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alanafsmith · 5 years

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#5JobsIHad: Social media trend sees lawyers reveal unusual previous careers

Christmas grotto elf, haunted house scarer, life drawing model and even a bouncer!

The path to legal practice isn’t always smooth sailing, with some lawyers pursuing very unconventional routes before eventually finding their way into the profession.

Legal Twitter has exploded with tales of lawyers’ unique paths into law. Using the hashtag #5JobsIHad, solicitors and barristers last night revealed the five jobs they held prior to their current post, and Legal Cheek has rounded up some of the best.

It wasn’t all paralegals and legal assistants as you might think. Rachel Law, criminal barrister at Goldsmiths Chambers, is a case in point. Proving that varied life experience is just as important as having stellar academic credentials to bag a career in law, Law revealed she held posts as a “medieval wench”, “Christmas grotto elf” and “haunted house scarer” before finding her place at the bar.

Interesting threads showing law (and other) students that varied life experience is just as important as good grades.

Five jobs I've had on my way to the bar:

1. Mobile phone sales 2. Mediaeval Wench 3. Christmas Grotto elf 4. Haunted House scarer 5. Mental Health paralegal https://t.co/LKHrXrZr9o

— Rachel Law (@crimcounsel) April 23, 2019

This was something fellow barrister Emmanuel Goldstein knows too well. “It’s vitally important, imho [in my humble opinion], for people entering the practice of law to have practical, real world experience outside of it,” he tweeted, before revealing his experience extends to “bouncer”, “book store clerk” and even “maître d’”!

It’s vitally important, imho, for people entering the practice of law to have practical, real world experience outside of it.

#5JobsIHad before law school:

1. Horse Show maintenance staff 2. Bouncer 3. Book store clerk 4. Communications manager 5. Maître d’

— Emmanuel Goldstein

(@ExitedBritain) April 23, 2019

Also sharing their top five unique career journeys were Dan Herman, partner and Leeds office head of litigation outfit Stewarts, and Ceri-Ann Taylor, solicitor at specialist medical negligence firm Enable Law.

5 jobs I’ve had:

1. Deli counter assistant at Gateway 2. Trolley boy at Safeway 3. Barman in a jazz club 4. Crew member at McDonald’s 5. Paralegal/Trainee Solicitor/Solicitor/Partner

How about you? https://t.co/y7zqEkn56K

— Dan Herman (@DanielJHerman) April 23, 2019

5 jobs I've had:

1. Washing up in local restaurant (for £2 per hour!) 2. Care assistant in nursing home 3. Bar worker 4. Carer for disabled in the community. 5. Trainee/solicitor

— Ceri-Ann Taylor (@ceri_cat) April 24, 2019

Laywers LegallyShort and CrimeGirl, who both tweet under an alias, shared their particularly unsual pathways to the profession:

5 jobs I've had:

1) supermarket checkout assistant 2)playworker 3) receptionist for the probation service 4) life drawing model 5) note taker for students with additional needs https://t.co/hIHAavmZHq

— LegallyShort (@LegallyShort) April 24, 2019

Five jobs I’ve had on the way to the Bar

1. Barmaid (handling drunk people) 2. Sales assistant @ luxury property developer (handling rich people) 3. Paralegal 4. Forensic MH worker 5. Solicitor https://t.co/SKCrXTdJp1

— CrimeGirl (@CrimeGirI) April 23, 2019

Chris Bowman, an associate at personal injury firm Minster Law tweeted he had previously worked as a fireman

Car park attendant Care assistant Warehouse operative Fireman Solicitor

— Chris Bowman (@bo20154709) April 23, 2019

While Kate Murray, a solicitor specialising in medical negligence at Minton Morrill Solicitors revealed her five includes working at the checkout at supermarket chain Asda. “I still hear the beeping now

” she quipped.

5 jobs I’ve had: 1. Worked on the sweet / cigarette counter in a post office 2. Kindergarten Assistant in Germany 3. Checkout at Asda – I still hear the beeping now

4. Call Centre for store card company 5. Solicitor https://t.co/ARi0si09pK

— Kate Murray (Eccles) (@kate_the_lawyer) April 23, 2019

Barman/barmaid, singer, waiter/waitress, shop assistant, sports coach and even “glass picker” made an appearance on some lawyers’ extraordinary CVs:

1. Barman 2. Bouncer 3. Waiter 4. Restaurant Manager 5. Costs Lawyer

— John Plunkett (@JohnPlunks) April 24, 2019

Jobs I had on my way to law firm owner:

1) Ceramics salesperson 2) Barmaid 3) Receptionist at caravan company 4) Spud-u-like 5) Barrister

& within 3 weeks of qualifying as a Solicitor I became joint owner of a criminal law firm which exists to this day (22 years later)

— Keima Payton (@KeimaPayton) April 24, 2019

5 jobs I have had:

1. Shop assistant in a clothes shop 2. Admin Assistant at the CPS 3. Admin Assistant at a Magistrates Court 4. Singer in a band 5. Solicitor at DLA

— Natalie Rodgers (@Natalie_Scala) April 23, 2019

1. Fast food chain worker 2. Waitress 3. Mobile phone salesperson 4. Sports coach 5. Solicitor

— Ashleigh Jane (@LittleMissRolo) April 23, 2019

5 jobs I've had:

1. Glass picker @ recycling plant (removing broken glass from conveyor belt of waste) 2. Waitress/ bar staff at the races 3. Supply teacher 4. Trainee solicitor/ solicitor/ associate 5. Mamma to my 10month old

I could list a lot more!

