes made to Utah solicitation law make it illegal for a person to expose or touch herself–or “act sexy”–as a means to convey that she is a prostitute....
Charles Ross allegedly went on a wedgie spree Sunday night and likely intended to put the video on his YouTube page. But his subsequent arrest put a damper on those plans. Police in Florida were tipped off to Ross’ obnoxious behavior when a male victim told them Ross had grabbed the back of his pants and pulled them up none too gently. You might have had to put up with that in middle school but in the real world, that’s battery....
Vince Sicari, popularly dubbed the “joking judge” in New Jersey, wound up being the butt of his own jokes. Sicari, a part-time municipal judge, moonlights as a comedian and actor. But New Jersey’s Supreme Court isn’t laughing. In a (humorless) 7-0 opinion, the state’s highest court unanimously ordered the joking judge to either quit his side gig or step down from the bench. By day, Vince Sicari is a part-time municipal judge in South Hackensack, where he handles minor offenses such as traffic ticket and disorderly person cases, reports The Associated Press....
For many law students, particularly (but not just) 1Ls, finally seeing your grades can be a jarring experience. Being primarily graded based upon a final exam alone is a new experience for most law students (if you have midterms, consider yourself lucky). Due to the law school grading system, if you didn’t do as well as you expected, it can be difficult to determine what actually went wrong. Usually, it’s one of the big four problems:...
What should you do when being “practice-ready” just isn’t enough to land you a job? It’s a rather universal complaint among law students, that law school often doesn’t prepare us for the realities of the legal sector. In an attempt to remedy this, law schools these days are trying to incorporate more practical experience into their curriculum. But, really, they can only do so much. As promised (and mentioned) in a recent post where we summarized the findings of a law professor, who claimed that the ideas behind being a practice-ready law graduate were a fantasy; here are some tips to work within this rather crappy job market, where no one is knocking down your door to offer you a job....
Valentine’s Day is fast approaching, and it’s time to start thinking about what to get the special lawyer in your life. (You could also wait until the last minute and get a Whitman’s Sampler from Walgreen’s, but all that says is “I forgot about Valentine’s Day.”) Hopefully, your BigLaw associate significant other doesn’t have to work late into the night. And even if he or she does, here are some gift ideas that will making coming home at 1 a....
The FTC and Uber agreed to a settlement as a result of an investigation into the ride hailing company’s mishandling of customer data, as well as privacy and security issues in 2014 and 2015. Part of that settlement includes 20 years worth of monitoring and privacy audits to ensure the company does not repeat the complained of behavior. For Uber, entering into a settlement that requires extensive and long-term monitoring could actually be beneficial at this point....
For many immigration lawyers and organization that assist individuals, January 31, 2019 will not soon be forgotten. After all, it is a stark reminder of what happened on October 31, 2018. If you’re not an immigration practitioner, you might not know, or remember, why these dates are significant. After all, immigration has been a hot button subject with several high-profile issues. But after the Pereira v. U.S. 8 to 1 U....
Uber has more problems than an old car and it’s starting to break down – legally. Drivers have sued the company for overtime and other complaints. Contractors have sued for unpaid bills. A competitor has sued for stealing technology. But if ever there were a legal spot between a rock and a hard place for Uber, it’s between the company and its engineer Anthony Levandowski. The former Google worker allegedly stole self-driving technology and took it to Uber, and a judge is not happy about it....
Of the 1,005 California judges who responded to the sexual orientation inquiry in the state’s latest judicial survey, 969 identified as heterosexual and 36 identified as gay or lesbian, reports the Los Angeles Times. Approximately 40 percent of the state’s judges selected the “none of your business” option; they refused to answer the question. What is wrong with California that we’re asking for such private information from our jurists? Like most bureaucratic ills, this demand for disclosure originated in the legislative branch....
A California motorcyclist’s lawsuit claims a bike ride in 2010 took an unexpected turn that caused a prolonged erection for two years – and counting. Henry Wolf blames the after-market “ridge-like seat” on his 1993 BMW motorcycle for causing his “severe case of priapism (a persistent lasting erection),” according to the lawsuit filed in state court in San Francisco and obtained by Courthouse News Service. A four-hour ride on the motorcycle seat, designed and manufactured by Corbin-Pacific Inc....
November is National Adoption Month. Dating couples are adopting dogs; married couples are adopting children; spinsters are taking in a few dozen more cats; and the Ku Klux Klan is trying to adopt a stretch of highway in north Georgia. The Klan is excited about adding a one-mile span of Route 515 to its family, and filled out the proper adoption paperwork. But these things take time, and the approval of the Georgia Supreme Court....
Sino Century Development Limited and Sinomax Polyurethanes (collectively, Sinomax) sued Anatomic Global and David Farley to collect almost $3 million in unpaid invoices. In January 2011, before Farley was dismissed as a defendant in this action, he filed for bankruptcy, which triggered a stay of judicial proceedings against him. Farley, however, failed to notify Sinomax or the trial court that he had filed for bankruptcy protection as required under California Rule 3....
