As a follow-up to yesterday’s announcement of a settlement between Pine Tree Legal Assistance and LegalMatch, I have learned that the scope of the settlement agreement extends beyond PTLA to bar LegalMatch from using the name of any legal aid organization and from using the term “legal aid” in any advertising. …

I told you early in March that Maine’s Pine Tree Legal Assistance had sued LegalMatch alleging deceptive Web advertising practices. Today, the two parties announced that they had settled the dispute. An announcement described the settlement as amicable and said that no money would change hands.

The suit alleged that LegalMatch…

In Missouri, public defenders earn a starting salary of $37,800 but were expected to handle an average of 298 cases each last year. Throughout the United States, public defenders are in similar circumstances, earning low salaries, carrying heavy caseloads and handling some of the toughest cases our legal system sees. What dedication drives them to…

The court that made history in 2003 for allowing gays in Massachusetts to marry today ruled that nonresident gays do not share that right. Today’s decision in Cote-Whitacre v. Department of Public Health was a one-paragraph order followed by three concurring opinions and one dissent. The one-paragraph order said:

“The orders denying the plaintiffs’

Based on comments to my post yesterday, Bad marketing 101: This is not a blog, at least one reader took it to be a criticism of the lawyer. That was not my intent. My criticism was directed at the Web design and marketing consultants who built this site for the lawyer and helped her…

Law.com today announced two new editors of its Legal Blog Watch. One is someone I know pretty well — me. The other is someone I am proud to join — Carolyn Elefant. The toughest part of the assignment, as I noted here, will be trying to fill the shoes of…

The National Law Journal yesterday launched a redesigned Web site, with added stories and new navigation and search tools. According to this announcement, the NLJ’s home page will now have expanded content including Web-only stories, daily updates and advance postings of stories scheduled for the print edition. The page also now offers

As the UK publication The Lawyer reports, there are a lot of smiling faces at the Washington, D.C., law firm Wiley Rein & Fielding. For its work representing NTP in its four-year patent dispute against BlackBerry maker Research in Motion, the firm received a $200 million payout — nearly a third of the…

UPDATE: In my rush to read the case below, I overlooked a second SJC decision yesterday that addresses this question in more detail: Superadio Limited Partnership v. Winstar Radio Productions. In a case involving out-of-state practice in an AAA commercial arbitration, the SJC notes that the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct now expressly…

A Long Island, N.Y., IP lawyer recently sent out a press release announcing her new Web site, called Intellectulaw.com. The site is designed and hosted by FirmSite, a division of Thomson FindLaw. Like many sites these days, it includes a link to what it calls the Intellectulaw blog. At first glance,…

A new poll of the happiest workers in the UK puts lawyers second to bottom, ahead of only pharmacists. Surprisingly, however, lawyers ranked sixth — tied with butchers — for best work/life balance. The City & Guilds Happiness Index is compiled annually to track the satisfaction of the UK’s workforce. The happiest workers in…

FindLaw today announced the launch of a tax center for consumers. The center provides access to forms, laws and other resources.…