We don't usually get lots of "news from Israel" tips, but we have this week. Okay, we received two links to stories from Israel, but that seems like a lot compared to the usual zero.

The first story speaks to the dangers of Facebook. Sweet, seductive Facebook, you get us into trouble by making us want to constantly update our status message, addicting us to Scrabulous, and tempting us to post inappropriate photos that compromise national security:

A soldier from the elite Intelligence Corps unit "8200" was sentenced to 19 days in prison for uploading photos taken on his base without approval to the popular social networking site Facebook.

This is the first time the Israel Defense Forces has sentenced a soldier to military jail for an offense of this sort.

Maybe it's time to confiscate cameras from military personnel. Photos seem to get these folks into trouble. E.g., Abu Ghraib.

On to the second story. Beyond the Israeli link, there's really nothing in common. So let's just move on to the nudity.

Our tipster sums this story up well:

I'm not sure if you are aware of the Passover legal hubbub that occurred in Israel earlier this month, but it caused quite a stir among all Israelis and many American Jews. There was a long-standing ban against selling non-kosher-for-Passover food ("hametz," or leavened bread) on Passover in public places, which meant all supermarkets and restaurants. A couple weeks ago, the Israeli Supreme Court, which in my opinion is way too activist for its own good, did away with the law completely by taking away its only application: it ruled that supermarkets and restaurants are not public places.

All this is only mildly newsworthy to the general public, not necessarily ATL material.

But yesterday, some (arguably) legally savvy protester pulled a brilliant and hilarious move to get the attention of the courts. He stripped naked in a supermarket (wearing only a strategically placed sock) and called the police on himself and demanded they arrest him for indecent exposure. He wants this to go to court and he already has his argument: according to the Israeli court, supermarkets are not public places.

Happy Passover! Enjoy the matzah!

IDF soldier jailed for posting sensitive photos on Facebook [Haaretz]
Man strips in protest of bread sale during Passover [YnetNews]
Israeli Orthodox Jews angered over Passover ruling [Reuters]

Remember how victims of alleged sexual harassment by Bill Clinton claimed that inspection of the Article II member would confirm the truth of their claims, due to the presidential penis's distinctive appearance? We were reminded of those entertaining days, when the political was just so darn personal, by this story:

Graphic photographs of two defendants will be allowed as evidence in a rape trial Wednesday. The defense team argued to prevent evidence that includes photographs of their clients’ anatomies out of the courtroom. Defense attorney Robert Jenkins said his client and another man might have to expose themselves during trial.

“They say it helps the case because, allegedly, one perp is circumcised and one not circumcised,” Jenkins said.

If the foreskin has been slit, you must acquit.

Update: A reader submitted this alternative, by email: "If he had no bris, you must dismiss." (But we don't know if the defendants are Jewish.)

Court To Scrutinize Defendants' Genitals [WDSU.com]

As Justice Holmes famously wrote in his Lochner dissent, "The Fourteenth Amendment does not enact Mr. Herbert Spencer's Social Statics." But does it enact, say, Mr. Alan Flusser's Dressing the Man?

This doesn't affect us, since we usually don't put on pants before 5 p.m. But for those of you who do get dressed and leave home in the morning, check out this story:

Pine Lawn, a mostly black municipality outside St. Louis, is among a growing number of U.S. cities enacting laws that ban low-slung pants.

Critics say the bans amount to government attacks on youthful fashion that some find offensive. And constitutional scholars say they may not be lawful.

"People have a right to express their identity through speech and action," said Neil Richards, a First Amendment expert at Washington University in St. Louis. "On the other hand, municipalities have a vague power to control the health, safety and welfare of citizens.

Discussion continues, after the jump.

The story of Cordero v. Epstein -- the lawsuit filed by an aspiring model against prominent Wall Street financier Jeffrey Epstein, alleging that he took advantage of her when she was underage -- gets weirder by the day.

