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350H Sentencing and Punishment 350HIV Sentencing Guidelines 350HIV(H) Proceedings 350HIV(H)3 Hearing 350Hk991 k. Conduct of Hearing. Trial court’s isolated references to two plotlines of Sopranos television show, which highlighted difficult relationships between children and their parents and operation of boiler rooms for purposes of securities fraud, did not indicate that Guidelines sentence imposed on Italian-American for securities fraud offenses improperly took [...]

“Who said that clothes make a statement?  What an understatement that was.  Clothes never shut up.” - Susan Brownmiller Katherine James continues publish excellent articles to educate attorneys on live communication skills, and prepare their witnesses and experts to appear in court.  I’d like to share one of Katherine’s articles, entitled “Costuming for the Courtroom.”   In this colorful piece [...]

Yesterday was the 58 th anniversary of the landmark Supreme Court ruling Brown v. Board of Education . Brown invalidated a Kansas law that permitted school districts to maintain racially segregated schools. In making this ruling, the Court found that that separate is inherently unequal – even if the school facilities and teachers are of equal quality – because the segregation [...]

350H Sentencing and Punishment 350HVIII The Death Penalty 350HVIII(G) Proceedings 350HVIII(G)4 Determination and Disposition 350Hk1784 Verdict or Recommendation of Jury 350Hk1784(3) k. Overriding Jury Recommendation. Trial court did not err in overriding jury recommendation of life imprisonment and sentencing defendant to death, where facts suggesting a sentence of death were so clear and convincing that virtually no reasonable person could differ, and [...]

The European Union (EU) has classified Internet “cookies” and other systems that monitor online activities of individuals to be within the scope of the EU’s Data Protection Act, to the extent that those systems process personally identifiable information.  This means that cookies capturing information which can be associated with specific people must be managed in a [...]

Last month, I read an article from the ABA Journal about how those who score the highest on the LSAT are becoming increasingly unlikely to actually apply to or attend law school. Maybe that’s because the high scorers decided to teach LSAT prep courses instead. For example, Robin Singh, the founder and owner of LSAT prep company TestMasters, claims [...]

30 Appeal and Error 30V Presentation and Reservation in Lower Court of Grounds of Review 30V(B) Objections and Motions, and Rulings Thereon 30k181 k. Necessity of Objections in General. Preservation requires that a party make a specific objection to provide the trial court an opportunity to correct any error it may have made, and does not enable counsel to comb [...]

(Editor’s Note: Technology changes so quickly nowadays that it’s sometimes hard to keep up. To help with this, Westlaw Insider will be looking at recent developments and updates in social media law and cyberlaw throughout the month of May.) For the first week’s post on a Facebook “Like” not being expressive, click here . For the second week’s post on [...]

81 Colleges and Universities 81k9 k. Students. Not withstanding the right of a law school to refuse a contumacious student his degree, he is entitled to a certificate of attendance and that he passed a satisfactory examination. People ex rel. O’Sullivan v. New York Law Sch., 22 N.Y.S. 663 (Gen. Term 1893) [...]

It’s said you can find anything in New York City.  Chances are a truck brought it.  Commercial vehicles, their drivers and the companies that rely on them are an important part of the fabric of the New York metropolitan area.  Legal and regulatory issues abound for these pillars of commerce.  That’s why, in my solo practice, [...]

 McLoughlin v. Shopnick (Nev. Dist. Ct.) Hematologist Not Liable for Patient’s Stroke after Blood Coagulant Use   2011 WL 6062931 Verdict Summary   2006 WL 6854662  Plaintiff’s Complaint Note: The links above are intended for Westlaw users. You will be asked to sign on to Westlaw before being taken directly to the document. Publish Your Cases [...]

89 Compromise and Settlement 89I In General 89k1 Nature and Requisites 89k2 k. In General. Parties to a settlement benefit by immediately resolving the litigation and receiving some measure of vindication for their positions while foregoing the opportunity to achieve an unmitigated victory; thus, the parties to a settlement will not be heard to complain that the relief afforded is [...]

A fierce battle is underway for control of the booming electronic book market.  Amazon, Apple, and the traditional book publishers are struggling to establish pricing and revenue-sharing structures that advance their competitive interests. The U.S. Department of Justice recently charged Apple and five of the largest book publishers with antitrust law violations, alleging that the group [...]

The West Key Number System® organizes the universe of caselaw into topics (e.g., Contracts, Criminal Law, Patents, etc). Each of those topics is then further organized and subdivided into individual points of law called Key Numbers.     For example, in the Contracts topic, there is a subdevelopment (I) called Requisites and Validity . Within that subdevelopment there is a [...]

110XXXI Counsel 110XXXI(F) Arguments and Statements by Counsel 110k2145 Appeals to Sympathy or Prejudice 110k2147 k. Abusive Language. Appeal to jurors’ emotions may arise directly, or indirectly from prosecutor’s use of personal and degrading epithets to describe defendant, and defendant’s right to fair trial may be abridged by repeated or flagrant use of such invective. State v. Chasse, 721 A.2d 1212 [...]

What if the Federal Government decided that it wanted to create a national identification system? And, as a part of that system, the government compelled state and local departments of motor vehicles (DMVs) to adhere to strict new guidelines on what data it collects from individuals for use on driver’s licenses? What if that system also [...]

92 Constitutional Law 92XVIII Freedom of Speech, Expression, and Press 92XVIII(L) Challenging or Resisting Government 92k1864 k. Anti-Government Protests and Demonstrations. Beating a drum in context of clearly identified antiwar demonstration is expressive conduct protected by the First Amendment. United States v. Doe, 968 F.2d 86 (D.C. Cir. 1992) [...]

Today, open source software is widely used, and it is easy to forget that there was a time, not so very long ago, when the open source concept was viewed to be radical and a serious threat to the commercial computer software industry , which was based on a closed, proprietary licensing model. The commercial software industry developed [...]