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The Virginia Supreme Court has issued a ruling in the case of Casey v. Merck & Co. The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit had asked the Virginia court to rule on two issues regarding Virginia law and a statute of limitations for class actions. A class action was filed ...

Madison - Republicans in the state Senate did not use talking points that told lawmakers to ignore public comments about new election maps, their leader said Tuesday. "I've never seen that and no other member of my caucus has seen that," Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) said Tuesday when shown a copy of the talking points. "It wasn't put together for me." The talking points appear to have been produced in June by Adam Foltz, an aide to Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald (R-Horicon) who helped draw new election maps. The talking points said Republican lawmakers should ignore comments other...

Trial attorneys use obscure labor law that sees retailers facing millions in damages. Retail store operators may want to sit down for this one — if they can find a chair. Nearly every national chain is under legal attack in California for failing to provide “suitable seating” for cashiers and other employees who are expected to spend most of their work day on their feet. Enterprising trial attorneys by the dozen are using an obscure California labor law requiring retailers such as Wal-Mart, Home Depot and Target to have enough seats on hand for their workers.

Two attorneys for the House ethics committee have been placed on indefinite “paid administrative leave” stemming from serious problems within the secretive panel. Morgan Kim, the deputy chief counsel and the lead attorney on the case of Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), is one of the attorneys placed on leave, said several sources familiar with the controversy. Stacy Sovereign, another committee lawyer, was also put on leave, these sources said. Blake Chisam, the chief counsel and staff director for the ethics panel, initially sought to fire Kim and Sovereign on Nov. 19, but was unable to do so.

2 House ethics attorneys suspendedBy JOHN BRESNAHAN Updated: 11/30/10 9:21 PM EST Two attorneys for the House ethics committee have been placed on indefinite “paid administrative leave” stemming from serious problems within the secretive panel. Morgan Kim, the deputy chief counsel and the lead attorney on the case of Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), is one of the attorneys placed on leave, said several sources familiar with the controversy. Stacy Sovereign, another committee lawyer, was also put on leave, these sources said. Blake Chisam, the chief counsel and staff director for the ethics panel, initially sought to fire Kim and Sovereign...

Judicial Watch has filed suit against the Department of Justice for failure to respond lawfully to the non-profit watchdog group's Freedom of Information Act request for documents concerning the government's policy of giving funds from settlements obtained in civil right discrimination suits to outside groups with no connection to the cases. ~snip~ Judicial Watch's FOIAs were sparked by two cases in which the government directed millions of dollars from settlement funds to groups with no official link to the cases. In the first case, a California landlord was accused of discrimination by prospective Korean tenants. The landlord denied the charges,...

The state of Arizona executed a convicted murderer on Tuesday night despite objections from attorneys that the state would use a non-approved drug from overseas for the lethal injection. Just hours before Jeffrey Landrigan's death, the Supreme Court voted 5-4 to lift a stay issued by a federal judge to halt the execution. "There is no evidence in the record to suggest that the drug obtained from a foreign source is unsafe," the Supreme Court said Due to a U.S. shortage, the state turned to a non-FDA approved drug. It was later revealed that the source was the U.K., although...

Bankers are facing new rules over bonus payments. Within hedge funds there has been a move away from the previously entrenched "two and 20" system; and financial advisers are moving towards a fee-based, rather than transactional, model as a result of the Retail Distribution Review. It might seem an odd statement from the chief executive of one of the world's largest law firms, but the legal profession is well behind the curve; lawyers and legal firms need to evolve and embrace the changed market conditions. While there will remain some circumstances where the billable hour is justified, my firm conviction...

Note: The following text is a quote: www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/seniors-across-america-host-local-meetings-participate-health-care-tele-town-hall-m Home • Briefing Room • Statements & Releases The White House Office of the Press Secretary For Immediate Release June 07, 2010 Seniors Across America to Host Local Meetings, Participate in Health Care Tele-Town Hall Meeting with President Obama Senior Obama Administration Officials to Attend Local Meetings WASHINGTON—On Tuesday morning, senior citizens across the country will gather at a series of local meetings to participate via phone in a national tele-town hall meeting on the Affordable Care Act with President Barack Obama. Additionally, more than a dozen senior Obama Administration officials will...