The New York Post reported that the model, Maximilia Cordero, was actually born a man -- one Maximillian Cordero, b. 1983. Cordero then sued the Post, filing as an exhibit with the court a birth certificate showing she was born a female. A number of you questioned the document's authenticity, pointing out various irregularities. And such skepticism made sense: Cordero, despite filing the birth certificate with the court, is not including the Post's claim that she's a transsexual in her lawsuit.

But even if it may not be the gravamen of her complaint, Cordero still wants you to know she's not a tranny. From a statement that William Unroch, her lawyer / roommate / possible ex-boyfriend, sent to the Daily Intelligencer (via Gawker):

Ms. Cordero will be happy to attend a televised nude settlement conference or celebrity charity benefit nude tea party with Rupert Murdoch and Lucifer Carne [a reference to Post reporter Lucy Carne] if the NY Post feels this would clear up the matter. Both Ms Cordero and Mr. Murdoch can appear nude and state their positions on this matter of grave public concern.

Hmm... Time for an ATL field trip?

More insanity, after the jump.

Remember Kyla Ebbert, the comely young woman whose sexy outfit was deemed too revealing for flight by Southwest Airlines? We mentioned her story in passing back in this post (fourth link).

Well, it seems that Ms. Ebbert is back in the news -- er, nude. From the AP:

A 23-year-old college student who was told by a Southwest Airlines employee that her outfit was too revealing to fly is wearing even less on Playboy's Web site....

Kyla Ebbert appears in a series of pictures — some in lingerie, some nude — under the heading, "Legs in the Air."

"They're very tastefully done," Ebbert told The Associated Press on Thursday. "I don't see anything wrong with the female body."

Indeed. And we're big fans of Playboy, which we read strictly for the articles (and the ATL shout-outs).

So what does Kyla Ebbert want to do with her life?

Ebbert worked at a Hooters in San Diego but said she wants to become an attorney, and doesn't think posing nude should get in the way of her professional aspirations.

"This was beautiful and classy. I don't see why it would affect a professional position," she said. "I'd do it again in a heartbeat."

Ebbert is absolutely right -- there's a long and distinguished tradition of law students posing in various states of undress. See here.

So, when's the application deadline for Miami Law?

Flyer told to change outfit poses nude [AP via Yahoo! News]

On some days, the posts just write themselves. From Blogonaut:

James Michael Shull is no longer a Virginia Judge, thanks to the decision of the Virginia Supreme Court that unanimously upheld his removal from the bench.

Shull’s misconduct on the bench included ordering a woman to pull down her pants in open court during a hearing—ostensibly to view a claimed injury—exposing everything not covered by a pair of g-string panties the woman was wearing.

If she was humiliated, she deserved it. What was she doing in a g-string? Everyone knows that acceptable courtroom attire is a sober black skirt suit -- with granny panties underneath.

Schull also decided child custody matters by tossing a coin in the air, initiated ex-parte contact with witnesses outside the presence of the attorneys for either side in a dispute, and was discourteous to litigants.

Independent of making them strip in open court, of course.

Judge Defrocked for Deciding Cases by Coin Toss, Making Woman Pull Pants Down in Court [Blogonaut]

Okay, CLSers, so NYU Law School has surpassed you in the U.S. News rankings. But here's some consolation: at least your law library is a zone of normalcy (as law libraries go, that is).

Late last year, NYU's law library was taken over by a mystery smell. And now it has a new problem.

Check it out, after the jump.

Time for a quick update on a past Lawyer of the Day Weekend. From New York Newsday:

A former Legal Aid Society lawyer pleaded guilty Wednesday to illegally using a hidden videocamera to spy on female co-workers as they changed clothes in their offices.

Peter Barta, 32, of Queens, used a camera hidden in a clock to videotape five co-workers in the public defense agency's Manhattan offices, recording at least one woman with her breasts and buttocks bared....

Barta, 32, pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful surveillance, a felony, in exchange for a conditional discharge. The case will be dismissed and sealed after he completes a year of counseling.