— Jenny Bowden (@JennyBowden) April 23, 2019

Summing up the series of tweets, Owen Franks, commercial property solicitor at Ashtons Legal, commented that “they show how varied the legal profession has become”, whereas before, “solicitor” and “partner” would be the only roles featured.

What I like about these lists is they show how varied the legal profession has become. Back in the day, the list for solicitors would have read:

1. Solicitor 2. Partner.

End of list.

— Owen Franks (@OwenComProp) April 24, 2019

Feel free to share your #5JobsIHad in the comments section below.

The post #5JobsIHad: Social media trend sees lawyers reveal unusual previous careers appeared first on Legal Cheek.

from All About Law https://www.legalcheek.com/2019/04/5jobsihad-social-media-trend-sees-lawyers-reveal-unusual-previous-careers/

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alanafsmith · 5 years

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BSB investigate after BPP ‘error’ left some BPTC students sitting ethics exam in ‘canteen’

Exclusive: The law school has apologised for the mix-up

The Bar Standards Board (BSB) has launched an investigation after a seating plan “error” resulted in a number of Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC) students at BPP Law School sitting an exam in what some have likened to a “canteen”. BPP has since apologised for the mix-up.

Wannabe barristers across the country sat an ethics exam, one of several assessments centrally assessed by the regulator, on the afternoon of April 8. However, Legal Cheek can reveal a number of part-time BPP students turned up to London’s ExCeL Centre where the exam was scheduled to take place at 2pm, only to discover they weren’t listed on the exam seating plan.

Exam invigilators attempted to rectify the blunder by hastily preparing an additional room nearby to accommodate the students in question — which unfortunately only led to further problems, according to our insiders.

One anonymous source described the extra room as a “canteen” with “glass walls which meant we had the full distraction of passers-by”. Meanwhile, another insider claimed the exam started over 30 minutes later than scheduled and that the room was so cold students were forced to wear their winter coats. “By the time the exam started most of us were frazzled and upset by the experience”, they told us.

Responding to the complaints, a spokesperson for BPP told Legal Cheek:

“There was an error in the arrangements for the set-up of the examination and for this we unreservedly apologise. As soon as the error was realised, an additional room was set up but unfortunately the start of the examination was delayed. The error will be reported to the BSB as part of the exam board processes.”

The BSB confirmed it was investigating, with a spokesperson telling us:

“We have received the invigilators’ reports and we have also received two informal complaints. We will be investigating the issues raised. It would not be appropriate to comment further at this stage. Any individuals who have concerns about the conditions of their examination rooms or administrative arrangements should raise these with their provider in the first instance.”

The 2019 Legal Cheek BPTC Most List

The post BSB investigate after BPP ‘error’ left some BPTC students sitting ethics exam in ‘canteen’ appeared first on Legal Cheek.

from All About Law https://www.legalcheek.com/2019/04/bsb-investigate-after-bpp-error-left-some-bptc-students-sitting-ethics-exam-in-canteen/

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Community order for junior solicitor who sent Bumble date abusive messages

Victor Kruchinkin described former flame as a ‘gobby ethnic from Zone 8’ after she ended relationship

A junior solicitor has been handed a community order after he sent a string of abusive messages to a woman he met online, including one in which he claimed he only had sex with her to punish her for “being fat and for having saggy t*ts”.

Victor Kruchinkin, who at the time was a lawyer at Adams & Remers Solicitors in Pall Mall, London, described Christiana Amao a “gobby ethnic from Zone 8” via Facebook after she called time on their brief relationship, CourtNewsUK reports.

Southwark Crown Court heard how they met through the dating app Bumble in December of last year and met on two occasions before Amao ended things.

According to the report, 32-year-old Kruchinkin then sent a number of messages to Amao, including one in which he said she was “lucky to still be alive” and another where he described himself as a “psycho”. In a further message, he reportedly wrote: “I f**ked you as punishment for wasting my time, for being fat and for having saggy t*ts, for having a loose p***y and for being overweight.”

Property law specialist Kruchinkin, who was admitted to the roll in January 2018, is said to have told Amao he’d created a false Facebook account to seduce her and she would never be able to trace him, the report adds.

Kruchinkin was arrested at work in January after Amao reported the messages to the police.

In a statement read to the court, Amao said: “I was unable to leave my house for the first few days for fear he was around the corner. I was extremely worried he would try and take my life. I believe that the crime was motivated by race because he used the N-word.”

The lawyer admitted a charge of persistently making use of the public communications network to cause annoyance or anxiety.

The report reveals Kruchinkin was originally sentenced to six weeks in prison, suspended for 12 months, along with 100 hours unpaid work and 25 days of rehabilitation activity. This, however, was later reduced on appeal to a 12-month community order, 100 hours of unpaid work and 15 days of rehabilitation activity. A restraining order that previously barred Kruchinkin from contacting Amao was also lifted.

Kruchinkin’s barrister, Tahir Ali, told the court: “He [Kruchinkin] did make a veiled threat. He met her on a dating website and he shared a night of intimacy with her. In relation to whether this offence was racially aggravated, it is my submission that it was not.”

Ali explained that Kruchinkin was diagnosed with Asperger syndrome which meant “he has a propensity to speak his mind without thinking through the consequences”, adding: “That may explain why Mr Kruchinkin wasn’t able to hold himself back — quite strange for a solicitor who worked for a commercial firm in the City.”

