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When New York Mets second baseman Daniel Murphy took paternity leave this week, some sports fans criticized him on talk radio, because it meant that he would miss out on the first two games of the season. While some weren’t supportive about Murphy’s decision, the Mets player ultimately felt that being there for his wife and new son was the best decision for his family, reports ESPN. So if you’re a new dad like Murphy, what do you need to know about paternity leave?...

Well, that didn’t take long – Gabrielle Union is already talking about prenups a few weeks into her engagement to Dwyane Wade. Both the Miami Heat player and Union were previously married to other people, but for Union, the difference this time around is that there might be prenuptial agreement, The Huffington Post reports. So is Union going to score points with Wade on this prenup? Why Get A Prenup? Celebrity prenups are a dime a dozen....

A 911 call to Volusia County sheriffs on Thursday said it all: “We’re at Jungle Hut (Park) and a huge bundle of drugs or something just washed up on the beach and there are people like fighting over it.” Law enforcement along Florida’s central coast claim they recovered about 100 pounds of plastic wrapped weed that washed onto area beaches over the past two days. And that’s not counting parcels that less upstanding members of the community may have absconded with before officers arrived....

A prison escapee knocks on a prison guard’s door and gets caught. Sounds like a bad joke, right? Well, for prison inmate James Edward Russell, it was all too true. Russell had escaped from the Olympic Corrections Center near Forks in Washington State last week, reports the AP. He was in the middle of serving his fourth prison sentence since 1993. His most recent sentence was for theft and forgery, the AP reports....

An Ohio vet’s unconventional form of therapy is ruffling some legal feathers: He’s been cited for owning therapy ducks. Iraq veteran Darin Welker of West Lafayette is facing a minor misdemeanor for owning 14 ducks, despite the fact that he claims they are therapeutic for his PTSD and back injury. The Marion Star reports that while the Department of Veteran’s Affairs (VA) was willing to pay for Welker’s back surgery, it didn’t cover any physical or emotional therapy....

To its credit, CNN reported the news straight: “Judge Orders White House to Return Jim Acosta’s Press Pass.” The news agency could have spun the story much differently because Acosta works for CNN. The headline could have read: “Judge Schools Trump on the First Amendment,” or “Acosta Beats Trump in Whitehouse Throwdown.” But no, there was no fake news to sensationalize the report. The judge granted a temporary restraining order against the president....

A man who claimed he was burned while praying over Applebee’s fajitas won’t be able to sue the restaurant chain. A New Jersey appellate court affirmed a lower court’s decision to dismiss his case, saying the sizzling hot fajitas were an “open and obvious” danger. Delicious Danger Hiram Jimenez ordered Applebee’s signature “Sizzling Skillet Fajitas” which a server delivered to his table in a skillet that was in fact sizzling. According to his lawsuit, the server didn’t warn Jimenez that the dish was hot, possibly believing that the dish’s name and current condition would have alerted Jimenez to the sizzling nature of the skillet....

There’s a fine line between utilitarianism and theft. On the one side, you have some unused resources going to waste when they could be used to help others. On the other, you have a guy breaking into his dead neighbor’s apartment, making off with some cash, batteries, a coffee mug, and a debit card. A utilitarian might say that it’s a good thing that the deceased’s financial assets are used to feed and support the living....

Where do you sell stolen property? Do you fence it in a dark alley, sell it to your neighborhood thief, or try to hawk it at a pawnshop? Why not sell it on Craigslist? A Texas salesman unwisely let a customer test drive a red Chevy Silverado alone. The thief was gone over half an hour. In that time, he must have made a key and key fob for the truck....

What would win in a duel? A lightsaber or a Taser? Keep your answer in mind as you read the story below. Police arrested David Canterbury outside a Portland, Ore. Toys “R” Us on Wednesday night after he attempted to start his very own Clone War. The lightsaber attack left no casualties, though three shoppers were hit. The 33-year-old man tried for a quick getaway but was confronted by police. He violently swung his lightsaber while yelling incoherent statements....

