In an ironic twist, China’s largest search engine, Baidu, has successfully argued that it was entitled to First Amendment protection in regard to its search engine results in the United States, which excluded statements by the plaintiffs, a group of New York residents who “advocated” for “the Democracy movement in China.”   In a question of

The assertion of a breach of contract claim against an attorney for excessive billing does not result in the waiver of the attorney-client privilege as to successor counsel

Waiver of the attorney-client privilege often arises in attorney-client disputes, where “the defendant asserts a claim that in fairness requires examination of protected communications… [t]he key to

All of the elements necessary for defamation claims seem to have coalesced on the Internet. There is the ease of posting content, including videos, on blogs and chat sites; the ubiquity of tweets, email, blogs and text messages; the pervasive abandonment of personal privacy; and the ability for almost anyone to quickly set up a

AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION – MASS TORTS & DEVELOPMENTS

In a December 17, 2013, decision, the New York Court of Appeals refused to adopt an independent equitable cause of action for medical monitoring by a four-to-two vote in Caronia v. Philip Morris USA, Inc., No. 227 (N.Y. Dec. 17, 2013). The decision resolved a split among

Generally, the law in New York is that “a determination fixing a defendant’s fees in a prior action brought by the defendant against the plaintiff for fees for the same legal services which the plaintiff alleges were negligently performed, necessarily determines that there was no legal malpractice.” Breslin Realty Development Corp. v. Shaw, 72 A.D.3d

Work-related email accounts are ubiquitous and often are used by employees for personal reasons. Employees also may use their own personal email accounts on employer provided resources ? with or without the permission of the employer.  Many cases have considered the right of an employer to access an employee’s email accounts from the employee’s work

Traditionally in New York, law guardians appointed in custody disputes were often viewed as taking on a role similar to that of a guardian ad litem, advocating for what they believed to be the best interests of the child, rather than advocating for the outcome desired by the child. Because these law guardians were often

Much has been written (in this column and elsewhere) regarding lawyers’ adoption of social media and other Internet enabled applications for such diverse purposes as discovery, advertising, client communication,  research and the like.  Indeed, due to the proliferation of portable devices, including laptops, smartphones and tablets, whether in their offices or not, lawyers now rely

In legal malpractice actions, in order to establish entitlement to relief plaintiffs are generally required to demonstrate that their attorneys were negligent?that is, that they breached their duty of care. While no expert evidence is required to show that the attorney breached his or her duty of care where the “ordinary experience of the fact

Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.[1]

It is a lesson that lawyers should take to heart when incorporating technology in their every day best practices.  Technology may have changed the speed, immediacy, and even the formality of communication, but the effect of the communication will be determined by its content as interpreted by