A spokesperson for the Solicitors Regulation Authority told Legal Cheek: “We are investigating before deciding on appropriate action.”

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The post Community order for junior solicitor who sent Bumble date abusive messages appeared first on Legal Cheek.

from All About Law https://www.legalcheek.com/2019/04/community-order-for-junior-solicitor-who-sent-bumble-date-abusive-messages/

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alanafsmith · 5 years

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Tim Cook said Apple's fight with the FBI in 2016 was a 'very rigged case,' and he wishes it went to court (AAPL)

Apple CEO Tim Cook was interviewed by visiting Harvard professor Nancy Gibbs at the TIME 100 event on Tuesday.

Gibbs asked Cook about privacy — since the last time they saw each other, Apple was in the midst of a privacy battle with the Justice Department over unlocking an iPhone.

Cook says we've come a long way since Apple opposed the Justice Department's order to assist the FBI in unlocking a terrorist's phone, but says he wishes the case went to court since discovering it was "a very rigged case to begin with."

Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

In an interview with Nancy Gibbs at the TIME 100 event on Tuesday, Apple CEO Tim Cook said he wished his company's fight with the FBI over the ability to unlock an iPhone had actually gone to court.

"Our battle was over whether or not the government could force Apple to create a tool that could put hundreds of millions of people at risk in order to get into a phone — and we said no, the law does not support the government having the authority to do that," Cook told Gibbs.

In December 2015, the FBI obtained an iPhone 5C from one of the two perpetrators behind a mass shooting in San Bernardino, California, that killed 14 people and injured 22 others. Police killed the two attackers in a shootout, so the FBI was unable to get into the phone it recovered, as it had a 4-digit passcode enabled. The NSA was unable to unlock it, however, so the FBI asked Apple to help build a new operating system that could be installed on the phone and disable its security features — something Tim Cook called at the time the "software equivalent of cancer." Apple opposed the order, citing the security and privacy risks it would pose to other customers, and a hearing was scheduled for March 22.

But just one day before the scheduled hearing with Apple, the government said it found a third party that could help unlock the iPhone, and delayed the hearing. The FBI formally withdrew its request to Apple one week later.

"I wish that case went to court, to be honest," Cook said on Tuesday. "It was dropped the day before, and now after the Inspector General reports have come out, our worst fears have been confirmed: that it was a very rigged case to begin with."

The Inspector General report Cook alluded to, which was published in March 2018, mentioned how "there were misunderstandings and incorrect assumptions" among people working on this case at the FBI, and that Apple's involvement wasn't actually necessary in the first place. The FBI has a Remote Operations Unit (ROU) that's responsible for handling mobile devices like these — and this is the same unit that ultimately figured out how to unlock the shooter's iPhone — but the FBI failed to get the ROU involved before issuing its order to Apple for assistance.

"This was not the government's finest hour," Cook told Gibbs. "I have personally never seen the government apparatus move against a company like it did here in a very dishonest manner. I felt like the naive guy that thought these things didn't happen. They were trying to prevent a discussion or a dialogue or a debate about this. I hope that we've advanced much further than that."

Cook said privacy has become much more meaningful to mainstream Americans now, and reaffirmed Apple's stance on why it's so important.

"In the world where everything is totally open, people begin to guard what it is they will say. Think about where society goes if we're afraid to tell each other our opinions — if we're afraid that somebody's listening, or watching, or monitoring, or we're under surveillance. This is a bad thing inherently in a very broad way, not to mention the manipulation that can go on with pitting different groups against each other."

You can watch Cook's whole interview with Gibbs from the TIME 100 event below (Cook's portion begins about 45 minutes into the video, since the event is still ongoing).

SEE ALSO: Apple will help rebuild Notre-Dame Cathedral after its massive fire, according to CEO Tim Cook

DON'T MISS: The 20 best iPhone tips and tricks to make your life easier

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Everyone's talking about foldable phones, but a few things need to happen before people start buying them

from All About Law https://www.businessinsider.com/tim-cook-apple-fbi-san-bernardino-very-rigged-case-2019-4

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Solicitor escapes with suspension over ‘modest’ cannabis farm

Makes a real hash of her career

A junior solicitor has been handed a six-month suspension after a small cannabis farm was found in her home.

Lancashire-based Michelle Davis escaped being struck off by a disciplinary tribunal after the panel accepted that the drugs weren’t hers.

Davis, 37 this year, qualified as a solicitor in 2012. At the time of the drug bust she worked for Adnan Hanif Solicitors in Nelson, Lancashire.

But her career took a turn in 2017, when police discovered a “well set up, but modest in scale, cannabis farm” in a bedroom at Davis’s address. The crop was worth between £11,000 and £16,000.

Davis, however, insisted that the dope belonged to her husband. She had “played no part in the setting up, cultivating, producing or growing of the cannabis”, which was not intended for resale.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) agreed, dropping most of the charges in exchange for David pleading guilty to permitting the production of drugs on her premises.

At Preston Crown Court, Judge Parry sentenced Davis to a community order rather than prison, but commented that “as a result of this conviction no doubt you will be [struck off]”.

Davis told the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT) that she fully accepted her wrong-doing and had “let people down including myself”.

Meting out a six-month suspension, the tribunal noted that Davis was not a “complete novice as a solicitor”, but had ‘fessed up to the conviction and hadn’t been dishonest. There were, the panel said, plenty of mitigating factors in the “one-off episode” for which Davis was genuinely remorseful. It also noted that no clients were harmed in the episode.

