Hurricane Harvey, and then Hurricane Irma, proved to be the coming of age for social media as tools for court systems and the legal profession to deal with such emergencies.

Attorneys affected by hurricanes Harvey and Irma have risen to the occasion in ways personal, professional and altruistic, even when dealing with storm damage of their own. And four months after two hurricanes hit Puerto Rico, the situation for lawyers there is still hard to assess.

Virginia, Texas and New York forbid under-18 marriages, except for emancipated minors. Six more states will consider legislation soon. More than half of all states do not specify a minimum age for marriage.

Florida greyhound track owners can provide activities such as poker or slots as along as they keep running the dogs. Animal advocates and some track owners are looking to have this law scrapped.

Disability community activists use social media to spread the message of equality, opportunity, justice and inclusion. Disabled people and their lawyers use the law to guarantee websites, mobile applications, kiosks and other technologies are available and accessible to everyone.

Throughout many years, disability rights activism has flourished through programs that advocate independence and provide young people opportunities to discuss with peers how laws could improve their lives.

As younger attorneys flood the workforce and begin replacing the retiring baby boomer ranks, even the most conservative law firms are realizing the need to reshape corporate culture and embrace millennials’ tech-savvy, self-confident and flexible point of view.

DNA labs are using probabilistic genotyping to analyze hard-to-interpret samples. Some scientists and lawyers worry that the computer code behind these tools limits its reliability and hinders due process.

More than 25 states have amended their laws on zero tolerance in schools during the last five years.

Patricia Brown Holmes had become the youngest African-American woman to serve as a Cook County associate judge. Then she was told she might have only six months to live.