Barta will be automatically disbarred. But clerking doesn't constitute the practice of law, which is why you don't need to be admitted to the bar to do it. Maybe Peter Barta can land a clerkship with this fine jurist?

Legal Aid lawyer plead guilty in coworker voyeurism case [New York Newsday]
Voyeur lawyer pleads guilty to oogling co-workers [AP]
Inside the Apartment of a Peeping Tom [Gothamist]
'PEEP' LAWYER HAD KINKY TOY TROVE [New York Post]

* Mistrial in case against Muslim organization; retrial likely. [AP; New York Times]

* California wildfires lead lawyers to flee from their homes and offices... [The Recorder via Law.com]

* ... and may give rise to insurance battles, too. [CNN]

* Ex-stripper convicted in "Last Seduction" trial. [MSNBC]

* White House accused of doctoring environmental testimony. [MSNBC]

* Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-CA) retracts her expressions of concern over the prosecution of an L.A. councilman. [Washington Briefs]

We understand there are various websites -- websites that we won't mention by name or link to here -- in which people seeking hook-ups or other sexual encounters can meet similarly minded individuals. Site visitors typically post pictures or images of certain body parts, in order to entice other visitors into arranging an encounter.

Anyway, by clicking on the box below, you can see a funny photograph that was posted on one such site. We're inferring that the individual depicted is (1) horny and (2) a law student (maybe even a law review editor).

Please note that this image is NOT completely safe for work. Although it probably won't set off automated porn filters, since it's not a link to a pornography site, you do NOT want your co-workers to be around when you access it. Be sure to do so in the privacy of your own office. If you're in a cubicle, wait until nobody else is around.

Also, please note that this image was sent to us by a reader. We did NOT find it on our own, and we do NOT visit the website from which it was taken. Thank you. [FN1]

[FN1] Yes, we fully expect this to be received with skepticism by the peanut gallery of commenters. That's okay; serving as a piñata for anonymous commenters is part of our job description.

Update: In response to this comment, yes, the usual rules apply: please don't identify this individual in the comments (if, for some disturbing reason, you actually recognize him).

As many of you know, we're guilty of federal judicial snobbery here at ATL. We frequently mock state court judges, whom we regard as "icky," and contrast their regular misadventures -- ethical lapses, brushes with the law, messy personal lives -- with the generally upright lives of their counterparts on the federal bench.

But federal judges are people too -- people who get themselves into highly embarrassing situations. From Colorado's 9News.com:

Court documents obtained by 9Wants to Know show Colorado's top federal judge was too drunk to remember how he spent more than $3,000 at a strip club in two consecutive days. He also used an Internet dating service while he was married.

Judge Edward Nottingham is the chief federal judge in Colorado and he is held to the highest standards of personal and professional conduct.

Umm, yeah, this story is all kinds of awesome. Some of Judge Nottingham's conduct would make a drunken summer associate blush.

More after the jump.

We push forward with our series on summer associate screw-ups. If you have a tale to tell, please review our submission guidelines, and then email us.

In light of our earlier item about the bocce court at Venable, we thought this story would be apropos:

1. Superhero name: The Magnificent Mooner
2. Special power: Ability to destroy all hope for an offer in a matter of seconds.
3. Summered: Briggs & Morgan, "a few years ago"
4. Claim to fame: "Went lawn bowling (the Midwest equivalent of bocce) with the firm, after being ridiculously quiet all summer. After a day of drinking, culminating in his bowling the winning ball, he decided that the only appropriate reaction was to drop his pants in celebration."
5. What happened to him: "[A]n offer was not in his future."

We assume he didn't file a lawsuit over getting no-offered. But there is precedent for an accused mooner going to court, claiming overreaction to his overexposure.

(The usual rules apply. Please don't name the Magnificent Mooner or speculate about his identity. Thanks.)

