Law Humor

2008 California Bar Exam Results

Posted on November 24, 2008
The results of the most recent California bar exam were announced last Friday. This year, the examiners let 61.7 percent pass -- the highest pass rate since 1997. So, if you passed (in California or elsewhere), congratulations. If you didn't...

"Borat" Lawsuits Unsuccessful

Posted on November 21, 2008
Good news for "Borat" (and for "Bruno," who will apparently be featured in Sasha Baron Cohen's next movie) -- every case filed to date by people unhappy with the way they were depicted in the film has been dismissed. The...

Monty Python Fights Piracy With New YouTube Clips

Posted on November 20, 2008
In a great new development, which they say is aimed at defeating piracy, ending the spate of "crap quality videos" people are posting on YouTube, and selling more stuff, Monty Python has established its own YouTube channel featuring videos of...

DHS Says Scanners Successfully Detect "Mal-Intent"

Posted on November 19, 2008
Amid all the post-election [euphoria]/[depression] (choose one), it should not be forgotten that, behind the scenes, the Department of Homeland Security is still quietly on the job. And that is still terrifying. The DHS reported recently that tests of its...

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Road Rage Getting Medieval

Posted on November 18, 2008
While there are far too many road-rage incidents involving firearms, it is heartening to know that in at least some cases, men are still using the more honorable melee weapons with which their forefathers brutalized each other, back when "road...

Swedish Parliament Intervenes in Birthday-Party Dispute

Posted on November 17, 2008
While Sweden's parliament was on the right side of this dispute, you would think it might have more important things to do than get involved in a fight over who should be invited to an eight-year-old's birthday party. I know...

UPDATE: Settlement Reached in N.C. Dirty-Dancing Case

Posted on November 14, 2008
The long legal battle between the town of Marshall, North Carolina, and the woman it banned from its dance hall for overly provocative dancing, has finally ended. The town agreed to pay Rebecca Willis $275,000 to settle the case. This...

Firm Fires Managing Partner Via Note on Chair

Posted on November 13, 2008
Ah, there's nothing like the close-knit camaraderie of a law-firm partnership. We few, we happy few, we band of brothers (please consider said term to include sisters); for he that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother; and...

Swiss Government Demands Respect for Plant Dignity

Posted on November 13, 2008
The Wall Street Journal reported in October that an ethics committee in Switzerland has interpreted that country's constitution to require respect for the dignity of plant as well as animal life. Among the committee's conclusions: it is "morally impermissible" to...

Convictions Reversed Due to Judicial Sleeping

Posted on November 12, 2008
In a dramatic reversal of a ruling I reported on last year, the High Court of Australia has overturned the convictions of two men because the judge in their trial slept through much of the proceedings. An appellate court had...

A Quote That Might Possibly Describe A Law-Firm Associate But Is Actually About John Stuart Mill

Posted on November 11, 2008
He was such a demon for work that, growing overheated through feverish memo-writing, he would gradually strip off his clothes and work gravely at his stool without waistcoat or pants, as his colleagues watched in prim Victorian wonder. Link: Adam...

"Confusion Flakes" Cited As Grounds for Reversal

Posted on November 11, 2008
Here's something I came across the other day while doing some research. After he was found liable for fraud, among other things, John Ryan appealed but presented little in the way of legal arguments or authority in his appellate briefing....

Survivor of Attempted Vehicular Homicide Sued for Car Damage

Posted on November 10, 2008
A 17-year-old boy who was hit by a car and then abandoned by the driver has been sued for the damage his body negligently caused to the car.As we saw a while back (here and here) this shameful practice of...

Councilman Says He's Done Drinking, Urinating on Crowds From Balconies

Posted on November 10, 2008
A Jersey City councilman says he has "resolved not to touch alcohol again" after being accused of urinating on a crowd of concertgoers from a nightclub balcony last week. Steve Lipski did not admit the conduct, which allegedly took place...

What Would You Name a Magazine for Women Litigators?

Posted on November 07, 2008
If you said "Sue," you win. Or, at least, you have guessed correctly - you don't win anything. The ABA Journal reported recently that a new magazine with the excellent name, "Sue: For Women in Litigation," will launch in January....

