Wiseacre Blawg

Controversial Immigration Law Brings Fear, Conversation

2010-04-24T05:06:00.000-07:00

I had a spirited and energizing conversation with a man this morning. At Dunkin Donuts, I had grabbed a hot chocolate and a donut and took a seat, beginning to peruse the morning Courant. I couldn't help but notice the man at the next table chatting with a young man, and they were quite engaged. What they were discussing, I do not know; only that they were clearly enjoying their

Overzealous Law Enforcement Strikes Again

2010-04-01T05:28:00.000-07:00

Recently, six teenagers at a Pennsylvania high school were caught participating in a new fad called 'sexting'. Named as an obvious takeoff of texting, it is a practice in which one sends nude or semi-nude photographs of oneself, via a cell phone, to a peer - usually of the opposite sex. In this particular case, three girls had been taking and sending nude photographs of themselves to three boys.

How to deal with a Burn Injury

2008-07-18T03:19:00.000-07:00

A burn injury can, depending on the severity of it, be extremely painful and discomforting. There are many different forms of burns injury that you can suffer from and there are many different aspects that can cause you to suffer the effect of a burn such as; heat, cold, electricity, chemicals, light and radiation or even friction even though it is usually heat that causes the most burn

Admirable characteristics of a medium size law department regarding talent

2008-07-18T03:12:00.000-07:00

A profile of Respironics’ general counsel, Steve Fulton, has dotted throughout four commendable people practices in his department.Strong hires and strong retention. During Fulton’s 13-year tenure, “I have never needed to terminate an attorney and none of the attorneys I hired has left” as quoted in GC Mid-Atlantic, June 2008 at 8 (See my posts of Dec. 12, 2006: low attrition in UK legal teams;

So many cottage industries thrive on law departments! A village!

2008-06-13T00:27:00.000-07:00

As Rees Morrison points out, there's a whole cottage industry of niche legal services that are making a living off law departments. Here's the list compiled by Rees Morrison:ADR (alternative dispute resolution)Auditors of legal bills Class action claims Consultants on law department managementConsultants on compliance, corporate governance, and ethicsCorporate governance groups Corporate

License Plate Custom Italian Charms

2008-06-01T03:20:00.000-07:00

Add your favorite state to your Italian charm collection with a unique piece of history. This license plate italian charms features a license plate of each 50 states, unique as where you can customize it with any text you choose...California License Plate Italian Custom CharmConnecticut License Plate Custom Italian CharmAlaska License Plate Italian Custom CharmHawaii License Plate Custom

LWB: The Impact of Children on Lawyer Productivity

2008-04-02T00:21:00.000-07:00

Carolyn Elefant: Having children impacts lawyer productivity in different ways depending on gender, concludes a recent investigation by the British Psychological Society, reported here. After studying the schedules and billing records of 670 lawyers in Alberta, Canada, researchers Jean Wallace and Marisa Young found that when women lawyers have children, their productivity (or at least hours

As Long As The Accident Wasn’t Your Fault You Can Claim

2007-07-25T05:21:00.000-07:00

So you’ve been involved in an accident and it wasn’t your fault but you’re unsure if you can claim? If so, you’ve come to the right place.Here at Accident Consult Ltd we are able to advise you on your compensation and the amount of money you may receive. You need to live in the United Kingdom and have had an accident of some sort may it be a road traffic accident to repetitive strain injury and

Is an Oral Contract as Good as a Written Contract?

2007-07-16T05:42:00.000-07:00

An Oral Contract is as legally binding as a Written Contract, the issue with an Oral Contract is in proving its existence. To begin, the existence of a Written Contract is fairly obvious, either there is a writing or there isn’t. An oral contract, by definition, does not have a writing to support its terms, conditions or even existence. So how can we prove that it exists? One way is to use

Lawyers Use RSS Feeds To Increase Productivity And Profitability

2007-07-12T06:43:00.000-07:00

Lawyers have never been known as a technical bunch, but more and more often you see a lawyer with a palm pilot making appointments and a blackberry for those urgent messages. Electronic gadgets are now common in the courthouses across the US. Lawyers have increased productivity by utilizing technology so it should come as no surprise that lawyers are using RSS feeds as a means to grow and manage

Whiplash Injury Claim

2007-07-05T05:51:00.000-07:00

Whiplash injuries are caused by hyperextension of the neck both forwards and backwards in quick succession; people commonly experience whiplash injuries in circumstances where a collision causes rapid acceleration or deceleration. Often this is as a result of a road traffic accident, but in some contact sports people are susceptible to whiplash injuries.Whiplash injury symptoms include the

Tips: Prevent Motorcycle Accidents

2007-06-28T06:51:00.000-07:00

In this generation wherein our roads are occupied by a large volume of vehicles, the chance of being stuck in a heavy traffic is quite high. This is one of the reasons people choose riding their motorcycles to reach their daily destinations with much ease. Another thing is; some types of motorcycles are more fuel-efficient compared to utilizing other kinds of vehicles. This enables the bike

Violence in Our Homes

2007-06-12T06:40:00.000-07:00

The family is considered as the basic unit of the society. It is an inviolable social institution, which for all intents and purposes, is safeguarded by the state with all its pervasive powers and coercive mechanism. The family has in fact been so important in our present society, that marriage is actually a foundation of the family has been protected with much zeal by the state. When man and

What You Need to Know About Personal Injury

2007-06-07T07:08:00.000-07:00

If you want to get the most out of your personal injury settlement, you have your work cut out for you. There are always some things you need that are very expensive and if you can no longer work, then you are in for a lot of trouble. The main types of insurance will be explained in this article.Cars are all around us and talking about the components of motor vehicle insurance coverage presents

Buying a Home 'As-Is' - Should You Be Worried?

