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Legal Ethics
« Previous EntriesHow much should an e-book cost?
Thursday, April 12th, 2012Yesterday, the Justice Department filed a civil antitrust suit against computer giant Apple and five major publishers (Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Penguin, and Simon & Schuster), accusing the defendants of artificially inflating the prices of e-books. According to news reports, Hachette, HarperCollins and Simon & Schuster have already settled the suit, leaving Apple, Macmillan and [...]
The press shouldn’t try George Zimmerman - but it should address racial inequities
Wednesday, April 11th, 2012As events surrounding the shooting of Trayvon Martin continue to unfold, I become increasingly concerned about how news reports may distort the outcome. By law, George Zimmerman, the man who reportedy shot Trayvon Martin, is innocent until proven guilty. He hasn’t even been indicted yet. Unfortunately, hard lines have already been drawn [...]
Should employers ask candidates for their Facebook passwords?
Friday, March 23rd, 2012This post continues my Friday series examining some of the imbalances of power in our society and the ethical questions they raise. Yesterday, I was troubled to read an Associated Press story about the latest technique that employers are using to vet job applicants. It’s common for managers to peruse applicants’ public online [...]
Don’t threaten to sue … unless you really mean it!
Friday, January 27th, 2012Continuing my Friday series on keeping your business out of court, let’s focus on a mistake that too many businesspeople make. On the theory that “the best defense is a good offense,” some people make it all too clear to their contractors, suppliers, and consultants that, if a single mistake is made, they’ll take [...]
Believe!
Friday, December 23rd, 2011Every once in a while, a movie comes out that knocks my socks off. “Arthur Christmas” (produced by those lovely English lunatics who brought you “Chicken Run” and “Wallace & Grommit”) did just that. Oh, it was clever. We now know why you can’t find Santa’s workshop on Google Earth (underground tunnels), [...]
Big Tobacco shouldn’t fight new warning labels
Tuesday, June 21st, 2011Earlier today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued nine new warning labels to be included on tobacco products by September of 2012. The labels are disturbingly graphic: pictures of diseased lungs, rotten teeth, an infant in a hazy cloud, a man exhaling smoke through a tracheotomy scar. Distressing as the photos are, [...]
Was this the right way to punish bin Laden?
Monday, May 2nd, 2011Late last night, President Obama announced that Osama bin Laden, presumed architect of the September 11th bombings a decade ago, had been killed by U.S. forces. The operation took place in Pakistan, after President Obama reportedly ordered a team of Navy SEALs to enter bin Laden’s residence and shoot to kill. The mission [...]
Anita Hill shouldn’t apologize
Wednesday, October 20th, 2010Talk about a bolt from the blue … nineteen years ago, Anita Hill grabbed the attention of the nation when she testified at the confirmation hearings of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. She told an ugly story of sexual harassment, describing how Justice Thomas, her former boss, had made her working life extremely uncomfortable. [...]
Is BP trying to fix the problem, or just the blame?
Thursday, September 9th, 2010BP has taken a beating in the media since the release of its internal report on the Deepwater Horizon accident. The report identifies a number of interrelated failures that, together, led to the explosion that killed eleven people and massively polluted the waters of the Gulf. The report attributes some of those failures directly [...]
Don’t play games with disclosure
Friday, September 3rd, 2010Continuing my Friday series on keeping your business out of court, let’s look at a story reported by The Wall Street Journal yesterday. According to the Journal, disclosure has become an issue in the civil fraud suit that the SEC is pursuing against three former top officials of Countrywide Financial Corp. It’s an [...]
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