The New Jersey Supreme Court on Thursday issued a one-year suspension to a Newark lawyer who offered discounted fees to female clients or their family members in exchange for sexual favors. David Witherspoon might consider himself lucky. Two justices wanted him disbarred and said the court should set a bright-line rule like the one that mandates disbarment for trust-fund theft.

International law requires anyone receiving an SOS to “proceed with all possible speed” to help — a “duty to assist.” But despite cyber-attacks like the one that hit Google in China, there is no “duty to assist” on the internet. Temple University professors Duncan B. Hollis and David G

Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pa., filed a brief on behalf of himself and two other members of Congress on Wednesday in a closely watched human rights case testing whether foreign torture victims can seek damages in U.S

Bernie Bilski and Rand Warsaw were just a couple of “math geeks for hire” when they applied for a patent in 1997. The case over that patent application, set for argument at the Supreme Court today, has been touted as the biggest patent case in decades, with implications for inventions from software to medical diagnostics, not just so-called “business methods” like the one at issue. Warsaw said he’s “in awe” of the gravity of the dispute, which has drawn 67 amicus briefs from all business sectors and on all sides.

The current oversupply of new associates has sent law firms scrambling to implement short-term adjustments, such as secondments and deferrals. But the legal profession needs more than temporary half-measures, writes Harvard Law School’s Ashish Nanda.