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An attorney already facing suspension of her law license for smuggling an alleged hit list out of jail for the former leader of Your Black Muslim Bakery committed other breaches of legal ethics never made public, according to interviews and documents. The state Supreme Court is considering whether to bar Lorna Brown, 66, of Berkeley, from practicing law for two years for her role for conveying a sealed envelope to one of Yusuf Bey IV's followers. Prosecutors say it contained a list of people Bey IV wanted killed to stop them from testifying in his 2011 murder trial for the...

An attorney who reportedly smuggled a witness hit list out of an Alameda County jail could soon be practicing law again after the state bar's proposed slap on the wrist and bungling by District Attorney Nancy O'Malley's office. Only the state Supreme Court can stop this travesty. In March 2010, while defending Your Black Muslim Bakery leader Yusef Bey IV in an infamous East Bay murder case, attorney Lorna Patton Brown repeatedly couriered documents for her client. She delivered one envelope to his common-law wife, who then delivered it to a parolee self-described as Bey's "number one soldier." On it,...

NEW YORK — Hundreds of millions of dollars of customer's money has gone missing from the brokerage firm run by former New Jersey governor Jon Corzine, sources told The New York Times. The New York-based company, MF Global, filed for bankruptcy Monday following bad bets on euro zone debt. The discovery of the missing millions stopped a last-minute deal to sell a major part of MF Global to another brokerage firm from going ahead, The New York Times reported. Corzine, 64, who once ran Goldman Sachs before becoming a U.S. senator and then governor of New Jersey, had been trying...

When it comes to his daily takeout lunch, attorney Peter Stuart Buchanan is a man of strict routine. He likes the same salmon from the same restaurant, always grilled on one side. He likes light olive oil, no salt, no pepper. He likes generous portions of carrots and green beans, and prefers them extra steamed. And he likes four potatoes on the side. But when unforeseen factors complicate his routine, serious consequences can ensue. Buchanan, 73, was charged in Marin Superior Court this week on allegations he drove through a construction barricade outside his favorite restaurant in Mill Valley and...

Two sheriff's detectives testified in Sacramento Superior Court today about four women who said they were inappropriately touched by their divorce lawyer, who has been charged with sexual battery. Detectives James Barnes and Anthony Brantley gave their accounts based on interviews with the four alleged victims in the case against attorney Gary Appleblatt. The testimony came in a preliminary hearing for Appleblatt. He is facing 10 counts of felony sexual battery, three counts of misdemeanor sexual battery and one count of forced sexual penetration. The detectives testified that the four women said in interviews that Appleblatt told them he had...

John Edwards is done. The pretty-boy candidate always was the biggest phony at any Democratic debate. He was the $400-haircut poster boy for poverty. The 28,000-square-foot mansion owner, who preached about global warming. The candidate who demanded that other Democrats swear off accepting contributions from Fox News baron Rupert Murdoch, after he pocketed a $500,000 advance - with an extra $300,000 for expenses - from Murdoch's Harper Collins. The man who ran as the doting husband of the cancer-battling Elizabeth Edwards while he was boffing an overpaid campaign aide. If I were a Democrat, I would be spittin' mad. If...

Ashland, Ky. (AP) -- Anti-tobacco lawyer Richard "Dickie" Scruggs has reported to a federal prison in eastern Kentucky. . . .for conspiring to bribe a judge with $50,000.

Collier refuses to put Moncier's suspension on hold - A judge who ordered a prominent Knoxville defense attorney suspended from practicing federal law has issued a fresh round of criticism, accusing the lawyer of unethical behavior and outright lying.Chief U.S. District Judge Curtis L. Collier on Friday issued a sternly worded ruling in which he refuses to put on hold a seven-year suspension of Herbert S. Moncier's right to practice federal law in East Tennessee pending Moncier's appeal.In that ruling, Collier accuses Moncier of legal misconduct, unethical behavior and even lying - after Collier put down his April 29 order...

