Six Million Reasons to Start a Law Firm

Good news for those considering hanging their own shingle…

Looking for some law firm office space?

Well, there's plenty to be had. A recent survey by real estate services firm Jones Lang LaSalle showed that more than 6 million square feet of built-out law firm office space is available throughout the country -- the most vacant space in recent memory.
"I can't recall there ever being this much," said Thomas Doughty, international director at Jones Lang and chairman of its law firm group. "It's a lot of space."

Source: Law.com - Glut of Law Firm Office Space Hits 6 Million Square Feet

It’s not cool for the police to let their informants actually have sex with hookers

Being a police informant just became a lot less fun in Pennsylvania.

In a case of first impression, the Pennsylvania Superior Court ruled last week that state troopers committed "outrageous government conduct" when investigating alleged prostitution at a massage parlor in the Lehigh Valley by giving money to an undercover informant to have sex four times with two different women at the parlor.

Source: Law.com - Sex With Informant Voids Prostitution Case

Remember that PI lawyer who started the blog to trash his former employer?

You know, the poorly-written blog?  He’s getting sued.

Former Levinson Axelrod associate Edward Heyburn -- who expected legal consequences for trashing the firm on the Web -- got them Thursday as the firm went to court in an effort to shut down his gripe site, "Levinson Axelrod Sucks."

The firm's lawyer, Thomas Cafferty, filed an order to show cause with temporary restraints in New Jersey's Middlesex County. But by the time the matter got before Superior Court Judge Frank Ciuffani that afternoon, Heyburn had removed the case to federal court in Trenton, N.J., and, as Ciuffani acknowledged from the bench, it was out of his hands.

Source: lawjobs.com Career Center - Firm Sues Fired Associate Who Launched Firm Gripe Site

Billion-dollar default judgment reversed

I said that I would “literally eat a shoe” if this judgment wasn’t reversed.  It was.  I won’t be eating any shoes.

The international soft drink maker relied on Dean Panos, a partner with Jenner in Chicago, to beat back a $1.26 billion default judgment in Wisconsin state court in a trade secrets case. The company had originally failed to appear in the case. The 12-lawyer firm Niebler Pyzyk Roth & Carrig of Menomonee Falls, Wis., gave an assist.

Source: Law.com - Jenner Partner Rescued PepsiCo From $1.26 Billion Mistake

TWO law firms handled this?  A second-year law student could have handled this.  It takes about a thimble-full of legal skill to get a default judgment or to get one overturned.  I really wish the media would stop reporting them.

Judge Uses The Ultimate Insult Against An Attorney:

She told an attorney that a pro se litigant did better work.  Ouch.

Cannon, who was a state prosecutor before being elected a judge in 1996, turned on O'Brien, saying the case was "no laughing matter" and castigating him for submitting a brief that, she said, didn't include attorney names and was "dripping with sarcasm." "It is reprehensible," a steaming Cannon said, calling the Oct. 5 brief an editorial not fit for court.

The judge said an imprisoned pro se litigant had submitted a more appropriate brief in another case earlier that day and added that Karen Daniel, a Northwestern University School of Law professor who represents McKinney, had never submitted such a brief. O'Brien had difficulty interrupting her to call attention to the attorney names on the last page with Friedlieb's signature.

Source: Law.com - Chicago Judge Lambastes Sidley Lawyers Over Brief

Too bad Law.com couldn’t have bothered to get a copy of the brief.  I know I for one would like to see it.

It might be time to rewrite the civil procedure textbooks

Where is a corporation’s principal place of business, and why does it matter?  Trial lawyers know:

For a corporation, the U.S. Supreme Court's axiom may soon be: Home is where the headquarters is.

The Court heard oral arguments Tuesday in Hertz Corp. v. Friend, which raises a seemingly simple but vexing question crucial for corporations: For purposes of diversity jurisdiction, where is a company's principal place of business?

The answer will be crucial in determining whether a corporation can be sued in federal court, as it might prefer, or in plaintiff-friendly state courts. Acting in a class action by Hertz employees over wages and hours filed in California, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals determined that, even though its headquarters is in New Jersey, Hertz is a citizen of California because more business activities occur there than in any other state. With both sides deemed to be from California, there was no federal diversity jurisdiction, so the case went to state court. Hertz appealed to the high court.

Source: Law.com - Justices Sympathetic to Applying Headquarters Standard to Corporate Jurisdiction

Not that my opinion matters, but I agree that where the HQ is makes a great test.

Man Files Lawsuit Claiming That Kate Gosselin and Octomom’s kids are his

Apparently, he met Kate at a Long John Silver’s over octopus.  She then forced him to use stolen Capital One credit cards to finance fertility treatment and “his sperm was added to the mix.”

If that wasn’t bad enough, he also sued “Brittney Spears, Jennifer Aniston, Lindsay Lohan, and Hannah Montana” for “being in possession of [his] sperm.”  Oh, and he also sued Black History Month for presumably other reasons.

Check out the hilarious lawsuit in PDF format.

