Good Idea - Bad Idea: Order in the Court

Posted by wlansden | Filed under
Good Idea:  Judicial candor.

Bad Idea:    Judging someone's sexuality…from the bench.                 

A Wisconsin judge's comments yesterday in open court might be a good example of too much candor from the bench.  In a sexual assault case, Waupaca County Judge Phillip Kirk seemed to focus on the defendant's sexuality, and questioned his assertion that he was heterosexual.  The judge commented that:

       - “I think that if anyone believes that in the last 10 years or 15 years all of a sudden you
         developed an interest in homosexuality ... then I must have looked ravishing in my
         prom dress this year.”

        - ". . . [your heterosexual life] was all a lie."

Unsurprisingly, the remarks by the judge are stirring controversy.  Some believe the comments were intended to express the judge's understanding for the challenges faced by the defendant who may have been struggling with his sexuality throughout life, but certainly such a sentiment could have been communicated in a less inflammatory way, to say the least. 

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Good Idea - Bad Idea: Choking A Prosecutor

Posted by wlansden | Filed under
Good Idea:  Politely expressing your dislike for being mocked by opposing counsel.

Bad Idea:  Choking opposing counsel at the courthouse after they supposedly mock you.

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Good Idea - Bad Idea: Spying on co-workers

Posted by wlansden | Filed under
Good idea:   Security systems at law firms.

Bad idea:     A partner placing a hidden camera under a female employee's desk, even if one of his listed hobbies on the firm website is photography.

According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, a partner at an Atlanta law firm has been charged with three counts of unlawful surveillance.  He is accused of placing a hidden camera under a female employee's desk, without her knowledge, at least three times. 

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Good Idea - Bad Idea: Communication

Posted by wlansden | Filed under

Good Idea:  Communicating with your client.

Bad Idea:  Ignoring your client's repeated attempts to contact you, the court, and opposing counsel.  Not defending your client and failing to inform the client of a judgment against him is also frowned upon.

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Good Idea - Bad Idea: Social Networking

Posted by wlansden | Filed under
By Seema KanwarKanwar, Seema

Good idea: Starting a successful social networking site.

Bad idea: Starting a social networking site that sends out deceptive and misleading invitations, resulting in a $750,000 penalty.

Tagged.com, a San Francisco-based social networking site was sued by the Attorneys General of New York and Texas for its deceptive and misleading invitations. The invitations stated that a friend had tagged a photo of the invitation recipient and that the recipient should sign up to see the photo.  After the recipient entered his/her email address, the site would send invitation emails to everyone in the recipient’s address book, a practice known as “contact scraping.”

As per
the terms of the settlement, Tagged.com will pay $500,000 in New York and $250,000 in Texas and institute reforms to its invitation process.

S
ee the New York settlement agreement here. 

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Good Idea - Bad Idea: Law License

Posted by wlansden | Filed under ,
Good Idea: Using your law license to help your family with minor estate planning issues.

Bad Idea: Using your law license to allegedly rob your disabled 95-year-old grandmother of a cold half-mils' worth of inheritance.

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Good Idea - Bad Idea: Saving Tennessee Bats!

Posted by wlansden | Filed under

By Eileen Burkhalter Smith

Good Idea:   Closing Tennessee Caves in the Middle of Summer  

Bad Idea:  Allowing White-Nosed Bat Syndrome to Get Out of Control   

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