Law Students

How the Changing Legal Landscape Will Affect Legal Education

Posted on September 16, 2009
As the fall progresses, many law students and law school administers will be trying to assess the direction of three market trends: (1) the number or percentage of summer associates who receive offers of permanent employment; (2) the prevalence of deferrals among those lucky enough to be offered jobs; and (3) the volume of [...

Movement Towards Limited Legal Services: Good Solution or Bad Service?

Posted on September 11, 2009
There has been some recent blog comments [See: Carolyn Elefant 's Blog [about  the meaning of Robert Capps article  in this month's WIRED Magazine, (September 2009) about the concept of "Good Enough",  "Good Enough" solutions, (when cheap and simple is just fine) and my quote about how this concept applies to the legal profession...

IDEA v PETA: New Post-Registration Copyright Infringement

Posted on September 10, 2009
IDEA v PETA (SDNY August 298 2009): Plaintiff, no doubt aware that statutory damages are only available for post-registration copyright infringements that are not part of a continuing, ongoing series of infringing acts of the same kind as those engaged by defendant prior to the effective date of registration, alleged in its amended complaint [...

Top 5 List of the Best Ways to Prevent Plagiarism of Online Content

Posted on September 09, 2009
If you?re a blogger (or any other kind of Webmaster) your content is being copied, it is virtually a guarantee. Whether you are big or small, users and commentators, along with spammers and scrapers, are using your work. Some of this use is likely legitimate, even desired, but some of it also likely goes [...

To access this complete feed in the blog feed reader login or register for free.

Carpooling Decision in Canada: No Compensation Allowed For Inter-City Trips

Posted on September 08, 2009
My wife won?t watch the news with me anymore. Apparently, my habit of talking back to the TV during reports on court cases is a little less than endearing. I just can?t help it, though- media reports on legal issues tend to range from slightly misleading to blatantly incorrect, and that drives me batty...

E-Verify Must Be Used By Federal Contractors to Verify Immigration Eligibility

Posted on September 03, 2009
Federal contractors must start using the federal government’s online E-Verify electronic program to verify the immigration eligibility for newly hired and current employees as of September 8, 2009. The United States Chamber of Commerce and a number of other plaintiffs challenged the directive that implemented this program, first issued under Presidential Executive Order [...

How to Investigate and Review an Expert?s Curriculum Vitae Before a Deposition

Posted on September 01, 2009
Don’t save your review of an expert’s curriculum vitae (CV) for the night before the deposition. Read it well in advance of the deposition, then mark it up and investigate the expert’s claims. Has the expert exaggerated his qualifications? Such exaggerations can seriously undermine his credibility...

Empirical Legal Studes in the Pre-1940 Era: Herb Kritzer Explains

Posted on August 28, 2009
Herb Kritzer (Minnesota Law), a seminal figure in the Law & Society movement, has recently posted a paper that provides a very exhaustive survey of empirical legal studies in the pre-1940 era. His paper, “Empirical Legal Studies Before 1940: A Bibliographic Essay“, includes a full bibliography of the articles he located...

Law School Interview Tips: Advice and How to Answer Questions

Posted on August 27, 2009
How can I prepare for my interview? You should do research on the school itself. Learn a little about the city it is in, the programs offered, grading policies, and instruction style. Look at the school’s information packet and their web site. If you’re interested in going into a particular field after law [...

Family Law Panel of Experts on Effects of Toxic Stress Related to Child Abuse

Posted on August 25, 2009
A recent panel of experts including Charles Nelson, the Richard David Scott Chair in Pediatric Developmental Research at Harvard Medical School, and Cindy Lederman, a judge of the Miami/Dade County Juvenile Court joined Harvard Law School (HLS) Professors Charles Ogletree, Martha Minow, and Child Abuse Prevention (CAP) Director Elizabeth Bartholet in exploring the short [...

American Society of International Law Announces 2009 Helton Fellowships

Posted on August 24, 2009
The American Society of International Law (ASIL) has announced the eleven student and young professional winners of its 2009 Helton Fellowships for projects in international law. Selected from more than 50 applicants from Africa, Asia, Europe and Eurasia, Oceania, and North and South America, the students will receive micro-grants of $1,500 to pursue fieldwork [...

The Battle Between the Apple iPhone and the RIM Blackberry for Attorney Technology

Posted on August 24, 2009
There?s no doubting the fact that almost every lawyer possesses a mobile phone ? it is sometimes the lifeline that keeps them connected to their office and their clients when they?re on the go. Most of them are either the proud owners of the sturdy workhorse BlackBerry while some others have been swayed by [...

Immunizations and Demonstrative Aids: Making Your Exhibits in Trial Bulletproof

Posted on August 22, 2009
The key to a good demonstrative aid is making it memorable for the jury–especially since the jury will be unlikely to take the exhibit into the deliberation room at the end of trial. Try to involve as many senses as possible: seeing, hearing, even touch...

Interview with Harvard Law Student Mona Williams: 2L Chayes Fellow

Posted on August 20, 2009
Q: What will you be doing this summer? This summer I will be working in Kinshasa, DRC with Development Alternatives, Inc. (DAI) as a legal intern for their Building Recovery and Reform through Democratic Governance (BRDG-DRC) project which is funded by USAID...

UK Movie Industry Wants to Turn Off Your Internet Without Judicial Review

Posted on August 19, 2009
The motion-picture industry has spoken out against a New Zealand proposal to allow them to disconnect entire households from the Internet if one member is accused of copyright infringement; they want to be able to disconnect your Internet connection without giving you a chance to defend yourself in front of a judge because that [...

