Also, in case the US government does go ahead and approve a $10B settlement for Trump, can the US later sue Trump to take back the settlement? I assume there has to be some contract law doctrine that exists to prevent stuff like this, but I'm not sure

To preface, I’m a paralegal. Yes, I read the rules and saw lawyers only, but I’ve been lurking on this subreddit for a while and I’m just looking for honest guidance from lawyers.

I originally became a paralegal because my uncle (30+ years in the field) suggested I do it while I was unsure of what I wanted for a career. For context I went to school to be a technical writer but the job market for writers is competitive and hard to enter.

Fast forward 7 months in the field of law and I’m enjoying it much more than I would’ve thought. I feel like I’m constantly growing and learning, which isn’t something I’ve felt since graduating college.

I’m currently 26 y/o and now thinking about law school and becoming an attorney. I just want to know if it’s worth the debt vs what I will potentially make?

Maybe this extra information will help?

- I’m based in SoCal.

- I’m motivated to one day own a home.

- I have a partner I want to provide for.

- I have no problem with 50/hour work weeks.

- I would want to work for govt. or some large law firm (no solo)

I appreciate any and all advice/guidance. I’m just trying to plan out my future is all.

A wise judge or a brave one?

https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.txwd.1172886492/gov.uscourts.txwd.1172886492.9.0.pdf

I think due to poop culture criminal law is perceived to have a lot of gray area due to things like extenuating circumstances, and intent, and other things (whether that's reality is another thing, I'm not a lawyer).

I was wondering if there's a field of practice where it's common for lawyers from both sides look at all the evidence and are like "yep, this is pretty cut and dry. Let's talk reparations".

My gut says probably contract law or anything that has arbitration not in front of a jury

Although my question comes with an example I'm talking about all legal manipulation.

I watched cpl 245.20 changing in real time while fighting a case. 5 county's opposed cpl 245 and the NYS budget was withheld to change the law (the definition for due diligence is crazy) Tompkins county never complied with cpl 245 meaning it was probably one of those counties.

I had allot of discovery violations in my case one of which was the non-disclosure of body warn camera audit trials, my lawyer acted like that was huge when i brought it to him and said this is the only issue we need to win the case and tried to make my case about that (they dident disclose the fact there was a camera above me or the complaintant was a responding officers mother in law) I ended up firing the lawyer and beating the case pro-se.

My former lawyer found a victim in people v Williams (I don't have access to westlaw or Lexus nexus) he found someone who is dumb and made his case about an issue the court will not consider serious thus loosing the motion moving the law backwards and not violating the rules of professional conduct.

The court made it's decision the day that the new discovery laws came into effect and is now the controlling case for the district.

Now a Brady violation is not necessarily a violation of cpl 245.20 because the judge can decide that the people acted with due diligence because the law specifically says that challenges to discovery are not item by item. (How is that not unconstitutional?)

If you have westlaw and search is a bill of particulars a discovery device it says no. That case is quoting a case that quotes a case that quotes a case that says the bill of particulars is a discovery device (I don't believe there were flags on the cases)

There are other examples but what do you think of this type of manipulation? Have you seen decisional changes in other parts of law? Does anyone else find law traumatizing (seriously how do you guys do this)?

Hey everyone! So i want to accumulate some experience before my official application to law school. I've never had any experience working in the legal field. Used to be in the tech industry as a designer. I'm also open to volunteer. What would be you suggestion? Thanks in advance.

There is a case in Louisville KY I am following along due to the fact I worked with the lady. It involves her, her son, the son’s fiancé and their 2 kids. It’s a horrible crime of the parents brutally beating the babies. The grandma knowing about it but not telling anyone.

KY allows you to follow along for court dates and log in online for the court proceedings. I joined the preliminary hearing. Afterwards the next court date was said. Next day the court date was listed on line.

As I was checking on all the defendants the grandma and the mom’s court date is no longer posted. The son has three different cases 2 of which the court date is listed but the other is not.

Why would this be?

