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What happened to Lance Mason, the former state lawmaker and county judge who apparently stabbed his ex-wife to death? For now, he is in custody for the alleged murder and faces life in prison – especially if his sister has anything to do with it. According to reports, Mason called her and confessed. But what happened to the former judge before that tragic day? It’s impossible to know exactly when it happened, but it started years before the killing....

Law schools offer more tech programs for students these days, but the future of legal tech is a little cloudy. The good news: tech courses prepare students for future careers. The bad news: there may not be as many law jobs in the future. It’s not just the robots taking over legal tasks. Law firms aren’t hiring a lot of tech lawyers. Law Job Market Daniel Sanders, a graduate of the technology institute at Chicago-Kent State College of Law, is an example....

Plaintiff-appellant Larry Klayman found a page on Facebook three years ago entitled “Third Palestinian Intifada.” The page “called for Muslims to rise up and kill the Jewish people.” Klayman contacted Facebook to remove the page, which it subsequently did, but apparently not quickly enough, reports Business Insurance. Klayman sued Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg (collectively “Facebook”) for intentional assault and negligent breach of a duty of care that allegedly, Facebook owed Klayman....

With apologies to Kermit the Frog, it’s not easy going green. Just ask the clerk’s office at the U.S. Federal Circuit Court of Appeals. The appeals court announced a new paperless filing procedure in August, only to revise it in October. The Electronic Frontier Foundation, which took some credit for the upgrade, also took some blame for the change-up. In any case, it’s all good because now briefs will be available online immediately....

The state of Florida has quietly spent nearly $240 million on outside lawyers in six years since Governor Rick Scott took office, the AP reports. Scott and Florida Republicans have shelled out “more than $237 million on private lawyers to advance and defend their agendas,” according to the AP investigation. Throw in the costs paid in opponents lawyers’ fees and the total rises to $253 million. The spending, according to Carlos Trujillo, a Republican state representative for Miami and chair of the Appropriations Committee, is “insane....

Internship cases are all the rage right now. A three-member D.C. Circuit panel weighed in on an unpaid internship case this week involving Q-1 visas and International Internship Program, an organization that sponsors a cultural exchange program that helps people from Asian countries find jobs in American schools. At its heart, it’s an unpaid internship case involving foreign citizens. The case centers on the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and the way it governs cultural exchange programs and Q-1 visas....

Where to begin the twisted tale of the Harvard lawyer who will be in prison for a very long time … The case of Matthew Muller, summa cum laude, is some kinda story. It twists and turns so strangely, like a snake having a seizure, it is hard to wrap your head around it. From the beginning to the end, it aches of tragedy. A promising lawyer lost in mental disease; an innocent woman abandoned by police; a community in shock and literal disbelief....

The Washington Post reports that Jay Bybee and John Yoo will not face criminal sanctions for their “torture memos,” and that, given state bars’ lack of subpoena power, they aren’t likely to face professional sanctions either. In other words, it is in fact ethical to perform legal research and then supply your client with confidential memoranda summarizing that research. Everyone can go back to work now. Good news first: according to the Am Law Daily, big corporations may be looking to loosen the purse strings a little and spend a bit more money on outside counsel....

Are you a new criminal defense attorney? A new prosecutor? If you are, you’ll be in court a lot and the hassles can really “try” your patience. People don’t get arrested for being too punctual and responsible. If your client flakes, you get to waste your time trying to keep him out of jail for a failure to appear rather than doing the business you went to court for in the first place....

It’s 8 a.m. and you walk into the office, bags under your eyes, weary from the 12 hours you worked yesterday just so you could bill eight. Or, it’s 3 p.m. and lunch has hit you like a freight train. In either situation, your options are coffee or tea. As with Red Sox v. Yankees or Boxers v. Briefs, people’s feelings about caffeine are strongly held and engender heated discussions. Thankfully, we have the resources to answer the coffee v....

