/**/ By Jessica Christensen, Employment Law Correspondent Who says the AFL-CIO doesn't have a sense of humor? Joining the viral-video age, "big labor" brings you "Your New Job," endorsing the Employee Free Choice Act (which I previously wrote about here). Posted in misc
November 19, 2008 09:50 pm
The Yale Law Journal Pocket Part has published a Sovereign Wealth Funds Symposium. Here are the two tax-related articles: Victor Fleischer (Illinois), Should We Tax Sovereign Sovereign Wealth Funds?, 118 Yale L.J. Pocket Part 93 (2008): Important characteristics distinguish sovereign...
November 19, 2008 09:39 pm
... emotional content. It suggests that the legal system operates on certain misconceptions about emotion that are themselves harmful to institutional process. The most pervasive misconception is that the very attempt to address emotion is destabilizing to the rule of law. Though the legal system rarely incorporates scientific or social-scientific knowledge of emotional dynamics, it nevertheless operates on its own assumptions about how emotions work. It tends to take three approaches to emotion: ...
November 19, 2008 09:37 pm
... Board against the Department of Correction, which wants a doctor to make sure lethal injections are properly administered. That, the department says, guards against a violation of the constitutional law against cruel and unusual punishment. But the medical board contends that lawmakers, in requiring a doctor's presence, only meant that the doctor should certify that an inmate was executed. Taking part in the ...
November 19, 2008 09:23 pm

Underfunded Pension Liability: Lenders and Buyers Beware

(The Harvard Law School Corporate Governance Blog)
My firm has recently issued a memorandum entitled "Underfunded Pension Liability: Lenders and Buyers Beware," which considers the risks posed by underfunded defined benefit pension plans to sponsors and acquirers of and lenders to companies with such plans. These risks have been heightened by the current market downturn, low interests rates and the impact of the Pension Protection Act of 2006. Moreover, although the new FASB Statement No. 158 requires a company to recognize the underfunded ...
November 19, 2008 09:13 pm
... "The petitions raise issues of statewide importance," said the response, "implicating not only California's marriage laws but also the initiative process and the Constitution itself. It is appropriate for this Court to address these issues to provide certainty ... local property taxes. Supporting Brown's opposition to a stay or preliminary relief, they observed that under California law, Proposition 8 was effective as of November 5, so a stay is actually a change of the status quo rather than, as ...
November 19, 2008 09:01 pm

Jones Day keeps chillin’

(Likelihood of Confusion)
Public Citizen's Paul Alan Levy reports: A few weeks ago, I commented on the efforts of mega law firm Jones Day to abuse trademark law to suppress articles it didn't like on a real estate transactions web site, BlockShopper.com. Jones Day claims that linking to its web site without permission infringes and dilutes its trademark. Along [...]
November 19, 2008 08:52 pm
... all the Starbucks stores -- just the thing for smokers looking to satisfy their munchies with a overpriced croissant. Apparently, the ONDCP is trying to make a point about the prevalence of marijuana dispensaries in California, where pot possession and use is legal, under state law, with a doctor's prescription. Some errors have been found in the map (the first version included 27 additional addresses that didn't sell pot after all; ...
November 19, 2008 08:49 pm

Pres-Elect Obama & Family Law

(Family Law Prof Blog)
The Obama Transition has been releasing materials on its change.gov website, many of which are important for Family Law Profs. The "Family" page includes proposals on the FMLA and taxes. Under "Civil Rights," the portion addressing "Support for the LGBT...
November 19, 2008 08:08 pm
A federal judge shut down the websites of a company selling do-it-yourself spyware known as RemoteSpy, following a complaint filed by federal regulators accusing the company of violating federal fair trade law, the Federal Trade Commission announced Wednesday. The temporary restraining order and lawsuit (.pdf) mark the first time the FTC has targeted the amateur spyware market, where stalkers, jealous spouses and ethically challenged private investigators can buy keylogging software that ...
November 19, 2008 08:03 pm

