Keeping Data Secure at the Coffee Shop

via ABA Journal

In an increasingly connected world, lawyers at a coffee shop, a hotel or the airport may jump online to check email, get some work done or send a tweet. But that freedom to access the Internet practically whenever and wherever we want carries risks from thieves, hackers and nosy neighbors—a possible ethical violations of client privacy.

[U]sers should make sure they are using a secure HTTPS protocol rather than the HTTP protocol and have a secure, 12-character alphanumeric password to log on to their laptops.

Mighell recommended a specific website called Shields Up, that will scan and determine the security vulnerabilities on your computer. He also said that while both Windows and Mac OSX operating systems have basic built-in firewall programs, they don’t offer enough protection.

Mighell also recommended turning off file-sharing unless there is a particular reason for having it on, and to have only one public folder for files that can be shared only when needed.

He and Nelson also recommended scanning your mobile device for malware after using any public WiFi network. And Mighell suggested investing in a good data loss protection program that will detect, monitor and prevent data from leaving your system.

From the comments: 

Easy answer - don’t use the coffee shop for your law office.

So does this change anyone's thoughts about coffee shop computing? The advice above is pretty worthless. What if there is no HTTPS connection available? I'm guessing that there aren't very many coffee shops offering ultra-secure connections. Hell, most of the time you're lucky if you can find an outlet to plug your computer into.

Defendants Increasingly Don 'Hipster' Glasses; Murder Prosecutor Gets New Look on the Record

via ABA Journal

According to the Post, nonprescription “hipster” glasses have become something of a sensation at Washington, D.C., courthouses. Inmates trade them before hearings or obtain them from family members. Sometimes lawyers give them to their clients.

“They’re masks,” one anonymous prosecutor told the newspaper. “They’re designed to confuse the witness and influence the jury.”

First Amendment right to sport hipster glasses? No, screw that. Down with hipsters!!

TSA vs. Wheelchair-bound 3 Year Old Boy

via CNN:



And another TSA fail ...

"There is another human being putting their hands on my child. That is not acceptable," [the father] said. "If he was putting his hands on my child at McDonald's or anyplace else, we would immediately have him arrested and call the police."

On the other hand ...

TSA spokesman Greg Soule: "While recognizing that terrorists are willing to manipulate societal norms to evade detection, our officers continue to work with parents to ensure a respectful screening process for the entire family at the checkpoint."


So, what do you think?

LSAT Test Takers Decline; Is Law School Tuition Bubble Bursting?

ABA Journal:

I guess having thousands of unhappy, unemployed law grads and lawyers running around telling everyone not to go to law school is starting to have an effect. Good.

Death Row Inmate Challenges Oregon Gov’s Order Giving Him an Execution Reprieve

via ABA Journal:

Sentenced to death but given a reprieve by a state governor who says there will be no executions on his watch, an Oregon inmate is challenging the suspension of his death sentence. Gary Haugen, through his legal counsel, is challenging as unconstitutional Gov. John Kitzhaber's reprieve order, contending that it is legally ineffective because it has not been accepted by the defendant, the Oregonian reports. In a motion and supporting memorandum (PDF) filed Monday in state circuit court, attorney Harrison Latto seeks an order requiring the state to issue a new death warrant.

Talk about being ungrateful. And the attorney? Filing a motion demanding that his client be killed? Seems like an interesting ethics question. Seems like the attorney is acting against the interests of his client, except that the client wants to die. So ... the lawyer is assisting a suicide? Is that legal? Ethical?

Interesting that this is happening in Oregon, which passed the Death with Dignity Act in 2008, which allows terminally ill patients to receive help from their physicians to end their lives. Does that change the analysis? You could analogize the lawyer's position here to the doctor's position with terminally ill patients. Except that the governor stayed the execution. Of course, life in prison might be just as bad.

We'll see what happens.

Chris Christie Doesn't Regret Calling Law Student an Idiot

via ABA Journal

"Damn, man, I'm governor. Can you just shut up for a minute?"