Lawyer Says Client's Tax Problems Caused by LFS: "Late-Filing Syndrome"

Posted on November 07, 2008
In October, the lawyer for a man who did not pay taxes or file returns for five years said that his client had been unable to do so because he suffers from a medical condition called "Late-Filing Syndrome," which renders...

Supreme Court Debates 'F-Bomb'

Posted on November 06, 2008
Though no one ever actually dropped it, the "F-Bomb" was the main topic of conversation during Supreme Court arguments Tuesday in FCC v. Fox Television Stations. The case is on appeal from a Second Circuit decision that the FCC acted...

Election Update II: Biting the Dream

Posted on November 05, 2008
As some of you may have heard, Barack Obama was elected President last night. The news was received with angst by some, but with enthusiasm by many, even abroad in countries that Obama may one day be forced to bomb....

Election Update #1

Posted on November 04, 2008
Election Day is here, at long last. As always, there are crucial issues at stake on San Francisco's ballot. Perhaps the most important, of course, is whether the city will rename what is currently the "Oceanside Water Pollution Control Plant"...

Attorney Says Client Killed In Self-Defense; Dismemberment Harder to Explain

Posted on November 03, 2008
The attorney representing a Fresno man accused of killing a gang member said last Wednesday that his client had simply acted in self-defense after the victim forced his way into the client's home. At a press conference, David Mugridge described...

UPDATE: Supreme Court Denies Motions for Divided Argument

Posted on October 31, 2008
The Supreme Court did take up the "emergency" motions for reconsideration in the Carcieri case at its Friday conference today, and denied them. That means it will not decide whether Joe Larisa or Ted Olson gets to argue for the...

Supreme Court May Decide Supreme Court Argument Argument

Posted on October 31, 2008
The furious (and now completely ridiculous) battle over which attorney gets to argue Carcieri v. Kempthorne for the petitioners in the Supreme Court continues to rage, and it now looks like it may be resolved by the Court itself on...

Florida Low-Pants Crackdown Implicates Few

Posted on October 30, 2008
Police reports posted today show that attempts to enforce a Florida ordinance against saggy pants have been less fruitful than sponsors may have hoped. In the nine weeks since enforcement of the Riviera Beach ordinance started, police have arrested and/or...

TSA Fails to Detect Box Cutters, Inflatable Yasir Arafat Dolls

Posted on October 29, 2008
In the November issue of the Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg offers more evidence that airport security is mostly to make it seem like somebody is doing something, and is not in fact protecting you much:[B]ecause I have a fair amount of...

Attorneys Bicker Over Supreme Court Argument, Coin-Toss Rules

Posted on October 29, 2008
As November draws near, most of the country is debating who will get to sit in the Oval Office; but over in a corner of the highest level of the American legal community, the fight is over who will get...

Woman Arrested for Cybermurder

Posted on October 28, 2008
A 43-year-old woman in Tokyo has been arrested for killing her husband, although they weren't legally married, she didn't really kill him, and he isn't really dead.The two had only met online, as part of a popular interactive game called...

D.C. Court Hears Argument in Appeal of Pants Case

Posted on October 23, 2008
Roy Pearson Jr., who is on the verge of getting his own category here, was in the D.C. Court of Appeals on October 22 to argue for the reinstatement of his $54-million lawsuit against the dry cleaners who he says...

ACLU Successfully Defends Woman's Right to Swear

Posted on October 23, 2008
Sources are reporting that Dawn Herb, who as you may recall was cited for disorderly conduct in 2007 after a neighbor heard her swearing at her toilet, has settled her lawsuit against the city of Scranton, Pennsylvania. Ms. Herb, who...

French President Threatens to Sue Voodoo-Doll Maker

Posted on October 22, 2008
French President Nicolas Sarkozy, shown here getting angry at some Europeans about something, has threatened to sue a company that has been marketing a Sarkozy voodoo doll. The doll bears a number of colorful quotes from the outspoken statesman (such...

Yet Another Comical Case Name

Posted on October 21, 2008
This one may take you a little while to get through, but it's worth it: United States v. International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers of America, AFL-CIO; Commission of La Cosa Nostra; Anthony Salerno, also known as Fat...

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