Now That's a Holiday Party

(Legal Blog Watch)
In a year when budgetary belt-tightening is forcing corporate planners to scale back on holiday parties, one Texas law firm is letting its belt out a few notches. In a state known for doing things big, the Houston-based Lanier Law...
November 19, 2008 07:47 pm
In a post last week entitled "Best 'Elevator Pitch' Ever...?" legal marketer Larry Bodine related the elevator pitch of a lawyer he described as "the silver-haired senior-most litigator" at a law firm in Joliet, Ill. The lawyer's pitch involved a...
November 19, 2008 07:43 pm
Peter J. Henning, a colleague of Steven M. Davidoff, offers this view of the insider trading case against Mark Cuban. Mr. Henning is a professor at Wayne State Law School in Detroit where he specializes in white-collar crime. He is a former editor of the White Collar Crime Law Prof Blog. The Securities and [...]
November 19, 2008 07:24 pm

When Settling Easement Disputes, Don't Skimp on the Details

(Abbott " Kindermann Land Use Law Blog)
... California land use, real estate, environmental and/or planning issues contact Abbott & Kindermann, LLP at (916) 456-9595. The information presented in this article should not be construed to be formal legal advice by Abbott & Kindermann, LLP, nor the formation of a lawyer/client relationship. Because of the changing nature of this area of the law and the importance of individual facts, readers are encouraged to seek independent counsel for advice regarding their individual legal issues.
November 19, 2008 07:17 pm
With an eye toward cracking down on bad lawyers, California State Bar officials two years ago recommended that certain offenses, such as fraud and stealing clients' funds, should be grounds for a new, permanent disbarment. But that didn't go over well with the California Supreme Court, which after reviewing the idea met with State Bar officials last month and told them to limit lifetime banishment to the worst of the worst. So on Thursday, the State Bar Board of Governors' Committee on ...
November 19, 2008 07:10 pm
... edition of Insights, the conference bleue newsletter, the article is reprinted with permission here: Product liability case-laws in the pharmaceutical sector: The French Civil Supreme Court held important rulings on the causality issue On 22 May 2008 ... had wrongly based their holdings on a series of presumptions. The Civil Supreme Court overruled the appellate decisions for "breach of the law" thus asserting that such a causal link is not even demonstrable. In other words, such overruling did not ...
November 19, 2008 07:07 pm

e[dis]Harmony or eDiscrimination?

(The National Law Journal's L.A. Legal Pad)
... ., settled today with the New Jersey Attorney General's Office over a claim that the dating service violated the state's Law Against Discrimination by not offering a same-sex matching service. Consequently, eHarmony next year will launch a same sex ... called Compatible Partners, which will be marketed in gay and lesbian media outlets. Details can be found on the WSJ Law Blog here. Also, yesterday a decision was handed down by the Fourth District that defined standing to sue for violations of the ...
November 19, 2008 07:02 pm

Which side is intrusive?

(Southern Appeal)
... to my liberty are not being pushed by religious conservatives. It wasn't religious conservatives who've told me I'm breaking the law if I light up in a bar. It wasn't religious conservatives who've forbidden me from buying food made with trans fats. It wasn't religious conservatives who pushed speech codes on our college campuses and dictate hate crimes laws. It wasn't religious conservatives who've made it a bureaucratic journey to buy a gun to protect my home and family. It isn't ...
November 19, 2008 06:49 pm

Former Thelen antitrust and bankruptcy heavy hitters join Winston

(The National Law Journal's L.A. Legal Pad)
Antitrust litigator Robert Pringle and bankruptcy partner Richard Lapping are some of the headliners in a group of 18 lawyers that is joining the Chicago-based Winston & Strawn. Large groups of lawyers have found new homes at firms like Nixon Peabody, Howrey and Robinson & Cole since Thelen announced that it would dissolve in late October. Winston has a big-time Thelen connection. San Francisco managing partner Charles Birenbaum was a Thelen partner but left in 2003 after losing a bid ...
November 19, 2008 06:33 pm
Terry Christensen, the lone lawyer who was convicted this summer in a high-profile wiretapping case, said the federal government's sentencing recommendation of three years in prison and a $500,000 fine is "excessive," especially given the legal community's attention to this case, according to documents filed this week. "There is no need to impose a draconian sentence to get the lawyers' attention when they are already keenly aware of the pitfalls that await the attorney who gives an ...
November 19, 2008 06:18 pm