Congratulations to Those Who Passed the California Bar Exam!

Today is the day that those who took the July California Bar Exam learned whether they have passed.  For those who passed, congratulations! ...

Queenan on the Coming "National Plague of Dumb Lawyers"

At the Wall Street Journal, Joe Queenan writes  this column about how law schools' lowering their admissions standards will lead to a p...

Criminal Charges Against Man Who Shot Down Drone Dismissed

So reports the Wall Street Journal Law Blog , taking note of this story from Wave 3 News  about a Kentucky man who shot down a drone that he...

Aerial Surveillance, Intrusiveness, and the Fourth Amendment

Eugene Volokh has this post at the Volokh Conspiracy highlighting the recent case of State v. Davis in the New Mexico Supreme Court. In th...

Chemerinsky on "The Return of the Jedi"

The title of this post refers to the title of Erwin Chemerinsky's article in the most recent issue of The Green Bag.  There, Chemerinsky...

California Governor Vetoes Drone Bills; Denounces Creation of New Crimes

The Los Angeles Times has this report on California Governor Jerry Brown's veto of several bills that would criminalize flying drones o...

Perspectives on a Looming Decline in Bar Exam Passage Rates

As rumblings grow over the possibility of another summer of poor bar exam results, yesterday's New York Times ran this "Room For D...

One-Armed Piano Players Do Not Need to Play For Free in Iowa

This is a second post in which I identify a rumored law and research whether it exists. In an earlier post , I researched rumors that Iowa l...

Sunstein on Academic Legal Writing

Through the TaxProf Blog , I learned of this recent essay by Cass Sunstein, In Praise of Law Reviews (And Jargon-Filled, Academic Writing) ...

California Governor Vetoes Drone Trespass Bill

So reports the LA Times : Gov. Jerry Brown on Wednesday vetoed legislation to restrict the use of drones over private property. The legislat...

A Perfect Storm of Terrible Legal Writing

From the ABA Journal , I learned about the resignation of Professor William Bradford of West Point. Bradford resigned after publishing a not...

Varriale v. State: DNA Submitted Without Express Limitation on Consent Can be Used to Investigate Other Crimes

So holds Maryland's Court of Appeals (the state's court of last resort), in Varriale v. State . The opinion can be found here . Here...

"Bitcoin's Dark Side Could Get Darker"

That's the title of this interesting article by Tom Simonite over at the MIT Technology review. Simonite outlines a myriad of ways that...

"Arbitration by Combat"

An article on Game of Thrones , trial by combat, and arbitration that I coauthored with Raj Shah is now available on SSRN. You can download ...

Trial By Combat in New York?

A friend sent me this post by Eugene Volokh commenting on a colorful brief filed by Richard Luthmann, a Staten Island attorney. This parag...

New Jersey Court Reportedly Bars Woman From Entering All Walmart Stores in Country

The ABA Journal has this story about a court that may have gone too far to protect Walmart from a shoplifter: A judge in Mount Olive Townsh...

Good Luck on the Bar Exam!

Students across the country are taking, or will be taking, the bar exam over the next few days. California's bar exam begins today and w...

California's Fractional Statutes

One interesting phenomenon I have noticed in a few of California's statutes is the numbering of sections with fractions rather than deci...

California Penal Code 602.12 and Unlawful Entry Onto Property to Interfere With Research

Consider a couple of hypothetical situations. Al is a graduate student at UCLA who lives in Los Angeles, California. It is summertime so Al&...

Concerns Over the California State Bar's Practical Training Proposal

Paul Caron has this post at TaxProf Blog quoting extensively from a (paywalled) article at The National Law Journal. From the quoted porti...

San Diego 'Zombie Walk' Cancelled as Criminal Case and Lawsuit Looms

So reports NBC San Diego and Fox 5 . In previous years the "Zombie Walk," has been a popular attraction associated with Comic-Con...

Baude on the Constitutionality of the Death Penalty

William Baude has this editorial in today's New York Times examining the Supreme Court's recent opinion in Glossip v. Gross . In Gl...

Bail Decisions Based on Algorithms

The New York Times has this interesting report on using algorithms to make bail determinations. From the article: Setting bail is a difficu...

The Supreme Court's "Superspecial" Kimble Opinion

Today, the Supreme Court released several opinions, including Kimble v. Marvel Entertainment . Kimble involves the question of whether a par...

Google to Remove Revenge Porn Images from Search Results

From the BBC : Victims of revenge porn will be able to put in requests to Google to take down content from search results.  The images will ...

It is Legal to be Intoxicated on the Front Steps of a Private Residence in Iowa

So ruled the Iowa Supreme Court last week, holding that Iowa Code section 123.46(2) , which prohibits a person from being "intoxicated ...

"Jennifer Mnookin Named New Dean of UCLA School of Law"

So reads the title of this UCLA press release : Jennifer Mnookin, a nationally renowned evidence law scholar who has held key administrative...

Supreme Court Narrowly Decides Online Threats Case, Elonis v. U.S.

At long last, the Supreme Court has issued an opinion in Elonis v. United States . I blogged about the opinion back when the Court granted c...

Settlement in Examsoft "Barmaggedon" Lawsuit

So reports the National Law Journal : Aspiring lawyers who sat for the July 2014 bar examination are eligible for $90 each from software com...