Sat.May 15, 2021 - Fri.May 21, 2021

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US Supreme Court reform commission holds first meeting

JURIST

US President Joe Biden’s 36-member commission to study US Supreme Court reforms met for the first time on Wednesday, following increased public pressure to add new court seats in response to the current court’s decision to take on a case that could upend Roe v. Wade , a landmark abortion rights case. The commission was established through an executive order last month.

Court 239
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Resentencing Laws Gain Momentum in 25 States

The Crime Report

More lawmakers and prosecutors across the U.S. are listening to advocates’ calls to consider resentencing laws in an attempt to decrease mass incarceration and address the over-imprisonment of people of color. Half the states are committed to change, while others note that they’re sticking to the status quo , according to a recent analysis by Law360.

Laws 124
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New Law Allows Creditors to Invade Arizona Homestead Protection

Diane Drain

On January 1, 2022, HB2617 will become the law of Arizona. Your home is no longer protected from your judgment creditors, which will have a devastating effect on Arizona’s consumers, and those hardest hit by Covid-19. This bill was promoted by Ben Toma, House Majority Leader, bought and paid for by the debt collectors and creditors. There are three parts to the bill and its amendments: The bill increases a homeowner’s homestead exemption from $150,000 to $250,000 effective Ja

Laws 197
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No-Code Legal Automation Startup Josef Raises $2.5M

LawSites

Josef , an Australia-based, no-code software platform that enables legal professionals to automate common tasks, has raised $2.5 million. The funding round was led by Australian venture firm Carthona Capital , with participation from U.S. investors, including The LegalTech Fund. Added to the startup’s $1 million seed round in 2019, this brings its total funding to $3.5 million.

Legal 145
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Recipe for a Failed CLM Implementation

Selecting and implementing CLM technology can be daunting, leading to underutilization or abandonment. Factors like provider differentiation, inadequate planning, and lack of user training contribute to these failures. Recognizing these pitfalls is crucial for successful adoption, ensuring organizations harness the full potential of CLM for streamlined contract management.

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Europe rights commissioner urges Greece to end pushback of asylum seekers

JURIST

The Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights urged the Greek state to end its pushback of asylum seekers at the border. Commissioner Dunja Mijatovic expressed her concerns following the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment indicating reception of “consistent and credible allegations” of pushbacks which appeared to follow a “standard practice.” Such conduct included persons dressed in uniform without iden

Legal 285

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Student Advocates Team and others Falsely Promised Services – Now Banned

Diane Drain

Operators of Student Loan Debt Relief Scheme Banned From Providing Debt Relief Services as Part of Settlement with FTC. (Reprint from Federal Trade Commission, May 17, 2021) The operators of a student loan debt relief scheme are banned from providing debt relief services and have agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that they collected illegal upfront fees and falsely promised to lower or even eliminate consumers’ loan payments or balances.

Education 188
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Policing Task Force Calls for Ending ‘Blue Code of Silence’

The Crime Report

Police leaders should work to eliminate the “blue code of silence” that keeps officer misconduct under wraps and prevents true accountability, says the final report of an expert task force on policing. The task force, convened by the Council on Criminal Justice , calls on law enforcement managers to adopt policies requiring officers to intervene when they witness excessive force committed by colleagues and to establish mandatory reporting of other misconduct.

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Ireland High Court rejects Facebook attempt to evade data regulatory probe

JURIST

The High Court of Ireland on Friday struck down Facebook’s attempt to avoid the Irish Data Protection Commission’s (DPC) regulatory process. The DPC initiated its inquiry into Facebook’s data set through the Irish Data Protection Act 2018 in mid-April. This data set includes personal information of more than 500 million Facebook users worldwide, and the DPC is concerned over potential EU GDPR breaches by Facebook Ireland.

Court 283
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LawNext: How Law Schools Should Teach Tech, With April Dawson

LawSites

There is broad agreement that if law schools are to adequately train students for careers in law, then technology is a critical part of the curriculum. Despite this, many law schools get a failing grade when it comes to teaching tech. So how, exactly, should law schools teach tech? And what topics should such teaching cover? April G. Dawson has given a lot of thought to those questions.A former computer programmer and litigator, she is now associate dean of technology and innovation and professo

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Contract Lifecycle Management: A Business Enabler Exploring On-Ground Challenges

CLM tools have always strived to push contract management into the digital age for almost 30 years. But the complexities of digitising a legal document are numerous. The current scenarios in business development have shown that having a fully automated CLM has become a mandate for every law firm and in-house legal department. To determine if you need a CLM system, it's essential to clearly identify the on-ground business challenges you aim to solve.