Earlier: Prior ATL coverage of summer associates (scroll down)
Lawsuit of the Day: High School Wise Ass Claims He Got a Bum Rap

We continue our series of posts about summer associate misadventures. If you have an anecdote you'd be willing to share, please check out the submission guidelines, and then email us.

We're continuing with our theme of summer associates as superheroes. Move over, X-Men; make way for the X-Summers!!!

1. Superhero name: The Nekkid Sleeper
2. Special power: Drunken, semi-nude slumbering.
3. Summered: Baker & Hostetler, Cleveland, summer 2001
4. Claim to fame: From a Midwestern tipster:

"After a Saturday-night firm event, followed by a non-firm-sponsored night of drinking, The Nekkid Sleeper found himself stranded downtown without a car. It was after the rapid (light rail line) shut down for the evening, and he didn't have enough money for a cab, so he decided he'd crash in his office at the firm."

"One problem: That summer, the firm didn't have enough office space for all the summers, so every other week, the summers would have to rotate offices. This particular week, The Nekkid Sleeper's office was a cube in the firm's library. The Nekkid Sleeper stumbled up to the firm library, found a sofa, and passed out in a drunken haze. It was hot and humid, so he unconsciously (or so he claimed) removed his shirt sometime in the middle of the night."

"All was well until 6 a.m. Sunday, when a female partner who had a big upcoming trial wandered into the firm library to get a book -- and saw what she thought was a half-nude hobo, sprawled out on the firm's nice sofa...."

5. What happened next: "Rumor was that the incident happened about a week before the mid-summer reviews were to take place, and he got a stern lecture about inappropriate behavior... Word on the street was that he got an offer, but took a clerkship and then never returned to the firm."

(The usual rules apply. Please don't name the Nekkid Sleeper or speculate about his identity. Thanks.)

Earlier: Prior ATL coverage of summer associates (scroll down)

In the discussion about Peter Barta, the Legal Aid lawyer who allegedly made secret videotapes of his female colleagues getting dressed in the office, one question keeps coming up, again and again.

This comment is representative:

"[C]an someone explain why people are getting dressed/undressed at the Legal Aid office in the first place?"

We were curious ourselves. So we undertook an ATL investigation, contacting a few sources with firsthand knowledge.

If you're curious, the results of our investigation appear after the jump.

We continue to follow the story of Peter Barta, the Legal Aid lawyer who allegedly made secret videotapes of his female colleagues getting dressed. Tales like this -- along with associate pay raises, of course -- are the raison d'etre of ATL.

After we quoted a tipster stressing that Peter Barta did policy or cross-examination debate in high school, rather than Lincoln-Douglas debate, commenters argued vociferously over whether C-X or L-D debaters get laid more. One commenter helpfully provided a link to the website for alumni of the Stuyvesant High School debate team. Here's the entry on Barta:

Peter Barta '92 - Debated with Eric Yuen. Came back and coached for a while. "After NYU, I went to law school at Georgetown. Now, I work as a public defender with the Legal Aid Society in Manhattan. Essentially, I'm still debating." (3/12/03)

And still acting like a horny high schooler. And living at home with mom.

As it turns out, though, Peter Barta is not the Stuy policy debate team's most (in)famous alumnus. That honor surely belongs to Dick Morris, the noted political commentator and consultant.

Yes, THAT Dick Morris. The self-described "sex addict". And devotee of toe-sucking.

A new nickname for C-X debaters: C-XXX debaters?

Stuyvesant Policy Debate Alumni [official website]

The reader tips about Peter Barta, the Legal Aid Lawyer who allegedly made surreptitious videos of his female co-workers getting changed, are starting to flow into our inbox. From a former colleague:

I used to work at the Criminal Defense Division (CDD) in Manhattan with Peter Barta. He would sidle up to female co-workers, bragging about his fluent Hungarian: "Did you know that the only language related to Hungarian is Finnish?"

Uh, yeah, I'm not an idiot. And if I didn't know that already, I would have remembered from the seventeenth time you told me.

