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Happy World Penguin Day! Yes, it’s a real thing and it happens every year on April 25. Whether it’s because penguins are birds that can swim, or if it’s because people just enjoyed “Happy Feet” or “March of the Penguins,” penguins are beloved by many – including FindLaw’s lawyer-bloggers. So in honor of World Penguin Day, here are our top three legal penguin posts from recent years: Finally, for your viewing pleasure on World Penguin Day, here’s a compilation of funny penguin moments....

At my first job out of law school, lawyers billed in 15 minute increments. That seems crazy because the industry is so wedded to the six-minute standard, but the billing blocks weren’t the strangest phenomenon in the office. No, what really kept people talking was the attorney who always stayed on his Bluetooth. Even in the bathroom. This guy regularly did business … while doing business. Great attorney. Hard worker. But were the bathroom conversations really necessary?...

The latest in the installment of … attorneys behaving questionably who have made the news involves one in his birthday suit, who then also got tased. Let’s strip this one down, shall we? (Sorry, had to). What was Combs doing without his clothes, anyway? According to a Gainesville Police report, a woman was inside her home early 6 a.m. on Saturday morning when she was awakened by a noise. That noise turned out to be a naked man actually inside her house and standing in front of her in her bedroom, no less....

Attorney Terik Hashmi is representing some high-profile clients. Well, high-profile in the sense that they are highly litigious. He’s one of the attorneys who is filing suits on behalf of his client Third Degree Films. The company makes pornographic movies. Their movies are being uploaded and shared via torrent websites. That is why they are pursuing legal cases against individuals accused of file sharing. Though, it seems that Hashmi may have acted a little too fast....

How much weight should the Supreme Court give to the government’s stance on patent exhaustion? Are self-replicating technologies protected by patents? If you could talk about patent exhaustion until you’re literally exhausted, the Intellectual Property Owners Association (IPO) is hosting a webinar this week about Bowman v. Monsanto that you might want to check out. Tuesday, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Bowman, a case to decide whether patent exhaustion applies to self-replicating technologies like seeds....

A Tennessee man allegedly stole a box of human ashes that he mistook for cocaine. William “Billy” Cantrell, 28, of Nashville, allegedly stole the ashes and an Xbox from his neighbor and brought the spoils to his grandmother’s house. Unfortunately for him, the ashes were the cremated remains of his neighbor’s mother. So how did Billy, who has been charged with aggravated burglary, mistake a lump of gray for grams of white?...

Just in time for this weekend’s Gay Pride celebrations and right on the cusp of the Supreme Court’s gay marriage ruling, California’s got some good, gay news: a ballot initiative to execute gays and lesbians can be snuffed out without going through the regular ballot process. It’s the little victories that count. The ridiculous Sodomite Suppression Act was the work of Orange Count attorney Matthew McLaughlin and would have required capital punishment for same-sex sexual activity – carried out by any member of the public....

Let’s think of some creative disguises: a fake nose, a mustache? What about women’s clothes on a man? While it probably works as a pretty good disguise, it’s not every day that a man in drag shoots his love rival. Lepaul Williams, 35, allegedly donned women’s clothing in order to disguise himself from his victim. Williams, from a neighborhood in Chicago, got into an argument with his victim, also his neighbor, earlier in the day before the shooting occurred....

Most of the time, we use this space to update you on case law, court news, or legal trends. Today, we’re sharing some good news from our office. (Don’t worry, it’s relevant to your law practice.) A new comScore study has ranked FindLaw.com once again as the top consumer legal website. To put that in lawyer-validation terms, it’s like having the best win-loss record at your firm, or getting props for your pantsuit from Hillary Clinton....

Three donut robbers are currently behind bars in Hyannis, Massachusetts after getting busted for trying to hold up a local Dunkin’ Donuts. Unfortunately for the men, aged 19 to 21, instead of making off with a bag of dough, they made off with a bag of donuts. Indeed, the only green inside the stolen bag probably belonged to the sprinkles. According to police, the three men, Nicholas Mercurio, Lukas Peterson, and Charles Iliffe, entered the Dunkin’ Donuts after 9 p....

