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In the near future, you’ll be able to change your firm’s culture with a mouse-click. And if you believe that, we have a pair or ruby slippers to sell you. That’s right, Dorothy, you’re still in Kansas. Technology can do a lot, but it isn’t going to save your company culture. That takes a fundamental change in human behavior. Technical Assistance Legal tech can help with human resource challenges. For example, some platforms can filter out gender bias in the hiring process....

Little League pins are a big deal in Pennsylvania. Trading pins is the biggest activity at the Little League World Series outside of actual baseball, according to The (Harrisburg) Patriot-News. It can even form the basis of a federal lawsuit. Randy and Janete Shrey sued Williamsport, Pa., Police Capt. Raymond O. Kontz III in 2010, accusing him of seizing more than 600 pins they’d designed for trading at the 2008 Little League World Series....

Henry v. Wyeth Pharms., Inc., No. 08-1477, involved an action for racial discrimination and retaliation in violation of Title VII. The court of appeals affirmed judgment for defendants in part, on the ground that, although a reasonable juror could certainly have considered certain remarks by plaintiff’s colleagues discriminatory, they had little probative value in the context of the case. However, the court vacated in part on the ground that the district court’s instruction on causation was erroneous because a causal connection was sufficiently demonstrated if the agent who decides to impose the adverse action but is ignorant of the plaintiff’s protected activity acts pursuant to encouragement by a superior (who has knowledge) to disfavor the plaintiff....

In a prisoners’ action against South Dakota prison officials claiming violations of their free exercise of religion under the First Amendment and Section 3 of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 (RLUIPA), denial of summary judgment for defendants is affirmed in part, reversed in part and dismissed in part where: 1) denial of summary judgment on the plaintiffs’ official capacity RLUIPA claims for monetary was improper as RLUIPA is constitutional and prison officials are entitled to the protection of sovereign immunity from monetary damages; 2) denial of summary judgment on plaitniff’s injunctive relief claims for a tape player and extra group study time under RLUIPA and the First Amendment Free Exercise Clause was error; and 3) the court of appeals lacked jurisdiction to consider plaintiff’s claim for a succah and his retaliation claims due to the existence of genuine disputes of material fact....

Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s new book, “My Beloved World,” is a hit. Reviewers have embraced her “refreshing conversational style” and “fascinating life story.” NPR’s Nina Totenberg predicts that her “beautifully written and novelistic” “page-turner” will become a best-seller. In the forward to her memoir, Sotomayor writes, Sotomayor is correct. She probably will be judged. Especially because she has openly discussed her experiences with affirmative action during a term when the Supreme Court will decide the fate of affirmative action....

It’s looking more and more likely that the Ninth Circuit will extend Batson v. Kentucky, preventing parties from striking potential jurors on the basis of their sexual orientation. Back in late July, we covered the pending case of Smithkline Beecham Corporation v. Abbott Laboratories, a pharmaceutical dispute over HIV drugs. During voir dire, one of the prospective jurors, a male, repeatedly used a masculine pronoun to refer to his significant other....

In a murder prosecution, denial of petitioner’s habeas petition is affirmed where the California special circumstances statute that enhanced petitioner’s first degree murder sentence to life without the possibility of parole (specifically, the lying in wait special circumstance) was not unconstitutionally vague under the Fourteenth Amendment. Read Bradway v. Cate, No. 08-55296 Appellate Information Argued and Submitted April 15, 2009 Filed December 3, 2009 Judges Opinion by Judge Canby Counsel...

In 2002, Hallmark Cards, Inc. and Janet Murley parted ways. She had served as the vice-president of marketing and was responsible for product and business development, advertising, and research, and by extension, had access to confidential business plans, market research, and other internal information. When she was let go, she was paid a severance of $735,000, 18 months of paid COBRA insurance, paid tax preparation for 2 years, and was given executive outplacement services....

Technology has changed just about everything at the courthouse but the judges. Filing, briefing, and even appearing in court can be done electronically. Judges would like to make telephonic appearances, too, but we’re not quite there yet. Of course, you knew all that. What you didn’t know, unless you’ve been to high-tech mediation lately, is that technology is even better in alternative dispute resolution. ADR Tech Just kidding about judges and technology, by the way....

Former Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens served on the Court for almost 35 years, giving him the third-longest tenure in history. The length of his term, and his presence as the face of the Court’s liberal wing from the 1980s to 2000s made Justice Stevens’s influence on the bench – and on American life – unlike that of nearly any other jurist. In the wake of his passing this week, we look back at some of his most influential decisions, and the impact he continued to have after his retirement....

