Lawyers

Lawyers Are Using AI to Slop-ify Their Legal Briefs, and It’s Getting Bad

There's a growing movement within the legal community to track the AI fumbles of their peers.

Biden Administration Approves Huge Oil and Gas Project in Alaska

The administration on Monday gave the green light for the Conoco Phillips-owned Willow Project.

The Ohio Train Derailment Is a Disaster of Misinformation

Amid a local news void and right-wing scaremongering, bad science is spreading around the toxic train derailment in East Palestine.

Chicago Teachers Locked Out of Digital Classrooms Amid Omicron Surge

City officials reacted after the Chicago Teachers Union voted to resume remote learning.

40 Burger King Locations Fined for Denying Workers Sick Leave During Pandemic

Chicago passed a paid sick leave law in 2017, years before the covid-19 pandemic.

Update: Whoops, the ‘Trump Cat’ Site We Wrote About Appears to Be a Troll

Update: After looking into the site’s registration date and the supposed timeline of The Trump Organization’s cease and desist letters, Gizmodo has serious doubts about the veracity of this story, which appears to be a massive troll. We’re sorry, and we’ll do better. https://gizmodo.com/it-sure-looks-like-that-viral-trump-cat-site-is-a-massi-1793562093 Y Combinator’s Sam Altman recently called Trump “the Silicon Valley candidate”…

Lawyers Accused of Extorting $6 Million From Porn Pirates in Elaborate Scam

Two lawyers were indicted yesterday on charges of fraudulently targeting internet users who illegally downloaded porn with copyright violation notices and extorting about $6 million dollars in phony settlement fees. Paul R. Hansmeier and John L. Steele are accused of running a complex scam that took advantage of the copyright system. The two allegedly acquired…

A Major Law Firm Will Soon Be Using A Robotic Lawyer

An “artificial-intelligence attorney” created using technology from IBM’s Watson has snagged its first customer, but that doesn’t mean it’ll be appearing in the courtroom anytime soon. Law firm Baker & Hostetler said this week that it will use the “AI lawyer” ROSS as a resource for the 50 lawyers in its bankruptcy division, which has…

Apple Wins Highly Relevant Lawsuit Against Samsung to Stop Sale of Four-Year-Old Smartphone

Apple’s team of well-paid lawyers really showed Samsung’s team of highly-paid lawyers who’s boss, thanks to a recent court order banning the sale of Samsung’s leading flagship phones from 2012. The order, handed down by Judge Lucy Koh of the Northern California District San Jose court, is the end result of a long-running patent dispute.…

Why Lawyers Could Become An Endangered Species By 2030

A new report is predicting that robots and artificial intelligence will dominate most legal practices within 15 years, leading to the “structural collapse” of law firms. Expert systems fuelled by sophisticated algorithms, natural language processing capabilities, and unhindered access to stores of data are poised to uproot many well established industries and institutions. And as…

Airbnb already provides reimbursement for property damage, now they’veadded liability insurance that will protect both hosts and their landlords should anyone get injured during a stay. The coverage is automatic and goes into effect in January; U.S. only for now. [Airbnb]

The Bizarre and Controversial World of Late-Night Lawyer Ads

When it’s three o’clock in the morning and everything is going wrong in your life, there’s a certain kind of ad you might see on basic cable. Lawyers–usually guys–promise to battle the heartless, tight-wad insurance companies on your behalf. There’s disaster footage and stiff readings off of cue cards. The ads look like they were…

Apple Has Been Denied a Permanent Sales Ban on the Samsung Phones and Tablets That Infringed on Apple’s Patents

Though Apple won a fresh billion dollars in the US patent infringement case that saw Samsung basically lose everything, Apple won’t be able to kill Samsung products dead. Judge Lucy Koh, the federal judge that presided over Apple v. Samsung, has denied Apple a permanent injunction against Samsung. Samsung can still sell the products that…

This Is the Crap Tablet Apple Thinks Samsung Should Make

This image shows Apple lawyers’ wet dream for a Samsung tablet. It demonstrates one thing: the Apple lawyers who described it are imbeciles and/or clueless mischievous snakes. Just as much as Samsung’s product designers are unimaginative shameless cloning bastards. These are Apple’s demands verbatim: • Shapes that are not rectangular with four flat sides or…

An aspiring law maven tries to make sense of The Vampire Diaries

Are you confused by The Vampire Diaries? If so, then for the love of God, don’t click on the latest installment of “vampire legal issues” over at Kate Linnea’s blog. You’ll only wind up twice as confused. This time around, Christine, who is “almost a lawyer,” tries to untangle some tough conundrums in a world…

Samsung Can’t Sell the Galaxy Tab in Australia Because of Apple

Apple has won an agreement that prohibits Samsung from selling the Galaxy Tab in Australia. Samsung has stopped advertising the Galaxy Tab 10.1 and won’t sell the device in Australia…for now at least. It’s another courtroom battle in the recent war between the two companies about patent infringements. Apple alleges that Samsung’s Galaxy 10.1 tablet…

Move Over Watson, Here Come the Computer Lawyers

Woe be to the humble lawyer and overworked paralegal. Like master chess players and Jeopardy contestants before them, they too are now in the crosshairs of a superior artificial intelligence. Called “e-discovery” after the tedious legal discovery process it now dominates, this category of software does more than just searching through millions of documents that…

Facebook Destroys Marriages

Him: “Are you unhappy?” Her: “No, of course not. Why do you ask?” Him: “Well, the few rare times we make love you cry out his name, not mine.” Her: “Whose name?” Him: “Facebook.” Yeah, pretty heavy huh? Real life stuff pouring out all over the pages of Gizmodo. But what’s it mean? It means…

LucasFilm Retracts Cease and Desist Against Lightsaber-Like Lasers For Obvious Reasons

A while back, LucasFilm sent a Cease and Desist letter to the makers of the crazy-powerful Spyder III Arctic laser because they felt that it resembled lightsabers too much. They have retracted that letter in an amusing way. https://gizmodo.com/lucasfilm-thinks-the-spyder-iii-arctic-laser-is-a-littl-5576742 Basically LucasFilm’s lawyers sent another letter explaining that they’ll retract the Cease and Desist as long…

Lucasfilm Thinks the Spyder III Arctic Laser Is a Little Too Much Like a Real Lightsaber

We now know that the crazy-powerful Spyder III Arctic laser actually emits a visible, fearsome blue beam, just like a real lightsaber. George Lucas’ lawyers saw this thing and fired off a cease and desist faster than Han shot Greedo. https://gizmodo.com/the-arctic-spyder-iii-lightsaber-laser-in-action-5576408 Lucasfilm recently slapped Wicked Lasers, the manufacturers of the device, the C&D and issued…