Posts on ‘October 7th, 2009’

It was a day of wild hypotheticals Tuesday, as the U.S. Supreme Court reached far and wide for help in deciding whether a federal law that makes it a crime to depict animal cruelty violates the First Amendment. The justices discussed scenarios including a video depicting “stuffing geese for pate de foie gras” and a pay-per-view “Human Sacrifice Channel.” By the end of the riveting hour of argument, it seemed likely that a sizable majority of the Court was ready to strike down the law as too broad or too vague.

A U.S. military lawyer who had advocated on behalf of Canadian Omar Khadr at Guantanamo Bay is expected to be removed from the defense team Wednesday. Affidavits obtained by the Toronto Star say Navy Lieutenant-Commander William Kuebler is being dropped because of “paranoid” and “reckless” behavior. The affidavits further state that Kuebler allowed his own quest for fame to overshadow his defense of the Canadian detainee at the facility in Cuba.

David Letterman’s recent revelation that he had sex with subordinates is just a high-profile example, say employment lawyers, of a pervasive and potentially explosive problem: bosses having relationships with lower-level employees. “It’s not illegal. It’s just dangerous,” said Fisher & Phillips partner Andria Ryan. “Most of the public looks at [the Letterman scandal] and says, ‘Oh, what a shame for his wife, his family or his job.’ My first reaction was, ‘This is a sex harassment suit waiting to happen.’”

Denver-based Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck announced this week that it will open a new office in Reno, Nev. In some respects, the news is atypical. The number of law firm office openings has slowed significantly along with the economy, particularly for new domestic locations. In other ways, Brownstein is representative of the relatively small number of firms still expanding in the United States right now: midsize and based outside of major financial centers such as New York and Chicago.

Why would a lawyer want to devote so much time to Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook? Attorney Evan Brown recommends social media for business and career development, and presents five non-exhaustive reasons why attorneys should consider using social media for themselves or their law firms.

“Benevolence and compassion” have no place when it comes to setting foreclosure sales, Florida appellate judges have ruled in a stern order, saying they “thoroughly disapprove” of a decision by Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Valerie Manno Schurr to give an extra month to a couple trying to sell their home before a foreclosure sale. “Everybody knows that we are in a bad time right now, and I hate to see anybody lose their home,” Manno Schurr said. The appellate court called Shurr’s decision “an abuse of discretion.”

A nearly two-year public brawl between Kasowitz Benson and a former partner it fired for sexual harassment could be quieting down now that a New York judge has dismissed both parties’ lawsuits. Justice Martin Shulman has found “unavailing” and “unpersuasive” the arguments made against the firm by IP lawyer Jeremy Pitcock, who sued for defamation, breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty. The judge also found Kasowitz Benson failed to show how Pitcock had damaged the firm.

The Supreme Court heard vigorous arguments Wednesday morning in Salazar v. Buono, an Establishment Clause dispute over a Latin Cross that has stood for more than 70 years as a war memorial on federal land in the Mojave Desert. For much of the hour, you might have been forgiven if you thought you were back in civil procedure class.