Nine months after being indicted and suspended, Justice Orie Melvin has been found guilty of corruption for misusing state-paid workers to run her 2003 and 2009 Supreme Court campaigns. So what happens now? Continue reading
Today, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court relieved Justice Joan Orie Melvin of her judicial and administrative duties. She has been charged with illegally using her state-funded staff to perform campaign work. Prosecutors allege that she used her taxpayer-funded office for political purposes when she was a Superior Court judge campaigning for state Supreme Court.
The Boston Globe reported that the alleged scheme also ensnared her sister Continue reading
Parties to a legal matter have the right to communicate directly with each other. A lawyer may advise a client of that right and may assist the client regarding the substance of any proposed communication. The lawyer’s assistance need not be prompted by a request from the client. Such assistance may not, however, result in overreaching by the lawyer.
Some commentators are concerned that Opinion 11-461 fails to address the issue of whether it is overreaching for an attorney to script a client’s conversation with an adversary. Others fear that the Opinion contemplates that a client could ask an opposing party to sign a document prepared by the attorney. Continue reading
Spotify, the music streaming service, launched in the US this past July. It seemingly works on an ad-supported basis where users who want extra functionality can pay a monthly fee and have access to their “playlists” from multiple devices, including mobile phones.
It addresses the ease of access to music the internet provides while keeping the software files within the iron grasp of digital rights management (DRM).
Seems like a decent compromise: Users get to hear the songs they want, whenever they want, from their computer (or phone if they’re willing to pay for it); Spotify can gather and apply demographic user data and sell adspace; the music industry can license out their songs and generate publicity on a closed platform that ends up working like one giant international “Top 40” station.
Spotify’s privacy policy Continue reading
The big New York law firms perennially dominate the list by any measure. For example, 14 of the top 18 law firms ranked by profits per partner are based in New York. But how do Philadelphia law firms fare on the world stage?
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