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Fastcase Legal News 

Covers items of interest for lawyers and other legal professionals, legal technology, legal research, firm life, and culture.
Post Frequency: 2.8/day Last Entry: September 03, 2020 at 08:30:12 Recent Entries: 656
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Lawdable Quotes: Lawrence M. Friedman
Posted on May 09, 2008The public seems, in fact, to have a love-hate relationship with law.It sees law as a bag of tricks, a bottomless pit of artifice and legalism; but it also sees law as a shining sword of justice, a powerful weapon of public purpose.Law is, indeed, one of the very foundation stones of liberty...
Patent Law in an Uproar Over Constitutional Mishap
Posted on May 08, 2008John F. Duffy, a law professor at George Washington University, has recently released a controversial paper that calls into question thousands of decisions made by the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences since 2000. According to Duffy, the appointment process used to select judges for the panel has been unconstitutional since 1999, when a law was passed that gave the power of appointment, once enjoyed by the Secretary of Commerce, to the director of the Patent and Trademark Office...
Lawdable Quotes: Carrie Chapman Catt
Posted on May 07, 2008No written law has been more binding than unwritten custom supported by popular opinion.~ Carrie Chapman Catt
Lawdable Quotes: Sandra Day O'Connor
Posted on May 06, 2008Yes, I will bring the understanding of a woman to the Court, but I doubt that alone will affect my decisions. I think the important thing about my appointment is not that I will decide cases as a woman, but that I am a woman who will get to decide cases...
Consumer Bankruptcies Dramatically Rise In April
Posted on May 06, 2008Americans filing for bankruptcy rose nearly 50% in April compared to year ago numbers. At this rate of increase, the number of bankruptcies might match the percentage of Americans declaring bankruptcy before the Bankruptcy Reform Act(PDF) took effect in 2005...
Free Book of the Month: Albert Kocourek's Sources of Ancient and Primitive Law
Posted on May 05, 2008Each month Fastcase hosts a book (as a PDF document) that has fallen out of copyright for your legal reading delight. This month we bring you Albert Kocourek's Sources of Ancient and Primitive Law.Read the entire publication below:Albert Kocourek's Sources of Ancient and Primitive Law (PDF)
This Day in Legal History ? May 4th
Posted on May 04, 2008On May 4th, 1989, the the District Court of D.C. convicted Oliver North of obstructing the congressional Iran-Contra investigation and the destruction of government documents. While North was eventually acquitted of all 3 counts, the publicity of the case and the ensuing political polarization ensured that this day would go down in legal history...
New Diet Craze: Prison?
Posted on May 03, 2008Broderick Lloyd Laswell, an inmate in an Arkansas county prison, has filed a lawsuit alleging that the Benton County Jail starves its inmates, serving only tiny portions of cold food. Laswell, who is charged with capital murder, weighed 413 pounds before his incarceration, and has dropped 105 pounds in the last eight months...
Lawdable Quotes: Plato
Posted on May 03, 2008No law or ordinance is mightier than understanding. ~ Plato
Despite DNA Proof, Kentucky Strikes Down Paternity Claim
Posted on May 02, 2008On April 24th, the Supreme Court of Kentucky decided in favor of a couple who had appealed a family court's decision to consider the petition for paternity of a third party who claimed to be the biological father of their child ("J.A.R."). The child's mother, referred to as J...
May 1st is Law Day!
Posted on May 01, 2008May 1st is Law Day! Reflect on what brought you into the legal profession and read President Bush's proclamation below:Law Day is defined as follows in 36 U.S.C. § 113: (a) Designation.? May 1 is Law Day, U.S.A.(b) Purpose.? Law Day, U.S.A., is a special day of celebration by the people of the United States? (1) in appreciation of their liberties and the reaffirmation of their loyalty to the United States and of their rededication to the ideals of equality and justice under law in their relations with each other and with other countries; and(2) for the cultivation of the respect for law that is so vital to the democratic way of life...
Interview with the Inventor of the World Wide Web
Posted on May 01, 2008In commemoration of the world wide web's 15 year anniversary, its inventor, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, recently discussed the birth of the internet and his vision for its future with the BBC. While young people today may take the internet for granted, Sir Tim points out that its creation and dissemination were plagued by uncertainty and controversial decisions...
Millionaire's Amendment Goes Before the Supreme Court
Posted on April 29, 2008This week the Supreme Court began hearing the oral argument for the case Davis v. Federal Election Commission, a case that may decide the constitutionality of the Millionaire's Amendment included in the McCain-Feingold Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act. This amendment, intended to level the playing field for races in which wealthy candidates make use of their own funds, loosens the restrictions on campaign financing for opponents to those who put $350,000 or more of their personal wealth towards their run for office...
Fastcase Webinars Scheduled for SFVBA Members
Posted on April 29, 2008Members of the San Fernando Valley Bar Association can sign up for a free one-hour webinar training to learn about the newest member benefit, Fastcase, a comprehensive online law library. Launched by the SFVBA April 1, Fastcase provides SFVBA members free access to Court Opinions from all 50 states, the U...
