Virginia Lawyers Weekly VA Lawyers Weekly

Last week, a California federal district court dismissed a copyright lawsuit against Taylor Swift targeting the lyrics to her song “Shake It Off.” The suit asserted rights to the lyrics “playas gonna play” and “haters gonna hate,” which plaintiffs Sean ...

An alleged burglar got busted in York County, South Carolina, because of his cheesy nickname. Markey Shannon, a/k/a “Cheeseburg­er,” was arrested Sept. 11 and charged with first-degree burglary, malicious in­jury to personal property, assault and battery and failure to appear, ...

Jump in the Wayback Machine to, oh, about 1978: Remember Steve Martin’s prescription for having a million dollars and not paying taxes? It was to say, “I for­got!” The Department of Taxation will kin­da-sorta let you get away with that ...

Comments that an attorney made during a trial pitting two brothers against their late father’s lover came back to haunt the siblings on appeal. In a case in North Carolina, Earl and Henry Fortner argued at the Court of Appeals ...

Virginia trial lawyers do not often face a marathon voir dire session such as the one used to screen jurors for the securities fraud trial of pharmaceutical bad boy Martin Shkreli. Before and after his trial, Shkreli was a vivid ...

Lawyers understandably wince when presented with those liability release forms you have to sign in order to engage in contact sports or other activities with inherent hazards. The forms have a common premise: “You know this is risky. We’re not ...

No, this is not a lead-in to a light bulb joke. It’s an introduction to an Alexandria federal judge’s review of a fee award in a case that may have been overlawyered. If you want to know how many lawyers ...

Reaching for the reading glasses is a common exercise for folks in their middle years. The need to read did not allow a Pennsylvania driver to escape a charge of refusing to take a blood alcohol test. The driver faced ...

Faced with a “Stalingrad defense” to a plaintiff’s request for attorney’s fees in a consumer protection case, a Richmond federal judge took the novel approach of asking the defendant company to file its own billing records with the court. The ...

Tagged with: Civil Procedure Judge John A. Gibney Jr.

Income inequality has been a theme during this political season and a recent study of lawyer salaries shows some significant income disparities among lawyers, based on their areas of practice. Big-firm lawyers and select high-achievers in all practice categories may ...