Opening Statements

You can sue someone who broke into your email, but you’d better find proof fast

In August 2011, New York City teacher Chantay Sewell tried to log in to her AOL account and couldn't. Shortly afterward, a message making defamatory claims about her sex life went out from her email address. Seven months later, the same thing happened with her Facebook account.

Jan 1, 2016 3:30 AM CST

10 Questions: From lesbian moms to Airbnb, Roberta Kaplan makes sure laws keep pace with change

Roberta Kaplan could be described as a specialist in emerging law. She litigates cases that shape the legal structure within which Americans live, love, work and hail cabs. A Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison partner in New York City, she successfully argued U.S. v. Windsor before the U.S. Supreme…

Jan 1, 2016 3:20 AM CST

Anti-puppy mill legislation across the country is dogging pet stores

How much is that doggy in the window?

Thanks to a growing number of laws passed by municipalities across the United States banning pet stores from selling animals from commercial breeders, the more appropriate question for consumers hoping to add to their families might be "What's the adoption fee for that doggy from the shelter?"

Dec 1, 2015 4:10 AM CST

Can marijuana ads be shown on TV in states where it’s legal? Broadcasters aren’t so sure

If the recent spate of states repealing marijuana prohibitions could be likened to a revolution, it's one that won't be televised—at least not as a commercial.

That's the transmission received recently in Colorado, where a 15-second advertisement for a cannabis-oil vape pen that was set to air during a Denver station's late-night lineup was pulled by the station's license holder. The decision came as a complete surprise, says Olivia Mannix of Cannabrand, the Denver-based marketing agency that created the spot for its client Neos. The ad was slotted, payments were made, and the broadcast time—during Jimmy Kimmel Live!—complied with state law requiring a primarily adult audience, she says. Plus, the ad showed neither cannabis nor people using cannabis. "We didn't even show the product," she says. So what prompted Cincinnati-based E.W. Scripps to kill the buzz?

Dec 1, 2015 4:00 AM CST

New business collects debts for independent workers

Even litigators can have trouble getting paid, as New York City lawyer Jesse Strauss learned.

Strauss, an employment litigator, has had to write off debt too small to be worth a lawsuit. And he saw the same problem among many of his clients. Like him, they had debts too small to merit a suit; and collection agencies, which work on volume, wouldn't help them. "When you have this whole community of folks who are consistently being creditors, and there's no infrastructure to serve them, there's something wrong," he says.

Dec 1, 2015 3:50 AM CST

This lawyer is using her love for ‘Star Wars’ to expand the galaxy of geeks

For some people, Star Wars isn't just a movie, it's also a way of life. Jennifer LaFortune is one of those people. Since 2006, the Gilbert, Arizona, lawyer has been dressing up, or "cosplaying," as a Stormtrooper—Imperial Officer TK 7047, to be exact—to attend sci-fi conventions, march in parades and serve the community, all through her membership in an international costuming organization for Star Wars bad guys called the 501st Legion. She's used her interstellar skills to help the group grow and adapt.

Dec 1, 2015 3:40 AM CST

These judges are partners in life and on the bench

Like many two-lawyer couples, Jane Wipf Pfeifle and Craig Pfeifle have pondered the law since they shared law school assignments and late-night pizza while attending the University of South Dakota School of Law.

Nov 1, 2015 3:50 AM CST

Doctors, lawyers and others are collaborating to ensure pregnant women get workplace accommodations

The majority of American pregnant women work, but some don't get requested accommodations, like extra bathroom breaks. And the reason may surprise you: Their medical teams don't know how to write requests properly.

Nov 1, 2015 3:40 AM CST

This lawyer is fighting to extend basic human rights to complex animals

Natalie Prosin doesn't favor guerrilla tactics in the courtroom—more like gorilla tactics. As executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based Nonhuman Rights Project, she manages the day-to-day operations of a mostly volunteer group of lawyers and scientists striving to extend the common-law classification of personhood to cognitively complex nonhuman animals to grant them such legal rights as bodily liberty and bodily integrity. The group recently brought a trio of habeas corpus actions in New York on behalf of four chimpanzees. A case involving elephants is next.

Nov 1, 2015 3:30 AM CST

‘Iconathon’ held by the PTO to create symbols for IP concepts

By now, most people are familiar with the symbols that indicate copyrights and registered trademarks. But how do you design symbols for other intellectual property concepts that will become as universally accessible? If you are the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, you open up your doors to the general public…

Nov 1, 2015 3:20 AM CST

Kentucky’s attempt to keep teens from dropping out of school meets with resistance

After some legislative fits and starts, it's gotten a lot harder to drop out of high school in Kentucky. Starting in July of this year, the required attendance age went from 16 to 18. But the seeming victory for education advocates may be short-lived, with opponents prepared to challenge the law's alleged punitive effects on at-risk kids.

Nov 1, 2015 3:10 AM CST

Ralph Nader opens his American Museum of Tort Law

Scalding-hot coffee, exploding cars and dangerous toys are catnip to plaintiffs lawyers, but do they appeal to regular people, too? Ralph Nader thinks so, and he's out to prove it with the American Museum of Tort Law. Housed in an old bank building in Nader's hometown of Winsted, Connecticut, the museum was scheduled to open in late September.

Oct 1, 2015 8:40 AM CDT

Is video visitation helpful or harmful for prisoners and their families?

Prison can be a lonely place. Few of the estimated 2.2 million Americans behind bars get regular visitors due to cost, distance and the stress of prison visits. But that may soon change thanks to new video visitation technology akin to Skype or FaceTime that has already been introduced into some 500 penal institutions across the country.

But critics say the technology may do more harm than good.

Oct 1, 2015 8:35 AM CDT

Pole dances are exempt from sales tax, says New York administrative law judge

Tax cases are usually not the raciest reads in the law library. But then there’s the decadelong litigation between the New York Department of Taxation and Finance and Nite Moves, an Albany “premier adult club” with an “upscale, nonalcoholic juice bar.” In 2005, the state demanded the club pay tax…

Oct 1, 2015 8:30 AM CDT

This Houston lawyer is now representing a death row inmate he reported on as a TV newsman

Earlier this year, Quinncy N. McNeal was surfing the Internet when he discovered that an execution date had been set for Rodney Reed, a Texas death row inmate convicted of the 1996 abduction, rape and murder of 19-year-old Stacey Stites. McNeal was shocked. Before becoming a lawyer, he had worked as a television news journalist in Austin and had investigated and reported on disturbing evidence that had been discovered after Reed's controversial conviction. McNeal had assumed that Reed would eventually be exonerated, not executed. Rallying the resources of his law firm, Mayer Brown, McNeal immediately jumped back into the case—only this time as a lawyer, not a reporter.

Oct 1, 2015 8:28 AM CDT