The post Solicitor escapes with suspension over ‘modest’ cannabis farm appeared first on Legal Cheek.

from All About Law https://www.legalcheek.com/2019/04/solicitor-escapes-with-suspension-over-modest-cannabis-farm/

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New innovation LLB sees Exeter Uni students spend a year at Reed Smith

Placement roles in global outfit’s London office up for grabs as part of four-year law degree

The University of Exeter and Reed Smith’s London office (photo credit: Philkai1)

The University of Exeter has teamed up with US giant Reed Smith to launch a new LLB with an innovation-focused placement year in the firm’s London office.

The four-year ‘legal placement’ degree is available to Exeter’s existing first year law students, who will be the first to participate in the “immersive” City placement, expected to take place in the 2020/2021 academic year.

The new degree aims to prepare students for increasing “growth in legal innovation and technology”. In particular, the course will address how tech-led change is altering the role of judges and lawyers; in addition to how tech can be used to widen access to justice, such as through online courts.

Students will then have the chance to put this knowledge to practice while working in Reed Smith’s London office — which is the largest of all 28 offices across the globe. During their time students will be sat within two of the firm’s practice areas and, with the support of their innovation hub and tech teams, will focus on designing new and improved ways of delivering legal services.

For now, up to five students from Exeter Uni will be chosen for the placement, which also comes with a guaranteed invite to Reed Smith’s training contract assessment day. If successful, candidates will have bagged one of the 25 training contracts currently offered by the firm each year. It remains unclear how much participants will be paid during their 12 months at the firm.

Professor Sue Prince, from the University of Exeter Law School and director of the programme, said:

“The aim of this programme is to deliver law training in a different and more innovative way, which meets the requirements of students and the legal industry. This is more than just a placement, it gives students a real opportunity to experience the world of law firms.”

This is the second time that Reed Smith has partnered with a Russell Group university to design a bespoke law degree. As reported by Legal Cheek, the US-headquartered firm teamed-up with Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) in 2015 to create a four-year sandwich degree — known as the ‘Law in Practice LLB’– that also included a placement year in Reed Smith and a guaranteed training contract interview.

Lucy Dillon, chief knowledge officer at Reed Smith, commented:

“Innovation is one of Reed Smith’s core values, and exciting initiatives such as these bespoke LLB courses with Exeter and Queen Mary form a key part of developing our next-generation of lawyers, with a well-rounded view of legal practice, innovation, available technologies and improved service delivery, all focused on a deep understanding of clients’ needs.”

The post New innovation LLB sees Exeter Uni students spend a year at Reed Smith appeared first on Legal Cheek.

from All About Law https://www.legalcheek.com/2019/04/exeter-uni-joins-forces-with-reed-smith-to-launch-new-innovation-focused-legal-placement-llb/

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British corporate lawyer killed in Sri Lanka attacks

Anita Nicholson confirmed dead, alongside her two children, while husband, a partner at Kennedys, survives

The Nicholson family

A British corporate lawyer and her two children were among hundreds killed in the Sri Lanka attacks over the weekend.

Anita Nicholson, managing counsel at Anglo American, a multinational mining company, and her two children, Alex, 14, and Annabel, 11, were fatally wounded in the bombing at the Shangri-La Hotel in Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka. Anita’s husband, Ben Nicholson, a partner in the Singapore office of international law firm Kennedys, survived the blast.

Anita, 42, studied law at the University of Leeds and spent two years at DLA Piper, before joining the Treasury as senior legal advisor. The Singapore-based lawyer joined Anglo American in February, according to her LinkedIn.

Ben, 43, confirmed his wife, daughter and son had been killed as they sat at a table for breakfast on Sunday.

In an emotional statement, Ben paid tribute to his “wonderful” wife and children. He said:

“Mercifully, all three of them died instantly and with no pain or suffering. I am deeply distressed at the loss of my wife and children. Anita was a wonderful, perfect wife and a brilliant, loving and inspirational mother to our two wonderful children.”

The statement continued: “Alex and Annabel were the most amazing, intelligent, talented and thoughtful children… They shared with their mother the priceless ability to light up any room they entered and bring joy to the lives of all they came into contact with.”

The death toll from the wave of bombings targeting churches and hotels has hit 310, including eight Britons, local police have said.

For a weekly round-up of news, plus jobs and latest event info

Sign up to the Legal Cheek Newsletter

The post British corporate lawyer killed in Sri Lanka attacks appeared first on Legal Cheek.

from All About Law https://www.legalcheek.com/2019/04/british-corporate-lawyer-killed-in-sri-lanka-attacks/

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BPP Law School scholarship fund exceeds £1 million for the first time

Several new awards up for grabs as part of expanded funding programme

BPP University Law School (BPP) has ramped up its scholarship offerings for the forthcoming academic year, with more than £1 million in funding now up for grabs.

One of the new prizes on offer is the Lord Holmes Scholarship, which is awarded to students who demonstrate a “unique and inspiring legal career journey”, “overcoming obstacles” or providing an “outstanding contribution to charitable causes.” Named after the chancellor of BPP University, Lord Chris Holmes, a former lawyer and Paralympic swimmer, the scholarship covers the full cost of the successful applicant’s postgraduate law course.

