News & Blog

Why Did the U.S. Ask Canada to Arrest a Chinese Telecom Executive? At the request of the United States, Canada arrested the Chief Financial Officer and daughter of the founder of China’s Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, on Dec. 1 as she was changing planes in Vancouver. The arrest of Meng Wanzhou has sent shockwaves through U.S.-China relations and the technology world, as Huawei is the world’s biggest telecommunications......
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Did you know California, now the world’s 5th largest economy, has the strongest labor and employment laws in the country? Some critics believe that greater regulation of employers could drive business from the state. Read on about the new employee protections for 2019. Wage & Salary Statewide, the minimum wage increased on Jan. 1, 2019, to $11 per hour for employers with 25 or fewer employees, and......
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As of January 10, 2019, the current federal government shutdown is in its 20th day. President Trump has threatened to keep the shutdown going for months or even years. Is that legal? There is no law that places a time limit on the duration of a government shutdown. There are basically two ways to avoid or end a government shutdown – by passing appropriations bills or......
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CHILDREN Restaurants with children’s meals can no longer offer sugary drinks, such as juice and soda, as the primary choice on their menus. The default option must be milk, water or flavored water with no added sweeteners. Children under the age of 16 will no longer be tried in adult courts or be incarcerated in adult prisons. Instead, they will go to juvenile facilities regardless......
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A white family from Phoenix, Arizona is challenging the Indian Child Welfare Act in court so that they can adopt a baby they’ve been raising. In 2014, Paul Buckley and his wife fostered a baby boy named Mason. After raising Mason for a year and a half, the couple initiated adoption proceedings. Late in the legal proceedings, the Choctaw Nation intervened on behalf of the......
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Former Fresh Prince of Bel-Air star Alfonso Ribeiro says his signature move “The Carlton Dance“— was copied in Epic Games’ Fortnite Battle Royale. Epic Games sold The Dance as an in-game purchase under the name “Fresh,” allowing players to customize their game avatars. In the same lawsuit Ribeiro also sues Take Two Interactive, the publisher of NBA 2K, a popular basketball video game that also uses......
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The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals certainly thinks so! Fior Pichardo de Veloz is a lawyer and elected official from the Dominican Republic. In 2013, when she was 50 years old, she flew to Miami to be present for the birth of a grandson, but was arrested at the airport on an outstanding warrant (rumored to be a cocaine-possession charge dating back to 1988) and......
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What Are Federal Sentencing Memos? Sentencing memos often focus on who the convicted defendant is, and not the crime committed. A sentencing memorandum should be detailed and tell the client’s story and highlight the factors, called Section 3553 factors, that a judge must consider in imposing a sentence. These “sentencing factors” include the following: The nature and circumstances of the offense The history and characteristics of......
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The first gene to be linked to antisocial behavior was identified in 1993 in a large Dutch family that was notorious for violence.  Fifteen years of painstaking research revealed that they all lacked the same gene. This gene produces an enzyme called MAOA, which regulates the levels of neurotransmitters involved in impulse control. If you lack the MAOA gene or have the low-activity variant you are......
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According to one federal judge, this is a fact! This past week U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman ruled that Congress had no authority to ban female genital mutilation. The judge stated that “as despicable as this practice may be,” Congress did not have the authority to pass the 22-year-old federal law that criminalizes female genital mutilation, and that FGM is for the states to regulate.......
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