While the gender landscape in the legal industry is certainly changing, there is an undeniable amount of work to be done to elevate women to positions of power in law, according to Inside Counsel. The law firm model has been culturally and professionally established by men, the article says, so there has naturally been a slow-moving course toward matriculating women into it, and making it one driven by both sexes. “Law firms can help by teaching their partners about implicit bias and its impact on staffing and promotion decisions and providing training for them to find ways to overcome the effects of this bias on the career development of women (and minorities),” says Cynthia A. Bergmann, chair of the executive committee of Chicago-based firm Freeborn & Peters LLP.

A New York appeals court has sided with prosecutors, finding that Facebook lacked standing to challenge subpoenas requiring the social media company to turn over all information in the accounts of 381 people. Only the individuals in question can challenge the subpoenas, but reportedly none have done so in the New York City disability-fraud case that resulted. It focused on more than 130 police officers and other public workers in New York City whose disability claims allegedly conflicted with information about life activities on their Facebook accounts, the ABA Journal reports.

Lawyers who claim the Happy Birthday song is in the public domain say, in a motion filed Monday, that newly disclosed evidence contains the “proverbial smoking gun” that proves the lyrics are no longer protected by copyright, the ABA Journal reports. The cited proof: A 1922 song book that included the Happy Birthday song without a copyright notice. The motion seeks a summary judgment ruling that the lyrics have been in the public domain since at least 1922, and copyright protects only specific piano arrangements of the song. The lawyers represent a documentary filmmaker who filed a class action lawsuit over a $1,500 Happy Birthday licensing fee. 

Lawyers and music lovers will dominate the downtown Chicago landscape during the American Bar Association Annual Meeting and Lollapalooza music festival this week. The annual meeting is the ABA’s largest gathering, with more than 5,000 lawyers and other attendees registering for the meeting as of late July. It gets underway Thursday. Lollapalooza, which will feature 130 musical acts, has become an economic behemoth every summer in Chicago. In 2013, it drew 300,000 attendees over three days and helped pump an estimated $120 million into the local economy. The ABA Journal has more.

A judge on Tuesday threw out a drunken driving case against freshman state Rep. Bill Beck, D-Nashville, on the basis that the police officer did not have reasonable suspicion to pull him over, the Tennessean reports. Beck was arrested April 17 after an officer said he spotted Beck's truck traveling with two wheels in the turn lane. Judge Phillip Maxey, who was brought in from Cheatham County to preside over the case, said dashboard video from the officer's patrol car did not show that Beck was veering, and that a "momentary observation" of the vehicle crossing the line did not rise to the level of reasonable suspicion for making the traffic stop.

William S. Lockett was reinstated to the practice of law on Monday (July 27). Lockett had been suspended on July 3, 2012 for four years, retroactive to April 13, 2010. Lockett, who was Knox County law director, had pled guilty to embezzling thousands of dollars in fees from his former law firm. View the BPR notice.

John Thomas Jones was temporarily suspended on July 24 upon finding that he misappropriated funds and poses a threat of substantial harm to the public. View the BPR notice.

Public support for life tenure for U.S. Supreme Court justices is decreasing, while the notion of allowing cameras in the court is more popular than ever, according to a new poll sponsored by C¬SPAN that was released Tuesday. Only 40 percent of adults agree with the Constitution’s requirement of lifetime appointments according to the poll, compared to 48 percent in 2010. Seventy-nine percent favor 18-year terms for justices, with the possibility of reappointment. A Reuters poll also released this week found 66 percent of respondents favoring 10-year limits for justices. The National Law Journal has more (sub. req.).

Sen. Rusty Crowe said the state needs a solution for public employees who don’t want to serve gay married couples based on their religious beliefs, the Johnson City Press reports. His suggestion is to allow those workers to pass off the interaction to a coworker. If every employee in a state office felt that way, however, the Johnson City Republican said he didn’t know what would happen but still feels those employees should be protected from termination or counseling.

Following the release of a report ranking Tennessee 36th in overall child well-being, Senate Majority Leader Mark Norris called on his legislative colleagues and the Haslam Administration to focus more effectively on the needs of the state’s youth. The Annie E. Casey Foundation this week issued a report ranking states based on four factors related to children: economic well-being, education, health, and family and community support. The Chattanoogan has more.