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Biden’s commission on court reform kicks off

SCOTUSBlog

Share President Joe Biden’s Supreme Court commission met publicly for the first time on Wednesday. Although the meeting consisted mostly of formalities, commissioners previewed some of the issues they will study in the next six months, including proposals to increase the number of justices, impose term limits, curtail the court’s jurisdiction, or mandate that only a supermajority of the court’s members can invalidate an act of Congress.

Court 143
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COVID Lockdowns Didn’t Curb Rising Murder Rates: Study

The Crime Report

As America emerges from the pandemic, increasing violent crime rates represent a warning to city and state leaders not to relax focus on strategies to reduce violence and address the issues contributing to criminal behavior in the nation’s most troubled neighborhoods, says a study released Friday. The report by criminologists Richard Rosenfeld and Ernesto Lopez of the University of Missouri-St.

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Taiwan election commission approves three referendums to be held in August

JURIST

Taiwan’s Central Election Commission (CEC) on Friday approved proposals to hold three referendums on August 28, in addition to the nuclear power plant referendum already planned. In a statement , the CEC said that it had “deliberated on, and approved, three referendums,” meaning each had passed the hurdle of 289,667 signatures needed before a referendum will be held.

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Intake Action Plan: Yes, Your Client Intake Process Needs to be a System

MyCase

Convenience is the driving factor for consumer decision-making in the modern economy. For law firms that want to compete, delivering an intake program that respects the emphasis consumers place on convenience is essential. Oftentimes, convenience is driven by systems, which must rely on consistency and speed. Not only do law firm systems provide a hedge against malpractice (checklists limit mistakes), but the application of systems also provides for a more consistent (and improved) experience fo

Law Firm 143
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California Civil Discovery Act Undergoes Significant Overhaul

Short article looking at the new CCP 2016.

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Pro Bono Net and Legal Aid Groups Partner To Launch Eviction Resource For N.Y. Tenants

LawSites

At a time when many are predicting a tsunami of eviction cases resulting from the pandemic, the organization Pro Bono Net , in collaboration with several legal aid organizations, has launched TenantHelpNY.org , an online resource designed to help tenants in New York understand their housing rights. The new site provides resources to help tenants understand their legal rights and connect with volunteer attorneys to obtain legal assistance.

Legal 137
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Caudalie Hit With $1 Million-Plus Fine Over Minimum Price Mandates, Sales Restrictions in EU

The Fashion Law

The anti-competition crackdown in the European Union is not limited to tech monopolists like Apple, and in fact, has seen a growing number of consumer goods brands – from sportswear titans to skincare companies – come in its crosshairs. On the heels of initiating a competition-centric probe into Caudalie back in 2017, the Competition College of the Belgian Competition Authority (“BCA”) has levied a $1 million-plus fine on the French skincare brand on the basis that its practice of prohibiting au

Laws 137
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Zimbabwe government appeals ruling that denied chief justice term extension

JURIST

The Attorney General of Zimbabwe filed an appeal Monday with the nation’s Supreme Court after the High Court’s recent ruling against the government. On May 15, the High Court held that President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s five-year extension of Chief Justice Luke Malaba’s tenure was illegal. Mnangagwa exercised his executive power to grant Justice Malaba an extension on his term under the newly-authorized Amendment 2, which grants the executive authority to extend judges’

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Over 65% of Federal Prisoners are Black or Hispanic: USSC

The Crime Report

Photo courtesy U.S. Department of Justice. The majority of individuals held in federal prisons are Black or Hispanic, according to the U.S. Sentencing Commission (USSC). Nearly half of the federal offenders were incarcerated for drug trafficking offenses—the majority for cases related to methamphetamine, the USSC reported Wednesday. Offering a snapshot of the current state of the drug war, the data showed that there were 151,729 federal incarcerees as of March 2021, of whom over 65,000 were impr

Laws 131
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Dangers of Digital "Reporting": Legal Risks and Unreliable Transcripts

In the world of legal proceedings, the choice between a certified stenographer and digital "reporting" holds significant implications. Certified stenographers go through rigorous training and testing and stand as the gold standard for accuracy in capturing every word. Their expertise ensures a reliable record, a crucial foundation for legal cases.

