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If you haven’t heard, FindLaw has launched a new weekly podcast bringing you a brief digest of recent cases, with an emphasis on the brief. The podcast, appropriately titled “FindLaw’s 5in5,” discusses five cases each week, in (and you guessed it) under five minutes. We’re lawyers bringing other lawyers informative content, in a fun, friendly, and easy-to-digest way. If you’re already itching to give it a listen, head on over to the main 5in5 page, or give the play button below a click....

Nicholas J. Carse shall henceforth be referred to as the King of Pops, and he shall be forever worshipped as a member of the elite group known as The Ones Who Got Away. A 2008 graduate of Georgia State University, the assistant prosecutor in Gwinnett County, Georgia has followed his dreams, leaving his hard-to-come-by job in favor of selling gourmet popsicles with his brother. Jealous much? Nicholas J. Carse and his brother will spend their summer on the streets of Atlanta, at festivals and farmers markets, hocking homemade fruit popsicles from a small cart outfitted with a bright rainbow umbrella, reports Above the Law....

Hurricane Sandy knocks out many law firms, but attorneys keep working. Manhattan is surrounded by water and many of the biggest law firms pay ridiculous amounts of rent for the low-lying real estate. But every once in a while when a hurricane hits, the city shuts down. Expecting the worst, many Manhattan firms prepared for Hurricane Sandy by shuttering its offices. But instead of getting a vacation (remember, snow days?), attorneys were told to keep on working via BlackBerry’s and computer, reports Reuters....

It’s not every day you hear a judge throwing herself on the mercy of the court. But that’s what Judge Amanda Sammons was doing in her judicial disciplinary case for multiple complaints of judicial misconduct. Having survived a criminal trial on two counts of official misconduct, Sammons was begging for another chance to show that she is not the same angry judge who set bail at $250,000 for a seat belt violation....

If you’ve tried the Kern’s Kitchen Derby Pie recipe, then you’ve tasted the most litigious dessert in America. The company owns a trademark on the term Derby Pie, a popular Southern confection (the picture is making my stomach growl). Anyone can make the Southern dessert with chocolate, pecans, and lots of sugar. But after you whip it together, think twice before you call it “Derby Pie” – or you could find yourself with a recipe for a Kern’s Kitchen trademark disaster....

Here’s the crazy thing about Confrontation Clause appeals: A confrontation right violation requires reversal of a criminal defendant’s conviction unless the prosecution can show “beyond a reasonable doubt” that the error was harmless. For example, let’s say there was a pair of killer grannies who ran over a homeless man and collected over $1 million in life insurance proceeds from his death. It wouldn’t matter if the analyst who tested the victim’s blood for drugs wasn’t the same person who testified at trial that the victim was drugged before his death....

A father’s petition for writ of mandate challenging a juvenile court’s denial of his peremptory challenge on the ground that it was untimely pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure section 170.6(a)(2) is granted as, once the juvenile court terminates jurisdiction over a dependent child, a subsequent case involving the same child and parent is a new matter for purposes of the time limits for filing a 170.6 motion. Read Manuel C....

New York Mets bullpen catcher Eric Langill faces DUI charges in connection with a rollover crash not far from the Mets’ spring training camp. He also allegedly tried to run away from the scene. Langill, 32, crashed his car into a fountain at a traffic circle in Port St. Lucie, Fla., about 11:25 p.m. Sunday, according to a police report obtained by New York’s WNBC-TV. The impact caused Langill’s white Honda Accord to flip upside down....

It’s a never-ending struggle to protect one of the most idealistic, gullible, and greedy demographics: prospective law students. In order to provide better information for these ne’er-do-wells, the ABA is requiring accredited law schools to submit a new, separate, stand alone questionnaire regarding the school’s bar passage rate. And though law schools have been reporting bar passage rates for many years now, the new questionnaire, approved this past June, promises to provide more accurate information, which could help prospective law students decide whether or not to attend a particular school....

Prosecutors in South Africa say they plan to charge Olympic track star Oscar Pistorius with premeditated murder as new details emerge over the shooting. On Valentine’s Day, Pistorius’ girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp was found in a pool of blood and shot four times, reports Reuters. Initially, there were rumors that Pistorius may have shot her in self-defense, believing that she may have been an intruder. However, as more is revealed, this defense seems less plausible....