In late breaking news this evening after the historic passage of Obamacare through the House of Representatives by Democrats over bipartisan opposition, many state attorneys general held a conference call in which it was decided that they would file a multi-state suit alleging the newly-passed Obamacare is unconstitutional immediately after President Barack Obama signs the act, which is expected on early next week. Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott broke the news on his Facebook page: Just got off the AG conference call. We agreed that a multi-state lawsuit would send the strongest signal. We plan to file the moment Obama...

Numerous Republican state attorneys general announced Friday that they are prepping to file a federal lawsuit protesting the so-called “deem and pass” procedural maneuver and coverage mandates in the health care bill. Democrats regard these threats as stunts designed to scare off votes as the House approaches a vote on health care. Attorneys General Henry McMaster of South Carolina – who is head of a group of 19 GOP attorneys general that started threatening lawsuits in December – and Bill McCollum of Florida said Friday that they are planning legal action over a deal struck between Senate leadership and Sen....

When the ABA gathers for its annual meeting in Chicago on July 30, the organization's board of governors will weigh a key question: How does the association get membership climbing again? The board will receive a presentation from its marketing consultant Leo Burnett Co. Inc., which was hired in March to aid in spreading the ABA's message to more lawyers. The association has never pursued a marketing effort of this magnitude, said current ABA President H. Thomas Wells Jr. **** The recession, expansion of law firms, rise in industry competition and controversy regarding the judicial review process have conspired to...

It has come to my attention that there have been allegations that conservatives hate the idea of legal aid and indignant defense. Allegations that the republican party wants to prevent the poor who can't afford a lawyer from getting one when they are accused of a crime or suffer civil injustice or whatever. Thoughts of a poor single black mother wrongfully accused in a court with rich plaintiffs with 7 digit salary attorneys all alone against a complicated legal system also come to mind. Relax. It isn't true. In fact it has been found in some cases to be the...

CAMDEN, New Jersey (Reuters) – Five Muslim men accused of planning an attack on a U.S. army base had no intention of following through even though they shared Muslim anger toward America after September 11, defense attorneys said on Tuesday. The men, all born outside the United States, plotted but did not execute an attack on Fort Dix in New Jersey and discussed attacks on other installations including Dover Air Force Base in Delaware and the U.S. Coast Guard in Philadelphia, prosecutors say. They were arrested in May 2007 and face life in prison if convicted. In closing arguments after...

Sen. Ted Stevens’s legal team and federal prosecutors traded sharp barbs Friday, with the defense accusing the Justice Department of “gamesmanship” and the government arguing that the Alaska Republican was seeking special treatment in the case. In an emergency motion filed Friday morning to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, defense attorney Robert Cary complained that the more than 1,000 potential trial exhibits that the government submitted Thursday night would cost them “multiple days merely to identify the exhibits the government would use against [Stevens].” He said that the electronic format made it nearly impossible for the...

Swearing, after-hours drinking part of staff culture Sunday, April 27, 2008 3:34 AM By James Nash and Alan Johnson THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann cultivates a casual work atmosphere, employees say.Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann cultivates a casual work atmosphere, employees say. John Estheimer remembers it as the strangest job interview of his 30-year career. Trying out for the position of Attorney General Marc Dann's personal assistant in February, Estheimer said the Dann aides who interviewed him kept coming back to the question of whether he could tolerate an atmosphere of frequent vulgarity and sharp elbows. During...

The thing is, Eliot Spitzer is a crook. I’m not referring to the current prostitution scandal. I’m not referring to the scandal last year involving his senior aides and the leaking of confidential police information to the Albany Times Union. I’m not referring to the threatening phone call he made to the august John Whitehead, retired head of Goldman Sachs, who had the temerity to question a case Spitzer was building against an old friend of Whitehead’s. I’m referring to his conduct dating back to 1994, when he designed a complex scheme involving loans and real estate and collateralized apartments to evade...

