http://www.abajournal.com/news/ en Copyright 2013 2013-05-25T23:57:53-06:00 http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/federal_judge_jails_estate_lawyer_as_flight_risk_calls/ A Rhode Island estate planning lawyer's effort to revoke his guilty plea in a controversial $30 million elder insurance fraud case was a "bizarre" and unjustified "hatchet job" on Joseph Caramadre's former counsel, a federal judge said Monday. U.S. District Judge William Smith not only nixed Caramadre's bid for a… Criminal Justice, White Collar Crime, Elder Law, Insurance Law, Trials & Litigation, Verdicts & Settlements, 1st Circuit Court, States, Rhode Island Tue, 21 May 2013 06:09:54 -0500 44283.abajournal.com http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/reports_college_pals_of_boston_marathon_bombing_suspect_expected_to_face_ob/ Three college students who are friends of the surviving Boston Marathon bombing suspect have been arrested and face federal criminal charges concerning their activities after explosive devices near the finish line killed three and injured approximately 250 people on April 15, authorities say. The Boston police department confirmed the arrest… Criminal Justice, Terrorism, 1st Circuit Court, States, Massachusetts Wed, 01 May 2013 11:55:11 -0500 43993.abajournal.com http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/unabomber_lawyer_judy_clarke_is_appointed_to_represent_boston_marathon_bomb/ At the request of Boston's federal public defender, a judge has appointed Judy Clarke, a top death-penalty defense lawyer, to represent accused Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, Bloomberg reports. Prosecutors haven't said whether they will seek the death penalty in Tsarnaev's case, but “in light of the… Appellate Practice, Constitutional Law, Criminal Justice, Death Penalty, Public Defenders, Terrorism, Trials & Litigation, 1st Circuit Court, States, Massachusetts Tue, 30 Apr 2013 15:29:50 -0500 43978.abajournal.com http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/top_federal_defender_is_representing_accused_boston_marathon_bomber_but_fur/ Being unable to afford an attorney, ironically, has helped the surviving suspect in last week's Boston Marathon bombings get one of the country's top federal defenders assigned to his case. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, will be represented by Miriam Conrad, who is in charge of the Federal Public Defender Office in… Constitutional Law, Criminal Justice, Death Penalty, Public Defenders, Terrorism, Trials & Litigation, 1st Circuit Court, States, Massachusetts Wed, 24 Apr 2013 17:53:02 -0500 43908.abajournal.com http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/judge_is_tossed_from_whitey_bulger_case_in_appellate_opinion_by_souter/ A federal appeals court has removed a judge from the trial of reputed gangster James "Whitey" Bulger, who is accused of committing 19 murders as part of a racketeering conspiracy. Retired Justice David Souter, sitting on the Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, wrote the panel opinion removing U.S.… Criminal Justice, Judiciary, Legal Ethics, 1st Circuit Court Fri, 15 Mar 2013 06:15:17 -0500 43270.abajournal.com http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/federal_jury_awards_50.9m_to_crime_writer_patricia_cornwell_her_ex-financia/ In a plot twist worthy of one of her Kay Scarpetta crime novels, best-selling author Patricia Cornwell was awarded $50.9 million Tuesday by a federal jury in Boston. She had sought tens of millions, contending that her former financial manager, Anchin, Block & Anchin, and its former principal, Evan H.… Contracts, Law in Popular Culture, Tort Law, Trials & Litigation, Evidence, Verdicts & Settlements, 1st Circuit Court, States, Massachusetts Tue, 19 Feb 2013 17:35:21 -0600 42918.abajournal.com http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/estate_lawyer_asks_to_revoke_plea_now_wants_trial_in_30m_elder_insurance_pr/ A Rhode Island estate planning lawyer is seeking to revoke the plea agreement he made last year near the outset of what was expected to be a lengthy trial in a controversial $30 million fraud case. Supporters said attorney Joseph Caramadre did nothing wrong by using the identities of elderly… Constitutional Law, Criminal Justice, White Collar Crime, Insurance Law, Trials & Litigation, 1st Circuit Court, States, Rhode Island Mon, 14 Jan 2013 14:51:05 -0600 42360.abajournal.com http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/federal_appeals_court_affirms_buffer_zones_around_mass._abortion_clinics/ A federal appeals court has for the fourth time in 12 years affirmed a law creating buffer zones around Massachusetts abortion clinics. The Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 2-0 ruling (PDF) Wednesday, said the law protects the rights of prospective patients and clinic employees… Constitutional Law, First Amendment, Health Law, Legislation & Lobbying, Privacy Law, Trials & Litigation, 1st Circuit Court Fri, 11 Jan 2013 13:10:25 -0600 42310.abajournal.com http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/students_get_50k_after_claiming_lesley_u_meals_violated_ada_by_not_accommod/ There's no word on whether some Lesley University students with food allergies might be headed to law school. But they've clearly demonstrated an aptitude for for legal issues by spearheading an unusual civil rights case pursued as an administrative complaint by the U.S. Department of Justice. It resulted in a… Administrative Law, Civil Rights, Disability Law, Education Law, Trials & Litigation, Verdicts & Settlements, 1st Circuit Court, States, Massachusetts Thu, 10 Jan 2013 17:11:13 -0600 42298.abajournal.com http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/nh_lawyer_convicted/ Urged by a defense lawyer to consider whether a New Hampshire attorney decided only after crossing the border into Canada to make a pornographic film featuring a 14-year-old girl, thus negating a key element of the charged crime, a federal jury in Concord lost little time in reaching a guilty… Criminal Justice, International Law, Trials & Litigation, Evidence, Verdicts & Settlements, 1st Circuit Court, States, New Hampshire Thu, 10 Jan 2013 15:43:47 -0600 42296.abajournal.com http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/1st_circuit_rules_for_barbara_walters_in_suit_claiming_memoir_misrepresente/ A federal appeals court has ruled that a memoir by Barbara Walters did not defame a woman who attended boarding school with Walters’ daughter. The Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled (PDF) on Tuesday that Walters’ statements in the book Audition: A Memoir were not defamatory… Celebrities, Tort Law, Trials & Litigation, Verdicts & Settlements, 1st Circuit Court Thu, 20 Dec 2012 10:23:40 -0600 42126.abajournal.com http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/ex-prosecutor_ditches_his_monitoring_bracelet_and_flees_after_adverse_child/ A former assistant attorney general in Maine cut off his electronic monitoring bracelet and disappeared last week after a federal appeals court upheld his conviction on seven of 13 counts for sending and receiving child pornography. The Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled… Criminal Justice, Prosecutors, Sentencing/Post Conviction, 1st Circuit Court, States, Maine Tue, 20 Nov 2012 10:33:21 -0600 41703.abajournal.com http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/awaiting_child_porn_hearing_in_state_court_nh_lawyer_is_arrested_by_fbi_age/ Things went from bad to worse for Lisa Biron on Friday morning, as the New Hampshire lawyer was awaiting a probable cause hearing on possession of child pornography charges she faces in state court. FBI agents entered the courtroom in Manchester, told Biron to leave her belongings and took her… Criminal Justice, Trials & Litigation, 1st Circuit Court, States, New Hampshire Mon, 19 Nov 2012 15:12:24 -0600 41692.abajournal.com http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/lawyer_accused_of_misusing_ids_of_terminally_ill_in_30m_investment_scheme/ As testimony was about to resume Monday in a federal trial that had been expected to continue for months, a Rhode Island estate planning lawyer and a former employee accused of misusing the identities of dying individuals in a $30 million investment scheme both took a plea. Attorney Joseph Caramadre,… Criminal Justice, White Collar Crime, Insurance Law, Trials & Litigation, Trusts & Estates, 1st Circuit Court, States, Rhode Island Mon, 19 Nov 2012 13:30:50 -0600 41688.abajournal.com http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/trial_begins_for_estate_planning_lawyer_accused_of_making_30m_by_investing_/ Updated: Trial has begun--and, much sooner than expected, ended--for a Rhode Island estate planning attorney who was federally indicted (PDF) last year after being accused of making $15 million or more, with the help of others, by defrauding dying individuals into allowing insurance investments to be made… Criminal Justice, White Collar Crime, Insurance Law, Trials & Litigation, 1st Circuit Court, States, Rhode Island Wed, 14 Nov 2012 16:34:26 -0600 41642.abajournal.com http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/1st_circuit_affirms_14m_award_to_starbucks_baristas_in_massachusetts_in_tip/ Baristas who work at Starbucks in Massachusetts are entitled to collect $14.1 million because their tips were shared with supervisors in violation of state law, a federal appeals court has ruled. The Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the shift supervisors had managerial responsibility, making them ineligible to… Civil Procedure, Labor & Employment, 1st Circuit Court Tue, 13 Nov 2012 09:19:41 -0600 41609.abajournal.com http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/convicted_of_helping_client_launder_200k/ Still proclaiming his innocence, a high-profile criminal defense lawyer convicted earlier this year in a $200,000 money-laundering conspiracy for which prosecutors said he earned $20,000 was sentenced Wednesday to a three and a half-year prison federal term. The prosecution in the Boston case had asked for five years; the defense… Criminal Justice, Sentencing/Post Conviction, White Collar Crime, Trials & Litigation, 1st Circuit Court, States, Massachusetts Wed, 31 Oct 2012 12:34:59 -0500 41377.abajournal.com http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/top_federal_judge_says_mass._crime_lab_issues/ It isn't just thousands of state court cases that have been thrown into a state of uncertainty by problems at a Massachusetts facility that tests drug samples used to prosecute criminal cases. Federal courts in Massachusetts also relied on the state's crime laboratory to provide accurate information about evidence used… Appellate Practice, Civil Rights, Constitutional Law, Criminal Justice, Sentencing/Post Conviction, Trials & Litigation, Evidence, 1st Circuit Court, States, Massachusetts Thu, 11 Oct 2012 15:22:57 -0500 41100.abajournal.com http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/counsel_will_waive_hefty_legal_fees_if_mass._doesnt_appeal_inmates_sex-chan/ A federal judge in Boston has ruled that the Massachusetts Department of Correction will have to pay legal fees for the plaintiff in a successful civil rights suit in which she won an award of state-paid sex-change surgery. The attorney's fees in the case are "likely to be large," pointed… Civil Rights, Constitutional Law, Government Law, Trials & Litigation, Attorney Fees, Verdicts & Settlements, 1st Circuit Court, States, Massachusetts Mon, 17 Sep 2012 15:07:33 -0500 40753.abajournal.com http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/in_landmark_ruling_federal_judge_says_sex-change_surgery_for_murder_inmate_/ Ruling Tuesday in a seven-year-old civil rights suit in which a transgender prison inmate has been seeking to have the state of Massachusetts pay for sex-change surgery, a federal judge in Boston agreed with Michelle Kosilek and prison doctors that the operation needs to be performed. “This fact that sex… Civil Rights, Constitutional Law, Trials & Litigation, Verdicts & Settlements, 1st Circuit Court, States, Massachusetts Tue, 04 Sep 2012 13:27:01 -0500 40528.abajournal.com