Courtroom Presentations, Inc.

I’ll Take One with Mustard, Sauerkraut and an Alibi Witness

cpi — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 20:01:03 +0000

Lawyer advertising the old fashioned way — sort of — is alive and well in Houston. Via my biggest fan, Scott Greenfield of Simple Justice, comes this story from the Houston Chronicle about a hot dog vendor selling prime ad space on his golf cart, which he parks right outside the courthouse on a daily basis. Scott opines that, for a criminal defense lawyer, openly proclaiming your availability and willingness to take on a simple case for a bargain basement fee is something to be ashamed of. He also suggests that the vendor, Mark Lynch, might increase revenue by charging extra to recommend a particular advertiser over others, the SEO of the dirty water dog world. If your target client base is the defendant who shows up at the courthouse sans representation and on an empty stomach, though, is there anything wrong with trying to bag a few extra bucks? Personally, I’m suspicious of anyone who sells hot dogs out of a golf cart, rather than the traditional non-motorized bacteria hotel. In any event, Lynch should do all he can to bring in the money now. Once hot dogs are redesigned, sales, of both the dogs themselves and the ad…
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Twin Brother of Woman’s Lover Seeks New Trial in ‘Mistake Sex’ Case

cpi — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 20:00:35 +0000

“Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God,” she said, grabbing her clothes. “I thought you were your brother.” Straight out of what looks like a bad criminal law final exam comes this story from the Toronto Star (via Bad Lawyer) about a woman who claims she unwittingly had sex with the twin brother of her "occasional lover." The twin brother was convicted of sexual assault and sentenced to six months in jail for the September 2006 incident, but he is now asking an appellate court to grant him a new trial. The Star reports that the woman had a sexual relationship with the brother of the accused, and she would stay at his apartment whenever she visited the area. On the night in question, the woman and the accused drove to a liquor store where they each bought a bottle of red wine. The accused twin brother says they became intoxicated and the woman "became flirty." Later, the accused felt sleepy, and his brother recommended he sleep in the bedroom. He saw the woman sleeping in bed, and says he didn’t think it would be awkward if they shared the bed. “I thought we were all pretty good…
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Keep Your Satirical Giraffe Stories Out of Louisiana, or Else

cpi — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 20:00:35 +0000

Hammond Action News is a blog that puts out satirical posts lampooning and commenting on the state of affairs in Louisiana. Think The Onion with a local flavor. HAN does not pretend to be a real news source. Its posts are blatantly satirical and the site even includes a disclaimer that reads, simply, "The content of Hammond Action News is purely satirical and for entertainment purposes only." Clear enough, right? Wrong. "Ken," from the group law blog Popehat, wrote yesterday about an inane lawsuit filed against HAN demanding that they take down one of their stories about fictional killer giraffes. In a Feb. 25 post playing on the recent killer whale incident at Sea World (a post which can no longer be read thanks to a temporary restraining order granted against HAN by a Louisiana state judge), HAN wrote about the supposed fate of "veteran wildlife guide Dizzy Dimarco" who was said to have been thrown into the upper limbs of a tree while feeding giraffes at Global Wildlife. Zoo staff, HAN "reported," were unable to identify which of 12 giraffes was the "rogue giraffe" responsible because "after an incident, the animals all herd up together and it’s hard to…
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Recognizr: Because Sometimes ‘Please Rob Me’ Is Not Enough

cpi — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 20:00:50 +0000

From the Brave New World file comes a camera phone application that must have law enforcement and many others a bit on edge. The Mail Online reports in this article that an application called "Recognizr" uses facial recognition software to enable the user to find names, telephone numbers and addresses of complete strangers by simply taking a picture of someone and hitting the ‘Recognize’ button. Developed by a Swedish company called The Astonishing Tribe, Recognizr is being finalized now for public release. According to the Mail Online, Recognizr can receive a photo taken by a camera phone, compare it to other photos on sites such as Facebook and Twitter, and then provide personal information taken from the Web on the person in the photo such as phone numbers, addresses and e-mail addresses. Critics say that the software may enable burglars to find out where targets live, or allow a new form of stalking where a "guy could take a picture of a girl in a bar and find out all sorts of information." It strikes me that a combination of Recognizr and Please Rob Me would be particularly problematic. Users of both platforms could theoretically use Please Rob Me to…
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Is Changing Venue Because of Pretrial Publicity a Dated Concept?

cpi — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 20:00:19 +0000

Lest you think we here at Legal Blog Watch were not aware that today is Skilling Day at the Supreme Court, here’s part of the story that makes for a layperson-friendly discussion over a round of Siberian Donkeys (it’s a drink, I swear). If you’re looking for an in-depth description of the vagueness issue as regards the honest services fraud statute, read Lyle Denniston’s piece from SCOTUSblog. And good luck finding non-law geeks who want to talk to you about that topic. Instead, as did The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal over the weekend (and as already noted by the WSJ Law Blog), if you want to get your "regular" friends involved, try focusing on the change of venue issue. Skilling’s appeal is based in part on the notion that there was no way he could have gotten a fair trial in Houston, Enron’s headquarters and arguably the city most devastated as a result of the fraud perpetrated by the "Smartest Guys in the Room." Is there anyplace in the country, though, where, by the time of Skilling’s trial, it would have been possible to empanel a jury of 12 citizens completely unfamiliar with the Enron scandal?…
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Disclaimer Link Could Solve Compliance Dilemma for Public Companies Using Twitter