Attorney-Client Privelege Kept Them From Speaking Up Before Man Spent 26 Years In Prison Alton Logan has spent the last 26 years in jail on a murder conviction that's now being called into question. Two local attorneys kept a secret for more than a quarter of a century. They knew about a wrongful conviction, but could not say anything. CBS 2's Dorothy Tucker reports they finally told their story on "60 Minutes" Sunday night, and went to court Monday. Alton Logan has spent 26 years behind bars for a crime he didn't commit. In 1983 he was wrongly convicted of...

The federal investigation into the firing of nine U.S. attorneys could jolt the political landscape ahead of the November elections, according to several people close to the inquiry. Washington’s attention has been diverted from the scandal since the August resignation of Alberto Gonzales as attorney general, and has focused instead on Democrats’ efforts to hold White House officials in contempt for ignoring congressional subpoenas to testify on Capitol Hill about the firings. But recent behind-the-scenes activity in several investigations suggests that the issue that roiled Congress in 2007 could re-emerge in the heat of the election year. Two inquiries by...

PHOENIX - No penalties, but some criticism from a judge over the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office's failure to let defense counsel know to how to access their jailed clients. To save money, Sheriff Joe Arpaio in November cut off all jail visits after 2:30 p.m. But defense attorneys, probation officers and interpreters complained that it denied them access to defendants, who in turn had a constitutional right to legal counsel. After three weeks of hearings, Superior Court Judge Anna Baca ordered the original hours be restored to the attorneys and staff making "privileged" visits. The order did not include the...

Have racial preferences reduced the number of black lawyers? Three years ago, UCLA law professor Richard Sander published an explosive, fact-based study of the consequences of affirmative action in American law schools in the Stanford Law Review. Most of his findings were grim, and they caused dismay among many of the champions of affirmative action--and indeed, among those who were not. Easily the most startling conclusion of his research: Mr. Sander calculated that there are fewer black attorneys today than there would have been if law schools had practiced color-blind admissions--about 7.9% fewer by his reckoning. He identified the culprit...

In another apparent effort to prepare Marylanders for looming tax increases, Gov. Martin O'Malley released a recorded statement to radio stations suggesting corporations and higher-income earners will be among those asked to pay more. "When given a choice between decline and progress, the people of Maryland always choose to make progress," O'Malley (D) says in the message, which runs more than two minutes and was sent to more than 50 radio stations, an aide said. "Together we can overcome the deficit in our path, and we can get our fiscal house in order in a way that improves our state...

RALEIGH, N.C. - In his time off between presidential bids, Democrat John Edwards courted Wall Street financial gurus and Main Street labor leaders. But when it comes to the money backing his second campaign, the wallets of wealthy attorneys who propelled the former trial lawyer's first run for the White House still open more than most. More than half of the Edwards donors who listed their occupations said they are attorneys, and they have given seven times more than any other profession, according to an Associated Press analysis of campaign finance data. By comparison, New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton...

A Jacksonville mother filed suit Monday against Orange Park Medical Center after she developed complications during pregnancy that left her permanently disabled. Natasha Meeks said her health problems started during the first trimester of her third pregnancy with frequent bouts of severe vomiting. She was hospitalized Jan. 12, 2006, after her condition showed no signs of improvement. Doctors at Orange Park Medical Center treated her for malnutrition, but it was later discovered she was suffering from far more than the aftereffects of vomiting. She said she first knew something was out of the ordinary when she went to a bathroom...

TITUSVILLE, Fla. — Death row inmate Mark Dean Schwab is a "scientific mystery" who should be spared execution so he can be further studied to prevent other pedophiles from raping and killing children, his attorney said in a motion for clemency. Schwab, 38, was sentenced to death for the 1991 kidnapping, rape and murder 11-year-old Junny Rios-Martinez of Cocoa. Schwab, who had recently been released from prison for raping another child, targeted Junny after seeing his picture in a newspaper. "As long as he's alive he is available for psychological research, examinations and evaluations, which could in the future prevent...