Other full fee awards up for grabs for the first time this year include the Dean of the Law School Scholarship, aimed at wannabe lawyers who demonstrate outstanding academic achievement, and the Future Leader Scholarship, available to students who show drive, ambition and outstanding leadership.

BPP’s rival, The University of Law (ULaw), also offers a substantial scholarship fund. Its full fee postgraduate awards include the Sadiq Khan and the Baroness Sayeeda Warsi Set for Success Scholarship, aimed at applicants from less-privileged backgrounds. Meanwhile, City Law School will dish out up to ten full fee and 100 partial fee prizes for the upcoming academic year. These are awarded on the basis of academic excellence.

Rounding off BPP’s new and improved prize list for this year are the Vice Chancellor and Pro Vice Chancellor Scholarships, full fee awards exclusively open to members of BPP’s LLB cohort who make outstanding contributions to the BPP student experience. The legal education giant also offers a Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL) scholarship for science students in partnership with the STEM Future Lawyers careers network.

Explaining how scholarships can provide a vital financial lifeline to students who would otherwise be unable to pursue their legal dreams, current Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC) student, Niamh Ingham, said:

“I was fortunate enough to receive support from the BPP scholarships fund which, alongside my Inns scholarship, allowed me to complete the BPTC without worrying about tuition fees. As a candidate from a low-income background, these scholarships were fundamental to my career and I look forward to commencing my pupillage in September.”

The law school confirmed that up to 200 Career Commitment Scholarships, worth £2,000 each, will also be dished out to the runners-up in each award category.

Andrew Chadwick, dean of BPP Law School, added: “The law is one of the most competitive sectors for graduates — and that isn’t going to change. However, we hope these targeted awards will help those with the ability, potential and drive to achieve their ambitions, regardless of their background.”

The post BPP Law School scholarship fund exceeds £1 million for the first time appeared first on Legal Cheek.

from All About Law https://www.legalcheek.com/2019/04/bpp-law-school-scholarship-fund-exceeds-1-million-for-the-first-time/

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Tuesday morning round-up

The top legal affairs news stories from the Bank Holiday

Teenage Extinction Rebellion protester “dragged by police” is “seeking legal advice” [Metro]

Google Chrome could swerve new UK porn block law for all users [The Sun]

Lawyer killed in Sri Lanka attacks [Sky News]

US Supreme Court to decide whether bias law covers gay and transgender workers [New York Times]

UK companies cut money set aside for legal claims [Financial Times]

A woman has accused India’s most senior judge of sexual harassment [BuzzFeed]

The latest comments from across Legal Cheek

Polly Higgins, lawyer who fought for recognition of “ecocide”, dies aged 50 [The Guardian]

Barristers, solicitors and paralegals urged to join single trade union [The Guardian]

Court rules Chelsea Manning must stay in jail for refusing to provide testimony in WikiLeaks case [Gizmodo]

Eve Cornwell reacts to Kim Kardashian studying law [YouTube]

Thread: A genuine question, how “good” are the law departments of said big four firms? [Legal Cheek Comments]

General release tickets on sale for the Future of Legal Education and Training Conference 2019 [Legal Cheek Events]

Win a return transatlantic flight to New York City in Legal Cheek and BARBRI’s vlogging competition [Legal Cheek Noticeboard]

The post Tuesday morning round-up appeared first on Legal Cheek.

from All About Law https://www.legalcheek.com/2019/04/tuesday-morning-round-up/

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A group of Microsoft and GitHub employees have come out in support of Chinese tech workers protesting the infamous '996' work hours (MSFT)

On Monday, a group of Microsoft and GitHub employees published an open letter to show their support for a project called 996.ICU, which protests a harsh tech working culture in China.

The name of the project is a reference to the idea that many tech workers work 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week, even though such practices are illegal in China.

Employees decided to publish this letter because they were concerned that Microsoft is facing pressure to take down this project.

Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

A group of Microsoft employees are speaking out to support an online protest in China over grueling, 12-hour workdays that organizers say are unhealthy, illegal and increasingly common.

About 20 Microsoft employees signed an open letter published on Monday in support of the so-called 996.ICU project in China.

Tech workers in China started the 996.ICU project in March on code-sharing website GitHub, which is owned by Microsoft. The numbers 996 refer to the concept of working from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week.

Such hours, the workers say, are illegal in China even though they say many employers in the country expect it of their workers. The name 996.ICU refers to an ironic saying among Chinese workers: "工作 996,生病 ICU" or "Work by '996', sick in ICU," as in the intensive care unit of a hospital.

The 996.ICU project is a repository of what is allegedly evidence of these working conditions, as well as a new software license designed to advocate for workers' rights. More specifically, any software project created under the terms of this license cannot be used by companies that break labor laws, per the language contained therein.

Monday's letter was signed by 50 tech employees altogether, including several from Google, urging Microsoft and GitHub not to remove the 996.ICU project from the GitHub site. Already, Chinese browsers from Tencent, Alibaba, and others have restricted or blocked access to the 996.ICU project, the Microsoft employees' letter said.

"We, the workers of Microsoft and GitHub, support the 996.ICU movement and stand in solidarity with tech workers in China. We know this is a problem that crosses national borders. These same issues permeate across full time and contingent jobs at Microsoft and the industry as a whole," the letter said.

Censorship

The 996 schedule has become a controversial topic. Jack Ma, the cofounder of Alibaba, recently described the 996 schedule last week as a "blessing" for young workers, according to Reuters.

