- In move to protect itself against patent trolls, Apple plans to close retail stores in the troll-favored Eastern District of Texas [Joe Rossignol, MacRumors; Sarah Perez, TechCrunch]
- Don’t: “Civil Rights Lawyer Faked Cancer to Delay Cases, Illinois Bar Authorities Say” [Scott Flaherty, American Lawyer]
- Don’t: “* lies about joint stipulation for extension * FABRICATES OPPOSITION BRIEF * constructs false chain of emails, forwards to partner. Dude, just doing the work would have been WAY less effort.” [Keith Lee thread on Twitter, with punch line being what the New York courts did by way of discipline; Jason Grant, New York Law Journal]
- I’m quoted disagreeing (cordially) with Sen. Mike Lee on whether criticism of judicial nominees at hearings based on their religious views oversteps Constitution’s Religious Test Clause [Mark Tapscott, Epoch Times; my 2017 post at Secular Right]
- Colorado may become 13th state to enact National Popular Vote interstate compact, an attempted workaround of the Electoral College. This critique of the idea is from 2008 [John Samples, Cato; Emily Tillett, CBS]
- New York law imposes strict liability on simple possession of a gravity knife, leaves enforcement to official whim, and lacks a mens rea (guilty mind) requirement. The Constitution demands better [Ilya Shapiro on Cato Institute cert amicus brief in Copeland v. Vance, earlier and more on such laws]
Posts Tagged ‘don’t’
October 10 roundup
- “Heisman Trophy People Sue HeismanWatch For Using Images Of The Trophy And Stating Its Name” [Timothy Geigner, TechDirt]
- At elite law schools, the days when a centrist liberal like Elena Kagan could offer a welcome to Federalist Society types are fast drawing to a close, writes Reihan Salam [The Atlantic]
- Being able to link to federal court cases and legal materials would be huge: legislation from Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.) “would require that the courts make PACER documents available for download free of charge” [Timothy Lee, ArsTechnica]
- “UPDATE: Judge Rules Province Has No Duty to Recognize Bigfoot” [Kevin Underhill, Lowering the Bar, earlier]
- First state with such a law: “California governor signs bill banning sale of animal-tested cosmetics” [John Bowden, The Hill]
- North Carolina bar says lawyer “defrauded, deceived and embezzled funds from two mentally disabled clients who were declared innocent after spending 31 years in prison” [Joseph Neff, Marshall Project]
August 22 roundup
- Don’t: “Former lawyer is charged with stealing client identities to apply for litigation advances” [Debra Cassens Weiss, ABA Journal; Marietta, Georgia]
- “Website Access and Other ADA Title III Lawsuits Hit Record Numbers” [Minh Vu et al., Seyfarth Shaw; related, Julia Limitone, Fox; earlier] More compliance deadlines for movie theatres on captioning and audio description [Kevin Fritz, Seyfarth Shaw]
- Because this damaging exercise in maritime protectionism isn’t going away, Cato has launched a Project on Jones Act Reform [earlier]
- Worth keeping an eye on: proposals for “International Convention on Business and Human Rights” [Carlos Lopez, Opinio Juris, first, second posts]
- Alan Reynolds on the return of antitrust [Regulation mag via David Henderson, Econlib] A guide to Regulation mag articles on antitrust over the years [Peter Van Doren] Federalist Society conference on The Antitrust Paradox [opening remarks with Hon. Makan Delrahim and Dean Reuter first, second; panel on book’s generational impact first, second; panel on current state of play first, second]
- “Pro tip from the Tenth Circuit: Attorneys should tell the court if their clients die.” [Havens v. Colorado Department of Corrections via John Kenneth Ross/Short Circuit]
Don’t
Don’t claim, when you’ve missed a filing deadline in a wage and hour class action certification, that you had a family emergency in Mexico City when Instagram photos show you to be in New York at the time [ABA Journal; Lina Franco, sanctioned $10,000 by a U.S. magistrate judge, sought to withdraw untimely certification motion “first with prejudice and then without prejudice”]
April 4 roundup
- “Former employee of red light camera company that bribed Chicago official (who is now serving 10 years) turns informant, seeks sizable cut of the $20 mil the company paid to settle the city’s suit. Seventh Circuit: The chutzpah!” [John K. Ross, Short Circuit, on City of Chicago ex rel. Rosenberg v. Redflex Traffic Systems Inc.]
- “Why Religious Organizations Shouldn’t Lose Tax-Exempt Status Based on Public Policy, Post-Obergefell” [Sally Wagenmaker via Caron/TaxProf]
- The regulated American truck operator: “For the liberty minded professional driver, the situation looks bleak.” [“Gordilocks,” Glibertarians]
- Practice pointer: don’t make closing argument in a condition that could score .337 on a Breathalyzer afterward [Mike Frisch, Legal Profession Prof; Jefferson County, Ky.]
- Not a total shocker: study finds student editors at law reviews tend to accept articles matching their own ideologies [Prof. Bainbridge]
- Per a United Nations expert, 1) adopting fiscal austerity programs may put countries out of compliance with international human rights; 2) to remain in compliance, countries may be obliged to undertake crackdowns on financial privacy meant to extract more taxes. Oh, international human rights, how elastic thou art [Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights, U.N.]
August 9 roundup
- “What is the essence of a two by four?” And how did class action lawyers manage to get into the act? [Coyote, earlier]
- Don’t: “Syracuse lawyer accused of making bomb threat to avoid court hearing” [John O’Brien, Syracuse Post-Standard]
- Texas: “Even if you’re not the biological father, you still owe child support that accrued before the DNA test” [Fernando Alfonso III, Houston Chronicle]
- Federalist Society podcast with Justin (Gus) Hurwitz, Michael Daugherty, and Devon Westhill on long cybersecurity battle between FTC and Daugherty’s company, LabMD [earlier]
- Judge rejects suit by student over grade in poetry class [Sari Lesk, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel; U. of Wisconsin-Stevens Point]
- On Johnson Amendment (tax status of churches’ political speech) don’t expect a revolution [S.M. Chavey, Heartland, quoted]
Don’t
Things attorneys really should know without having to be told: “Lawyer indicted for filing lawsuits without clients’ knowledge” [Brownsville Herald, Insurance Journal, Texas Department of Insurance on hailstorm suits]
Downfall of Prenda Law, cont’d
John Steele has admitted guilt and pleaded guilty in the lawyer porn-troll copyright scheme that collected more than $6 million in settlements. He is expected to cooperate with prosecutors against Paul Hansmeier. [Dan Browning, Minneapolis Star-Tribune; earlier]
FBI: BigLaw partner arrested while in disguise trying to sell lawsuit
“A partner at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld who used a fake name and wore a wig was arrested last week while trying to sell [allegedly for $310,000] a copy of a sealed whistleblower complaint to a company under federal investigation, according to the FBI.” [ABA Journal]
Prosecutors: N.J. lawyer used extortion to develop practice
“The New Jersey Supreme Court has disbarred a lawyer who is currently serving a 27-month stretch in prison for trying to scare real estate investors into hiring him with a bogus claim of a pending criminal tax investigation…. The indictment accused [former Metuchen solo practitioner Thomas] Frey of extorting money from real estate investors by fabricating a story about impending criminal charges against them.” [New Jersey Law Journal]