Law firms that offer free cab rides on New Year's Eve are doing their community a good service. They're reducing the number of potential accidents by taking inebriated drivers off the road.

They're also receiving free publicity. 

Talk about a good way to land goodwill from potential clients.

It's a trend that seems to be growing. Many news outlets from across the nation have reported stories of do-good law firms sponsoring cab rides.

Cost-cutting attorneys beware: Taking advantage of law students' free access to Westlaw is unethical and could be a potential felony.

That's the conclusion of a recent Utah State Bar ethics opinion, as reported by the Legal Skills Prof Blog. Lawyers who encourage or require law students to use their free Westlaw accounts for firm work could face discipline and even criminal charges, the Bar committee found.

"Numerous students" have complained about this widespread practice, the Utah Bar's opinion notes, adding it really amounts to theft of services. Here's why.

White powder was found in a letter sent to a Florida state attorney's office.

Three individuals were hospitalized after being exposed to the substance last week. They were taken for treatment after suffering from headaches and vomiting.

Officials are unsure what the powder was. Preliminary testing was inconclusive. The substance was sent to a FBI lab for more testing.

Parts of the building were evacuated. Some were reopened after an air duct was sealed off. Authorities have declined to release information about the intended recipient of the letter and the sender.

If your law firm uses unpaid interns or paralegals, you won't want to miss this legal cliffhanger. A class-action lawsuit is trying to reel in the practice of unpaid internships, with a Hollywood film as the backdrop.

The lawsuit sets the scene: Two interns on the movie Black Swan say they were made to perform menial tasks -- taking out the trash, getting coffee, shuffling papers -- while Fox Searchlight Productions reaped the rewards of their work.

The interns say Fox Searchlight violated state and federal labor laws with regards to their unpaid internships. Fox denies the charge, and says the interns got what they came for -- a chance to break-in to the industry.

This isn't the first time unpaid interns have challenged their roles at work.

New Year, new rates? It's something your law firm may be considering for 2012 as the economy slowly improves. But what's the best way to implement a law firm rate increase without losing clients?

Experts say it comes down to communication, calculation, and timing. Here are some tips on how to handle each prong of the law firm rate increase test.

1. Communication

If you have specific reasons to justify your law firm rate increase, communicate those reasons to your clients. For example, perhaps your firm froze its rates when the recession took hold, out of respect for your clients' finances. Or perhaps your firm chose not to bill clients for de minimis expenses such as printing and scanning.

Attention immigration lawyers: Judges are watching you, and in about half of all cases, they don't like what they see.

A newly released survey of immigration judges in and around New York City finds immigration lawyers are often good at helping their clients avoid deportation. But about half of immigration attorneys are "inadequate" and often irresponsible, the judges say.

Immigrants facing deportation "are easy prey for ambulance-chasing-style lawyers who do not adhere to the highest standards of responsibility," federal appellate Judge Robert A. Katzmann, who spearheaded the study, told The New York Times.

An Illinois lawyer is pursuing an interesting strategy to cut down on the time he spends waiting for court. He's filed a federal lawsuit claiming unconstitutional discrimination against out-of-county lawyers.

Attorney Gary Peterlin of LaSalle County, Ill., claims courthouse procedures in Will County -- about 50 miles east -- violate the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment, Courthouse News Service reports.

Peterlin alleges that attorneys who are not members of the Will County Bar Association are forced to wait in long security lines and subjected to search just like members of the public.

Members of the Will County bar, however, are treated differently -- allowed to skip security screenings and enter the courthouse through a separate entrance, Peterlin's out-of-county lawyer lawsuit claims.

It's almost time to ring in the New Year with family, friends -- and a few New Year's resolutions for lawyers and law firms.

We're not talking about going to the gym or cutting back on greasy burgers -- we'll leave those personal resolutions to you.

Here are three New Year's resolutions for lawyers that we hope will resonate for your firm's bottom line in 2012:

Is the federal criminal code out of control? Experts told a House panel on Tuesday that it includes over 4,500 statutes -- that's in addition to another 300,000 agency regulations that impose other criminal sanctions.

Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R., Wis.) believes this is a problem, as the lesser known prohibitions often ensnare well-meaning citizens. He's thus proposed a bill that will reduce the federal criminal code by 1/3.

It's still over 1,200 pages in length.

When is a BigLaw partner not considered an "employee" under anti-discrimination laws? When he can't prove he was a "partner" in name only, a New York justice held in a recent ruling.

New York Supreme Court Justice Marcy Friedman dismissed an age-discrimination case brought by a former partner at Holland & Knight, a BigLaw firm in Manhattan with more than 1,000 employees.

Former partner John Weir sued H&K in 2007, accusing the firm of age discrimination, The Wall Street Journal reports. Weir, a "Class B partner" at H&K, was let go from the firm at age 55.