A Microsoft employee who wished to remain anonymous told Business Insider that employees started this petition because they were concerned that Microsoft may be facing pressure to censor the project, in the wake of the alleged moves from Tencent and Alibaba.

"We must entertain the possibility that Microsoft and GitHub will be pressured to remove the repository as well," the letter said.

The Microsoft and GitHub employees who wrote the petition want to make sure that the project to keep the project remains uncensored and available to all, especially in China.

'

Developers outside China have supported this project as well. In less than a month, this project has garnered over 2,500 contributions from 533 developers. The project has also been starred nearly 230,000 times — a way for GitHub users to show their support or interest for a project.

Standing in solidarity

Pooya Parsa, an open source developer from Iran, helped translate the project to Persian. He said a "996" schedule is not common in Iran, but he has previously had experiences with overworking.

"I used to work on such schedule for 1 to 2 years which made serious health problems to me and stopping to pay attention to other daily living matters like family, body health and even improving programming skills," Parsa told Business Insider. "Forcing or even allowing developers to work on such schedule may help short-term success but it finally takes creativity, innovation, and motivation from them."

Read more: He led open source projects in Microsoft's early days of exploring it. Now he's returning as GitHub's new product head

With this letter, employees hope to make a larger statement on labor standards around the world.

"Another reason we must take a stand in solidarity with Chinese workers is that history tells us that multinational companies will pit workers against each other in a race to the bottom as they outsource jobs and take advantage of weak labor standards in the pursuit of profit. We have to come together across national boundaries to ensure just working conditions for everyone around the globe," the letter said.

SEE ALSO: Meet the programmer-turned-drummer-turned-lawyer who's helping open source startups stand their ground against Amazon's cloud amid a 'clash of ideologies'

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: This video shows the moment Sarah Sanders lied to a room full of reporters about FBI agents telling her they were happy Trump fired Comey

from All About Law https://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-github-employees-stand-up-censorship-china-996-work-schedule-2019-4

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Facebook hired a top State Department lawyer to be its new general counsel (FB)

Facebook has hired a new general counsel.

Jennifer Newstead, a top lawyer at the US State Department, is joining the beleaguered social networking firm.

She is replacing Colin Stretch, who has been planning to leave for nearly a year.

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Facebook has finally found a new general counsel — hiring Jennifer Newstead, a top lawyer at the US State Department, to fill the role.

The social network's previous general counsel, Colin Stretch, originally announced his intention to leave in July 2018. But as the California company lurched from scandal to scandal, he ended up staying on. He will continue to be with Facebook "through the summer to help with the transition," the company said on Monday.

Newstead most recently served as a legal adviser for the US State Department, "overseeing work on all domestic and international legal issues affecting the conduct of US foreign policy," Facebook said in a blog post announcing the news.

She joins Facebook at a time of extreme upheaval. Over the last two years the company has faced successive crises, from the Cambridge Analytica scandal to its role spreading hate speech that fueled genocide in Myanmar. Public attitudes towards big tech — and Facebook specifically — have soured accordingly, with increasing calls for stricter legislation or even antitrust measures.

"I'm excited to be joining Facebook at an important time and working with such a fantastic team," she said in a statement. "Facebook's products play an important role in societies around the world. I am looking forward to working with the team and outside experts and regulators on a range of legal issues as we seek to uphold our responsibilities and shared values."

On Monday, Facebook also announced a new vice president of global communications — John Pinette, the former VP of marketing and communications at Vulcan, who has also worked at Google and Bill Gates' Gates Ventures. He replaced Caryn Marooney, who announced her exit in February 2019.

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from All About Law https://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-state-department-lawyer-jennifer-newstead-general-counsel-2019-4

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alanafsmith · 5 years

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Meet the programmer-turned-drummer-turned-lawyer who's helping open source startups stand their ground against Amazon's cloud amid a 'clash of ideologies'

Open source licensing lawyer Heather Meeker, one of Business Insider's 100 people transforming business, has helped companies like MongoDB, Redis Labs, and Confluent write new software licenses.

These companies changed their licenses in response to cloud vendors like Amazon Web Services selling the software they created -- which is completely legal.

Meeker discusses the controversy around these licenses from advocates who say they go against the definition of open source.

Meeker helps open source software startups find a middle ground as they strive to create a business model that works.

See the full list of Business Insider's 100 people transforming business here.

Heather Meeker has seen her share of career changes. She's been a software programmer and a drummer in a rock band. Now, she's very likely the most prominent lawyer working specifically with the world of open source software.

She's made a name for herself as one of the top experts in the field, especially in the last year. Companies like MongoDB, Redis Labs, and Confluent turned to Meeker to help them write new, more restrictive licenses that prevent big cloud providers like Amazon Web Services, Alibaba, and Tencent from using their code freely.

She calls 2018 a "watershed year" for these new licenses, which sparked fierce debate in the open source software community. The companies in question argued that while it's completely legal for the big tech companies to take open source code and resell it as a commercial service for profit, it's not especially fair — especially since Amazon, in particular, is seen as not contributing enough code back to the open source communities in return.

"[These companies] were concerned about cloud providers free riding on their development efforts without sharing their modifications," Meeker told Business Insider. "They were concerned about sustaining a business and big companies were just using it for free and making a lot of money from making it available for others. They thought, that's a business problem for us."

The result, as we've seen over the last several months, is a dramatic industry-wide debate over the future of open source: Some companies have chosen to find new monetization models for open source, while others have doubled down and actually released their entire product line-up as open source code.