Chief U.S. District Judge Curtis Collier today issued a ruling barring Knoxville attorney Herbert S. Moncier from practicing law in any federal court in the Eastern District of Tennessee. Collier also reprimanded Moncier for remarks made about "opposing counsel." Moncier's courtroom opponent, in the case before U.S. District Judge Ronnie Greer that landed him in front of Collier, is Assistant U.S. Attorney Neil Smith, but it was not immediately clear if it was Smith to whom Collier was referring. Collier issued an 80-page ruling setting out his reasoning. The order states that Moncier will be under "active suspension" for five...

In a medical malpractice case last week, plaintiff's attorney R. Sadler Bailey repeatedly called defense attorneys liars and told the judge her rulings could "set a world record for error." On Wednesday, Bailey was led from the courtroom in handcuffs after Circuit Court Judge Karen Williams held him in direct criminal contempt of court for those and other "unprofessional and inappropriate" remarks he has made over the two-year course of the case. "Much time was wasted because Mr. Bailey could not discuss issues in this case in the courteous and controlled manner that is expected of all attorneys and officers...

CHATTANOOGA - A prominent Knoxville defense lawyer who fought to shed light on back-door governmental deal-making has since January been fending off a secret move to bar him from practicing law in federal courts, the News Sentinel learned Thursday. U.S. District Chief Judge Curtis L. Collier in January filed under seal proceedings to strip attorney Herbert S. Moncier of his right to practice law in federal courts in the Eastern District of Tennessee, a move that if successful likely would take from him the ability to handle federal cases nationwide. Collier, who presides in Chattanooga, ordered every document filed in...

GEORGETOWN, Ky.—A public defender who was punched in court by a disgruntled client said Thursday he doesn't blame the man who gave him with two black eyes. The disorder in the court, captured on video, happened Monday at Scott County Circuit Court after the judge refused defendant Peter Hafer's request for a new attorney. Hafer, 30, of Cynthiana, told the judge he didn't trust his court-appointed lawyer, Doug Crickmer. As Crickmer began to tell Judge Rob Johnson that Hafer couldn't choose his public defender, Hafer landed the first punch. "I just couldn't take it anymore and I just snapped," Hafer...

A prominent Memphis lawyer has been hit with a second lawsuit by a former client accusing him of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars after gaining power of attorney. J. Richard Rossie is accused in a Chancery Court suit of writing unauthorized checks to himself from the account of client Phoebe Copeland, who had granted him power of attorney in 2001 to handle her estate, personal finances and other legal matters. According to the suit, Rossie drew at least 42 such checks between August 2000 and June 2007 totaling $346,667.43. The checks, which ranged from $1,000 to $40,000, were misappropriated...

<p>Which lawyer would that be? That would be Jay R. Grodner of Deerfield , Ill. I suspect his life has been made an absolute hell because of something he did a few weeks ago ... and that's the very least this prepuce deserves.</p>

Presidential candidate John Edwards is caught in a shocking mistress scandal that could wreck his campaign, The NATIONAL ENQUIRER has learned exclusively. Sources have come forward to charge that the "other woman" previously worked on Edwards' campaign and followed the 54-year-old candidate on trips across the U.S. A source close to the woman, whose name is being withheld by The NATIONAL ENQUIRER, says that she confessed to having an affair in phone calls and emails, saying that her work with Edwards soon exploded into romance. The shocking allegation — if proven true — could devastate the Democratic hopeful's campaign, especially...

New York (AP) -- A federal judge granted class-action status to a lawsuit alleging that Target Corp. is breaking California and federal law by failing to make its Web site usable for the blind. The plaintiffs fault Target for not adopting technology used by other companies to make Web sites accessible to the blind. The technology allows reading software to vocalize invisible code embedded in computer graphics and describe content on a Web page. Granting class-action status allows blind people throughout the country who have tried to access Target.com to become plaintiffs in the suit, which alleges violations of the...