He would then mention, with no apparent self-consciousness, that he lived with his mother. Finally, he'd try to ask the girl -- not me, I was too rude to him -- out.

We're repulsed. But at the same time, we can't help wondering: Was Peter Barta just lonely and misunderstood? Could Judd Apatow, writer of The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up, write a screenplay that would make Barta appear sympathetic -- a lovable schlub, a la Ben Stone (Seth Rogen)?

Even our tipster has a soft spot for her former colleague:

Creepy as he was/is, what a sad way to end one's legal career. (Though I suppose he should have thought of that before he recorded "bare breasts and buttocks" on a nannycam.)

Ah, the Bartameter. We hardly knew ye ...

Food for thought: Would Peter Barta's clock / camera be covered by the Skadden technology allowance?

Earlier: Prior ATL coverage of Peter Barta (scroll down)

Yesterday we named Peter Barta our Lawyer of the Weekend. Here's what he allegedly did to earn this distinction, according to the NYDN:

A nerdy legal aid lawyer used a spy camera to videotape female colleagues changing their clothes -- until the women turned the tables and caught him red-handed, officials said.

Peter Barta, 32, bought a $179 gizmo from Sharper Image that looked like a desk clock but contained a motion-activated camcorder, prosecutors said.

He allegedly planted the clock in co-workers' offices and downloaded the racy images onto a tape seized at his Queens home.

We solicited information on Peter Barta from people who know him personally. One high school classmate had this to say:

I guess I'm not surprised that he resorted to these sorts of antics; he always seemed a bit strange. So sad that it's come down to this in his 30s!

I feel badly. He wasn't a bad guy, but I guess he was a bit off.

Peter Barta was described in news accounts as a master debater (hehe) at New York's elite Stuyvesant High School. Another ex-debater chimed in as follows:

Please point out to your readers that Peter Barta was a POLICY debater. Those of us who did L-D [Lincoln-Douglas] debate do NOT want the good name of our event tarnished.

If you have firsthand information about The Bartameter, please email us (subject line: "Peter Barta"). Thanks.

Update: More about Peter Barta appears here.

Earlier: Lawyer of the Weekend: Peter Barta

Do you know this man? His name is Peter Barta, and he's ATL's Lawyer of the Day Weekend. If you did what he allegedly did -- see here and here (plus more links collected below) -- you deserve to be honored on more than one day.

We're preparing a more detailed post on Peter Barta that we'll publish tomorrow. Right now we are collecting information about him from people who know him personally -- from high school (Stuyvesant High School in New York), law school (Georgetown Law), work (the Legal Aid Society), or any other context.

We've heard from a few folks, but we're hungry for more. If you have info to share, please email us (subject line: "Peter Barta"). Thanks.

Lawyer Accused of Secretly Filming Colleagues [New York Times]
Geek took secret pix of women - officials [New York Daily News]
'PEEPER'S' PORN STASH HAULED OFF [New York Post]
Legal Aid Peeping Tom: "Nice," "Has An Attitude" [Gothamist]
Jeepers, Creepers! [WSJ Law Blog]

[Thumbnail image. Click to enlarge. Photograph provided courtesy of Oona O'Connell.]

Today has been painfully slow, even for a Friday. Thankfully, we can always return to a subject that never fails to give a rise to our traffic: Oona O'Connell, the fabulously glamorous young lawyer who has graced the pages of Playboy.

Remember the ATL tipster who first informed us of Oona O'Connell? As you may recall, Ms. O'Connell was pretty pissed:

Oona O'Connell is my given name. It was the name my parents chose for me and I found it very hurtful to hear it described by your ignorant 'tipster' as coming from a 'porn-name generator'.

After reading our recent email correspondence with Oona O'Connell, the tipster felt bad -- and expressed his sentiments in an email.

Check out his message, after the jump.

Our email correspondence with the super-hot lawyer turned Playboy model, Oona O'Connell, continues.

A brief question-and-answer session, plus an uncropped version of this Oonalicious photo, after the jump.