Greenberg Traurig, one of the world’s largest multinational law firms, just got a little bigger recently. Former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani will be joining its ranks as the firm’s Global Chair of the firm’s Cybersecurity and Crisis Management Practice. It’s nice to know that at least Greenberg Traurig has a department to cybersecurity – an area in which most law firms fall short. Greenberg Traurig’s Executive Chairman, Richard Rosenbaum, was ceremoniously effusive when speaking about Giuliani’s becoming part of the team....

The snitch scandal at the Orange County District Attorney’s Office is nearly over, but it won’t bring relief for the mass murderer whose attorneys brought the scandal to light. Scott Dekraai is the man who walked into a Seal Beach salon in 2011 and opened fire, murdering eight people. He pleaded guilty in May, but the death penalty is still on the table, despite the best efforts of his public defender, Scott Sanders, and a scandal in the district attorney’s office....

It’s only natural to think that, when you want a dog, you go to the pound or the pet store, pick out your pup, and go home to a long and wonderful friendship. But some new pet owners are surprised to learn that they were only renting their new best friends. Or, more accurately, getting “fleased” by long term lease agreements with exorbitant interest rates. One such woman in New York was paying $180 a month for a Chihuahua puppy she wouldn’t be able to own until she shelled out over twice the dog’s asking price of $1,900 and kicked in an extra $300 purchasing fee....

With so much of the country blanketed in cold, it got us thinking about the weirdest stories of snow-related shenanigans, and the legal trouble their protagonists might be in. Ever since there have been humans and things, humans have felt compelled to jump off things. This compulsion is never greater than when humans are assured a soft landing. Hence the latest trend of Bostonians leaping off all manner of things into the giant snow banks littering their fair city – and posting videos of their daring snowdives:...

Making use of Orange County’s international business climate, the five-member board of directors (including Dean Chemerinksy) hopes for the Center to eventually serve as a multifunctional institute–offering continuing legal education, certification for practitioners, mediation, expert witnesses and policy guidance to facilitate business and legal needs between the communities. UC Irvine Law School’s budding law program has been making headlines since its inception. For its inaugural class, which will take to the halls this August, it accepted only 4% of its over-2500 applicants, making it tougher to find a spot there than at than at established programs such as Yale and Stanford....

Fox News sportscaster Erin Andrews was filmed naked in 2008 in her hotel room in a Nashville, Tennessee Marriott, and that video went viral in 2009. The release caused her personal and professional distress and damages, Andrews says. She is demanding $75 million from the hotel in an injury suit happening in Nashville now. This week Andrews testified about the impact the video had on her life, and she was in tears about the violation of privacy, as well as the fact that her former employer ESPN forced her to discuss the video in an on-air interview....

The University of Tulsa has been slapped with a Title IX suit in federal court based on one student’s allegations that she was raped by a prominent college basketball player at the school. Abigail Ross claims in her suit that basketball player Patrick Swilling Jr. sexually assaulted her in January. Ross asserts that the university, colloquially referred to as TU, “undertook zero investigation” of Swilling or his conduct, despite as many as three prior sexual assault reports from other TU students, reports ESPN....

Defendant’s drug distribution sentence is affirmed where the government’s refusal to file a motion authorizing the court to sentence defendant below the statutory mandatory minimum sentence did not deny defendant due process because: 1) the government was not required to file an 18 U.S.C. section 3553(e) motion any time it filed a U.S.S.G. section 5K1.1 motion; and 2) it was rational for the government to conclude that, although substantial assistance may have justified substantially reducing defendant’s potential sentence, his repeated drug dealing was still sufficiently serious to require a sentence of at least 120 months’ incarceration....

Walgreen Co. of Deerfield, Il. v. US, 10-1136, concerned a challenge to the Court of International Trade’s affirmance of a decision by the Department of Commerce, that certain tissue paper contained in Walgreen’s “Gift Bag to Go” gift bag sets are within the scope of an earlier antidumping order covering certain tissue paper from the People’s Republic of China. In affirming, the court held that substantial evidence supports the Commerce’s decision that, based on the language of the Final Order, the (k)(1) criteria were dispositive of the scope determination....

Ahoy mateys! Would you like to partake in a pirate boat robbery, complete with signature skull-and-crossbones flag and clandestine nighttime plundering? The two men allegedly tried to rob a sailboat in Gloucester, Massachusetts. The attempted pirating began when they approached a sailboat in a motorboat. The duo’s motorboat bore the iconic skull-and-crossbones flag, according to the Huffington Post. The two men allegedly took flight in their boat after the owner saw them, the Huffington Post reports, but not before they told the owner that they were “armed....