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LAWYERS CAN'T REVERSE BAIL FORFEITURE TO GET COLLECT FEE
"Two lawyers for a convicted child sex abuser who jumped bail were turned away on Monday in their novel attempt to have the bail forfeiture reversed in the interest of getting paid. Though Edward Wronko and Thomas Pavlinic argued that allowing them to recoup their fees out of the bail funds served the desirable purpose of providing criminal defense counsel at private expense, the Appellate Division, in State v. Parada, DDS No. 14-2-4004, said setting aside the forfeiture would undercut the very purpose of bail. The client, Angel Parada, whose case was featured on 'America's Most Wanted,' absconded between the jury charge and deliberations in January 2008, leading to his conviction in absentia."

ICLE OFFERS TO SERVE AS OFFICIAL TRACKER FOR MANDATORY CLE
"If continuing legal education is to be mandatory in New Jersey, there needs to be a system of monitoring compliance, and Institute for Continuing Legal Education wants to run it. The state Supreme Court is considering a recommendation by an ad hoc committee to require all attorneys to complete 24 hours of CLE courses over two years. William Dreier, chairman of ICLE's board of trustees, says ICLE has the computing capacity and the attorney database to take on the job, thereby making it unnecessary for the Administrative Office the Courts to hire additional staff at a time of workforce reduction."

LONGER TIME-OUTS FOR JUDGES CHARGED WITH DWI, DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
"Judges charged with or convicted of drunken driving or domestic violence will be subject to a longer period of disqualification from handling such cases, the state Supreme Court says. A directive released Monday provides that a municipal or Superior Court judge who is convicted of driving while intoxicated or of a domestic violence offense will be barred from hearing cases of those respective types for a full year from the date the sentence is imposed, or until all conditions imposed as a result of sentence are fulfilled, whichever is longer. The latest edict supersedes an earlier one that pegged the disqualification periods to the length of the underlying sentences."

SUPREME COURT TO HEAR 'BUSINESS METHODS' PATENT CASE
"The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday set the stage for a landmark decision on the patentability of 21st century creations from software to biotech ' an issue on which Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor could make a significant difference if confirmed. The justices agreed to review the case, Bilski v. Doll, a challenge to a ruling last fall by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit that narrowed the patentability of so-called "business methods,' shorthand for a broad range of processes not tied to manufacturing. The case will be argued and decided in the Court's next term, when Sotomayor may be in place on the Court instead of Justice David Souter."

THIRD CIRCUIT: PARENT CAN'T READ BIBLE TO SON'S SCHOOL CLASS
"In court battles over prayer in school, the cutting-edge cases are increasingly coming from kindergarten classrooms. In Busch v. Marple Newtown School District, the Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the claims of the mother of a kindergarten student who said public school officials violated her First Amendment rights when they prohibited her from reading verses from the Bible 'which she said was her son Wesley's favorite book ' during a program called 'All About Me' week. The judges said 'parents of public school kindergarten students may reasonably expect their children will not become captive audiences to an adult's reading of religious texts.' "

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