Sharon Keller or Sharon Killer: Texas Judge Refuses to Hear Appeal and Now Put on Trial

Posted on August 18, 2009
A senior Texas judge who refused to hear a last-minute appeal from a prisoner facing execution because her office “closed at five” was put on trial Monday in one of the most high-profile cases of alleged judicial misconduct in the state’s history...

Lawyers Collaborating with IT Specialists: The Essential Nature of Teamwork in EDD

Posted on August 17, 2009
Mike McBride has a good post up about the cooperation between Lawyers & IT experts as equal parts of a firm’s in-house Electronic Data Discovery (EDD) team. It’s an interesting read for both sides; and I must say, Mike nails in-house culture and the difficulties of being a non-lawyer...

Facenda v NFL Films: The Battle Over the Madden Video Game Voiceover

Posted on August 15, 2009
Facenda v. N.F.L. Films, Inc., — F.3d —-, 2008 WL 4138462 (3rd Cir.) This case saddens me (disclosure: I used to work at Debevoise, NFL?s counsel, though not within the time period covered by this case), but I really should blog about it, even most of a year later...

Cloud Based Law Practice Management Comes of Age

Posted on August 11, 2009
DeskTop Business Solutions offers a fully integrated, cloud-based, law practice management application that increases billable hours, streamlines your practice, and saves time and money. It?s designed specifically for small practices wanting to provide billable services rather than managing computer systems...

Gatorade v. Powerade: The Battle Over the Incomplete ESPN Magazine Advertisement

Posted on August 11, 2009
Coke’s POWERADE brand sports drink was contemplating how to take market share from segment leader Pepsi’s GATORADE product. It decided to tout the addition of calcium, magnesium and potassium. It ran a campaign describing these minerals as ‘critical’, describing POWERADE as ‘complete,’ describing GATORADE as ‘incomplete’ alongside a depiction of half a GATORADE bottle [...

Citizens Cannot Use CAN-Spam to Sue Spammers: District Court Rejects Appeal

Posted on August 10, 2009
When a lawyer thinks about test cases, usually the main considerations revolve around the makeup of the plaintiff and the defendant.  Lawyers want to put the white hat on the plaintiff and the black hat on the defendant.  With the CAN-Spam Act, that consideration is fairly straightforward:  pick a spammer for a defendant and [...

Form Objection Cheat Sheet For Lawyers: Objections You Need to Know

Posted on July 31, 2009
Lawyers who are defending depositions (or learning how to to defend depositions) sometimes like a handy list of form objections. If the form objection is not made during the deposition, this type of objection is normally waived. Here are some typical form objections: “Vague...

Forcing and Banning Hijab: The Legal Debate Rages On

Posted on July 30, 2009
Although the practice of wearing hijab has been around since pre-Islamic times, the debate surrounding it has increased in recent years. Whereas in some countries (Saudi Arabia, Iran, parts of Afghanistan and Indonesia), hijab is mandated, in others, it has been banned in schools, workplaces, and sometimes altogether (Turkey, Tunisia, parts of Belgium and [...

Patent Office Rejects Patent Protection For Latin American Enola Bean

Posted on July 29, 2009
You hear a lot of talk about piracy in the developing world, about Nigerian markets filled with bootleg DVDs or Chinese iPod knockoffs. But if you want to see what real piracy looks like, look at the bio-pirates, people and corporations who receive patents on common life-forms from the developing world (abetted by the sleepy [...

Sonia Sotomayor Pledges Fidelity to the Law

Posted on July 27, 2009
Sonia Sotomayor, the first nominee to the Supreme Court by a Democratic president in 15 years, told the Senate Judiciary Committee Monday, on the opening day of her confirmation hearing, that her judicial philosophy can be distilled to just a few words: “fidelity to the law...

Legal Activist Project Support For Arrested Protestors and Activists

Posted on July 14, 2009
Legal systems are different in every country. However, for actions where it is likely that participants will be arrested, it is always useful to have a ‘legal support team’. This advice on forming such a team in Britain is adapted from the first section of a much longer briefing by the Activist Legal Project...

Peer-to-Peer File Sharing Technology Under Fire By CRTC in Canada

Posted on July 14, 2009
P2P (Peer-to-Peer) is a technology, not an activity. File sharing is an activity uses P2P technology. P2P is about sharing content and resources with peers. The internet has always been about sharing resources with peers. Bandwidth is a resource. In the beginning it was military computer peers...

NextBus Information Systems v Routesy: iPhone Apps and Public Data Usage Debate

Posted on July 13, 2009
Steven Peterson, a web developer in San Francisco, put together a handy iPhone app called Routesy that gives schedules and arrival times for Muni, the city?s public transit system. The underlying data is collected by a company called NextBus, which puts trackers on the various vehicles...

LinkedIn as a Method to Create Your Virtual Online Legal Presence

Posted on July 10, 2009
In thinking about the “law firm of the future,” I have to believe that having an Internet presence will be essential to business development. But how do you create an Internet presence, especially for those of us who grew up in the real world (not the virtual world)? The short answer is: “I don’t know, [...

Davidoff v CVS: Removal of UPC Code and Confirmed Preliminary Injunction

Posted on July 09, 2009
As a result of a prior injunction, Plaintiff Manufacturer (Zino Davidoff) had right to inspect Defendant retailer’s (CVS Corporation) inventory, and uncovered 16,000 units of its product, with the UPC code removed (either cut off or chemically ‘erased...

Bloggers, promote your law blog by nominating your blog for inclusion in USLaw.com's Law Blog Directory and RSS Reader. Benefits described.