News Corp's Legal Department in Shambles; Search is on for General Counsel Amid Company's Mounting Legal Problems News Corporation, a diversified global media company with operations in various industry segments, has made sordid headlines in recent weeks amid allegations of employees 'phone hacking' to obtain stories. (533 views)
Newspaper Heirs Win Battle 08/30/07 Heirs of the Gannett newspaper fortune won a $1 million lawsuit against law firm Gunster Yoakley & Stewart when the 4th District Court of Appeals ruled in their favor. (532 views)
Case of the Dirty Pictures Without a murmur of comment or dissent, the Supreme Court last week effectively affirmed a sentence of life imprisonment imposed upon an Arizona man for possession of 20 dirty pictures. The court's indifference to the Constitution is arguably a more serious offense than the crime of Morton Berger. (526 views)
ABA Opines Lawyers Can Share Fees with Non-Lawyers in Alternative Business Structures This Monday, the ABA gave a historic ethics opinion: Formal Opinion 464: Division of Legal Fees With Other lawyers Who May Lawfully Share Fees With Nonlawyers. The opinion states that lawyers in the US may share legal fees under certain circumstances with ABS firms or law firms with alternative business structures, as in the UK. The UK model of ABS is new and paves a way... (525 views)
President Barack Obama has Nominated Iowa Federal Public Defender Jane Kelly to the United States 8th Circuit Court of Appeals Jane Kelly was born and raised in Greencastle, Indiana. In 1987, she graduated summa cum laude from Duke University and earned her J.D. cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1991. Jane began her legal career by clerking for the Honorable David R. Hansen on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. She also clerked for the Honorable Donald J. Porter of the... (521 views)
Las Vegas Attorney Indicted in $300 Million Market Manipulation Scheme Kyleen Cane, 59, an attorney from Las Vegas, Nevada was indicted with six other persons last week in a federal court in Brooklyn, New York. The ten-count indictment involved orchestration of a $300 million scheme to manipulate the market with the stocks of four publicly-traded companies. The FBI said in a press release that the defendants made profits by selling to elderly... (520 views)
Houston Ambulance Operator Sentenced to Eight Years for $2.4 Million Health Care Fraud Gwendolyn Climmons-Johnson, 54, owner and operator of a Houston area ambulance company was sentenced on Friday to 97 months in prison for her role in a $2.4 million Medicare fraud scheme. She had been convicted by a federal jury in Houston last year of one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and four counts of health care fraud. In addition to her prison... (516 views)
Exhibit will convey Maori culture through intricate weavings WAIWHETU, New Zealand - Erenora Puketapu-Hetet gathers flax and other grasses among her family's homes in the Waiwhetu tribal community, near Wellington, New Zealand. She uses her finds to weave baskets, cloaks and wall hangings in the traditions of her people, the native Maori. (497 views)
Class Action Lawsuit against Sun Mar Health Care On January 10 a class action lawsuit was filed against Sun Mar Health Care Inc., Sun Mar Management, and 18 of Sun Mar’s Californian skilled nursing homes by Warren Richardson on behalf of him and ''all California citizens who resided in, or are residing in, one of the company's California facilities from Jan. 8, 2005, through Jan. 5, 2008,'' says a press release. (496 views)
Live the life of a dolphin trainer, at least for a day LAS VEGAS - Next to the pool area at the Mirage Hotel is a dolphin habitat, where visitors can escape the traditional Vegas atmosphere - blinking lights, noisy slots - for a leisurely day watching the trainers interact with the majestic Atlantic bottlenose dolphins. The habitat's interlocking pools, with shimmering blue water and the ever-smiling dolphins, are as inviting... (491 views)
U.S. District Judge Todd Campbell Rejects Lawsuits Against Corps of Engineers Todd J. Campbell was born in Rockford, Illinois in 1956. He graduated with a B.A. from Vanderbilt University in 1978 and earned his J.D. from the University of Tennessee College of law in 1982. From 1982 to 1993, Campbell worked in private practice in Nashville, TN. From 1987 to 1988, he served as the deputy campaign manager for legal affairs and treasurer of Al Gore's... (487 views)
Back To The 10th Amendment in the case of Oregon's Right to Assisted Suicide Act The Supreme Court's 6-3 decision last week in the case of Oregon's Death with Dignity act was a double disappointment. Justice Anthony Kennedy's opinion for the majority was unpersuasive. Justice Antonin Scalia's opinion for the dissenters was unconvincing. And no one even mentioned the 10th Amendment! It makes you wonder what the world is coming to. (486 views)
Blenheim Palace: Britain's Versailles and Churchill's birthplace WOODSTOCK, England - ''This is the finest view in England!'' (485 views)
Scalia's Best Friend Is...Ginsburg? They seem like a natural pair of enemies. There are hardly two more opposite judicial philosophies than those held by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Justice Antonin Scalia. Both are on the US Supreme Court, and both pretty much represent the opposite ends of the spectrum. (484 views)
Former Beverly Hills Mayor Disbarred in California On Thursday, the California Supreme Court ordered the disbarment of former Beverly Hills mayor and Riverside attorney Charlotte Spadaro. The court also ordered Spadaro to pay close to $25,000 in restitution to several clients. (484 views)