FindLaw columnist Eric Sinrod writes regularly in this section on legal developments surrounding technology and the internet. China recently launched a tremendously large 5G network. How large? This network has the capacity to bring 50 cities online. This is reportedly one of the largest-ever rollouts of an extremely fast 5G mobile network. Why 5G Matters In the short run, this type of 5G rollout can enable smartphone users in China to gain high-speed internet access....

In gambling, sometimes the house doesn’t win. That’s what happened in National Labor Relations Board v. Casino Pauma. The tribal casino tried to keep employees from distributing union literature, and the NLRB stepped in. The board said the casino violated federal laws protecting union activity, but the tribe said not on its land. In a petition to the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, the casino took a chance and lost....

If you want to find the bleeding edge of press freedoms, look no further than legal news stories. In a case filed by a news agency, a federal judge has ordered a Chicago court clerk to make newly filed complaints immediately available to the press. That includes lawsuits that haven’t yet been processed by the clerk’s office for electronic filing. It’s one of many cases filed by news companies, which will challenge any law that curtails their freedoms....

Juan Daniel Lugo pleaded guilty to conspiring to manufacture, distribute, and possess methamphetamine and marijuana with intent to distribute. The district court sentenced him to a prison term of 240 months. Lugo later challenged his sentence based on the government’s failure to test the substance for which he was sentenced. So was it “ice” or some knock-off meth-mix? According to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, it doesn’t matter. At his sentencing hearing, Lugo objected to the PSR on several grounds, suggesting that the meth in his case was mischaracterized as “actual” methamphetamine (a mixture or substance containing d-methamphetamine hydrochloride of at least 80 percent purity, also known as “ice”) as opposed to a substandard meth slushy....

In plaintiff’s action under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) claiming that the reduction to his coaching supplement as head boys’ varsity basketball coach upon his return from leave violated the Act, judgment in the amount of $9,258.82 in favor of the plaintiff is reversed where: 1)the district court erred in failing to consider a proffered defense; 2) plaintiff was not prejudiced by the adjustment to the basketball coaching supplement; and 3) grant of summary judgment in favor of the Metropolitan government and four individual defendants with respect to plaintiff’s claims of age discrimination and retaliation are affirmed as no reasonable juror could conclude that defendants’ proffered reasons were pretext either for age discrimination or for retaliation....

Juneteenth, the now-federal holiday that has risen to mainstream prominence in the wake of George Floyd’s murder, gets a lot of press around this time of year. Companies large and small are happy to promote awareness of the holiday. Many now give employees the day off, and in recent years they’ve placed an increased focus on diversity and inclusion efforts. Events, celebrations, and social media messages abound on and around June 19th....

For many consumers, online shopping is about as good as shopping gets. From the comfort of your home, you can browse a seemingly infinite number of products on your phone or computer until you find the exact thing you are looking for, and then you can have it delivered to your home, often within the period of a few days. Even though online shopping can be gratifying, the convenience may come with a cost that is much higher than shoppers expect....

The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals recently issued a ruling in the matter over the state of Missouri’s regulations for abortion clinics. And unfortunately for the challengers who succeeded in obtaining an injunction at the federal district court level, the appellate court didn’t quite see it the same way. The court found that the challengers hadn’t actually established a sufficient injury or irreparable harm to qualify for the injunction. This was due to the fact that the state regulations allow for variances to exempt requesting clinics from certain parts of the regulations, and none of the challengers had applied for the variance and been denied....

District court judgment finding a handwritten report and accompanying testimony inadmissible is affirmed where: 1) the court erred when it did not classify the report as an admission by a party opponent under Federal Rule of Evidence 801(d)(2)(D); and 2) the court did not abuse its discretion when it found the record inadmissible under Rule 403, as the report was unreliable based on the multiple levels of hearsay and lack of precise factual statements....

“Stop and frisk” just got one step closer to becoming a sad, unconstitutional footnote in the annals of New York City, though it seems my fellow blogger’s predictions proved prescient: Yep. U.S. District Court Judge Analisa Torres denied the police unions’ attempt to intervene and block the “stop and frisk” settlement last week. As predicted, Patrick Lynch, president of the city Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, one of five unions that sought to intervene, said the union would ask the Second Circuit to overturn Torres’ ruling, reports Reuters....