Law Advice

New Egypt Tax Law: Cuts for Poor, Business HikesABC NewsEgypt's president has signed a new tax law that cuts the amount paid by poorer Egyptians while increasing taxes on small and medium-sized businesses. The interim parliament approved the law last week. President Mohammed Morsi signed it Tuesday, his ...and more » […]

The Seattle TimesSusan Powell search ends; brother-in-law's actions called suspiciousSan Jose Mercury NewsWest Valley City, Utah -- After 3 1/2 years of searching in 11 states, the hunt for Susan Powell has been called off. The end of the search for the missing mom was announced during a news conference Monday afternoon by West Valley City manager Wayne […]

'Rubber band' bill: Russian parliament passes 'legally indefinable' anti ...RTThe Russian Duma has passed a second reading of a religious offense law that has provoked a firestorm of controversy. The legislation has been softened, but still represents a significant ramping up of punishments compared to existing laws. The second ... […]

Prestigious Law Firms Join Fight for Guestworkers' Rights in Major Human ...American Civil Liberties Union News and Information (blog)Today's filing represents an unprecedented collaborative effort by several of the country's most prestigious law firms to prosecute, on a pro bono basis, multiple human trafficking and racketeering lawsuits agai […]

Raw StoryShumlin Signs Aid-in-Dying Bill Into Law in Vt.Valley NewsThe End of Life Choices law was effective immediately, although it could be weeks before the Health Department develops regulations in accordance with the new measure. Vermont Health Commissioner Dr. Harry Chen said he expects doctors to write ...Vermont governor to approve 'Death with D […]

The Atlantic WireLaw and Order and Urban DictionaryThe Atlantic WireUrban Dictionary, a site launched in 1999 by Aaron Peckham when he was a college freshman, is a crowdsourced compilation of, currently, more than 7 million definitions of an array of slang and other terms. You can refer to the site for information ...and more » […]

Why Libya's 'isolation law' threatens progressCNN (blog)Editor's note: Anas El Gomati is a visiting fellow at the Carnegie Middle East Center, and director of Sadeq Institute, Libya's first think tank. The views expressed are his own. Libya may want to move on from its past, but a law passed earlier this ... […]

KTBSTexas House adds some teeth to political disclosure lawDallas Morning NewsThe bill, passed 133-14, includes some of the most substantial changes in state disclosure laws in years. Under the proposal, which returns to the Senate for consideration of amendments, the public would get to know who is paying for political ...Rep. pulls plug on futile-care law […]

Tablet MagazineBin Laden's Son-in-Law Seeks a New Lawyer, but There's a SnagNew York TimesThe defendant, Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, who is Osama bin Laden's son-in-law, was brought to the United States to face trial on a charge of conspiring to kill Americans. When he was arraigned in March, his case was assigned to the public defender's office […]

Vermont passes law allowing doctor-assisted suicideReutersThe law, which includes a number of safeguards over the next three years as the state adapts, marked the first time a U.S. state has used the legislative process to make assisted suicide legal. Oregon and Washington have similar laws passed through ... […]

Pistorius case: South Africa's legal system in the spotlightfox6now.comA high court trial could take place before a single judge or before a judge and two lay people, who are usually legal experts such as advocates, academics or retired magistrates, who are known as “assessors.” These assessors are restricted though to ... […]

New York Daily NewsKhloe Kardashian Odom yanks T-shirt after Gov. Andrew Cuomo threatens legal ...Fox NewsAndrew Cuomo threatens legal action. Published May 21, 2013. FoxNews.com. Khloe Kardashian Lamar Odom Reuters.JPG. Apparently New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has no patience for copy cats. Cuomo's office issued a cease-and-desist letter to reality ...Kar […]

Yahoo! NewsChina says its legal ivory trade not to blame for poachingYahoo! NewsBEIJING (Reuters) - China's small traditional trade in carving uses ivory acquired through legal auctions and in no way encourages or worsens the problem of elephant poaching in Africa, a senior Chinese official said on Tuesday. Demand for ivory as an ...and more » […]

When Are Legal Fees Voluntary?ForbesAccording to many self-made millionaires, the times legal fees are voluntary – or quasi-voluntary – are ALL THE TIME. The general process is that lawyers do legal work and they send a bill. Sometimes they get a retainer – partial payment. It's also ... […]