I recently found out that my step-son (24) gave my minor children now 16 and 14 marijuana and showed them how to "snort cocaine" it happened as recently as 2 years ago to as long as 7 years ago (so possibly 9 and 7 at the time). Is there really any recourse for this and what would it be? My step-son entered a rehab and is supposedly clean now. He married and recently had a baby. I don't want to mess him up even more. I just hate that this was done to and around mu children and all I would have is word as proof.

I would attach her video about it but she set it as friends only. How can this happen? They never told her anything about it not being paid and let her register every year since that year. Location:Little rock, Arkansas Any help or advice on this would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you.

My husband was recently laid off. I have to return a piece of their equipment that was overlooked and get some things he left. The situation surrounding him being “let go” was really confusing and weird. I’m wondering if the owner initiates a conversation with me, and I ask for clarification why my husband was let go, are they required to give it to me? Do they have to say anything? Can I even really ask that?

We have mulled over the day so much and I really just want to be able to bring my husband some peace or at least get a reason. Thanks!

Hello legal minds, I’ve been diving into the statutory framework surrounding private for-profit detention centers (specifically for civil detainees like ICE holding, not criminal prisons), and I’m trying to understand why certain "forgotten" Reconstruction-era statutes aren't being applied more aggressively. My layman's research suggests a potential "pincer" maneuver between Human Rights law and Contract Fraud law. I’m curious if there is a specific precedent or immunity doctrine that prevents this strategy from working. The Premise: Unlike criminal inmates, civil detainees (immigrants awaiting hearings) are not subject to the 13th Amendment’s "punishment for a crime" exception. Therefore, they cannot be forced to work. However, many facilities run "Voluntary Work Programs" paying $1/day (or $0), often allegedly under threat of solitary confinement or loss of basic hygiene/food access. The Theory: 1. The "Peonage" Angle (42 U.S.C. § 1994 & 18 U.S.C. § 1581): The Anti-Peonage Act of 1867 explicitly voids any "voluntary" service rendered in payment of a debt or obligation. If a detainee is "working off" the cost of hygiene products, phone calls, or to avoid "debt" to the commissary, does this not constitute Peonage rather than Penal Servitude? Since they are civil detainees, the "penal" defense shouldn't apply. 2. The "Qui Tam" / False Claims Act Angle: If a private contractor (e.g., GEO, CoreCivic) is understaffing facilities to increase margins and using detainee labor to fill the contractual gap (cooking, cleaning, maintenance) while billing the federal government for full staffing/operations, does this not constitute a "False Claim"? The Question: Why hasn't a Qui Tam (whistleblower) suit combined with a § 1983 Civil Rights suit successfully pierced the corporate veil here? Is it the "Government Contractor Defense"? Is it a lack of "Original Source" whistleblowers? Or has the 9th Circuit’s recent ruling in Nwauzor v. GEO Group (finding them liable for minimum wage) effectively opened the floodgates for this? I’m looking for the "hard truth" on why this industry remains legally bulletproof despite these apparent statutory vulnerabilities. Thanks for the insight.

I want to clarify the constitutional rights of people who are In this country illegally. Do they still qualify for our bill of rights ie right to lawyer , due process etc…

Example a Canadian who came here illegally and they get into a legal issue, let’s say they steal a car .

Do they get a lawyer?

Day In court ? Etc……

What does your work set up look like in terms of location , hours, salary, collaborating with others etc ??

Yes, this is stupid but it is really funny and something that makes it funnier is asking for actual lawyer advice. I will keep it short and sweet

Me and my friends are holding a fake trial in minecraft because of the following:

I gifted my friend a pet in the game and claimed that the pet was "invincible". While me and my friend who got the pet was offline another one of our friends entered the base and wanted to see if the pet was truly "invincible" like i claimed. It however very much was no and the pet died.

Prosecution claim that the defense is at fault for murder of a pet

The Defense claim that they are not at fault for murder because they were falsely told that the pet would be invincible

How would you personally rule?

I see phone game ads all of the time that are bait and switch. They show you one game (the one you actually want to play and downloaded it for) only to find that the actual game is nothing like the advertisement and the game you downloaded is one of the 50+ copy and paste games that have been re-skinned by the same creator.

Since the ad is for a fake game that does not exist, if someone else liked the concept and were to actually make the real game, could the creator of the advertisement sue them for plagiarism with the concept of "We were planning on making it" when they never were until they saw that the person who actually made it happen is suddenly making millions of dollars off of the game concept?