Lawsuit Claims Apple and Sarah Jessica Parker Stole the iPod and iPhone

It’s totally plausible that a guy invented those devices in the 1980’s, and was pressured to reveal the designs to the FBI.  It’s also totally plausible that Sarah Jessica Parker and Apple then stole the ideas.  Just like it’s also totally plausible that this man is delusional.

In 1989, the suit alleges, plaintiff Franz A. Wakefield won first place in the 17th Congressional District Arts Competition and was honored by Congressman William Lehman and movie stars Parker and Robert Downey Jr. A self-described "trade secret and copyright owner," Wakefield, of Miami, Fla., is president and chief product design engineer with COOLTvNETWORK.com.

In meeting these people, Wakefield alleges he was asked by the congressman to disclose his "trade secrets" to the FBI, including the concept of the iPod, iTunes, and the iPhone, the last of which he allegedly specifically named nearly 20 years prior to its debut.

The suit claims that Wakefield also developed a friendship with Parker and "made a trade secret deal" with her to commercialize the iPod classic, nano, mini, shuffle, video, touch and photo, as well as iTunes and the iPhone. The supposed agreement would have granted Parker 2 percent of gross revenues from the products. Wakefield said he asked the FBI to watch over him to ensure the security of his inventions and deal with Parker

Source: AppleInsider | Bizarre lawsuits connect Apple with Sarah Jessica Parker, Lil' Wayne

Awesome Yaz Parody Video

Not too long ago, the FDA made Bayer run a series of commercials to “clear up” some things in earlier Yaz ads.  This is a brilliant parody of the second commercial.

And like most brilliant parodies, it's got a little bit of profanity in it.

iPhone: Worst. Phone. Ever.

So say the gents at CNET UK.

That's right, we said it -- and we're not taking it back. The iPhone may be the greatest handheld surfing device ever to rock the mobile Web, and a fabulous media player to boot. It may be the highest-rated mobile phone on CNET UK, rocking the pockets of half of our crack editorial team. It's certainly the touchscreen face that launched a thousand apps. But as an actual call-making phone, it's rubbish, and we aim to prove it.

Source: The iPhone is the worst phone in the world - Crave at CNET UK

I on the other hand am smugly enjoying my Blackberry, so I can’t confirm or deny the problems listed here.  I will say that I recommend smart phones to my lawyer friends in this order:

1: Blackberry – Best email support of any device, and the phone is pretty damned good, too.

2: Windows Mobile – Email is almost as good as Blackberry, and the phone is acceptable.

3: iPhone – My friends with iPhones bitch enough about dropped calls and phantom calls that I just can’t recommend it.

This Is Idiotic: Building A Wall To Celebrate Tearing Down The Berlin Wall

This is the dumbest thing I’ve seen all day.  And I watched Maury AND Springer.

BERLIN (AP) -- Fans hoping to catch a glimpse of U2's free concert celebrating 20 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall will have to "scale these city walls" after organizers threw up a massive barrier to block the view for those without tickets.

The move has triggered outrage from Berliners, who see the irony in building walls around a concert dedicated to the wall that has come down.

Source: Outrage over wall blocking free U2 Berlin concert - MSN Music News

Remembering John O’Quinn

This video is from The Legal Broadcast Network.  

Debt Collection Firm Pays $2.55 Million Due To Abusive Practices

For future reference: debt collectors aren’t allowed to pretend to be from law enforcement:

A California debt collection company has agreed to a $2.55 million judgment to settle a lawsuit brought by thousands of Pennsylvanians who claim they were wrongly led to believe they had to pay costly fees to avoid criminal charges for bouncing checks.

Source: Calif. debt firm settles Pa. class-action suit

Former Chief Justice of New Mexico Supreme Court Dies While Giving Speech to Law Students

There’s probably something pithy and sarcastic to say about this, but I’m not feeling very lowbrow today.  Instead, I’ll just hope the Justice led a full life and thank him for the dedication he had to the next generation of law students.

Former New Mexico Supreme Court Chief Justice Gene Franchini has died while addressing first-year law students at the University of New Mexico.

KOB-TV reports that that Franchini was giving his annual speech on ethics Wednesday evening when he collapsed.

Source: Law.com - Former New Mexico High Court Chief Dies During Law School Speech

Doctor Sues Alleging He Was Fired For Complaining About Deal Between Hospital and Medtronic

I’ll see if I can’t scare up a copy of this lawsuit.

Medical device companies like Medtronic have been under fire lately for their megabucks deals with doctors who can influence purchases of medical products.

So what happens to doctors who complain about these types of relationships? Those who, in effect, are whistleblowers?

One doctor got fired, according to a lawsuit filed in state court in Massachusetts by David Gossman, an interventional cardiologist formerly on staff at the prestigious Lahey Clinic hospitals in the Boston area. According to his lawsuit, he complained about Medtronic’s offering the hospital a new experimental heart-valve device “predicated on the purchase and increased utilization of other products made by Medtronic.”

Source: Doctor: I Was Fired for Fighting Hospital’s Ties to Medtronic - Health Blog - WSJ