Lawyer - News

Over the past year, the legal community has been dogged by a down economy resulting in layoffs, pay cuts and lack of jobs from the largest law firms down to the smallest law firms. What does this mean for law students? On Lawyer2Lawyer, co-hosts and attorneys, Bob Ambrogi and J. Craig Williams welcome Professor William D. Henderson from Indiana University Maurer School of Law and Dr. Silvia Hodges from Fordham University School of Law, to discuss what law students need to learn while in school, the present legal job market and what the future holds for law students when they graduate from law school. No comments

The key whistleblower in the U.S. government's case against Swiss banking giant UBS over offshore banking practices is asking that his 40-month prison sentence be postponed and reconsidered. If granted, Bradley Birkenfeld's motion would push back the Jan. 8 date on which he is to report to prison and reduce his sentence. Birkenfeld said he would use the additional time before reporting to prison to cooperate further with the government in its investigations and possible new cases against UBS clients. No comments

A maritime lawyer's misconduct, including his flight from New York to avoid arrest on contempt charges, has disqualified him from sharing in a contingency fee for work performed prior to his disbarment, a federal bankruptcy judge ruled last week. Disbarred lawyer Kenneth Heller's refusal to turn over files in a matter that ultimately was resolved with a $3.7 million settlement was "symptomatic" of a 24-year record of "utter contempt for the judicial system," Judge Stuart M. Bernstein wrote. No comments

The battle over hefty fines imposed for Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction" at the 2004 Super Bowl is ready to return to court. It has been nearly eight months since the U.S. Supreme Court ordered the 3rd Circuit to take a second look at the case and consider reinstating $550,000 in fines that the FCC imposed on CBS over Jackson's breast-baring performance. Since then, the 3rd Circuit has ordered both sides to file supplemental briefs. The case has also attracted a flurry of amicus briefs. No comments

New York Judge Larry M. Himelein has accepted censure for trying to organize other judges to recuse themselves from cases involving the law firms of legislators who have denied New York's judiciary a pay raise since 1999, a judicial conduct commission said Monday. The commission's ruling said Himelein aggravated his conduct by writing e-mails to other state judges in which he mocked judges who declined to recuse themselves, calling them "wusses" and "wimps" and telling them to "grow some stones." No comments

A plaintiffs lawyer fired midway through a personal injury case will have to provide a court with more than just a conclusory presentation of the work he did if he wants to share in the settlement, says a New Jersey appeals court. The court described the evidence that the solo provided regarding his fee application as "cryptic" and "grossly inadequate." No comments

In an unusually contentious ruling Monday, California appellate court Judges Paul Haerle and J. Anthony Kline got in each other's faces about whether a judge can order a criminal defendant to stop using medicinal marijuana while on probation when the underlying crime has nothing to do with pot use. Kline said the "precedent shattering" majority opinion "flies in the face of the law," "subordinates the will of the people" and is "legally untenable." No comments

A sophisticated hacker pleaded guilty Tuesday to conspiring to hack into computer networks supporting major American retail and financial organizations, and to steal data relating to tens of millions of credit and debit cards in a case the Justice Department said is one of the largest data breaches ever investigated and prosecuted in the United States. Albert Gonzalez, a one-time Secret Service informant, pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy to gain unauthorized access to the payment card networks. No comments

In what appears to be a case of first impression nationwide, the 9th Circuit has ruled that the use of tasers and similar devices must be justified by a strong government interest that "compels" the employment of such force. The ruling found that Coronado, Calif., Police Officer Brian McPherson may have used too much force to subdue Carl Bryan and can be sued for damages. McPherson tasered Bryan when he was pulled over for a seat belt infraction and got out of his car crying and yelling gibberish. No comments

Broadcom said Tuesday it will pay more than $160 million in cash to settle a class action investor lawsuit related to stock option backdating, but the California-based chipmaker did not admit wrongdoing. The deal, which still needs a judge's approval, would represent the second-largest up-front cash recovery from a company accused of stock option backdating, according to an attorney for the lead plaintiff, the New Mexico State Investment Council. No comments