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Withdrawn patents.

Patently O

Can someone help me understand what’s going on with the rise in withdrawn patents? (FYI – since 2000 the numbers have been growing substantially faster than the rate of new patent issues). . I posted last week about recently issued U.S. Patent No. 11,000,000. I should note though that the 50,000+ patents "withdrawn from issue." This messes up the count. — Dennis Crouch (@patentlyo) May 21, 2021.

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Small Business: Cyber Security Testing Measures

LawTechnologyToday

It is no news that small businesses are one of the main targets of hacks and other cyberattacks. Many cyber criminals focus on small businesses because they haven’t found their footing in their industry and are trying to find their way around the market. So many of them fail to ensure that they put a proper strategy in place for their cybersecurity.

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Lithuania lawmakers call for UN probe into China treatment of Uyghurs

JURIST

The Lithuanian Parliament on Thursday adopted a resolution strongly condemning human rights violations and crimes against humanity committed by China against the Uyghur minority. The resolution was adopted on account of arbitrary detention, torture, and ill-treatment of Uyghur Muslims held in internment camps in China. The Parliament, with due consideration to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide , has voted to declare that acts of China amount to genocide aga

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About Half of Incarcerated Remain Unvaccinated: Study

The Crime Report

Only 55 percent of people in prison across the United States have been vaccinated against the coronavirus in the seven months since vaccine distribution began, the Prison Policy Initiative reports. Prisons have been an epicenter for the virus since it began with people in prisons experiencing positive cases at a rate four to five times higher than the general population.

Education 127
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Optimizing Contract Management and Enhancing Team Collaboration: Insights from a Legal Operations Perspective

Speaker: Adina Marta Newman

Learn about a world of effective contract management and seamless teamwork across departments in this upcoming webinar from Cobblestone Software. You'll discover practical strategies and tips that legal professionals can use to streamline contract processes and enhance collaboration, making significant impact across legal and corporate departments. Join us as we show how you can supercharge contract processes, improve team communication, and take your contributions to the next level.

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We Really Need Some Court Reform Right About Now — See Also

Above The Law

Sure, We Need Supreme Court Reform: Doesn't mean we'll get it. Well, At Least There Are Special Bonuses At Dorsey: Too bad they're below market. White & Case Goes Flexible: With their reopening plan. Bad News For Florida Coastal Law School: Do I ever get tired of writing that exact sentence? No, no, I do not.

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En Banc on Standing for IPR Challenge Appeals

Patently O

by Dennis Crouch. Apple Inc. v. Qualcomm Inc. (Fed. Cir. 2021) [ Apple En Banc ]. In this Inter Partes Review, the PTAB sided with the patentee Qualcomm and issued a final written decision that the challenged claims had not been proven obvious. (Note – this was after Qualcomm disclaimed some of the more dubious claims). Apple appealed. (U.S. Patent No. 7,844,037).

Statute 120
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Federal appeals court affirms $25 million judgment in Bayer’s Roundup cancer case

JURIST

The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld a $25 million judgment and jury verdict Friday finding that a California man, Edwin Hardeman, developed cancer from exposure to agribusiness Monsanto’s weed-killer, Bayer’s Roundup. Hardeman alleged that he developed non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma as a result of the use of Roundup over decades.

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Five Microsoft 365 Tools to Transform the Way You Work  (Part 1)

LawTechnologyToday

It’s not an exaggeration to say that nearly the entire law world is using Microsoft 365. Almost every lawyer is familiar with Microsoft Word and Excel. Unfortunately, only a small sliver of the law community is leveraging all the ways that 365 can make your law practice more efficient and collaborative. Think of some of the ways your firm wastes time throughout each work week.

Lawyer 119
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Visibility Into the Strategy & Supporting Documents of Major US Law Firms

Law Firm Intelligence by Trellis aggregates state trial court data across the Trellis platform enabling users to: look up a particular metric related to a specific law firm (such as, how many cases a law firm had or has against another law firm), and see the actual dockets and documents supporting the metric. Trellis data is maximized in a revolutionary and unique way to provide users an exclusive look into a law firm litigating in state trial courts.