You know how the saying goes: “Give a man a drone, and he’ll strap a flamethrower on that bad boy and roast a turkey with it.” (Teach a man to drone, and he’ll talk turkey for the rest of his life.) And here comes the Federal Aviation Administration, trying to take away your god-given right to flamethrowing-drone-roasted turkey. But how far does the long arm of the airplane law actually reach?...
The path to public interest law can feel like the ‘road less traveled’ among a graduating class of firm-bound or company-aspiring attorneys. Balancing considerations of mounting debt with scarce job opportunities makes this journey one for the determined. As you look for a way into the public sector–consider applying to a public interest law fellowship. Not sure? Here are the basics– Public interest law fellowships are associated with prestige and competition....
It looks like the government agencies of the great state of Hawaii are just sick and tired of dealing with the crazies. So much so, that their legislature has had to come to the rescue. A bill is making its way through the Hawaii state legislature to allow state agencies to ignore repeated (and repeated) requests for certain things, such as President Barack Obama’s birth certificate. Despite being refused, since state law prohibits the release of such information to anyone who does not have a “tangible inertest,” many buzzing birthers continue to submit the same request....
Teammates, friends, and fans are hoping for the safe return of Washington Nationals catcher Wilson Ramos, kidnapped from his family’s home in Venezuela. Police say gunmen forced Ramos, 24, into an SUV and drove away Wednesday night. The vehicle was found abandoned Thursday morning. Major League Baseball has gone to bat for the promising rookie. It’s sent a team of investigators to Venezuela to help track down Ramos and his kidnappers....
Kanye West took to MTV’s least-watched Video Music Awards in history to announce his candidacy for President of the United States in 2020. The man who current President Barack Obama has twice referred to as a “jackass” got the White House’s attention with Press Secretary Josh Earnest eager to see the rapper’s possible campaign slogans. We know Yeezy is an avid reader and fan of Legal Grounds, so we decided to give him some advice on rocking the vote in 5 years....
Imagine one minute you’re being accused of conspiracy to deal large amounts of heroin, and the next minute the prosecutor at your trial is calling you Tony Montana from “Scarface” in closing arguments. In U.S. v. Antonio Valdez (aka Tony), Appellant Antonio Valdez didn’t have to imagine too hard after the same stunt was pulled at his federal drug trial, and although the D.C. Circuit frowned on it, they didn’t believe the prosecutor’s movie trivia shenanigans were worth a new trial....
Starting quarterback Anthony Jennings was one of four LSU football players arrested on Thursday. Also arrested were cornerback Dwayne Thomas, defensive lineman Maquedius Bain, and defensive tackle Trey Lealaimatafao. All four players were booked into the East Baton Rouge Parish prison and have been suspended indefinitely from the football team. Oh, Separate Incidents While some details are sketchy at this point, it is clear that not all the players were involved in the same criminal act....
Yeah, yeah, you’ve been saying “I should read more” for years, but you never do. Well, here’s the utility argument: Reading good writing makes your writing better. That’s right, regular old fiction and non-fiction can make your legal writing better. Of course, that’s not why you should be reading. You should be reading because it’s fun, you learn things, and you get insight into the human condition. Stuff like that. So here are five books that lawyers should have been reading in 2014 (or that you can put on your list for 2015):...
You’re at the end of a law firm job interview and everything’s going well. You smiled at all the right times, appeared interested, and shook hands like a pro. Just don’t screw up these last few minutes and you might actually have a shot at this job. Then the interviewer asks, “Do you have any questions for me?” Uh oh. Questions for you? What if you don’t ask the right questions?...
Some people spend months planning just the right present, but as a lawyer you probably don’t have that kind of time; you might have to rely on last-minute gifts. There’s no shame in buying closer to the holidays rather than way in advance. The key is making sure you get a gift that involves at least a little forethought. That means thinking about the recipient and what he or she would want or appreciate....