2007-06-02T07:00:00.000-07:00

Most homes are sold 'as is'. In fact, the form Residential Purchase Agreement used by most brokers has a pre-printed 'as is' clause stating that the property is sold 'as is' without any warranty and in its present physical condition. In a recent purchase, I was asked by the seller to also sign a special lawyer-prepared document which reiterated (in a full page of legalese) that the property was

Legal Week: Staff complaints force red-faced A&O into Facebook U-turn

2007-05-26T06:32:00.000-07:00

Allen & Overy (A&O) has been forced into an embarrassing climb-down after the firm’s IT department was bombarded with staff complaints following a firmwide ban on social networking website Facebook.IT chiefs took the decision to block access to the website due to concerns that staff downloading videos from the site would compromise the performance of A&O’s IT systems.However, a series of

Starting A Law Firm

2007-05-12T03:30:00.000-07:00

Toronto Lawyer Gary Wise has an excellent post on the challenges of a startup solo practice, see Starting A Law Firm.

News: Lawmakers Make New Bid to Pass Law Protecting Reporters

2007-05-03T04:51:00.000-07:00

A Virginia lawmaker is supporting an effort to pass a federal shield law to protect reporters from being forced to reveal their sources.The bill is cosponsored by Republicans and Democrats in both the House and Senate. It would write into federal law the protection for reporters now granted by 32 states and the District of Columbia.Advocates of the bill supported by

AP: Changes urged for student privacy law

2007-05-01T03:58:00.000-07:00

WASHINGTON - A lawmaker who also is a child psychologist wants Congress to better define when a university can release students' mental health information to their parents.Last week's massacre at Virginia Tech shows the need for such legislation, said Rep. Tim Murphy, R-Pa.Virginia Tech student Seung-Hui Cho, 23, went on a shooting spree in a dormitory and classroom building on campus, killing 32

Will law firms open up to Open Source?

2007-04-28T06:33:00.000-07:00

How lawyers are using itThe Firefox web browser is probably the Open Source program most commonly used by lawyers. Firefox is a secure, powerful browser that outperforms Internet Explorer in many ways."I live in Firefox," said Denise Howell, a Los Angeles sole practitioner.She notes that many plug-ins are available for Firefox which are also Open Source. The plug-ins add many new features and

David Jacobson's Australian Law Blogs List

2007-04-26T04:38:00.000-07:00

If you are looking for an Australian blog on a specific Australian law-related topic then I suggest you look at the sites below. Once you've had a look I suggest you subscribe to the feeds of the blogs you like and then develop your personal preferences from there.If you know of a site not mentioned by me that's worth adding to the list, let me know:david at djacobson dot com.David Starkoff (

Humor from the LawTunes

2007-04-23T00:23:00.000-07:00

Lawrence Savell, of LawTunes fame, has released his third CD of original "allegedly-humorous" law-related rock-and-roll holiday songs, "Merry Lexmas From The LawTunes." His two previous CDs were "The Lawyer's Holiday Humor Album" and "Legal Holidaze." The CDs can be purchased individually or as part of the LawTunes Holiday Trio at LawTunes.com.The 15 tracks on "Merry Lexmas From The Lawtunes"

BlawgSearch and Blawgs Radio

2007-04-22T21:56:00.000-07:00

BlawgSearch.com, a search tool for legal blogs. The database of more than 1,000 editorially selected legal blogs is updated throughout the day with new posts. You can sort your search results by relevance or posting date, and you can subscribe to RSS feeds of your searches. There is also a blawg directory, with subject and locality categories, and a blawg-rankings system. Thousands more legal

Law Podcasts

2007-04-19T06:48:00.000-07:00

The Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School "is a research program founded to explore cyberspace, share in its study, and help pioneer its development." As part of its mission, the Berkman Center hosts lectures and discussions by professors, scholars, attorneys, activists, and other experts on a wide range of topics relating its mission.The Berkman Center makes audio and video

Mortgage Glossary

2007-04-16T12:30:00.000-07:00

The following terms are important in the mortgage and housing profession, but often come up in division of property in a divorce situation:SOURCE: DivorceNet203(b): FHA program which provides mortgage insurance to protect lenders from default; used to finance the purchase of new or existing one- to four-family housing; characterized by low down payment, flexible qualifying guidelines, limited