cpi — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 20:00:14 +0000

Twitter is increasingly becoming a channel for public companies to communicate with investors but, as Dominic Jones of IR Web Report observes in this post, some of Twitter’s inherent limitations create compliance challenges. As Jones notes, public companies’ communications to the world are in many instances regulated by the SEC and subject to the federal securities laws. Some communications may require disclaimers or warnings that can’t possibly fit within Twitter’s 140-character limit, creating a conundrum for companies that want to communicate with investors via Twitter. Jones suggests that this problem could be resolved if Twitter would tweak its interface to allow for a disclaimer link in the metadata that accompanies each tweet on the Web and the API. He argues that the availability of such a link might encourage many more companies to begin using Twitter to help spread information about themselves, and could also be an easy way for Twitter to raise revenue by requiring these corporate accounts to be paid accounts. Presently, Jones writes, public companies on Twitter tend to use one of the following ineffective methods to add disclaimers to their tweets: 1. Twitter backgrounds: While companies can add disclaimer text to their Twitter account background images,…
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Blog Documents First Amendment Violations Against Photographers

cpi — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 20:00:08 +0000

I wrote about this topic in passing back in December when I noted the plight of an Italian art student visiting London who, after filming certain "iconic" landmarks in the City, was tossed in prison for being a potential terrorist. There seems to be no shortage of such cases, unfortunately. The Nobody’s Business blog writes in this post that, in the United Kingdom, "anti-social-behavior statutes" are allowing police to arrest citizens who are guilty of nothing more than taking photos. In the video below, amateur photographer Bob Patefield used his video camera to record his run-in with police who stopped him from taking photographs of "Accrington town centre." Carlos Miller has created an entire blog on the subject called,"Photography Is Not a Crime." On this blog, which has the tagline, "Shining a Light on First Amendment, Media and Police Issues," Miller explains that he is a Miami multimedia journalist with more than 10 years of professional experience, who was himself arrested by Miami police after photographing them against their wishes. He collects numerous examples of photographers who, like him, have had their First Amendment rights violated. As Miller states on his blog, this seems to occur on a "shockingly regular…
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Social Media and Geolocation Users May Face Higher Insurance Premiums

cpi — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 20:00:37 +0000

Even if robbers don’t hit your house as a result of your desire to repeatedly announce your location to the world using Foursquare or Brightkite, insurance companies may soon hit your wallet. A post on Slaw.ca yesterday notes that, according to an article in the Telegraph, homeowners who use such gelolocation services may see their insurance premiums rise by up to 10 percent to reflect the supposed "inherent risk" in such conduct. Darren Black, the head of home insurance at a price comparison service called Confused.com told the Telegraph that he wouldn’t be surprised if the growth of social media and geolocation services led to premium increases of up to 10 percent for people who use these sites. "Criminals are becoming increasingly sophisticated in their information gathering, even using Google Earth and Streetview to plan their burglaries with military precision. Insurance providers are starting to take this into account when they are assessing claims and we may in future see insurers declining claims if they believe the customer was negligent,” he stated. Confused.com suggests that users of social networking Web sites should "turn off location-based services on Twitter and Facebook unless you absolutely need to use them." I don’t know…
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Welcome to the Blawgosphere: ‘Tablet Legal’ and ‘Legal Crisis Strategies’

cpi — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 20:01:00 +0000

I learned about two new legal blogs this week that look promising: Tablet Legal: On Wednesday, Jan. 27, Apple launched its new iPad. Just three days later, Portland, Oregon, business attorney Josh Barrett followed by launching Tablet Legal. The site, he wrote, will "discuss lawyers using the iPad, applications for the iPad and other developments specific to the iPad in the legal profession. In the next few months until the iPad is released, I’ll discuss how existing legal apps might change for the iPad platform and what new apps may develop." Already, Barrett has written about topics such as "Bar Review on your iPad: BarMax" and "iPad and Storytelling for Lawyers" (at trial, in client pitches, and so on). Good stuff. Legal Crisis Strategies: Via a post on Bob Ambrogi’s LawSites, I learned of this intriguing new blog that launched earlier this week. LCS is written by a group of lawyers from McDermott Will & Emery’s Legal Crisis Management group and will provide "advice on preventing, managing and ending a crisis while protecting a company’s reputation and limiting its legal liability." Its first post, entitled "The Dreaded Phone Call…", addresses the following interesting scenario: You are the General Counsel of…
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People v. Sheen: America’s Monday Nights Hang in the Balance

cpi — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 20:00:21 +0000

When will celebrities learn that their actions have consequences that extend far beyond their own personal well-being? The Los Angeles Times is reporting today that the felony menacing charges brought last week against Charlie Sheen — who apparently is not a member of the Brat Pack — might impact the continued viability of the inexplicably highest rated sitcom on TV, "Two and A Half Men." Because, you know, it’s hard to keep cranking out episodes when your star is serving three years for attacking his wife. A laugh track only goes so far. The show is apparently slated to continue through at least the 2011-2012 season, and with Sheen’s potential placement on the I.L. (Incarcerated List) looming, CBS and Warner Brothers might not be able to sell enough ads to cover his $825,000 per episode salary. Sheen’s wife, Brooke Mueller, has said she wants the charges dropped, because what’s a knife to the throat when you’re so in love? Nothing that checking into rehab can’t cure, right? Still, the Times quotes Loyola Law Professor Laurie Levenson as saying lack of victim cooperation might not matter in the "Post-OJ world," especially when the prosecution has a 911 tape on which Mueller…
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