FOR YEARS, few things terrified a Silicon Valley executive more than trial lawyer Bill Lerach. "Being Lerached" meant a courtroom showdown with the wily, ferocious lawyer, who usually extracted fat settlements from companies accused of stock manipulations. He moved mountains, collecting $7 billion for Enron shareholders. His law firm had a lineup of clients that included the UC Board of Regents and public pension funds in New York and Ohio. When a high-flying stock fell to earth, he was the go-to guy that investors used to get even. Companies caved, knowing insurance would cover much of it. Except his methods...

Los Angeles (AP) -- A New York law firm accused of paying kickbacks to plaintiffs in class-action and shareholder lawsuits said Wednesday that one of its partners will be indicted and more charges will be filed against the firm.

The federal courts are the latest to try to stop California attorneys from targeting small businesses for quick profits over minor infractions.The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals recently agreed with a lower court to curb the litigious ways of Jarek Molski, a disabled Woodland Hills man, and sanction his lawyer.Although this particular ruling involved a Solvang restaurant, it will affect similar cases throughout the U.S. Central District, which includes Orange County, and the Ninth District which includes seven states.Molski had sued more than 400 restaurants around California for violations of the federal Americans with Disabilities Act. He objected to...

NASHVILLE - Attorney and former Sen. Ward Crutchfield, who pleaded guilty to a federal bribery charge last month, won't be practicing anytime soon in Tennessee after being formally disbarred by the state Supreme Court. In the order issued Monday, Justice Janice M. Holder wrote that the 78-year-old Chattanooga Democrat "has consented to disbarment because he cannot successfully defend himself against the charges under investigation and has discontinued the practice of law." Under court rules, Crutchfield can apply for reinstatement in five years, but Jones wrote he would have to "prove by clear and convincing evidence" that he has the moral...

DETROIT (AP) -- Attorney Geoffrey Fieger, best known for representing assisted suicide advocate Jack Kevorkian, was indicted on charges of conspiring to make more than $125,000 in illegal contributions to the 2004 presidential campaign of Democrat John Edwards. The indictment was returned Aug. 21 and unsealed Friday. It names both Fieger and Vernon Johnson, a partner in Fieger's Southfield-based law firm.

Last year, the Association of Trial Lawyers of America decided that a few among their ranks had brought disrepute to the trial lawyers' reputation. So they decided to take a stand against the bad actors in their ranks and call for reforms to reduce outrageous lawsuits. If only. At last year's meeting, the trial lawyers instead decided the easier solution was a new name: the American Association for Justice, a moniker created to be, in their words, "about what we do, not who we are."

NASHVILLE - A judge Tuesday closed one door in legal attempts to deny expanded pension benefits to former Knox County Sheriff Tim Hutchison but left another open. Davidson County Chancellor Ellen Hobbs Lyle dismissed motions by Knoxville attorney Herbert S. Moncier seeking to revoke Hutchison's certification as a law enforcement officer. She based the dismissal on legal procedural rules without addressing the merits of Moncier's arguments, declaring he was trying to "resurrect" a lawsuit that is already dead in her court. At the same time, however, the chancellor noted in a five-page order that Moncier filed a second lawsuit last...

Memphis police are investigating allegations by a former topless club cocktail waitress that she was recruited as bait in a plot to blackmail Mayor Willie Herenton by luring him into a sexual rendezvous. The waitress, who has told her story to Herenton and Police Director Larry Godwin and who says she will file legal papers today, says the plot was never consummated. Advertisement Yet, Gwendolyn D. Smith has touched off an official inquiry with her account, contending that she's been paid as much as $18,000 -- money she says came from rich businessmen trying to smear Herenton, the city's first...

A lawyer who asked for a new murder trial for his client because the long hours in court made him too sleepy got a wake-up call Wednesday from the judge: No new trial. Defense attorney Charles R. Curbo had argued recently that he was not effective in his defense of client Tony Wolfe because his six-day trial in January went until 10 or 11 p.m. most nights. On three of those days, court did not start until 1 p.m. because Wolfe needed morning dialysis treatments. On the other days, court began at 10 a.m. A 1976 Tennessee appeals court ruling...

