Legal Services Blog Archives: June, 2011

Apple has filed a patent that will prevent iPhone owners to use their cameras at concerts or sporting events. The patent, which Apple filed for 18 months ago, has recently been published publicly at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). 

Last summer, I was lucky enough to land myself a judicial externship. In two months’ time, I spent 150 hours at court. I watched numerous trials and hearings, I observed many attorneys at their best (and a few at their worst), and, after the trials, I discussed my observations with the judge in his chambers, where I also heard his feedback.

In the past six months, more and more immigration reform bills have been passed in various states. The most infamous state law is arguably Arizona’s immigration reform bill and, ever since the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality in part of Arizona’s immigration bill, other states have followed suit. 

On June 20, 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on a decade’s long battle of litigation between female employees alleging discrimination based on sex and their employer, megacorporate super-chain Wal-Mart in Dukes v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. The ruling is a huge blow to class-action litigators who hoped the case would broaden opportunities for class certification based on bias discrimination claims and to civil rights activists attempting to root out pay inequity based on sex discrimination.

Dubai: We learn that a woman in Dubai is suing her husband for $11 million. Why? In her court papers she contends that his erectile dysfunction kept them from consummating their marriage. She further maintains her husband would not sleep with her for the first four months of their marriage. 

You may have posted pictures on Facebook and Twitter and countless other social media platforms over the past few years. If you’re like most people, you probably never spent a single moment wondering about who owns those pictures. If you did, you most likely assumed that they were your pictures. You took the pics; you owns the pics. It’s as simple as that….Or maybe not.

A Chapter 13 bankruptcy can be a viable option if a debtor is overwhelmed by debt, yet has too high of an income to file a Chapter 7 application.  A Chapter 13 bankruptcy is commonly thought of as a debt reorganization, because the debtor is agreeing to repay some or all of their debt over a period of three to five years.

It turns out that 2011 is turning into a banner year for special elections to fill Congressional vacancies. From Craigslist and Twitter picture misfires, sex scandals, and the now old fashioned "I'm taking another position" have opened up several seats this year. 

It’s no secret that among those suffering from the poor economy, one surprising group has emerged as particularly hard it by the downturn – law school graduates. The news is littered with lawyer sob stories. From recent graduates working at prestigious firms who’ve been laid off or gone under, to those who months or even years after graduation cannot find work as a attorneys, everyone is hurting and no one knows when, or if, the market for those holding law degees will get better. 

Next year, thanks to the Legal Services Act 2007, the United Kingdom will have one of the most liberal jurisdictions for non-lawyer investment in law firms. Known as "The Act," the new British law will have many dimensions, including improved consumer complaint mechanisms.