Law Firms Preparing to Sue Over Global Warming Posted by Noel Sheppard on June 26, 2007 - 09:22. And now for something completely insipid… As the media and their alarmists like soon-to-be-Dr. Al Gore have shamefully convinced enough of the population that man can actual control the climate, law firms around the nation are gearing up to sue possible offenders. I kid you not. As reported in Monday’s Dallas Morning News (h/t NBer alamojb, emphasis added throughout): Top Dallas firm Thompson & Knight started a dedicated climate-change practice June 4 with 26 lawyers. Today, Dallas' Vinson & Elkins will unveil...

If the President had said what Hunter just said, there would be no issue about the firings today. None.

A group of Democratic senators plans to introduce legislation reversing a new law allowing U.S. attorneys to live outside the districts they are appointed to serve. Sens. Dianne Feinstein (Calif.), Charles Schumer (N.Y.), Max Baucus (Mont.) and Jon Tester (Mont.) plan to drop a bill Monday that will undo a provision inserted into last year’s Patriot Act reauthorization. That language, included at the Department of Justice’s request, allows U.S. attorneys to live outside their districts if the attorney general gives them dual or additional responsibilities. The senators’ planned bill would require that U.S. attorneys reside in the district they are...

An all-female law firm is turning heads in Chicago with a new billboard and a blunt message: "Life's Short. Get a Divorce.'' The billboard, sponsored by Fetman, Garland & Associates, Ltd., a firm that specializes in divorce cases, features the six-pack abs of a headless male torso and tanned female cleavage heaving forth from a black lace bra. The ad is the brainchild of Corri Fetman, who told ABC News' Law & Justice Unit, "Law firm advertising is boring&Everything's always the same. It's lawyers in libraries with a suit on and the law books behind them. They don't say anything....

In moves designed to, yet again, work towards placing members of the Bush Administration (specifically the Left’s favorite whipping boy — political aide Karl Rove) in jeopardy, Democrats and their supplicant RINOs have launched their latest of an increasing number of investigations into anything and everything that is “Bush and Republican”. This time it is a Democrat attack against the firing of a number of US Attorneys in an attempt to have Attorney General Alberto Gonzales fired and top Bush officials grilled by a Democrat-run investigatory committee. This seems eerily reminiscent of the old USSR politburo. First, allow me to...

That J. Timothy Griffin's appointment to U.S. attorney in Little Rock would draw the ire of Democrats is not surprising, but wholly unfortunate. His political work has diverted attention from impressive government and military service. It could be that Democrats have payback on their minds. When Griffin worked as an associate independent counsel investigating Henry Cisneros, Bill Clinton's secretary of Housing and Urban Development, he might as well have signed over his life to the devil. Griffin's legal work on allegations of obstruction of justice by a sitting U.S. government official is laudable. But Democrats no doubt read the words...

5:45 P.M. EDT THE PRESIDENT: Earlier today, my staff met with congressional leaders about the resignations of U.S. attorneys. As you know, I have broad discretion to replace political appointees throughout the government, including U.S. attorneys. And in this case, I appointed these U.S. attorneys and they served four-year terms. The Justice Department, with the approval of the White House, believed new leadership in these positions would better serve our country. The announcement of this decision and the subsequent explanation of these changes has been confusing and, in some cases, incomplete. Neither the Attorney General, nor I approve of how...

(2007-03-18) — Embattled U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales made a conference call Friday to the nation’s 93 U.S. attorneys to express his “profound regret” that he didn’t “fire every last one of you when I had the chance,” according to an unnamed source who was in on the call. The contrite Mr. Gonzales said he was sorry that only eight U.S. attorneys had lost their jobs, thus sparking a Congressional probe into accusations that the Bush administration “played politics” with political appointees. “If we had canned the lot of you, like President Clinton did when he took office, no one...

WASHINGTON - The recent firing of eight U.S. attorneys has raised questions about how they are appointed and the circumstances under which they may be dismissed. Here are some questions and answers: Q: What do U.S. attorneys do and how many are there? A: U.S. attorneys are the federal government's equivalent of local district attorneys. They are charged with prosecuting federal crimes in the judicial district in which they serve. There are 93 U.S. attorneys, one for each U.S. district court (except that Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands share a federal prosecutor). Q: Who gets these positions? A: The...