A Florida man cited for allegedly defecating in the woods near a bar has filed a lawsuit claiming the city’s enforcement of a “careless and reckless policy” violated his civil rights and got him fired from his job at Merrill Lynch. Elvan Moore filed a federal lawsuit against the city of Mount Dora and the police officer who cited him for disorderly conduct in 2010, reports the Daily Commercial. The officer reported that he followed Moore from a bar into the woods, where he observed him squatting and next to broken-down car and noted the strong odor of feces....

While the headline is racy, the allegations of this lawsuit are nothing short of horrifying. A high school junior varsity cheerleader from Albuquerque, New Mexico, alleged that she was criminally harassed by her teammates and that the coaches and school did nothing to help her. What’s worse, the school actively sought to escape liability by holding the teenager’s school transfer request hostage behind a settlement agreement. The lawsuit is claiming multiple violations of the student’s civil rights under Title IX, the First Amendment and 42 USC 1983, in addition to the school conspiring to deprive the student of her civil rights under 42 USC 1985....

Watch out sommeliers, oenophiles, and old-fashioned winos. According to a class action lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, your wine of choice may contain high levels of arsenic, the potentially toxic poison. According to the complaint, several popular wines contain up to 500% or more of the maximum acceptable arsenic levels, yet provide no warning to the consumer. Though the suits claims are just allegations at the moment, they may have you thinking twice before going back for that extra glass of Pinot....

While distance learning and online education certainly suffer from stigmatization, recent studies provide numbers that call into question whether the stigma is justified. In fact, in addition to students overwhelmingly preferring online education, when done right, with online students able to interact and chat with professors in real-time, the actual education received might even be better. One of the aspects that might skew the numbers a bit in favor of online education is the fact that most students doing it are focused on, and interested in, learning the subject matter....

If you’re jonesing to get hitched in Las Vegas but The Little White Chapel is packed, there’s always The Large Yellow Denny’s Chapel. A Las Vegas Denny’s restaurant opened a full-service wedding chapel inside its dining area this week. Nancy Levandowski and Steven Keller from Ames, Iowa, were the first couple to take the plunge in syrup-soaked nuptials, reports The Las Vegas Sun. But will their Denny’s marriage be legally valid?...

John Alexander Mendoza was struggling as a lawyer. For years, clients had complained about his workers’ compensation practice. He joined a bigger firm, but eventually the partners decided to fire him. That was before the holiday party, when Mendoza walked into the office and murdered a managing partner before killing himself. Murder-Suicide Major Langer, who helped build Perona, Langer, Beck, Serbin and Harrison, was a well-known trial attorney. He handled what is believed to be the longest civil trial in California history, a 14-month trial that ended in a successful jury verdict....

Charles A. Bennett used to be a New York corporate lawyer; he once worked at Skadden in mergers and acquisitions. Then he left a 16-page suicide note in his Manhattan hotel room in which he admitted to running a $5 million Ponzi scheme. On November 3, Bennett tried to kill himself by jumping into the Hudson River. But he survived, thanks to a “law enforcement scuba diver.” Now the SEC has filed a civil complaint, and the Justice Department a companion criminal complaint, against Bennett for his six-year Ponzi scheme....

So many law schools, so many choices … Fortunately, the annual U.S. News rankings help students decide where to go to law school. But it’s kind of a one-size-fits-all guide, comparing LSAT’s, GPA’s, acceptance rate, bar passage scores, student-to-faculty ratios, job placements, etc. So some law professors have a different idea – how about rankings that just compare student quality? Wait, is this a trick question? “Revealed Preferences” Christopher Ryan, Jr....

The Oakland City Council approved a settlement to pay nearly $1 million to a former prostitute who alleged that a parade of police officers used her for sex, including times when she was a minor. Jasmine Absulin, formerly known as Celeste Guap, said that police in Oakland, Richmond, Livermore, and San Francisco, as well as Alameda and Contra Costa counties, were involved. She has filed claims for civil rights violations against the police agencies....

There are no guarantees in life. That is, unless you’re a Phoenix Suns basketball fan. Next Thursday, the Phoenix Suns will become the first team in NBA history to guarantee that its fans have fun, or they’ll get their money back, reports ESPN. The timing of the Suns’ promotion is interesting, as it comes on the heels of the San Antonio Spurs benching all of their best players so that they could get some rest in the highly anticipated (and sold out) game against the Miami Heat....