Florida Law Grad Sentenced to Life for Murder of Girlfriend Jason Bohn, 35, a University of Florida law grad was sentenced to life in prison last week for murdering his girlfriend. At the time of the murder, Bohn’s girlfriend had an order of protection against him. The New York Post reported that Bohn cried so much during his sentencing that his nose began to bleed. (483 views)
The Extranet Trend: More Firms Sharing with More Clients The literature on law firm extranets doesn't reach into the distant past. In fact, it was only five or six years ago when commentators first began lauding the benefits of this latest Web-technology tool. Recent surveys show a marked increase in the use of extranets. Some analysts believe the increase is a direct result of law firm clients making increased communication... (482 views)
How to Sell a Senate Seat So you want to sell a senate seat? Yes, this could be a most excellent way for you to capitalize on the political ambitions of someone who doesn't want to waste time with that pernicious election process stuff. Selling your senate seat could be the way for you to make some big money quickly without having to work for it! (481 views)
Boulder's new hotel melds history, luxury and stylish design In 1944 when Ruth Gower bought the boarding house where she worked as a maid at 926 Walnut in Boulder, Colo., she saw possibility. A widow with a third-grade education, Gower didn't have enough money for the property, so she borrowed it - $1,600. Her dream was to create a hotel that would be ''the crown jewel of Boulder.'' (476 views)
Man Sues Salvation Army A man has filed a lawsuit against the Salvation Army for allegedly taking money from a dead man's bank account, even though money was left to the charity. (466 views)
The Steve Nodine Murder Trial Continues after 4 Days of Testimony Court adjourned on Thursday in a Bay Minette, AL courtroom in the murder trial of Steve Nodine. Nodine is standing trial for the May, 2010 death of his girlfriend, Angel Downs. Nodine's defense insists it was a suicide; however, the Baldwin County, AL District Attorney says she was shot to death by her married boyfriend, then-Mobile County, AL Commissioner Steve Nodine.... (465 views)
Understanding Stress and Attorney Relations Ask a hundred attorneys what stress is and you will get a wide variety of answers many of them quite close to the accepted definition. Stress is the reaction of your mind and body to some stimulus. It is a simple concept in its initial view but vastly complex in the exploration of the cause and effect. It would be wonderfully simple if a standard stimulus caused an exact... (464 views)
Judge Judy v. Versace: Who Are the Reigning Fashion Police of the Courtroom? With no official dress-code standard established for U.S. federal and state courts, many judges are taking it upon themselves to create and enforce their own sets of rules based on what they deem acceptable in their domains, whether it is sensible or flat-out discriminatory. Where should the line be drawn? Who should make the call regarding acceptable and unacceptable... (463 views)
U.S. Supreme Court Disbars Pennsylvania’s Don Bailey Controversial civil rights attorney Don Bailey was disbarred from practicing law by the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday. In December the U.S. Supreme Court had suspended Bailey from practicing law. Bailey had served as a U.S. Congressman for Pennsylvania from 1979 to 1983. He was also Pennsylvania’s auditor general from 1985 to 1989. Earlier, last October, the Pennsylvania... (463 views)
Best Kooky News Blogs Last week, a team of scientific researchers from Denmark and Germany revealed the results of a study evaluating astrology. They concluded that there are no identifiable scientific links among sun signs, birth dates, and predicting the future. But they didn't say anything about my Magic 8-Ball. As it is time again to unleash this week's law blog roundup, I will turn to my... (460 views)
Pennsylvania Superior Court Rules Deposition Break Conversations Are Privileged According to an unpublished memorandum, the Pennsylvania Superior Court has said that conversations that take place between attorneys and their clients during deposition breaks will be considered privileged. This is a significant development because it opposes a previous decision by Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Judge Howland W. Abramson. (459 views)
Forging Signatures to Spring Hubby There are many ways to get someone out of jail. Traditionally, smuggling a file in pie or getting them a pickax have been popular. (459 views)
Nixon Peabody Sued for Alleged Harassment Ex-associate Henry Har recently filed a suit against Nixon Peabody with allegations that while working in the Los Angeles office of Nixon Peabody he was sexually and racially discriminated against. In his eighteen–page complaint, he listed several specific alleged events which corroborate his claims. (458 views)
Willie Gary’s Law Firm Ordered to Pay $12.5 Million to LFG National Capital Willie Gary, Florida, is famous for winning multi-million dollar verdicts for clients, but defaulted on litigation finance loans. On Friday, U.S. District Judge David Hurd in Albany, New York, ordered Gary’s firm, Gary, Williams, Lewis & Watson to pay $12.5 million to LawFinance Group Inc, a company that provides litigation finance loans. A high-flying lifestyle beset by... (454 views)
Demand for Virtual Paralegals Growing What is a virtual paralegal? Also called a freelance paralegal, it's a professional legal assistant who performs 'virtual' support services for lawyers, law firms or in-house legal departments utilizing the internet, email, phone and fax on an as needed basis. (452 views)