I'm rubber, you're glue ... A neighbor's house was burning -- I smelled the smoke and ran over. "Your house is on fire!" I yelled. He gave me a dirty look. "Oh yeah?" he said. "Well your lawn needs mowing." That didn't actually happen. Not literally. But it is the best illustration of what passes for reason among too many in this country. On Monday I wrote about the dismissal of eight, count 'em, eight United States attorneys by the Bush administration, all on one day, all with claims that their work was somehow substandard. Their work was not substandard,...

WASHINGTON - Democrats are moving to compel some of the eight U.S. attorneys who have been ousted to tell their stories publicly, under oath, after a federal prosecutor claimed he was fired for political reasons. A House subcommittee is slated to vote Thursday on subpoenas for four of the eight dismissed U.S. attorneys. The Senate Judiciary Committee, meanwhile, will send letters to those fired before voting next week on compelling their testimony, according to officials with both panels. The prosecutors have privately told both committees that they would not testify voluntarily but would honor a congressional subpoena, according to Sen....

Business for Valley defense attorneys is booming. Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas has been cracking down on criminals since 2004, and public defenders have scrambled to keep up as prison populations have swelled. “When Thomas came in, caseloads started going up much more,” said Tempe defense attorney David Cantor. He said the trend started with former Maricopa County Attorney Rick Romley, but attorneys saw a distinct caseload change with Thomas. The number of criminal cases filed in Maricopa County Superior Court has risen every year since at least 2001. County prosecutors filed more than 28,000 criminal cases in fiscal year...

A New York lawyer is suing a leading London hotel after he and his wife were attacked by bed bugs. Sidney Bluming and his wife Cynthia are seeking several million dollars in damages from the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group in the action filed at the US District Court, Manhattan. The couple claim they suffered hundreds of bites that left their skin red, swollen and itchy during a five-day stay at the Hyde Park hotel last May. They also say the bugs infested their luggage, which led to further problems in their apartment when they returned home. Mrs Bluming claims the...

It started out as a who's who of Twin Cities law firms joining forces to lure minority attorneys to Minnesota. But the Twin Cities Diversity in Practice group set off a tempest when it excluded a firm that handled a pair of landmark U.S. Supreme Court cases challenging affirmative action. The group's leaders said letting the Minneapolis law firm of Maslon, Edelman, Borman & Brand join the effort would hamper its mission: to make the bar more racially diverse. "Would this law firm participating in our effort help or hinder us to do what we are trying to do?" said...

While Texas plaintiffs lawyers have been leaving in droves from nursing-home and medical-malpractice litigation in the wake of tort reform, San Antonio’s Glenn Cunningham is still doing it—albeit with a radically different business model and a much thinner wallet. Before the 2003 changes in state law, Cunningham would round up seven or eight experts, take 15 to 20 depositions and easily spend $85,000 to $100,000 to work up a case. Apparently, the effort persuaded defendants they had problems on the facts and the law, because he often settled for $1 million to $3 million. But with new restrictions on medical-malpractice...

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) -- A federal judge has halted the sale of federal oil leases on a portion of Alaska's North Slope that environmentalists have pinpointed as a haven for migratory birds and calving caribou. The decision Monday blocks the sale of about 1.7 million acres that the Bureau of Land Management had planned for Wednesday. The sale would have included the Teshekpuk Lake area, which sits above 2 billion barrels of recoverable oil. Environmental groups have argued that a 600,000-acre section of the reserve at Teshekpuk Lake contains some of the most important wetlands in the Arctic. The decision...

The U.S. attorney’s office today joined in warning attorneys that they would be fined if they violate federal law barring unsolicited communications with family members of Flight 5191 crash victims. “We are also concerned that victims’ families may be subjected in this time of grief to unsolicited, and thus improper, communications concerning the accident by attorneys and law firms seeking to obtain clients for subsequent litigation,” said U.S. Attorney Amul R. Thapar. Until 45 days after a plane crash, federal law prohibits attorneys from contacting victims’ families about possible personal injury or wrongful death lawsuits. A $1,000 fine can be...