New York Times (blog)Should Marijuana Be Legal?New York Times (blog)Should it be legal for medical use all over the United States? Should it also be legal for recreational use for consumers who are 21 and over, as Washington and Colorado have allowed? In general, do you think the current federal prohibition on ...Q&A: Legal Marijuana in Colorado and Wash […]

Car Sharing: Future Looks Bright, Even With Some Cloudy Legal IssuesTIMEThere's just no stopping the sharing. Despite recent legal challenges to certain “peer to peer” car-sharing services, the range of sharing options keeps on expanding, making it easier and easier for consumers to skip taxis, traditional car rentals ... […]

The Atlantic WireApple's Massive Tax Avoidance Scheme Was Probably LegalThe Atlantic WireBut that's all legal, thanks to a series of loopholes in U.S. tax code. So it seems that lawmakers, led by Senator John McCain and Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations chair Carl Levin, are accusing Apple of breaking the spirit, but not the ...Apple, […]

Washington TimesSenate panel OKs tax-welfare benefits for newly legal immigrantsWashington TimesThe SenateJudiciary Committee voted Monday to allow illegal immigrants who get legal status to begin collecting tax-welfare payments, as the panel spent a fourth day working through amendments to the massive immigration bill and party-line splits began ...AP Sourc […]

Updated LinkedIn user agreement prohibits 'escort services or prostitution ...The VergeThe change comes through an update to LinkedIn's user agreement that rolled out last week; it now states that "even if it is legal where you are located, [users may not] create profiles or provide content that promotes escort services or prostitution ...and […]

The West AustralianHow Much Will a Legal Marijuana Habit Cost You?TIMEA study conducted by the Colorado Futures Center at Colorado State University aimed to get to the bottom of how much the state can expect to collect in tax revenue, now that marijuana is legal. By doing a little extra math, we can get a rough estimate ...Legal Marijuana: How Much Will The […]

Prosecutions under the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act against individuals, businesses or government entities dropped by 52 percent in 2012, compared to 2011, according to TRACE, a Maryland-based nonprofit that focuses on anti-bribery compliance. However, enforcement actions are surging this year, said Julie Coleman, TRACE's senior director of adviso […]

A divided Federal Circuit has affirmed a jury verdict upholding the validity of a patent owned by licensing company Alexsam that covers systems used to process prepaid phone and gift cards. But it reversed the Marshall, Texas, jury's finding that IDT Corp., had infringed the patent for one system, and affirmed the district court's ruling that there […]

With the U.S. Department of Justice under fire for secretly obtaining Associated Press phone records, a newly unsealed court document has revealed that federal prosecutors seized far more than phone records in one pending leak case. A DOJ investigation into leaks about classified information about North Korea also looked at a reporter's security badge a […]

The Justice Department's legal ethics division will look at whether a former U.S. Attorney violated department rules when he disclosed information to a news reporter, an inspector general report released Monday states. Dennis Burke admitted to releasing to a Fox News producer a memorandum related to the Operation Fast and Furious gun-trafficking program […]

Everyone knows that litigation often settles on the eve of trial. But sometimes it takes the reality of a retrial to bring the parties to the bargaining table. That was the case for Silicon Valley rivals Brocade Communications and A10 Networks, which reached a settlement in their long-running intellectual property spat even as jury selection was under way fo […]

Eric Turkewitz, of The Turkewitz Law Firm and author of the New York Personal Injury Law Blog, offers dos and don'ts for first-time legal bloggers. […]

Attorney Daniel Cummins and staff reporter Ben Present discuss the emerging issue of social media law. In this installment, the two discuss the differences between Facebook and Twitter, and whether Twitter posts can be discoverable. […]

Steve Fletcher, CIO at Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein, speaks to issues "bring your own device" policies bring to law firms, such as securing client data. […]

Attorney Daniel Cummins and staff reporter Ben Present discuss the emerging issue of social media law. In this installment, the two discuss whether Facebook pages are discoverable. […]

The recently established Institute for Law Department Excellence is on a mission to enable in-house attorneys to focus on practicing law, and to help those in key operations learn from each other. "If you are going to enable your lawyers to do lawyering," ILDE president Bill Young says, "they cannot be spending 25 to 40 percent of their time o […]