Legal Research

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High Court Justices Underscore Importance of Open Criminal Trials

The National Law Journal

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday strengthened the right to public criminal trials, ruling in a Georgia case that jury voir dire proceedings should be open to defendants and to the public. Justice Clarence Thomas, joined by Justice Antonin Scalia, dissented, asserting that the case should have been decided only after full briefing and oral argument. Thomas also wrote that the ruling "belittles the efforts of our judicial colleagues" who have to interpret conflicting precedents on the issue.

See related story: Jurors' Risque Gifts to Judge Help Scuttle 11th Circuit Ruling Before High Court

Dreier Client Seeks Priority for $6.3 Million in Restitution

New York Law Journal

Paul Gardi, a former Marc Dreier client who claims he was cheated out of $6.3 million, has asked a federal judge to give him priority, ahead of "sophisticated" institutional investors, in receiving funds forfeited by Dreier. In a motion filed last week, Gardi's attorney distinguished Gardi as an individual client with no intention of turning money over to Dreier. "In essence, Dreier used his law license, rather than a ski mask and a gun, to steal $6.3 million in settlement funds," the motion alleged.

Big Tobacco Strategy Scares Off Potential Plaintiffs, Say Attorneys

Daily Business Review

Florida smokers who lose personal-injury suits against tobacco companies could be on the hook for the opposition's attorney fees under a settlement strategy being pursued by cigarette makers. Smokers' attorneys say the exposure to potentially tens of thousands of dollars in attorney fees is a tactic meant to intimidate their clients as thousands of liability cases go to court.

DOJ: Undercover Sting Nets 22 Arrests in Large-Scale FCPA Case

The National Law Journal

Nearly two dozen corporate executives and employees were arrested Monday in Las Vegas and in Miami in the first large-scale foreign bribery investigation using undercover federal agents, the Justice Department announced Tuesday. Officials said the defendants, including a vice president of sales at the firearm maker Smith & Wesson, believed they were bribing a foreign country's minister of defense through a sales agent to obtain contracts. The ongoing investigation began more than two years ago, the DOJ said.

Jurors' Risque Gifts to Judge Help Scuttle 11th Circuit Ruling Before High Court

Fulton County Daily Report

The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued an unsigned ruling in favor of the defendant in a Georgia death penalty trial in which, according to the opinion, the jury and the judge had ex parte contact; jurors and the bailiff had planned a reunion; and jurors had given the judge and bailiff some unusual gifts: for the judge, chocolate shaped as male genitalia, and, for the bailiff, chocolate in the shape of female breasts. The defendant will get another chance to press complaints about his trial at the 11th Circuit.

Former RRA Attorneys Face Possible Clawbacks as Staffers Try to Hang Onto Their 401(K) Plans

Daily Business Review

As jailed fraud suspect Scott Rothstein prepares to plead guilty to charges that he ran a $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme, bankruptcy attorneys are trying to collect on millions in loans and gifts given by Rothstein. An attorney for the receiver in the case said many attorneys are targeted for clawbacks to repay creditors and Ponzi scheme victims. On Tuesday, a former Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler attorney pleaded with a bankruptcy judge on behalf of lower-level employees to allow them to roll over their retirement accounts.

Calif. Law Firms Show the Way to Diversity, New Report Indicates

The National Law Journal

Can law firms across the country learn diversity lessons from California firms? The authors of a new report think so, pointing to statistics that suggest California firms generally do a better job of hiring and retaining female, gay and lesbian, and minority attorneys. Mentoring, the provision of several career tracks and an alternative viewpoint of grades' relative importance were among the elements of the firms' successful diversity campaigns.

1st Circuit Holds Mass. Winery Law Unconstitutional

The National Law Journal

The 1st Circuit has ruled that a Massachusetts law barring large wineries from directly shipping to the state's consumers runs afoul of the Constitution's commerce clause, which limits the states' ability to restrict interstate trade. Chief Judge Sandra Lynch also wrote that the Constitution's 21st Amendment, which gave states broad regulatory power over alcoholic beverages following the repeal of Prohibition, "cannot save [the statute] from invalidation under the Commerce Clause."

Sentencing Commission Eyes Probation for Federal Drug Offenders

The National Law Journal

The U.S. Sentencing Commission wants to let federal judges impose a sentence of probation for certain drug offenders if they participate in a substance abuse treatment program. In addition, the offender must have committed the offense while addicted to a controlled substance and the offense must have been a lower-level one. The proposed new guideline is one of several proposals that the commission recently published for public comment.

Sorting Out 'Caperton' in the Midwest

The American Lawyer

Wisconsin is about to join Michigan as the second state to sort out the thorny issue of recusal and judicial elections in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision last year in Caperton v. Massey, in which the Court found that judges should recuse themselves when a litigant's campaign contribution is so large as to create a high probability of bias. The two states are set to take very different strategies toward the issue.

Legal Angles Abound as Conan-NBC Standoff Nears Endgame

The American Lawyer

As the negotiations between NBC Universal and Conan O'Brien dragged on, various reports had O'Brien on the verge of nabbing nearly $40 million to walk away from the network. That would be quite a haul for a man roundly criticized for failing to have his lawyers ensure that his "Tonight Show" contract explicitly include an 11:35 p.m. start time. But it may well be that omitting a specific time has given O'Brien an upper hand in negotiations over the terms of his exit.

Suspect in Afghanistan Shooting Is Removed From N.Y. Courtroom After Outburst

New York Law Journal

New York federal Judge Richard Berman has walked a fine line between maintaining order and allowing Aafia Siddiqui to stay in the courtroom despite her repeated outbursts -- even though prosecutors and her own lawyers wanted her excluded. However, on Tuesday, Berman ordered the Pakistani-born Siddiqui removed after she rose and shouted, "You're lying!" at the government's first witness in her trial for allegedly grabbing a rifle and attempting to shoot U.S. military and FBI agents in an Afghani police compound in 2008.

Process Server Pleads Guilty to Fraud, Faces 1-Year Prison Term

New York Law Journal

The owner of a process serving business that put thousands of New Yorkers at risk of default by failing to notify them that they had been sued has pleaded guilty to felony fraud, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has announced. William Singler, the president of Lynbrook, N.Y.-based American Legal Process, admitted he had signed phony affidavits of service, swearing that court papers had been served on defendants in debt collection suits even though he knew many of his employees had broken the law.

Really Listening Can Help You as a Lawyer

The Legal Intelligencer

Consultant Frank Michael D'Amore asks, how many times have wonderful opportunities been sitting virtually in front of us throughout our careers that were never seen, let alone appreciated, because of an inability to listen to what was being communicated? He discusses the benefits of truly listening with an open mind. Do not assume that you have every angle covered and know everything in a particular situation, says D'Amore, noting that he's found these concepts especially difficult for lawyers to appreciate.

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Maintaining Balance While Growing a Solo Practice

The Legal Intelligencer

In law school and in practice, lawyers always talk about balancing acts, notes attorney David Koller. As a solo, there are two separate ones he thinks of all the time: balancing marketing and actual legal work, and balancing his private and professional life. Koller, who is in his first year as a solo practitioner, discusses his approach to marketing in this early stage of his solo career, and how his flexible schedule is helping him to maintain a better balance among work, play and family.

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