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One key benchmark is the moment you hire your own in-house counsel. How big does your company need to be before it makes sense to have full-time legal counsel? While there is no perfect formula to figure this out, here are a few considerations: GC or Not GC? Deciding who will be your first in-house attorney is just as important as deciding when to make the hire. While some companies choose to bring in a lower level legal specialist (perhaps someone to review contracts, regulatory compliance, or intellectual property issues), others go straight for general counsel....

In the last two weeks, President Obama declared a national emergency in states across the Midwest and the Southeastern United States, ordering federal agencies to release disaster funds to support the recovery of the flooded and tornado-hit regions. Though it might seem silly to issue a declaration of emergency for a situation that is clearly dire, the act of doing so is actually incredibly important for states seeking federal aid....

A Florida father, named as the prime suspect in the People’s Court missing mom case, has regained custody of the couple’s young children. The 3-year-old twins of Dale Smith, 40, and his ex-fiancée Michelle Parker, 33, must be returned to Smith’s custody, a judge ruled Wednesday. Child welfare agents removed the twins Tuesday from the Orlando home where Smith lives with his parents, the Associated Press reports. Authorities were concerned that Smith showed abusive behavior in the past....

Spouses make a lot of legal decisions together. For example, will you hold title to your house as joint tenants or only in one spouse’s name? Spouses also have to think about estate planning and matters that affect the entire family. Oftentimes, married couples are on the same page when it comes to legal decision-making. That’s why many want to hire just one lawyer to represent both spouses. But is it wise for spouses to share the same attorney?...

Move over Arizona, a new Alabama immigration law has hit the books and it blows yours to smithereens. Alabama enacted perhaps the country’s toughest immigration law on Thursday when Governor Robert Bentley signed HB 56 into law. Backed by overwhelming legislative support, the new law covers a broad array of topics, many of which have civil rights groups questioning the law’s legality and whether it was primarily motivated by bigotry....

At some point, we’ve all been stuck with an inconsiderate, obnoxious neighbor. But when your neighbor insists on loud pumping music very late at night, every night, you may have reached the point where you’re wondering whether you can sue your noisy neighbor. The easy answer is “yes.” If your neighbors’ noise is bothering you and nothing you have done to resolve the situation has worked, you have every right to file a lawsuit....

You can sue your trainer for a personal injury. Accidents and injuries that arise from the negligence of someone who has a duty of care to you, qualify for a lawsuit. But not all injuries are caused by negligence. As long as all the elements of a personal injury claim can be proven, damage caused by your trainer’s negligence can be treated like any other personal injury matter. So, let’s review the elements of negligence and see how they apply to personal training....

Disinheritance. It’s a common threat – sometimes wielded as a joke, and sometimes said in complete seriousness. But what happens when your parents actually carry through? Can you legally be disinherited? Outside of Louisiana, you have no legal right to inherit from your parents. However, you do have a right not to be accidentally disinherited. What does this mean for you? For starters, you can be disinherited. If a parent updates his or her will and includes a disinheritance clause, you get nothing....

Child custody agreements and summer vacations can sometimes clash and blow up into contentious legal battles. It’s no fun for you, the other parent, and especially not for your child. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Here are some tips on how to deal with summer vacations and child custody agreements in an amicable way: 1. Create a vacation schedule. A common way to deal with summer vacations and child custody is to agree on a vacation schedule....

In a sad and disturbing story, CNN and the Associated Press reported about Shylea Myza Thomas, a 9-year-old quadriplegic child, whose body was found Thursday in a “black trash bag, stuffed into a plastic bin with mothballs and locked in a storage unit” in Michigan. Another report indicates that Lorrie M. Thomas, Shylea’s 39-year-old adoptive mother (and also her aunt), has been taken into custody while charges against her are weighed by authorities....

Divorce is often a hostile, painful process for those involved. But for most, the extent of the harm is emotional. In a tragic case out of Scottsdale, Arizona, one man appears to have taken his anger to brutal levels, seeking revenge after a drawn-out divorce. Before taking his own life, the divorcee is alleged to have murdered six people, at least four of whom were connected in some way to the divorce itself....

As government officials seek to limit growing concern over the possibility of an outbreak of Ebola in the United States, several states have instituted mandatory quarantines for those who may have been exposed to the disease. Ebola has so far caused just one fatality in America, that of Thomas Eric Duncan who died earlier this month after contracting Ebola in his native Liberia. Nevertheless, states including Florida, New York, New Jersey, and Illinois are moving forward with new quarantines for those returning from areas affected by the Ebola outbreak....

The Center for Constitutional Rights is representing several federal prisoners who are suing over restrictions on outside contact. They are suing their jailers for violating their rights to communicate with their families. The inmates housed at several federal prisons around the country claim restrictions on seeing their families violate their right to free association and constitute cruel and unusual punishment, according to Reuters. The federal prisoners are being held in Communications Management Units, a highly restrictive prison program....

A guilty verdict has been reached in the Nick Adenhart DUI death case that shocked the sports world last year. 23 year-old Andrew Gallo was found guilty of the murder of Angels pitcher Nick Adenhart, and his two friends Courtney Stewart and Henry Pearson, after a two week trial in Santa Ana, California. At the time of the accident, Gallo’s blood alcohol level was three times the legal limit. The Associated Press reports on the conviction:...

In what the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence is calling the largest settlement in a gun death lawsuit filed against a gun manufacturer, Kahr Arms has agreed to pay nearly $600,000 to the family of a man who was shot with a gun stolen from the company’s manufacturing plant. That gun was taken by Mark Cronin, an employee with a violent criminal background and a long history with drugs....

Can’t wait for the holidays? Time to spend with your family can be a real treat, but don’t expect the law to ensure that you get holiday pay. Although many of us have come to expect to have holidays such as Christmas and New Year, or even those festive favorites President’s Day or Memorial Day off with pay, under state and federal labor law, its more like time off for good behavior....

But is riding in a the back of a truck legal? No Relevant Laws Alaska, Delaware, Idaho, and 17 other states have no laws addressing passengers riding in truck beds. This means it’s legal to do so until somebody passes a law that says it isn’t. Allowed with Restrictions In the other 30 states, riding in a the back of truck is legal with certain restrictions. Texas – In Texas, children under 18 years of age cannot ride in a truck bed unless the truck was operated in a parade, hayride, or emergency, used to transport farm workers, or driven on a beach....

When some states dip their toe into the legal pot pool, as Georgia did in 2015, they do so with trepidation. Back when the Peach State legalized medical marijuana, residents had to demonstrate one of eight permitted ailments to qualify for a few ounces of cannabis oil which could not even be cultivated within state lines. It was hard to imagine how anyone who even needed it would be able to obtain medicinal weed....

Insurance companies might be seeing fewer medical malpractice claims, but they seem to be awarding more money to the injured patients that do make them. A new study found that paid medical malpractice claims declined almost 56 percent between 1992 and 2014, but the average payout for a successful malpractice claim jumped over 23 percent, reaching $353,000 for the 2009-2014 time period. So what accounts for the decline in claims and rise in payouts?...

A lawsuit filed by two brothers who survived a 2007 tiger attack at the San Francisco Zoo has been settled for $900,000, and the agreement likely defused a legal escalation involving new allegations against local law enforcement and the city over the incident. On December 25, 2007, a 243-pound tiger jumped out of its enclosure at the San Francisco Zoo and killed Carlos Sousa Jr., who was 17 years old at the time....