In a petition for review of orders of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) which granted the application of a power company to surrender its license to operate a hydroelectric project and to remove the project’s dam and powerhouse, the petition is denied where: 1) approving the license surrender and dam removal for the project did not automatically trigger FERC approval of the other features of certain related settlement agreements; and 2) FERC lacked authority to relicense or transfer a license and facilities without the licensee’s consent....

NYPD officers arrested a man Tuesday for allegedly pointing his iPhone at the officers as if it were a gun and imitating gunshots. The incident occurred while the two uniformed officers were at a stoplight, New York’s WCBS-TV reports. A car being driven by 32-year-old Unique Johnson pulled up just shy of the passenger side door; when the officer in the passenger seat turned to look, he saw what appeared to be a weapon pointed directly at his head....

A fanatical Bears fan learned the hard way that Tasers and football bets don’t mix. Bears fan John Grant is being charged with a felony after he used a stun gun on his wife, a Packers fan, to settle a bet on the result of “Monday Night Football.” Sports pro-tip to Packers v. Bears rivals: Don’t enter bets involving stun guns. It won’t end well for anyone. After watching the Bears’ “MNF” victory at a bar in Mayville, Wisconsin, Nicole Grant called police from a nearby bowling alley, saying John Grant had shocked her with a Taser three times, reports USA Today....

A former University of North Dakota IL is suing the law school for having the temerity to kick him out. UND Law wrongly subjected his application to excessive, retroactive scrutiny, exercised institutional bias against him, and dismissed him without due process, according to the pro se complaint by ex-student Garet Bradford. What could ever cause the relationship between a 1L and his law school to sour so badly? According to Bradford, the conspiracy against him was set afoot after he simply refused to take an unfair quiz....

A playful pat on the butt went tragically wrong at Vinnie’s Rock Bottom tavern in Jefferson Wisconsin. Jennifer Luick and her boyfriend were dancing and drinking, but no sooner than the fun began, it all came to an end. The Milwaukee Wisconsin Journal Sentinel reports that Luick and her boyfriend were fatally shot after she pinched Andrew Wirth on the behind. But apparently, Wirth didn’t take it jokingly. He was on a date and, in response to Luick, reportedly said something that offended her enough to make her tell her companion, 40-year-old Gregg Peters, who then had something to say to Wirth....

California narrowly missed its chance to become the first state to legalize recreational use of marijuana, when voters defeated Proposition 19 in 2010. The “Regulate, Control, & Tax Cannabis Act” failed, 53.5 percent to 46.5 percent. Now, after Washington state and Colorado have passed similar laws, it seems the Golden State might be headed that way once again. A recent poll showed 60 percent of likely voters in California, and 52 percent of adults overall, are now in favor of cannibals legalization, reports the San Jose Mercury News....

In case you need a primer on signal flags, there’s a big difference between red and white flags. In battle, soldiers wave a white flag to signal surrender. They fly a red flag to warn the public of live fire exercises. People generally know a red flag means something is wrong, but they don’t realize it could be deadly. That’s why it’s important to know what’s going on with some law schools....

It’s been a rough week for lovers of the law. First, Justice Antonin Scalia dies, depriving the world of one of its most prominent legal voices. Then, today, Harper Lee passes away. She may not have been a Supreme Court justice, but the Pulitzer Prize winning author may have had just as big of an influence on many lawyers’ lives, with her depiction of Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mocking Bird launching a thousand legal careers....

What makes a burglary extra special? How about topping it off with bite to eat, something to drink and a shower? According to the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office in Eloy, Arizona, two houses were burglarized in which the burglars only stole food and water and after they were finished, the burglars showered. Pinal County Sheriff’s deputies believe that the burglars were illegal immigrants. One homeowner came home to find the Arizona burglars attempting to steal food and water from his home....

For law students, the thought of law school being more like med school might be conflicting. On the one hand, there’d surely be better practical training, which many law students would surely benefit from. But on the other hand, practical training probably won’t help when it comes to the bar exam, and would likely just create another barrier to entry into the profession. And that seems to neglect the fact that not all law students actually want to practice law....