This all comes as investors flock to open source startups, in the wake of mega-deals like IBM's$34 billion acquisition of Red Hat and Microsoft's $7.5 billion GitHub buy.

Read more: A CEO is calling out Amazon Web Services for encroaching on his company's turf — and some experts are supporting Amazon

Besides her licensing work, Meeker is involved in the startup scene as a founding portfolio partner at OSS Capital, a VC firm specifically aimed at commercial open source software startups. She helps these startups with their business and licensing models, helping them solve a problem that's now decades-old: How do you make money with a business built on free, open source software?

"I've always understood that you could make money doing open source development, but there were a lot of people who were really skeptical for a long time," Meeker said. "You can make money with an open source business very effectively if you plan it properly."

"Flavor of the month"

Meeker graduated from Yale in 1978 and spent the early '80s as a programmer. Her degree is in economics, but she learned to program on her own as a child, picking up some basics from her computer scientist father.

"I was a nerd. I love technology all my life," Meeker said. "I learned about it at an early age which at the time was very unusual."

After five years as a programmer, she says she became bored. At the time, she was developing accounting applications, and felt that she had hit a roadblock in her career. So instead, she pursued what she says was her first passion, and became a musician. She was a drummer and a leader of a band that played blues, college radio rock, and anything people wanted them to play.

It was a good time, she says, but it didn't pay the bills.

"It's easy to explain why I changed from being a musician to a lawyer," Meeker said. "I wanted health insurance. It was fun, but it was not a career. Compared to other lawyers, I deeply appreciate the practice of law as a career because I've been through something much more difficult. I have loved being a lawyer much more than I expected."

She went into law school at UC Berkeley, thinking she would combine law with music and entertainment to become an entertainment lawyer. But soon enough, she realized interesting things were cropping up in technology law, and she changed course.

As a lawyer, she started off doing intellectual property and licensing. It wasn't until a couple years later when she discovered the niche field of open source licensing — open source software is, by definition, free for anybody to use and modify, but licensing is a crucial element that controls what's allowed and what isn't, legally speaking.

"I set out to learn all I could about it," Meeker said. "In any organization, if you learn a little bit more than the person in the next office, you're the expert. Then they came to me with questions, so I learned more about it. Open source to me is really an interesting thing to focus on."

Meeker expected open source to be like a "flavor of the month;" a fad that would eventually disappear. But it never did.

'A clash of ideologies'

Today, using open source is the rule in the modern software industry, rather than the exception, Meeker says. The world is embracing open source, and more clients have asked her about it. They wanted to use open source software, but they weren't sure how — and when she first started, most corporate counsels simply advised clients to stay away.

"I thought there has to be a better answer than 'no,'" Meeker said. "I thought there has to be a 'yes, if.' That's how I started my practice by trying not to say no. If you want to be a good business lawyer, you have to give your clients more practical and nuanced advice."

Generally, her clients want to make sure they're in compliance with open source licenses when they use or modify the code. Some clients want to learn how to set up a foundation to run an open source project of their own, or they may have a dispute over the interpretation of a license. Lately, she's been involved in writing new software licenses.

"Most open source licenses don't have any requirements until you distribute the software," Meeker said. "The advent of cloud computing has changed how people deploy software. A lot of people are asking what is that activity that invokes distribution of open source. There is some sort of doctrinal ambiguity about it."

These new licenses have been controversial, as free software activists argue that some of the licenses she's helped write go against the definition of open source. Meeker says she cannot comment on her clients directly, but that she only does what she's been asked to do.

Read more: An influential group sponsored by the Silicon Valley tech titans warns that efforts are underway to 'undermine the integrity of open source'

More broadly, Meeker says, open source startups are only seeking new ways to protect their business, and that change always comes as a shock to any community.

"Some software that was previously open source became not open source, so people didn't like that," Meeker said. "There was also a clash of ideologies. You have some people who are free software advocates who object to anyone who uses anything but a free software license, and you have businesses saying we can't sustain a business with a free software license."

A problem, she says, is that advocates, developers, and businesses may all have different ideas on what open source should be. For those advocates, open source is an ideal, while developers find it to be an easier way to work together on large software projects. Open source software-based businesses have to balance these principles, while also finding ways to make money.

In theory, these "ideologies," can't meet, Meeker says, but in practice, they're combined all the time. For example, most of these companies follow a so-called "open core model," which means that they have a free version of their software, and sell an enterprise version that carries more features for businesses and other power users.

Meeker says that it's important to find these moments of balance as a way to grow the overall open source community, commensurate with its outsized impact in the world.

"In open source world, there's a lot of philosophical debate that gets very contentious," Meeker said. "While it's important to air ideas and have debate, to people outside who are looking in and are not thinking about open source issues everyday, it's very confusing and concerning to them. I would like to see open source be a big tent instead of a little tent."

SEE ALSO: The leader of one of Google's most important cloud businesses explains why it took her 14 years of convincing to join the company

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from All About Law https://www.businessinsider.com/lawyer-behind-mongodb-redis-labs-new-licenses-discusses-open-source-2019-3

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alanafsmith · 5 years

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Facebook may have broken the law by harvesting 1.5 million users' email contacts, experts say (FB)

Facebook harvested 1.5 million users' email contact data without their consent, Business Insider revealed on Wednesday.

In doing so, Facebook might have violated US and EU laws, experts say.

The social network says it unintentionally collected the contacts and is now deleting them.

