October 2012 Archives

Coffee and donuts can build bridges. Just ask the folks here at FindLaw.com's Sunnyvale, Calif., office, where we enjoy copious amounts of free coffee -- as well as bagels, donuts, and fresh fruit delivered to our office every Friday.

Those free Friday breakfasts give FindLaw's teams of lawyers and engineers an excuse to socialize and exchange ideas.

They also offer a chance to mingle with other Thomson Reuters staffers who share office space with FindLaw -- and who are working on completely different projects.

A gang of actual zombies dragging their decomposing, brain-seeking selves through the streets or a grinning, chainsaw-wielding madman stalking the neighborhood surely would raise a few goose bumps anytime of the year. But what about the five-year-old girl dressed as a mermaid knocking on your door on Halloween night?

While trick-or-treaters generally are much cuter than they are scary, and even if we gasp in mock terror before dropping a Snickers bar in their bags, the holiday itself presents a potential blood bath of legal problems. Halloween should be fun, but simply whistling through the graveyard instead of taking a few smart precautions can drive a stake right through your evening.

Courtesy of the skeleton crew at FindLaw, here are some of the more common legal mishaps you should try to avoid this Halloween:

Celebrities love the spotlight. Whether at the latest movie premiere or at the trendiest dinner spot in LA, most of Hollywood's elite can't seem to get enough attention. They also get lots of attention (mostly unwanted) from the law. But why would a legal website such as ourselves dedicate an entire blog to the legal happenings of celebrities?

A couple of reasons. To begin with, we are just as entertained by celebrities as many of our readers are. So when a celebrity couple files for divorce or Hulk Hogan sues over a sex tape, or the Lohan family does pretty much anything, we are presented with the unique opportunity to apply our legal expertise to a trending pop culture issue.

FindLaw is far more than just the No. 1 legal website where millions of consumers learn about the law. With our recently launched FindLaw Mini Guides, we’re turning a new page by offering another way to take our legal knowledge with you wherever you go.

FindLaw’s Mini Guides are free legal-information pamphlets that you can download as PDFs. You can then read them at your leisure on a computer or tablet, without having to go online. You can also print out the Mini Guides and keep them handy (for example, our Guide to What to Do Following a Car Accident can be kept in your vehicle), or share them with family and friends.

We may call them Mini Guides, but they’re big on useful detail.

Who doesn't love a product that serves multiple functions?

A comb that applies sunscreen to your scalp? Brilliant. A phone that takes pictures, sends email, navigates, plays music, and babysits your kids? Life-changing. A popular legal research website that offers comprehensive lawyer marketing services? FindLaw.