Wednesday, March 23, 2011

The Practice Paper: For Solo & Small Firm Lawyers - March 23, 2011

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The Practice Paper Newsletter

March 23, 2011 FindLaw.com The Practice Paper Newsletter

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LAWYER MARKETING:

LAWYER PARTICIPATION IN COMMUNITY DISCUSSION BOARDS AS EXPERTISE MARKETING
(FindLaw Law Practice Management Articles) - Participation in online community discussion can be a beneficial activity for lawyers. Contributing to message board discussions is an effective and manageable expertise marketing tool, a way to stay in touch with the legal needs of the public, and a form of reputation management. FindLaw.com offers legal professionals a wealth of free opportunities to engage in community discussions in many popular practice areas, such as: Family Law, Employment, Criminal Law...

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LAWYER LIFESTYLE:

HOW TO PLAY HOOKY FROM YOUR FIRM
(FindLaw's Greedy Associates) - You get paid a lot of money to work at BigLaw. But what if you wanted to get paid a lot of money to not work at BigLaw? Well, that could be potentially unethical, so we could never advise you to do it. But people are going to play hooky anyway, so we've compiled a list of ways other attorneys have managed to do so. FindLaw, and especially its corporate parent, does not condone any of the following tricks, by the way...

COURT SIDE:

HAS ANYBODY HERE IN SF NOT HEARD OF BARRY BONDS?
(FindLaw's Strategist) - It could be a long voir dire for the attorneys and jurors on the Barry Bonds perjury and obstruction of justice trial. The problem is of course figuring out how to seat an impartial jury in San Francisco, when Bonds, the all time home run king, played in the city. News organizations have called on Judge Susan Illston to publish the names of the jurors, as well as their answers to the questionnaire.

SEX TORTS: CALIF. ATTORNEY LANDS $6.7M VERDICT FOR HERPES INFECTION
(FindLaw's Strategist) - Comfortable with sex? And the sex lives of your clients? Then litigating sex torts may be for you. Shaun Murphy, an attorney with the small firm of Slovak Baron & Empey in Palm Springs, California just won a $6.7-million jury verdict. His client had accused her ex-boyfriend of intentionally and negligently infecting her with herpes. This was Murphy's second sex tort case--an area of law that has proven to be financially rewarding. His first sex tort client was awarded $2.49 million after being infected by her husband.

PLAYERS' ANTITRUST LAWSUIT AGAINST THE NFL
(FindLaw's Courtside) - Several professional football players have filed a lawsuit against the National Football League on behalf of all NFL players after labor negotiations between the NFL and the players' union broke down. The suit alleges that the NFL has violated federal antitrust laws as well as state contract and tort laws.

Related Resources
Read the Complaint

MICROSOFT PATENT INFRINGEMENT SUIT AGAINST BARNES & NOBLE
(FindLaw's Courtside) - Microsoft has filed a lawsuit against Barnes & Noble, the maker of the Nook e-book reader, alleging that the Nook infringes on several of Microsoft's patents. The lawsuit constitutes an indirect attack on Google since the Nook runs on Google's Android operating system.

Related Resources
Read the Complaint

WORKPLACE RETALIATION: COURT MAKES IT EASIER TO SUE EMPLOYERS
(FindLaw's Decided) - If you've ever complained about a legal violation to your employer, chances are that you feared (or experienced) workplace retaliation. But did you know that almost every employee protection law in this country bars employer retaliation should you file a complaint? Well they do, and those provisions may have just gotten easier to enforce. In Kasten v. Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics Corp., the Supreme Court ruled that, under the Fair Labor Standards Act, workplace retaliation is illegal should an employee file a written or an oral complaint.

WISCONSIN JUDGE MARYANN SUMI BLOCKS GOV. WALKER'S ANTI-UNION LAW
(FindLaw's Decided) - Judge Maryann Sumi issued a temporary restraining order today, blocking the Wisconsin anti-union law from coming into effect. The lawsuit, which comes on the heels of massive pro-labor protests and fleeing legislators, alleges that Republicans passed the Wisconsin anti-union law in violation of the state's open meeting laws. It is the importance of these laws that underlies Judge Sumi's decision. As has been widely reported, state Democrats left Wisconsin to prevent Republicans from reaching the quorum required to pass economic bills. When they failed to return for a vote, Republicans called for a conference committee. During that meeting, the Wisconsin anti-union law was stripped of all economic provisions, but still repealed collective bargaining rights. The modified law was then passed.

ORDER OVERTURNING GOOGLE BOOKS SETTLEMENT
(FindLaw's Courtside) - A federal district court judge in New York has rejected the settlement between Google and the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers over Google's plans to digitize millions of books currently available in libraries. Judge Denny Chin concluded that the settlement was not fair, adequate and reasonable since it would give Google a significant advantage over its competitors by allowing the company to reproduce copyrighted works without permission.

Related Resources
Read the Opinion

TWITTER SETTLEMENT: SITE PROMISES TO INCREASE SECURITY
(FindLaw's Decided) - You'll never meet a Twitter user who doesn't simultaneously curse and chuckle when greeted with the iconic Fail Whale. But you'll also never meet a user who doesn't use the microblogging site to criticize Twitter itself. What does this mean? Tweeters can handle a little downtime, but when Twitter security is breached multiple times, as it was at the beginning of 2009, users are visibly up in arms. Or tweets...

INSIDER TIPS & LAW FIRM NEWS:

FIVE WAYS TO CHANGE LEGAL CAREERS
(FindLaw's Strategist) - Are you thinking that your current career as an attorney is for the birds? If you wish you were doing something else, you're probably facing a dilemma due to the economy. It's a difficult time to try to change jobs, let alone to change legal careers. But that doesn't mean that you shouldn't go for it, if a change is what you really want. Professionals with legal training can offer a lot of utilities to all kinds of organizations. Further, waiting may not be a good option, as the economy could remain sluggish for a number of years to come...


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