Law in Popular Culture

Orrick Lawyer Demands Takedown of $100K Blog Bounty Offer for Info on Apple Computer

An attorney for Apple reportedly sent a takedown demand to a tech industry gossip site, contending that Valleywag’s offer of up to $100,000 in bounty for information about his client’s much-anticipated tablet computer amounts to illegal encouragement to steal trade secrets. In a contest announced earlier this week, the Gawker…

Jan 15, 2010 7:43 PM CST

Boat Commute & Luck Led to Lawyer’s 2nd Gig as Author of Legal Thrillers

David Hosp never intended to write a book. But, after getting married and moving to a new home in suburban Boston, the Goodwin Procter lawyer started commuting to work by boat through the Boston Harbor islands. And remembering how he used to enjoy writing, he decided to spend the hour…

Jan 14, 2010 4:09 AM CST

Meet Eugene Volokh, Blogging Law Prof Who Likes Glocks & Gunners

Born in the USSR, Eugene Volokh might years ago have seemed an unlikely guide to certain portions of the legal universe, as far as American lawyers and law students are concerned. But that’s what he is. A tech-savvy law professor at the University of California at Los Angeles, he is…

Jan 14, 2010 12:20 AM CST

Law Firm and Ex-Associate Battle in Court and on Net Over Badmouth Blog

A federal judge says she plans to order unspecified “limited” restrictions of an ex-associate’s badmouth blog criticizing the New Jersey law firm that formerly employed him. But it appears that some of the most telling blows in the battle between Levinson Axelrod and attorney Edward Heyburn over his Levinson Axelrod…

Jan 12, 2010 6:31 PM CST

Jon Stewart: Terrorists May Talk if Forced to Watch His Yoo Interview

The Daily Show With Jon StewartMon - Thurs 11p / 10c

Jan 12, 2010 12:43 PM CST

In ‘Undieground’ Protest in London & Elsewhere, Participants Doff Pants

Some did it in protest of new airport security rules. Others did it just for fun. But in subways and other transit locations around the globe, participants took off their trousers yesterday in what has become an annual No Pants Day tradition to reveal a wide range of underwear styles…

Jan 11, 2010 7:08 PM CST

ATL Blogger Feels Pain of Breakup in Digital Age

Breaking up can be more difficult than ever in the age of social networking. Just ask Above the Law blogger Kashmir Hill. She told the New York Times about the time she logged into a former boyfriend’s e-mail account, using a password he had shared with her. She read an…

Jan 7, 2010 4:04 PM CST

Legal Author Goes for the Platinum, Part of the ‘Bragabond’ Elite

Legal thriller author Scott Turow had a grueling travel day Dec. 8. He flew from Chicago to New York, then Dallas, then San Francisco, and then back to Chicago. It wasn’t part of a book tour. It wasn’t part of a plan to do Christmas shopping from Sky Mall. Instead,…

Jan 6, 2010 3:00 PM CST

Sharon Stone to Be a ‘Law & Order’ Prosecutor

Sharon Stone is to become an ex-cop turned prosecutor for four weeks in April on NBC’s Law & Order SVU television drama. Remembered for her starring role alongside Michael Douglas in the 1992 Basic Instinct murder thriller, Stone won an Emmy award in 2004 for her three-episode appearance on The…

Jan 5, 2010 9:46 PM CST

‘Void Where Prohibited’ Holiday E-Card Wins Kudos for Akin Gump

A clever holiday e-card that offers “warmest wishes” with a number of lawyerly caveats (among them: “Wishes may be warmer than expected. Use caution when handling”) has won kudos for Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld. The law firm took top honors, reports Above the Law, in an ATL reader…

Jan 4, 2010 10:34 PM CST

Stopped for Expired L-Plate, Driver Featured on TV Reality Show Files Federal Suit

Stopped by police in a Chicago suburb for allegedly driving a car with an expired license plate, Eran Best says she was subsequently humiliated when the incident—which eventually included a field sobriety test—was featured in a segment of a television reality show. She reportedly was not charged with any moving…

Dec 16, 2009 10:00 PM CST

Unable to Find Legal Job, Blogger Posts Bah Humbug Tale on YouTube

Unable to find a legal job, a disgruntled 2009 law graduate has turned his talents to a computer-animated video that is now posted on YouTube. In a new twist on Charles Dickens’ classic tale of how a seemingly dreaming Ebenezer Scrooge is taught by a series of ghosts that life…

Dec 14, 2009 7:43 PM CST

New Lawyer Show Sugarcoats Reality, Above the Law Blogger Says

A fan of television shows about working lawyers, blogger Elie Mystal thinks The Practice was great and Boston Legal was worth watching when William Shatner was on-screen. But ABC’s latest legal drama, The Deep End misses the mark, he contends in an Above the Law review today of the new…

Dec 11, 2009 9:05 PM CST

Above the Law Gets New Management; Readers Wonder about Lat, Mystal

Breaking Media, the parent company of the legal tabloid blog Above the Law, announced Jonah Bloom, current editor of Crain’s Communications’ Advertising Age, will join the company as CEO and editor-in-chief this January. In addition, the digital blog network, which also publishes Fashionista, DealBreaker, and Going Concern, will bring in…

Dec 10, 2009 11:41 PM CST

Judge Holds US in Contempt for Not Videotaping Gitmo Detainee Testimony

A federal judge in Washington, D.C., held the U.S. Department of Defense in civil contempt of court today for disobeying a prior court order that required “the appropriate agency” to preserve a videotape of a detainee’s testimony in a closed-door habeas corpus hearing. Although Mohammed al-Adahi couldn’t appear in open…

Dec 10, 2009 11:16 PM CST