It is already under investigation by US regulator the FTC for potentially violating a consent decree.

Facebook harvested 1.5 million users' email contact data without their consent, and experts say that in doing so the company may have violated American and European Union laws.

On Wednesday, Business Insider revealed that the California social network had since May 2016 been scraping some new users' email contact books after asking for their email passwords to "verify" their accounts. Around 1.5 million users ultimately had their data taken without permission; Facebook says this was done "unintentionally" and it is now deleting the data.

Experts speaking to Business Insider on Thursday said that they believed Facebook's actions had potentially violated multiple laws — including a US FTC consent decree, the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) — the European Union's data privacy regulation — and while there would likely be a strong defence for Facebook, perhaps even the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), a US criminal statute involving computer fraud and abuse.

If their theories are accurate, and regulators ultimately decide to take action against Facebook over the issue, then it could further exacerbate the legal headaches facing the company, which has been battling scandals on multiple fronts for the past two years — from Cambridge Analytica's misappropriation of tens of millions of users' data to the social network's role spreading hate speech that fueled genocide in Myanmar.

A Facebook spokesperson declined to comment.

Facebook is already under investigation by the FTC

Since 2011, Facebook has been subject to a consent decree by US regulator the FTC (Federal Trade Commission), after it settled charges that alleged it had misled users over privacy issues. The FTC is now investigating Facebook over its subsequent privacy practices, namely the Cambridge Analytica scandal. The FTC is inquiring whether the incident violated the 2011 consent decree, and is reportedly close to negotiating a settlement with Facebook that may be in the billions of dollars.

Ashkan Soltani, a former chief technologist for the FTC, said he believed Facebook's actions with users' email contacts may itself have broken the terms of the consent decree if it was using the data. "In my opinion, Facebook's collection and use of users' address books would be another clear violation of the Consent decree and merit an investigation," he said.

"The FTC enforces unfair and deceptive trade practices. On its own, downloading and using users' address books under a deceptive pretext of 'security' would constitute a deceptive practice, even IF the company wasn't under order," he said, speaking in the abstract.

Dina Srinivasan, a Yale Law graduate who recently wrote a paper called "The Antitrust Case Against Facebook," argued that the company's behavior was potentially illegal "on the grounds that Facebook was deceiving consumers when it came to their data and privacy. This can be a violation of 3 things. (1) Federal antitrust laws. (2) Unfair competition laws which every state has a version of. (3) The FTC consent decree."

That said, it's not yet clear whether the FTC will ultimately attempt to take any action against Facebook on this issue, and a spokesperson for the organization didn't respond to a request for comment.

"There are so many different potential violations at this point that I don't know that FTC will investigate this latest ... particularly because it's under a lot of pressure to act on the Cambridge Analytica [incident]," said Sally Hubbard, the director of enforcement strategy at the Open Markets Institute, a research and advocacy group that focuses on issues around corporate power.

She explained that, even if this did constitute a violation, it would be difficult to investigate. "Once there's a revised consent decree in place, it will be hard for the FTC to go back and investigate any misconduct that came before it (depending on the terms of the negotiated agreement settling the claims — it likely will resolve all liability for violations up to the date it's agreed to)."

The Silicon Valley firm could face trouble in Europe too

In May 2018, the European Union started enforcing GDPR, its tough new data protection legislation. Facebook hasn't yet said if any of the affected users signed up in Europe after that data, but it seems extremely likely — in which case some believe Facebook may have fallen afoul of GDPR.

"It is especially problematic because it was not just data of the user being verified that was ... processed, but the personal data of their contacts too," London-based data protection researcher and Alan Turing institute fellow Michael Veale said in an email.

"It might just have been 1.5m users that were directly affected, but considering the number of unique emails that were harvested and the network information linking them, the total number of individuals affected is likely in the hundreds of millions."

He suggested there may have been multiple breaches of the law, including not informing users, and processing people's data for advertising purposes without informing them. "This could be construed as a general security breach, as Facebook were not aware their system was effectively compromised," he added.

The Irish Data Protection Commission, which is responsible for regulating Facebook's data practices in the EU under GDPR, said it's now in contact with Facebook over the issue and is considering its next move.

"We are currently engaging with Facebook on this issue and once we receive further information we will decide what steps to take," said Graham Doyle, the head of communications at the Irish DPC.

The question of intent

Julian Sanchez, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, discussed the possibility that Facebook had potentially violated the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act — which would veer into criminal territory.

"It's an offense under 18 USC 1030 to, among other things, intentionally exceed authorized access to a protected computer. A 'protected computer' is, for practical purposes, any computer connected to the Internet," he said. "So with respect to Facebook's access to users' e-mail contacts, the relevant questions are whether there's any viable argument that it was 'authorized,' which seems like a very hard sell when it's represented as being specifically for the purpose of authentication, and if not, whether the access in excess of authorization was intentional."

He added: "If we were talking about a rapidly-corrected coding mistake that had removed language about scraping the user's contacts, you'd have a plausible case for saying this was access in excess of authorization, but not intentional. But that becomes more difficult to buy the longer they were doing it."

Facebook says that the action was purely unintentional — that it previously notified users that it would be accessing their contacts, but a change inadvertently stripped that warning out. Such an argument would be a defense under the CFAA.

"Can they plead incompetence? In principle, though boy is that embarrassing," Sanchez said. "You'd need to look through internal correspondence to see whether anyone noticed the issue and Facebook decided not to fix it."

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