Savannah, Ga. (AP) -- The wife of Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards on Tuesday compared him to another North Carolina politician known for his blunt candor — conservative icon Jesse Helms. Elizabeth Edwards, speaking to reporters before a giving speech in Savannah, Gal., invoked the name of Republican Helms when asked if her husband could appeal to conservative Southern voters. "I remember one-time somebody saying, 'That John Edwards reminds me of Jesse Helms,'" she said. "They didn't agree on a single policy, I don't think. But here's what they agreed on — that people should know where they stood." Elizabeth...

A prominent Knoxville defense lawyer whose behavior at a recent court hearing has been deemed by a federal judge in Greeneville as criminally contemptuous is fighting back. Attorney Herbert S. Moncier, through his defense team of Ralph Harwell and John T. Rogers, is asking U.S. District Judge Ronnie Greer to reconsider his decision earlier this week to find Moncier in criminal contempt of court. But that's not all. The attorney also wants Greer booted off the bench and into the witness chair. He is asking that U.S. Attorney Russ Dedrick's staff be barred from the prosecution table and, if all...

As a hardworking intern at the San Francisco District Attorney's Office, young Ilya Movshovich had an eye on moving up. The volunteer became a paid law clerk, then this week announced he had passed the bar exam and intended to become a prosecutor. "Everyone was celebrating with him," said District Attorney Kamala Harris. "The folks at Caffe Roma across the street even gave him a free coffee." The party was over Wednesday afternoon, though, when Movshovich was dismissed after four years. A spokeswoman for Harris said the office, while interviewing the 26-year-old for his potential promotion, discovered he had not...

A federal judge today found a prominent Knoxville defense attorney guilty of contempt of his court. Greeneville U.S. District Judge Ronnie Greer issued a 28-page written opinion, deeming attorney Herbert S. Moncier guilty of contemptuous behavior during a Nov. 17, 2006, hearing. Moncier is expected to file motions later today asking Greer, among other things, to reconsider and remove himself from the bench. Moncier could face up to six months in jail and lose his law license. Greer's decision comes after a court hearing in April. At the time, Greer was going to rule but took under advisement proof from...

A federal judge today briefly ordered Knoxville attorney Herbert S. Moncier jailed for an allegation of contempt of court in Greeneville. U.S. District Judge Ronnie Greer ordered deputy U.S. marshals to take Moncier into custody on what’s known as a summary contempt charge after the prominent defense attorney allegedly disrupted a hearing by repeatedly interrupting the judge, speaking loudly in an attempt to silence the judge and being, in the judge’s view, overly argumentative. By leveling a summary contempt charge, the judge essentially opined that no other course of action would restore order in his court. The move came during...

Democrat John Edwards has eloquently established his credentials as an advocate for the poor with a presidential campaign focused on the devastating effects of poverty in America. But the former North Carolina senator's populist drive has hit a series of troubling land mines: a pair of $400 haircuts, a $500,000 paycheck from a hedge fund, and now a $55,000 payday for a speech on poverty to students at UC Davis. The problem now facing the Democratic presidential candidate is whether the pileup of headlines, including the latest regarding hefty fees from university speeches reported Monday by The Chronicle, threatens to...

The attorney for David Halberstam's family believes that the student who was driving the car in which the famed author was killed acted negligently and recklessly. But he is not surprised that a police inquiry completed this week, and announced last night, found no criminal action, although the district attorney has yet to rule. "I think it was a standard negligent automobile accident. He was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol -- it was appropriate that it not be brought as a criminal matter," Attorney Martin Garbus said Friday about the April 23 crash. But he added, "It...

Woman sneaks into prison for sex Thu Apr 26, 3:59 AM ET BALTIMORE - A woman pleaded guilty to using a false ID badge to enter a corrections facility while posing as an attorney so she could have sex with an inmate, state prosecutors said. Tiffany Weaver, 29, entered the plea Wednesday. She was charged with identity theft and use of false government identification after entering the Maryland Reception Diagnostic and Classification Center in November to meet with inmate Jason Moody. Moody is serving a 30-year sentence for manslaughter. Weaver arrived at the center with a Maryland State Bar Association...