Tips for Setting Up Your Firm in The New China
Posted on April 29, 2008This week, Peter A. Neumann, who recently assisted the U.S. based firm Greenberg Traurig in setting up its new Shanghai office, provided some incite into establishing a business in China at a Georgia Tech conference. Neumann, who has been living and working in China since 1993, had both words of caution and encouragement for those hoping to expand their company to this economic powerhouse...
Upcoming Fastcase Webinars
Posted on April 28, 2008Click on one of the dates below to get the registration link for one of our upcoming Fastcase overview webinars.
Lawdable Quotes: Edmund Burke
Posted on April 27, 2008People crushed by laws, have no hope but to evade power. If the laws are their enemies, they will be enemies to the law; and those who have most to hope and nothing to lose will always be dangerous. ~ Edmund Burke
Lawdable Quotes: Martin Luther King, Jr.
Posted on April 26, 2008Law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice and when they fail in this purpose they become the dangerously structured dams that block the flow of social progress. ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.
Lawdable Quotes: Woodrow Wilson
Posted on April 24, 2008What we seek is the reign of law, based upon the consent of the governed and sustained by the organized opinion of mankind. -Woodrow Wilson
Supreme Court to Review Anti-Dumping Petition
Posted on April 23, 2008The Supreme Court plans to consider a petition, signed by the Solicitor General and several high-profile lawyers in the US Departments of State, Commerce, and Energy, to review the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit's decision United States v...
Lawdable Quotes: Publilius Syrus
Posted on April 22, 2008Pardon one offense and you encourage the commission of many.~Publilius Syrus
Wikicrimes: The New Wave of Law Enforcement
Posted on April 22, 2008A Brazilian professor has recently launched the newest effort to tackle his country's soaring crime rate: a website, dubbed "Wikicrimes," where victims may post the details of the crimes they have experienced, including the time, place, and profile of the attacker...
Poll Results: How Often Do You Conduct Legal Research?
Posted on April 21, 2008How Often Do You Conduct Legal Research? From our poll it appears most of our readers conduct legal research daily. Laywers who conduct weekly legal research were tied with the individuals who don't even know how they came upon on blog.Thanks to all who participated!
Bored In Class? For UC Law Students, No More Internet Diversions
Posted on April 21, 2008The National Law Journal reports that Dean Saul Levmore of the University Chicago Law School has announced a policy of blocking internet use in classroom buildings. As he began to notice students surfing the web during class, Dean Levmore innocently requested that his students keep better focus...
Lawdable Quotes: Theodore Roosevelt
Posted on April 20, 2008No man is above the law, and no man is below it.~ Theodore Roosevelt
Lawdable Quotes: Mohandas Gandhi
Posted on April 19, 2008There is an orderliness in the universe, there is an unalterable law governing everything and every being that exists or lives. It is no blind law; for no blind law can govern the conduct of living beings.~ Mohandas Gandhi
Is The Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act A Lightning Rod For Class Act Lawsuits?
Posted on April 18, 2008According to the Wall Street Journal Law Blog, around 300 class action lawsuits have been filed since the passage of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act (FACTA). However, several corporations have been challenging these suits, citing the "annihilation defense"; according to some of the defendants, the suits have put their businesses in serious peril...
Text To Free Tibet?
Posted on April 17, 2008Text messaging was the main weapon in the arsenal of the "Free Tibet" and "Save Darfur" activists who attempted to disrupt the San Francisco Olympic Torch Relay last week. While the relay organizers were constantly changing the route of the flame to bypass large crowds and protestors, activists used text messaging to alert each other of the new plans so they could keep up...
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Did I harass someone?
Oh, yes. This can be taken in as so many things, especially since you had testif...
How to evict a roommate?
First, in most jurisdictions "self-help" is not a remedy available to any party ...
I have worked for this employer for only three weeks. The employer makes up his own rules as to what he chooses to report for the purpose of property taxes. He tells me to "let them come after us". He defines Entertain
He arrogantly insists, "let them come after us." Well, if you are invo...
This has happened 3 or 4 times a month now- they have turned the electric off 2 days consecutively, the water off about 9 or 10 times now, and our heat has broken 5 times (once it would not shut off, and we were forced t
i say stick with the apartment. eventually, everything possible will be replaced...
The company I worked for forced me to quit instead of dealing with someone harassing me, what can I do?
Look up CONSTRUCTIVE DISCHARGE...................this looks like what happened t...

Did I harass someone?
Oh, yes. This can be taken in as so many things, especially since you had testif...
How to evict a roommate?
First, in most jurisdictions "self-help" is not a remedy available to any party ...
I have worked for this employer for only three weeks. The employer makes up his own rules as to what he chooses to report for the purpose of property taxes. He tells me to "let them come after us". He defines Entertain
He arrogantly insists, "let them come after us." Well, if you are invo...
This has happened 3 or 4 times a month now- they have turned the electric off 2 days consecutively, the water off about 9 or 10 times now, and our heat has broken 5 times (once it would not shut off, and we were forced t
i say stick with the apartment. eventually, everything possible will be replaced...
The company I worked for forced me to quit instead of dealing with someone harassing me, what can I do?
Look up CONSTRUCTIVE DISCHARGE...................this looks like what happened t...