Do you ever feel like you just can’t say anything anymore without paying for it? That’s because we post our thoughts on social media, and some of us don’t think much before we do. Now two brothers in England are thinking a lot about free speech on Facebook as they sit in jail, remanded into custody after insulting the judge who gave them suspended sentences. Daniel and Samuel Sledden, along with their father, all pled guilty to trafficking in cannabis out of their home, according to The Guardian....
Every episode of the ‘Law & Order’ begins with the same explanation: In the Criminal Justice System the people are represented by two separate, yet equally important groups. The police who investigate crime and the District Attorneys who prosecute the offenders.” As the California Penal Code explains, “crime” also has two separate, yet equally important groups: the principals who commit the crimes, and the accessories, who assist the principals. The Penal Code describes principals as “all persons concerned in the commission of a crime, … whether they directly commit the act constituting the offense, or aid and abet in its commission, or, not being present, have advised and encouraged its commission…”...
In a culture shift aimed to improve fairness in the state’s judicial system, California’s highest court is set to start streaming oral arguments online, according to the Associated Press. This development is also partly a response to a significant reduction in funds to California’s courts. Tani Cantil-Sakauye, the Chief Justice of California Supreme Court, announced the court’s plan to stream oral arguments starting in May in San Francisco. The initial Los Angeles session will be delayed slightly because of technology hiccups....
In 2001, Khaled Shabban had a child with Araceli Hernandez. The two didn’t live together, so they stipulated to a custody agreement in which Hernandez would have physical custody but Shabban would be allowed unsupervised visits. In 2004, Shabban told Hernandez he was taking their son – then three years old – to an amusement park. Except that he didn’t take the kid to an amusement park; he took the kid to Egypt, where Shabban was from....
Festivus is a fictional holiday invented by a character on the sitcom Seinfeld about 20 years ago. But it will be recognized by the state of Oklahoma and others this month, according to the Associated Press. A Festivus pole wrapped in the rainbow colors of gay pride and topped with a disco ball will be on display in the Oklahoma Capitol rotunda, right by a giant nutcracker and a sleigh with gifts....
In plaintiff’s suit against the defendants arising from injuries he sustained as an HVAC technician while working on defendants’ air conditioning equipment, trial court’s judgment in favor of defendants is reversed as the sophisticated user defense applies to the negligence cause of action, but not to the strict liability cause of action. Read Johnson v. Honeywell Int’l Inc., No. B210799 [HTML] Read Johnson v. Honeywell Int’l Inc., No. B210799 [PDF]...
Judge R. David Proctor gave his opinion in one word: “Really?” The judge was responding to a motion to exceed page limits. For effect, he let Tom Hanks do the talking for him with this meme. It was a humorous footnote in an otherwise rancorous case. But even Hanks took things more seriously when he played a lawyer. “Faux Drama” Proctor was basically fed up with the “discovery soap opera” in the federal case....
The safety valve authorizes a sentencing judge to impose a term of imprisonment lower than a statutory minimum if the defendant meets five specified qualifications. One of those qualifications is cooperating with the government. A defendant who qualifies for the safety valve is also entitled to a two-point reduction in his offense level. While the courts adhere to a “no cooperation, no reduction” policy, an uncooperative defendant can get a second shot at sentencing if his lawyer never bothered telling him about the sentencing safety valve, according to the D....
In a dispute involving a transfer of property, trial court judgment is affirmed where: 1) a disputed 2002 deed is not invalid under the statute of frauds as the deed was an executed contract since defendants executed the deed and delivered it to plaintiffs with the intent to transfer their interest in the property; 2) the 2002 deed is valid as to plaintiff despite being altered, as it was executed and delivered to plaintiff and thus vested title in her before a third party altered the deed; and 3) the court did not abuse its discretion in refusing to impose an evidenciary sanction and admitting promissory notes into evidence....
Unfortunately, nobody was expecting good news to come out of the last administration of the bar exams, but when word got out that the MBE scores slipped to a 33-year low, we had to ask: when will the pain stop? The average scaled score for the February administration of the MBE notched down again to 135, down from 136.2 from last year and the lowest it has been since 1983. This is also despite a somewhat counterintuitive increase in the number of test-takers this year – a four percent jump, in fact....