NEW YORK, (AP) -- A civil rights lawyer convicted of helping an imprisoned terrorist sheik communicate with his disciples was disbarred Tuesday. The New York Supreme Court's Appellate Division denied Lynne Stewart's request to voluntarily resign from the practice of law. Stewart was convicted in 2005 of providing material support to terrorists. She had released a statement issued by one of her clients, Omar Abdel-Rahman, a blind sheik sentenced to life in prison for plotting to blow up five New York landmarks and assassinate Egypt's president. The appellate panel said Stewart became subject to losing her law license immediately upon...

LOS ANGELES - A lower court's decision to toss a $33 million jury verdict against the city and Budget Rent a Car was upheld by an appeals court. Jurors recommended the money be paid to Florida urologist Angelo E. Gousse, who filed a lawsuit in 2001 claiming he was manhandled by police when he was arrested for driving a rental car with stolen license plates. But Superior Court Judge Elizabeth A. Grimes tossed the jury award and the 2nd District Court of Appeal agreed there was insufficient evidence of emotional and physical injuries to support the large verdict. Gousse, who...

SAN DIEGO, (AP) -- An attorney who has made a living by alleging violations of access laws for the disabled has been fined more than $15,000 in fees and ordered to take legal-ethics training. Theodore Pinnock alleged violations of the federal Americans With Disabilities Act at a San Diego convenience store even though the store has been closed for more than two years, according to the order this week by U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Miller. Miller said Pinnock violated federal court rules by making allegations in his lawsuit without a "reasonable and competent inquiry." Pinnock was ordered to pay attorney...

NASHVILLE — A former Nashville attorney convicted of murdering his wife and plotting to kill her parents schemed to get himself transferred to a less secure Tennessee prison so he could escape, officials say. Perry March instead was moved to a maximum-security facility and placed in isolation, Dorinda Carter, a spokeswoman for the Tennessee Department of Correction, said Tuesday. Prison officials declined to say how they learned of the alleged escape plot, citing the ongoing investigation. One of March's lawyers, John Herbison, said he was skeptical of the claims by prison officials and questioned why they have refused to disclose...

Raleigh, N.C. (AP) -- The former prosecutor in the Duke lacrosse sexual assault case did not intentionally break ethics rules, his attorneys argued Wednesday as they sought to keep him from being disbarred. Attorneys for District Attorney Mike Nifong acknowledged that he made many of the comments the state bar deemed misleading and inflammatory. But they denied that Nifong intentionally withheld DNA evidence from defense attorneys — the most serious of the ethics charges faced by the veteran prosecutor. "A lot of people have been rushing to judgment on both the underlying case and this case," attorney Dudley Witt said....

A lawyer for suspected al-Qaida operative Jose Padilla violated a court order by leaking his wiretapped phone conversations, a judge found Wednesday while not imposing a penalty. Instead, U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke ordered all defense lawyers in the case to sign papers indicating they understood and would follow rules barring disclosure of certain evidence. Cooke also said she might hold in contempt anyone who receives such prohibited material, and she specifically mentioned several reporters attending Wednesday's hearing. "The lash is about to fall on all," Cooke said. "We're going to have a trial, as much as possible as we...

Moncier's lawyer says he didn't improperly obtain key testimony - When it rains, it pours. On that, prominent Knoxville defense attorney Herbert S. Moncier would no doubt agree. The real question is whether Moncier is the rainmaker or a lightning rod. Weeks after a couple of high-profile run-ins, Moncier is again wading in some hot water. This time, court records allege he may have violated a professional rule of conduct in sending to the witness stand a confessed cocaine supplier without notifying her attorney. But fellow attorney Ralph Harwell, who is representing Moncier in his other two legal entanglements, contends...