Note to Lawyers: Don’t Accept Sex As Payment

Legal fees can be expensive — but allowing clients to pay with sex, it turns out, is a no-no for lawyers.

A Florida lawyer named James Harvey Tipler has been disbarred by the state for providing legal services in exchange for, well, other “services.” Tipler evidently let an 18-year-old woman “work off her legal fees” by working it, so to speak, according to recently published reports.

How much is sex worth in the law world, you might be wondering? The woman’s bill, for an assault-related case, was said to be $2,300. Tipler, local media outlets report, credited off $200 each time she had sex with him — and $400 each time she arranged for another woman to have sex with him. That’s rather insulting to her, isn’t it?

Tipler pleaded guilty to soliciting prostitution. It didn’t stop there, though: An investigating board apparently found he also charged excessive (non-sexual) fees, altered evidence, arranged false testimonies, and actually stole money from clients.

World's Second Largest Wireless Carrier Kills International Roaming Charges

From June 1st, customers of Vodafone, the world's second largest wireless carrier, will be able to text and call from over 35 countries at no extra charge. Attention American carriers: Be more like this.

The service, called "Passport", will be available as a three-month summer trial for UK subscribers, and can be activated for free. Customers will be able to travel to just about any country that Vodafone operates in and tap into the minute and text allocations from their regular plan, or in the case of pay-as-you-go customers, call and text at their usual domestic rate. Data roaming still applies, but come July it'll be capped at about $1.40 per megabyte as per new EU regulations.

As someone who's stuck in concurrent T-Mobile contracts in two separate countries, we take this news kind of personally. Steep roaming charges make some sense when you're jumping between carriers, but they're stupidly frustrating when you're paying way more for services from a different arm of the same company.

This obviously doesn't mean much for Americans (although Voda does own a 45% stake in Verizon), but it does represent a precedent we should all push for. Aside from steep taxes (as in the UK), it's mainly plain old price gouging—of carriers by other carriers, or of customers by their carriers—that keeps prices so high.

United Airlines to Charge Overweight Passengers for Two Seats

Overweight passengers hoping to travel on United Airlines may have to buy two tickets to fly the friendly skies.

The third largest U.S. airline announced Wednesday that it will join other carriers and start charging passengers for two seats if they can't properly fit into one.

United made the change as a result of the hundreds of complaints it receives each year from customers who "had to share their seat with the oversized guest," United Spokeswoman Robin Urbansky told Bloomberg.com.

According to the airline, the policy will be enforced only in the event that the passenger can't be relocated next to an empty seat. If the flight is full, the passenger will have to change their ticket to the next available flight and purchase a second seat for that flight.

United is the fifth major airline to adopt a policy of this kind.

The new rule applies to tickets purchased on or after March 4, 2009, for travel on or after April 15, 2009.