Law

Here’s a real form someone I know who makes more than minimum wage was recently asked by their employer to sign:

I understand that for calculation of overtime, my contractual hour rate with Employer is set at minimum wage, which is the wage that New Jersey Department of Labor sets, or the Federal minimum wage, whichever is higher. This means that if I clock hours in excess of 40 in a one week pay period, that my pay should be equal to/or greater than 40 hours at minimum wage and overtime at 1.5 times the minimum wage.

Am I missing something, or is this what us fancy lawyers call… illegal af?

Oral Argument for Hachette Book Group, Inc. v. Internet Archive – CourtListener.com

This oral argument before the 2nd Circuit about the legality of Internet Archive’s controlled digital lending program is a great listen, regardless of what side you support.

Find all the litigation filings here.

Edit: for my convenience as well as yours, I’ve embedded the audio below. Let me know if you have trouble playing it.

Alito's intellectual honesty

I’m in a weird headspace about the Supreme Court’s right wing wearing their partiality on their sleeves. I’m supposed to be mad about it, like lots of liberals. But I think it’s a kind of honesty and, in its hubris, exposes the vulnerabilities of the right’s more longterm jurisprudential …

🔗 Some legal malpractice cases are bogus, and many are defensible. But some are, well, not, which is apparently how State Bar Court Judge Yvette D. Roland in California viewed the misconduct proceedings against John Eastman, the now-disbarred architect of the 2020 fake electors nonsense. (PDF)

Chris Geidner at Law Dork has the best explanation of why the 5th Circuit’s jurisprudence has become so, to use a legal term of art, whacky:

At the end of the day, there are essentially three groups of active judges on the Fifth Circuit: There are “mad vibes” judges, legally conservative judges, and legally moderate (or more left) judges.

Geidner is so insightful and prolific that, and I mean this as a high compliment, it irritates me a little.

A quote screenshot from an article by Chris Geidner in his Law Dork newsletter, which says:&10;&10;At the end of the day, there are essentially three groups of active judges on the Fifth Circuit: There are “mad vibes” judges, legally conservative judges, and legally moderate (or more left) judges.

Dear Lawyers Still Manually Numbering Paragraphs:

Stop it.

Here’s a tutorial:

  1. Place your cursor where you intend to begin the numbered section of your pleading.
  2. Click the numbered list button in your word processor.
  3. Repent, and feel your soul become lighter.

Yours, scoldingly,

Joe

⚖️ From a report at Law Dork by its proprietor, Chris Geidner:

Starr issued an “administrative stay” on Thursday that will last for 30 days while he considers the airline’s request for a stay of the order pending its appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

Judge Starr is having a good think about whether he’s willing to endure the near-certain reversal, and the more-likely-than-not searing bench slap that will accompany it…