Are you trying to sell a murder house, but finding it hard to keep its homicidal history a secret? Well in Pennsylvania, you needn’t worry about things like that. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has ruled that homeowners have no duty to disclose such tragic incidents to potential buyers. According to PennLive.com, the state’s High Court ruled this week that the sale of a house that was the backdrop of a murder-suicide didn’t require the owner to tell the buyers about it....

People v. Vance, A122777, concerned a challenge to a conviction of a defendant for first degree murder. In reversing the conviction, the court remanded the matter as, the prosecutor made a sustained Golden Rule closing argument by arguing that the jury should “walk in the victim’s shoes,” and to “relive what the victim experienced” Further, the prosecutor’s misconduct and the trial court’s refusal to admonish the jury demonstrate reversible error. However, the court held that there was no error in the denial of defendant’s suppression motion....

The California Court of Appeal for the Fourth District decided a juvenile matter and a civil action brought by a general contractor. The Sixth District decided whether a mandatory registration requirement for certain sex offenders violated the equal protection. In In re W.B., No. E047368, the Fourth District faced a juvenile defendant’s challenge to the order removing him from his mother’s custody and ordering him placed in a foster home, group home, relative home, county or private facitlity....

Introducing our Ex-Lawyer of the Week: Savannah Guthrie. Guthrie, NBC News’ chief legal correspondent, co-hosted the “Today” show Friday morning with little on-air fanfare. Hours later, the network officially named the ex-attorney as the show’s new permanent co-anchor. Guthrie’s predecessor, Ann Curry, left the show Thursday. Guthrie’s career path, from top scorer on Arizona’s bar exam in 2002 to second chair at America’s No. 1 morning show, means the battle for breakfast-time TV ratings will soon be joined by not one, but two network news anchors with JDs....

If you see Sergeant Eros approaching, you’d be well advised to cover your eyes. You see, he is not your everyday officer. Nay, he is no officer at all. The genesis of the legal trouble was a hen party (known as a bachelorette party here in the colonies). The hen’s fiancé had hired Sergeant Eros, whose real name is Stuart Kennedy, to provide a little bit of humorous entertainment to the party, which was being held at La Bamba in Aberdeen....

Tired of your current gig? Looking for something a bit more inspiring? There are plenty of cool jobs out there. Sure, you could be an in-house attorney for the NBA or a litigation director for a major Hollywood studio – if you’ve got a decade or two of experience. But why wait till you’re old and gray before you get an awesome job? This week, we’re focusing in on those of you just starting out....

As a practitioner in the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals, most of your time is spent thinking about the theoretical aspects of the law as you craft finely-honed briefs and oral arguments for your cases. However, you can’t forget the basic, practical considerations of working in a federal appellate court. Regardless of whether this is your first time arguing in front of the court, or you are a seasoned pro, here’s a recap of the top practical considerations a Federal Circuit practitioner should keep in mind:...

It’s almost August and informal reports indicate that top law schools are still accepting applications for the fall class. It’s been almost a decade of horror stories from law grads. Common complaints included accumulating six-figure debts, graduating to a life of doc review (if you’re lucky), and earning less than a typical art major earns. So it’s no surprise that law school admissions have suffered. The surprise really is that some top 50 law schools are still scrambling to fill their seats....

Just a few weeks ago, Judge Aaron Persky was a little known public servant in Santa Clara Superior Court. Then he sentenced Stanford University student Brock Turner to a six-month sentence for three felony counts stemming from Turner’s rape of an unconscious woman, far below the maximum 14 years Turner was facing. The case gained international attention when the victim shared her courtroom statement with the press, detailing how the rape and sentencing affected her....

The NHL lockout is finally over after 113 days. So hockey fans, all five of you, can rejoice. While much of America may not have even noticed that there was no hockey, NHL players and team owners were busy working out a collective bargaining agreement through mediation that would meet players’ demands and alleviate owners’ concerns, Reuters reports. Even if you are not a hockey fan, the process by which the two sides reached an agreement is common for workers everywhere....