Law in Popular Culture

Tinder co-founder files sexual harassment suit against her former partners

Love is not in the air behind the scenes at Tinder: One of the founders of the popular matchmaking app has filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against her former partners, accusing them of creating a hostile work environment for the purpose of forcing her out. Slate reported that Whitney Wolfe,…

Jul 1, 2014 7:31 PM CDT

She-Hulk comic turns its focus to solo practice at the urging of its writer, a practicing attorney

While most litigators have tangled with problematic opposing counsel, few have clashed with supervillains. For Jennifer Walters, both are all in a day’s work. Walters, perhaps better known as her alter ego She-Hulk, the Marvel Comics superhero, recently took on what may be her toughest challenge yet: solo practice. Since…

Jul 1, 2014 9:50 AM CDT

App translates rules of golf into plain English

So convoluted are the rules of golf that they can confound even lawyers. When first set down in Scotland in 1744, they consisted of just 338 words. Today, the official rules have ballooned to more than 40,000 words, and making sense of them often requires reference to the 700-page companion…

Jul 1, 2014 9:30 AM CDT

Taking on SCOTUS’ own ‘buffer zone’ | Ability as a witness can outweigh top expert credentials

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Thursday that a Massachusetts law providing for a 35-foot buffer zone for protesters around abortion clinics violated the First Amendment. But the court has its own buffer zone, and it’s getting attention in light of the ruling, the Wall Street Journal Law Blog reports. Protests…

Jun 27, 2014 1:30 PM CDT

Cartoon: Something fishy is going on here! Give us your best caption

This month’s legal-themed cartoon runs the risk of evoking tired cliches involving sharks and lawyers. Still, we’re hoping this is a topic readers can sink their teeth into and that we’ll see a little more variety in caption submissions. Submit the caption you think best fits the above cartoon by…

Jun 24, 2014 1:30 PM CDT

Cartoon Poll: Which spoon-on-the-witness-stand caption fits best?

Given the depiction of a spoon on the witness stand, we were prepared for a few references to the nursery rhyme “Hey Diddle Diddle.” Indeed, with more than 150 entries, there were more than a few scenarios involving a dish and a spoon. There were also veiled (and not-so-veiled) references…

Jun 16, 2014 10:43 PM CDT

ACLU and BigLaw firm use ‘Orange is the New Black’ in hashtag effort to promote NY jail reform

Life in a women’s prison definitely has its downside in a popular Netflix show, Orange is the New Black. But the reality is much worse, contend advocates for prison reform. Using the show as a springboard, they have launched a social media campaign this week, at the outset of the…

Jun 11, 2014 9:25 PM CDT

Famed ‘Mockingbird’ author Harper Lee settles suit against hometown museum

A federal lawsuit by the author of To Kill a Mockingbird against a museum in her hometown of Monroeville, Alabama, has apparently been settled. Although terms are confidential, the case was dismissed Thursday at the request of the parties and Monroe County Heritage Museum is no longer using the title…

Jun 6, 2014 3:00 PM CDT

Silicon Valley lawyer makes a splash with his father-daughter video lectures

Richard Hsu likes to simplify things. Maybe it’s because he spends his days dealing with technology, licensing and other intellectual property issues as a partner at Shearman & Sterling’s Silicon Valley office. His One Page Blog is a break from all that complexity, boiling down legal concepts (patent strategy, warranty…

Jun 1, 2014 9:30 AM CDT

Does six-pack count as one item at checkout? And did a state supreme court really decide the issue?

Does a six-pack of Diet Coke count as just one item in a supermarket checkout line that restricts users to 15 items or less? A lawyer’s newsletter coverage of a purported New Hampshire Supreme Court opinion on the issue led some readers to believe it was real. “People were asking…

May 26, 2014 11:14 AM CDT

Blogger: Law firm homepages are losing significance | Will SCOTUS ruling affect Spider-Man rights?

Kevin O’Keefe at Real Lawyers Have Blogs notes an Atlantic article about sharply declining traffic to the New York Times’ homepage (based on the recently leaked internal review of Times digital strategy). Readers are increasingly reaching news sites by way of links from social media sites to individual stories rather…

May 23, 2014 1:30 PM CDT

ABA’s Silver Gavel winners announced; topics covered include Gitmo, sexual assault in military

The ABA has announced this year’s winners of the Silver Gavel Awards, which recognize outstanding work in media and the arts that fosters understanding of law and the legal system. Some of the topics covered in the winning entries are the prison system’s treatment of mentally ill inmates, how the…

May 14, 2014 4:57 PM CDT

Convicted killer featured in movie ‘Bernie’ freed; he must live over director’s garage

A man sentenced to life in prison for a 1996 murder—later featured in major film—has been sentenced to time served and released. Bernie Tiede, the subject of the 2011 movie Bernie” was convicted of murdering his friend and confidante, Marjorie Nugent. Tiede hid Nugent’s body in her own freezer for…

May 7, 2014 8:05 PM CDT

Producers of ‘Matrix’ trilogy dodge copyright infringement lawsuit

What does The Matrix trilogy have in common with cryogenically frozen Nazis who become immortal and wage war on the rest of the world? According to a Los Angeles federal district judge, not much—or at least not enough to find that the creative team behind The Matrix stole ideas from…

Apr 30, 2014 10:45 PM CDT

‘Daily Show’ takes aim at gun-rights legal defense firms

The Daily Show took aim at several law firms that purport to protect gun owners and carriers for a monthly retainer, including a Virginia firm that was co-founded by former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli. During a segment that aired Tuesday, Daily Show correspondent Jordan Klepper took a humorous look…

Apr 30, 2014 9:00 PM CDT