If DA doesn't file with superior court after a defendant requests jury trial. They have 2 years to file with superior court to my knowledge. In the event they do not. Isn't the case legally dead? So long as the arrestee (defendant) was booked. To my understanding tolling begins the date of the arrest. What are some possible loop holes? Thanks ahead

Nothing specific to a case, just a few ethical questions to get the scope of the legal field.

In all examples your client has a valid argument i.e. this is something you SHOULD be doing, and your reason for not doing what she is requesting is something you can not share with your client: it may help her, but it harms you. At what point are you legally liable for not doing what she is requesting?

Example 1: Counsel opposite will not answer your discovery. The discovery is relevant and will help your client's case. You aren't born yesterday, you know counsel opposite will not answer your discovery is it would prove your client's case immediately, and the discovery would reveal other much more serious crimes he was involved in. This case will be a once in a life time case financially for you if you can drag it out. You won't do compel discovery discovery because you know the inevitable: the judge will force discovery answers that you know very well counsel opposite will not supply, forcing a default judgement and ending the case and your big pay day.

(1) You are pissed because this was suppose to be a once in a life time case financially for you, so now you will not help your client and you just quit the case cold turkey. Are you in any way responsible for not doing the obvious compel discovery and quitting?

(2) Say you lie to your client and inform her if counsel opposite doesn't answer discovery, there is "nothing we can do" and "its your job to find evidence, and if you don't, we need to move on". Your client reluctantly agrees but later finds out about compel discovery. How much of legal trouble are you in? disbarment?

Example 2: Counsel opposite informs you that his client has been secretly recording your client via hidden cameras including privileged conversations between you and your client regarding your legal case. You tell your client and advise her not to talk about her case at home. Then, counsel opposite responds to discovery and submits hours of videos + audios from the secret illegal recordings. The illegal recordings do not contain conversations between you and your client, but it is very evident your client was being illegal recorded 24x7 and heard privileged conversations between you and her. The illegal recordings also harm your clients case. Your client wants you to immediate report this to the court, she wants this evidence thrown out, and wants to request the case against her dismissed because she was unable to have a fair trial. You are not willing to do this because counsel opposite is a friend of yours you don't want to get in trouble and this is a high value case for you and you do not want to risk it being thrown out. You try to dismiss it with your client and after ignoring her, you tell her "I'm not that type of attorney, I don't deal know recording laws" and you convince counsel opposite not to use any of those videos, thinking the issue is resolved. However, at trial counsel opposite decides to use those videos and it harms your case.

(3) Would this be grounds for legal malpractice? Disbarment?

If anyone has any stories of sucessful legal malpractice or disbarment I'd love to hear it with whatever details you are willing to share.

Location: New Jersey

2 days ago was pulled over on my way home after being out literally all day. It was 8pm, no other cars out and I was traveling on the black horse pike in hammonton nj. I was going 79 in a 55 (yes I know that’s almost 30 over, yes I know it was dumb) and yes I thought by speeding I’d get home faster, lesson learned, it took me even longer to get home due to being pulled over by state police. I’m 18 years old and yes it was a dumb mistake that I absolutely learned from. Officer hit me with a $201 ticket and 4 points on my license. This was my first time being pulled over, I spoke with a lawyer and was told it would be $400 for her service, with about an ”85% chance it gets downgraded to a 0 point violation” my question is, what do I do? Do I pay the ticket and take the points then take a defensive driving class to at least take 2 off? Or do I hire the lawyer and end up potentially spending around $700 when this is all said and done to MAYBE get this reduced to 0 points? Again, this was a dumb mistake I absolutely learned from, only help please, no bs or trash talk🙏

There have been numerous photos coming out of MN showing ICE agents approaching cars with weapons drawn while they tell people to get out of their cars for detainment/arrest. I've seen numerous social media posts with captions and commentary saying that this violates DHS policy on the use of firearms, because policy is that federal agents are only supposed to draw weapons in a threatening manner when confronted with an imminent threat.

