The old saying, If you can’t do the time, don’t do the crime, may be giving way to a new one: If you can’t pay for the time, don’t do the crime. Should people convicted of a crime be forced to pay the costs of their jail stay?... Read full article

Going viral after going ballistic isn’t on most mom’s to-do lists , but the story of the fed-up New York lawyer/mother who kicked her bickering daughters out of the car spread faster than flu. Were her actions irresponsible, irresistible, or something else?... Read full article

Two new legal commandments – Thou shalt not smoke in thy apartment and Thou shalt inform authorities of anyone who does – have made the town of Belmont, California, home to America’s most restrictive secondhand smoking law. How far should government go in determining what you can do in the privacy of your home?... Read full article

On Halloween night four years ago in Los Angeles, a car slammed into a light pole at 45 mph, critically injuring a young woman and leaving her a paraplegic. Also shattered in the accident was the very definition of what it means to be a Good Samaritan, undermined by a troubling new legal question: Can you be sued for trying to save someone’s life?... Read full article

If you’ve made a New Year’s resolution about personal responsibility, you might have asked yourself, “Who can I help?” But would you ever ask, “Who can I sue?” That question is the focus of WhoCanISue.com, an online service that matches potential clients with lawyers, while begging a different question: does the site’s blunt come-on irresponsibly encourage more lawsuits?... Read full article

Consider the apology: Is saying “I’m sorry” out of fashion? A lost art? A species so endangered we need a law to protect it? “The Apology Act” is a piece of legislation up for debate in Canada and aimed at allowing people to say “I’m sorry” without assuming legal responsibility for their actions.... Read full article

You can have your cake and eat it too in California, but if you do so at a school bake sale, you might be breaking the law. Cookies and cupcakes are crumbling under tough new dietary standards that outlaw their presence in public schools. Have bake sales become nutritionally irresponsible?... Read full article