FRANKFORT, Ky.-The state's highest court suspended three attorneys Thursday over questions about how they divided a $200 million settlement over the fen-phen diet drug. The ruling by the Kentucky Supreme Court came after a lower court judge found that the Lexington attorneys breached their duty to about 440 clients they represented against drugmaker Wyeth. The plaintiffs were among tens of thousands who sued Wyeth, which pulled the fenfluramine half of fen-phen off the market in 1997 amid reports that some users had heart valve damage and a few had a deadly lung condition. Fen-phen was never an FDA-approved combination. The...

NORTH COUNTY ---- Civilian attorneys hired by eight Camp Pendleton men accused of murdering an Iraqi civilian in Hamdania have years of legal experience, including many gained during long stints in the military. One of them, Carlsbad-based attorney David Brahms, is a retired brigadier general who, when he left the service in 1988, was the Marine Corps' top-ranking attorney and had been counsel to the commandant. Jane Siegel of San Marcos, another of the attorneys tapped for the case, once served as the chief for all Marine Corps defense counsel. They and seven other private attorneys, many of whom spent...

  Courting Chaos: Senate Proposal Undermines Immigration Lawby Kris W. Kobach WebMemo #1083 May 17, 2006 |   | Once again, the Senate Judiciary Committee has rolled out a massive amnesty for more than 11 million illegal aliens. Rewarding aliens who have violated federal law is bad enough. However, the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act (CIRA, S.2611) does much more than that. Buried deep inside the bill—beginning at page 540—are provisions that would radically alter our immigration courts, making them far less likely to enforce and implement the law faithfully. Not surprisingly, these items have not caught the attention of...

The lawsuits the shop owners have received by mail or hand delivery in the past two weeks contain virtually identical claims that their businesses are not hospitable to disabled people. In a letter accompanying the lawsuits, Pinnock offers each owner the option of settling by correcting the problems and paying him $10,500. The owners are outraged, and some say they'll fight back. “He's picked the wrong person to mess with,” said Mike McKany, owner of Alpine Liquor. McKany and others are banding together to figure out how to deal with the lawsuits. The Alpine Chamber of Commerce is holding a...

LOS ANGELES (NNPA) - A change has come over Johnnie Cochran's law firm, which Los Angeles' Black community has loved for lo, these 43 years - and not necessarily a change for the better. Longtime attorneys and staffers who help build the Cochran legacy are gone and have not been replaced, and White people are occupying leadership positions in his law firm that did not exist before he died March 30, 2005. What is going on in Cochran's Wilshire Boulevard 10th floor suite, and why it's going on is a tale of two versions: The spin from the two African-American...

When Sen. Jim King took questions during a recent appearance at the Jacksonville Meninak Club, he could have been asked about anything. But tort reform was an issue that he knew would come up. “I had a feeling I’d be asked about that one,” said King, after an audience member asked him what the state legislature would be doing this year on the issue. The legislature and Florida’s Supreme Court are still wrestling with the implementation of three ballot initiatives passed in 2004 that affected medical malpractice torts. One limited lawyer fees in the cases, another made past malpractice information...

A crackdown on jaywalkers in the Los Angeles Civic Center resulted in nearly 250 citations in the past six months - and a $500,000 civil-rights lawsuit claiming that attorneys were being unfairly targeted by county police officers. The lawsuit filed by Beverly Hills attorney Robert W. Hirsh says he has seen officers from the Los Angeles County Police cite lawyers jaywalking across Hill Street, between a parking garage and the Stanley Mosk Courthouse, while ignoring fellow law enforcement officers doing the same thing. "It's wrong for them to play gotcha with attorneys, but turn a blind eye to their law...

To see what the "mainstream" means for the legal elites in the Democratic party, look no further than the law school "clinic." These campus law firms, faculty-supervised and student-staffed, have been engaging in left-wing litigation and advocacy for 30 years. Though law schools claim that the clinics teach students the basics of law practice while providing crucial representation to poor people, in fact they routinely neither inculcate lawyering skills nor serve the poor. They do, however, offer the legal professoriate a way to engage in political activism -- almost never of a conservative cast. A survey of the clinical universe...