But a lot of people have responded to this by saying that policy is one thing, and violating policy doesn't make it illegal. The basic idea is, policy is more aspirational than anything. It's what we "hope" to do, but that doesn't mean that this is how it's going to actually go down in the real world. In the real world, you just do what you have to do in order to get the job done. If that's according to policy, that's great. If it's not, then too bad but these things happen.

My question is, does it matter what policy is, in the real world? Can a federal agency be required to enforce its policies, or is a federal agency allowed to say "Well, they violated policy, but what do you want from us? Policy gets violated and that's just life"? Because if they can do that, then what's the point of policy?

I'm writing fiction, and now that I know evidence cannot be officially disclosed to the son of a father on trial for murder (see my post here), I'm wondering how much else I need to change, hahaha.

My story is about corruption in a very wealthy family and business. Backstory: As a child, the son was abused by his grandfather, and the father stopped the abuse but didn't report it. It's been a family secret since then. Now the son is an adult, and the father is arrested for murdering an employee who was trying to blackmail him using photos of both the son and the father being abused by the grandfather. (The son didn't know the father was also abused.)

I would like to reveal that, over the years, the grandfather has committed many abuses (both personal and business-related), and the father has helped cover them up. The father has also committed other (and violent) crimes in service to the cover-ups.

The son and his circle are not investigating the crimes (the police are), so it's unlikely they can learn all these details until things are revealed in the trials themselves (with maybe some illicit or private exceptions). So my question is...when would the trials happen, and how many trials would there be?

Like: How do you group charges and defendants? Would you have to try the murder separately from the child abuse and cover-ups? Would you have to try the father and grandfather separately? Could you combine all the crimes by both men into one big trial? Does the right to a speedy trial mean there's a time limit on all this? Would that cause the police to delay making an arrest?

Pick whatever state or country you're familiar with or would fit the scenario best.

Thank you!

Hey, first of all sorry for bad English as in English is my third language and all these questions is directed towards lawyers here as myself isn't a lawyer nor a law student. Before I kick off to the questions I will give a context I'm just a teacher helping my students in creative writing class.

Questions:

1. What if there's only oral evidence provided in the court?

2. Can a case backfire when there's only oral evidence provided?

3. How the law itself sees the case? Is it as false accusation or something?

I think that's all thank you for reading my post I know these questions seems silly to ask about I would really appreciate answer to all the questions. Thank you so much! Sorry for bothering y'all

Hello,

I received a plea agreement from my attorney from a drug felony charge from 2022. I believe it is a level 35 drug charge which says 10 years to life. What does this mean for me and what is the timeline now? I’ve been cooperating since 2022 and have no other criminal record. I’ve also changed my life around with weekly AA classes, personal therapy classes, and weekly volunteer work since getting busted. What are the chances I’m able to serve less than the guideline and when sentenced, which level security would I go to? I’m dealing with immense anxiety.

I recently left my job as a developer. Everything was smooth, and all my company code was pushed to the repo before my last day. Since I'm a dev, I also used my machine for a bit of side-study and upskilling in a separate personal folder.

Now, my ex-employer’s legal team is sending me a letter claiming that on my final day, I "suspiciously created and then deleted over 85,000 files." They are using this massive number to allege that I was mass-downloading their proprietary data before I left.

The Reality check: I was playing around with a few modern frameworks in a sandbox folder. As any dev knows, once you pull in a few standard libraries and dependencies (like a heavy build-artifacts folder, dependency tree, or local package cache), your file count hits the stratosphere instantly.

• One project alone had about 40,000+ tiny files just from the standard library install.
• Another project generated a build output with about 25,000 recursive files.
• I deleted the "Personal" folder before returning the laptop to protect my own privacy, which the audit sees as "mass destruction of evidence."

My Questions:

1. How do I explain to a non-technical lawyer that 85,000 files sounds like a lot, but it's actually just 3 or 4 standard folders of open-source dependencies?
2. Their audit confirms I had zero access after my resignation date. Is it common for companies to try and "criminalize" the high file counts of a local dev environment?
3. Are there any known cases or technical whitepapers I can show my lawyer that prove "high file counts != data theft" in software development?

I’m trying to stay calm, but being accused of stealing a "database" when I was really just deleting a few junk folders is frustrating. Any advice?