New Year's!

Updated

As you can tell, we probably won't get any news posts in this week, and I'm taking the day off tomorrow to start my New Year's celebration early. Is anybody making any work-related resolutions? I'm resolving to make up better excuses for not talking to my clients.

Also, any updates on bonuses now that Christmas has come and gone? As one commenter pointed out on our last post, he only got "$85,000.00 bonus cash plus the base model breitling watch" for billing 1850 hours. If you did get a bonus, what do you plan on doing with it?

UPDATE:

As the LV Sun just reported, the Supreme Court of Nevada issued a 5-2 decision (Bobby Armstrong - 127 Nev. Adv. Op. No. 84) yesterday, where the Court ruled that retrograde extrapolation - the practice of measuring blood-alcohol levels after an arrest and then estimating the blood alcohol level at the time of the arrest - may be "unfairly prejudicial and therefore inadmissible" in DUI cases. 

In the majority opinion written by Justice Michael Douglas, the Court ruled that many factors must be considered when evaluating the evidence of retrograde extrapolation.  Among these additional factors are gender, weight, type of food in the stomach, the time between the arrest and the time of the measurement and whether there was only one test.

According to the Court, decisions related to retrograde extrapolation must be made on a case-by-case basis.  And, "[t]here may be circumstances consistent with this opinion in which a calculation based on the results of a single blood sample is reliable and whose relevance is not substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice."

Anyway, regardless of this interesting development in our jurisprudence, drive carefully this weekend, everyone! - L.D.

Friday Open Thread



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Hey Everyone! TGIF and Happy Holidays!

Feel free to share whatever is on your mind!

Crazy Deposition Stories!

This is probably better suited for an Friday Open Thread post, but I've been called "unprofessional" and "unethical" one too many times today so I thought I'd find something to raise my spirits.

I found the video below, courtesy of Above the Law . I've been in some crazy depositions, but I have to admit I've never heard a reference to a "jurisprudential hymen" before. I have seen two attorneys come at each other across the conference table, doing the pre-fight press conference stare down until other attorneys in the room had to restrain them.

That's my craziest story, anybody else have a good deposition story to share? Extra points if you name names.

Check out the video, the deponent's response is actually better than the lawyer's question, and it's only about a minute long:



-JD

Is Righthaven Dead Yet?

I don't know how many of you care about Righthaven anymore, but it appears that the firm that is notorious for bullying bloggers for alleged copyright violations is now on life support, if not just dead.

On Monday the Randazza Law Group, which represented one of Righthaven's targets, sought to have a US Marshal drag Righthaven officers into Court to explain their failure to comply with a previous court order.

Apparently back in August a judge ordered Righthaven to pay $34,000 in attorney's fees for filing a frivolous lawsuit. Unfortunately Righthaven only had about $1,000 in its bank account (suddenly I don't feel so poor!), so the Court ordered Righthaven to transfer its copyrights to be auctioned off. It appears that the driving force behind Righthaven, attorney Stephen Gibson, has given up on pursuing his dream of extorting thousands from poor bloggers around the country.

Meanwhile, anybody want to go in on some copyrights with me? They've gotta be worth something, right?

(Source: Ars Technica: Law & Disorder)

Friday Open Thread

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Hey Everyone!  What's going on out there? 

Since its Friday, and close to the holidays, I though I would keep it festive today.

So, who else has been caught holiday shopping when they're supposed to be working?

Who else gets their boss(es) holiday presents?  If so, what?

Does your assistant/staff get you presents?  Do you do anything for them?

Quick Legal News Roundup

I don't have much time to do one of those long and in-depth articles that make this site so famous, but there are a few items of note in the legal news today:

As we pointed out yesterday, there is a battle brewing between David Roger and Family Court Judge Steve Jones. The latest casualty: Roger fired the prosecutor who was allegedly getting "cozy" with the judge. Who's the bully now?

Two civil rights groups are requesting that the Department of Justice investigate Metro's use of deadly force in a recent shooting of an unarmed veteran.

And, as one of our anonymous commenters pointed out yesterday, Harry Reid's son just landed a $190k/year job as the City Attorney of Henderson. Apparently there is some controversy involved in his appointment, after it was learned that his father "called at least two city council members to lobby for his son."

And in sports news, the Rebels finally got a win last night against UTEP, 65-54, after losing their last two games.

That's all I've got for now, have a great Thursday!

- JD

My First Post and We Already Have Some Family Court Drama!

UPDATE

First off, I'd like to thank Law Dawg, Esq. for the great introduction yesterday. Like most of the readers of this site, I used to read Wild Wild Law frequently and also read Elle Woods' short-lived blog until its unfortunate demise. I'm excited to start contributing to this blog because I believe that the Las Vegas legal community deserves a place to get updates on what's going on as well as a forum to discuss those events. I know how hard it is to maintain a blog like this and to update it frequently, so instead of whining about the blog, I thought I'd offer to contribute and Law Dawg was kind enough to accept my help. Just remember that I have a real job just like the rest of you, so I can't make any guarantees as to how often I'll be able to post, but hopefully having two writers on the blog will keep the content updated more frequently.

That being said, I will pay any tipster $3.27 for the "clandestine" photo referenced in this RJ article about Family Court Judge Steve Jones and his alleged "cozy" relationship with former prosecutor Lisa Willardson (I tried to find her on Facebook, but apparently she doesn't waste her time there). This situation has set up a battle between Judge Jones and District Attorney David Roger after Judge Jones barred two prosecutors, Michelle Edwards and Janne Hanrahan, from appearing in his Court, citing "inappropriate and unprofessional behavior" for providing the photo to their supervisor. David Roger is now calling Jones a "bully." Those sound like fighting words to me!

What do you think, is there more to this story than is being reported? If the report is correct, will there be any repercussions for Judge Jones?

(Image courtesy of Judge Jones' Facebook page)

Introducing...

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JD McNugent, Esq.!  Welcome to the Las Vegas Law Blog!

It's no secret that the Las Vegas Law Blog could benefit from some new energy and attention.  So, JD will be contributing whenever s/he feels like it, on pretty much whatever s/he feels like blogging about.  Thanks, JD McNugent!

In the meantime, here are a few things going on in the Las Vegas legal community the past few days:

Today, Judge Delaney ruled that Dipak Desai, the Las Vegas doctor at the center of the 2007-08 hep-C fiasco, can present one witness to rebut findings from the state’s medical experts that Desai is competent to stand trial.

Federal District Court Judge Philip Pro granted a motion appointing a receiver over Righthaven yesterday, and it looks as though the receiver may auction off Righthaven's copyrights leaving it nothing to sue over. 

Also, word on the street is that a smaller bankruptcy firm is merging with MAC at the beginning of the year.  Anyone know if this is true, and if so, what the details are?

Friday Open Thread!

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Happy Friday, everyone! What's new?

What is everyone doing for their firm holiday parties, if anything?  Cruise ships?  Country clubs?  Basement blowouts?  Bowling?

Please share.

Friday Open Thread!

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UPDATED

TGIF, everyone!  Whats going on out there?

Also, since its that season, lets talk bonuses..

Who's getting a bonus this year?  When do you get it, how much is it and how was it its calculated?

Who's giving bonuses?  To whom, when, and how much are you giving?

Update - Judge Herndon has recused himself from sentencing the former Las Vegas Deputy District Attorney David Schubert, claiming he couldn't "reconcile" himself with the probation plea agreed to by the parties.  Thoughts?