I remember an event that took place during my first year of law school. I had been working for a few years after undergrad before going back to school, but many of my classmates had gone straight through and really didn't have a good sense of the "real world" outside of school. At this particular event, one of these classmates asked a question of a distinguished panel (former U.S. ambassador, law professors, dean of the law school) that said, to paraphrase, "why are you lying to us and saying such stupid things?" The question was directed to the former ambassador and stemmed from a political disagreement. I happened to agree with the ambassador's assessment, so I wasn't too impressed by the student's question to begin with, but I was really appalled by the lack of respect shown to the panel. The student displayed both arrogance and ignorance--she had quite obviously never held a real job or had to support herself in the real world, much less make decisions that would affect the lives of others. I wanted to apologize to the panel on behalf of the other students, but I didn't. I figured, correctly, as it turned out, that the student would not be regarded highly by the rest of the student body and that I didn't need to point out her flaws to everyone.

What is surprising is that the law student in the above story does have some life experience. Real, impressive life experience. Especially for someone with a military background, his refusal to adhere to the rules of the town hall meeting and his lack of respect for the governor are pretty surprising. I think Christie was right about what would happen if the guy acted this way in court. I'd love to see him try to shout down a federal judge.

Idiot.

Bankruptcy Lawyers Warn of Looming Student Loan ‘Debt Bomb’

via ABA Journal:

Student loan debt could turn into another crisis for the economy, according to the president of the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys. William Brewer is putting a pessimistic spin on his group’s survey of 860 bankruptcy lawyers. “This could very well be the next debt bomb for the U.S. economy,” Brewer said in a press release (PDF). The Washington Post has the story. Eighty-one percent of the responding lawyers reported an increase in the number of potential clients they are seeing with student loan debt, according to the press release. Forty-eight percent said the increase was “significant.”

Movie Fan Sues over Theater's High Snack Prices and Ban on Outside Food

Movie Fan Sues over Theater's High Snack Prices and Ban on Outside Food - News - ABA Journal

Seems pretty frivolous to me. Just eat before you go. Or watch movies on Netflix or from Redbox. If movie theaters are forced to either lower their prices or allow outside food, then what's next? Forcing a 5 star restaurant to provide a dollar menu? I hate overpriced soda and popcorn just as much as the next guy, but that's why I am supportive of theaters that have reasonable prices. Consumers have the power to vote with their feet ... or with their mouths, in this case.

Apple vs. ... Hollywood?

via GIZMODO: Samsung Cites 2001: A Space Odyssey Against Apple in Greatest Legal Defense of All Time (Updated):

Apple is giving Samsung a legal pummelingbecause it thinks the latter stole the iPad's design for the Galaxy Tab. So far, the fight's going well for Apple. But Samsung has something up its sleeve: Apple ripped off science fiction.

[... Samsung argues] the idea for the iPad existed back in 1968, when Stanley Kubrick dreamed up his sci fi classic. And in American patent law, if the idea existed before your patent application—what's known as prior art—your patent is null. So essentially, Samsung is pulling a hell of a legal maneuver here, alleging they couldn't possibly have stolen the iPad's design, because Apple took it from an imaginary science fiction movie space station:

Check out the clip from 2001: A Space Odyssey:



Looks like a couple of iPads to me! More proof of the oncoming Terminator Apocalypse ... i.e., iPad = Hal = evil computer = death to all humans. It's pretty self-explanatory.

Chemerinsky: Supreme Court Weighs First Amendment, the Stolen Valor Act and the Protection of Lies

via ABA Journal:

One of the more fascinating cases on the U.S. Supreme Court's docket this term involves the constitutionality of the federal Stolen Valor Act, a law that makes it a crime for a person to falsely claim to have received a military medal or decoration. In United States v. Alvarez, argued Feb. 22, the court will decide whether the First Amendment protects such false speech. The court has not been consistent as to whether there is First Amendment protection for lies; it has very much depended on the context.

Lie to me. Just don't sue me.