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Archives for the Category 'Legal Trends'

Lethal Injection: Constitutional until Something Better comes along

April 23rd, 2008 · 1 Comment

By: Todd Knode
The Supreme Court earlier this week ruled that executions by lethal injection are not a cruel an unusual punishment, which would be prohibited by the 8th Amendment, partly because it is currently the most humane way to execute a condemned criminal. The plurality opinion concluded that it may be cruel and unusual [...]

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Tags: Constitutional · Criminal Law · Federal · General · Legal Trends

Text to Vote!

April 22nd, 2008 · 2 Comments

Texting to vote isn’t all that new… we vote by text message for American Idol and other reality shows regularly! But, would you text in your vote for the presidential election? A recent survey by Samsung Mobile indicated 6 in 10 voters would prefer to vote for the President via a text [...]

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Tags: Federal · General · Lead Counsel · Lead Counsel Corner · Lead Counsel News · Legal Trends

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Authors: The Order of Fan Fiction or the Goblet of Infringement

April 16th, 2008 · No Comments

By: Todd Knode
Fan Fiction is the genre of literary works written by fans that add to a storyline or characters created by someone else.  Though fan fiction has exploded on the Internet it started decades ago and became popular in Star Trek centered science fiction magazines.  One of the more popular genres today is the [...]

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Tags: Entertainment Law · Federal · General · Intellectual Property · Internet and Compute Law · Legal Trends

Canceled Airline Flights and Passengers’ Rights

April 11th, 2008 · No Comments

By: Todd Knode
Buying a plane ticket is not like purchasing a coat off of the rack at your local department store.  The coat is there for you to immediately put on.  An airplane flight is a future occurrence, which may or may not happen.  Because of that uncertainty, whether you realize it or not, airlines [...]

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Tags: Aviation Accidents/Disasters · Federal · General · Legal Trends

V-Day 10th Anniversary… STOP Violence Against Women!

April 11th, 2008 · 2 Comments

By:  LINDSEY O’NEILL, ESQ. 
V to the 10th! V-Day is celebrating its 10th Anniversary this year, April 11-12, 2008, in New Orleans.  V-Day is a global event to stop violence against women and girls!  The event brings together a variety of all-star performers, guests and activists to celebrate courageous women and raise awareness for groups working [...]

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Tags: Criminal Law · Federal · General · Lead Counsel · Lead Counsel Corner · Lead Counsel News · Legal Trends

Who’s the Daddy? Over the Counter DNA tests hit the shelves.

April 9th, 2008 · No Comments

By:  Liane Galardi, Esq. 
A DNA test costing less than $150, with confidential results available from the lab within days, is the first to be sold over the counter. Utah-based Identigene offers the test and promises peace of mind to those who need it.  
The collection kit costs about $30 and there is an additional $119 [...]

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Tags: Family Law · Legal Trends

Teens and STDs - Should the HPV Vaccine Require Parental Consent?

April 3rd, 2008 · No Comments

By:  LINDSEY O’NEILL, ESQ. 
According to U.S. Health Officials, 1 in 4 teenage girls has a sexually transmitted disease.  The Center for Disease Control is recommending not only annual screening for the top std infections, but also vaccinations.  (See the news release here.)  HPV (Human Papillomavirus) is one of the leading stds in the report and [...]

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Tags: Lead Counsel · Lead Counsel Corner · Lead Counsel News · Legal Trends · Privacy

The Annual ‘Blame the Oil Companies for our Addiction to Driving’ Congressional Hearing

April 1st, 2008 · No Comments

By: Todd Knode
Today the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming held hearings with a number of oil and gas company executives.  The topic: “probe the causes and solutions to America’s oil dependence.” Congress by its nature is a mixture of law and politics; laws are written and passed of course because of [...]

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Tags: Business Law · Corporate & Securities Law · Federal · General · Legal Trends

More Than Just Regrets, a One Night Stand Can Lead to a Personal Injury claim.

March 25th, 2008 · No Comments

A governing legal principle in our society is that we have a duty to avoid causing an unreasonable risk of harm to others. In plain English this means “don’t do something which you know will hurt someone.”  In most states this duty includes sexual partners.  A partner who knows or should have known that they [...]

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Tags: Criminal Law · General · Legal Trends · Litigation · Personal Injury

Will the CPSC’s past success with Child Resistant Packaging mean future success with Lead Paint?

March 25th, 2008 · 1 Comment

Today the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) touted the dramatic success of a law that was passed over 35 years ago. In order to protect children from accidentally ingesting medicines and other dangerous products Congress passed the Poison Prevention Packaging Act in 1970.  It mandated that specific products be packaged in child-resistant packaging.  According to [...]

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Tags: Dangerous Products / Defective Products · Federal · Legal Trends · Litigation · Personal Injury · Products Liability