http://www.abajournal.com/news/ en Copyright 2013 2013-05-23T23:47:57-06:00 http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/daughter_of_delaware_courthouse_shooter_seeks_custody_of_slain_moms_3_kids/ The daughter of a man who shot two women to death at a Delaware courthouse earlier this year is seeking custody of the three daughters of one of the slain women. In Delaware, relatives usually receive preference when courts are considering the permanent guardianship of children in foster care, the… Administrative Law, Criminal Justice, Family Law, Government Law, Judiciary, Court Security, Trials & Litigation, States, Delaware Tue, 07 May 2013 12:52:05 -0500 44069.abajournal.com http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/son_of_dead_shooter_in_del._courthouse_slayings_gets_six_months_for_probati/ The son of a man who killed two women at a Delaware courthouse earlier this year as they arrived for a child-support hearing was sentenced Tuesday to two months in federal prison for violating his probation in a child-kidnapping and fraud case. David Matusiewicz was also present at the Delaware… Criminal Justice, Sentencing/Post Conviction, Family Law, Judiciary, Court Security, Trials & Litigation, Verdicts & Settlements, 3rd Circuit Court, States, Delaware Tue, 23 Apr 2013 18:06:57 -0500 43882.abajournal.com http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/4_partners_exit_top_local_firm_to_open_new_wilmington_del._office_for_kl_ga/ K&L Gates is the only Pittburgh-based BigLaw firm without an office in Philadelphia. But it now has one a short distance away in Wilmington, Del., which is opening with a four-lawyer corporate group from one of the city's longtime top law firms. Partners Eric Feldman, Nicholas Froio, Christina Houston and… Corporate Law, Law Firms, Large Firm, Midsize Firm, Partners, States, Delaware, Pennsylvania Mon, 01 Apr 2013 17:01:52 -0500 43513.abajournal.com http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/judge_allows_suit_claiming_widener_law_school_posted_misleading_job_stats_c/ A federal judge has refused to dismiss a lawsuit claiming that Widener University School of Law posted misleading and incomplete job statistics. Senior U.S. District Judge William Walls of New Jersey allowed the suit to proceed in an opinion (PDF) published last week. Eight Widener law grads claimed… Consumer Law, Law Schools, Law Students, Trials & Litigation, States, Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania Mon, 25 Mar 2013 06:30:20 -0500 43410.abajournal.com http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/lawyer_is_criminally_charged_accused_of_offering_legal_services_in_exchange/ Updated: A longtime Delaware criminal defense lawyer who is in private practice in Wilmington was arrested at his office Friday and has been criminally charged over allegations that he offered to provide legal services in exchange for sexual favors from two women. Joseph Gabay was charged with two counts of… Criminal Justice, States, Delaware Mon, 11 Mar 2013 16:43:17 -0500 43207.abajournal.com http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/son_of_del._courthouse_shooter_faces_new_probation_violation_charges_relate/ New probation violation charges have been filed against the son of a man who committed suicide immediately after shooting to death two women at a Wilmington, Del., courthouse last month. David Matusiewicz, 45, is accused in a violation petition filed Tuesday of living in a home in Texas in which… Criminal Justice, Sentencing/Post Conviction, Family Law, Judiciary, Court Security, Trials & Litigation, 3rd Circuit Court, States, Delaware Thu, 07 Mar 2013 12:09:08 -0600 43160.abajournal.com http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/man_wrote_angry_letters_to_one_lawyer_failed_to_pay_another_years_before_co/ Thomas Matusiewicz reportedly had anger issues for years before the 68-year-old shot to death his former daughter-in-law, Christine Belford, and a female friend in the lobby of a Wilmington, Del., courthouse earlier this month. The women were there for a hearing in a long-running child-support case involving the shooter's adult… Criminal Justice, Sentencing/Post Conviction, Family Law, Judiciary, Court Security, Trials & Litigation, 3rd Circuit Court, States, Delaware Tue, 26 Feb 2013 12:05:28 -0600 43002.abajournal.com http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/courthouse_shootings/ Surveillance footage obtained by the News Journal shows a man who, moments later, shot and killed two women at the county courthouse in Wilmington, Del., walking with his son in a courthouse parking lot on Feb. 11, according to authorities. An earlier Daily Journal… Criminal Justice, Family Law, Judiciary, Court Security, Trials & Litigation, States, Delaware Thu, 21 Feb 2013 14:35:32 -0600 42957.abajournal.com http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/judge_orders_son_of_delaware_courthouse_gunman_detained/ A U.S. Magistrate Judge ordered David Matusiewicz detained today until a hearing is held on charges that he violated the terms of his federal probation. Matusiewicz’s appearance occurred three blocks from the New Castle County Courthouse, where police say that Matusiewicz’s father, Thomas Matusiewicz, shot and killed his son’s ex-wife… Criminal Justice, Prosecutors, Public Defenders, Criminal Procedure, States, Delaware Tue, 12 Feb 2013 16:25:13 -0600 42840.abajournal.com http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/women_gunned_down_at_del._courthouse_were_slain_by_father_of_man_involved/ Christine Belford reportedly was fearful of her ex-husband, who had served time in federal prison for kidnapping the couple's three children in 2007, as well as for bank fraud. But it was his father, Thomas F. Matusiewicz, 68, who gunned down Belford, 39, and a female friend at the New… Criminal Justice, Family Law, Judiciary, Court Security, Trials & Litigation, States, Delaware Tue, 12 Feb 2013 07:11:01 -0600 42820.abajournal.com http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/3_dead_2_wounded_in_courthouse_shooting/ Updated: Two women were shot and killed and two police officers were wounded at a Delaware courthouse Monday morning before the gunman was killed. Thomas Matusiewicz is the man identified as the shooter, according to the News Journal. One of the women killed was Christine Belford, his… Criminal Justice, Judiciary, Court Security, States, Delaware Mon, 11 Feb 2013 10:39:46 -0600 42803.abajournal.com http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/attorneys_leave_law_firm_jobs_during_2009_downturn_find_success_as_boutique/ During the fall of 2009, as the legal economy was headed into a tailspin, two attorneys at the Wilmington, Del., office of Pennsylvania-based Riley Riper Hollin & Colagreco did something counterintuitive. Jack Harris and Buddy Berger left the security of their Riley Riper jobs and formed their own small law… Law Firms, Large Firm, Midsize Firm, Partners, Solos/Small Firms, States, Delaware, Pennsylvania Tue, 15 Jan 2013 10:40:37 -0600 42367.abajournal.com http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/del._high_court_detours_from_opinion_to_chastise_chief_chancery_judge_known/ Delaware's high court took a few pages in an opinion issued this week to take the outspoken chief judge of the state's Court of Chancery to task for using a ruling to express his "world views." The court said Chancellor Leo Strine should restrict his views to more appropriate platforms,… Appellate Practice, Corporate Law, Judiciary, Trials & Litigation, States, Delaware Thu, 08 Nov 2012 14:30:27 -0600 41534.abajournal.com http://www.abajournal.com/magazine/article/delaware_defender/ Careers, Civil Procedure, Corporate Law, Judiciary, Mergers & Acquisitions, Trials & Litigation, States, Delaware, Features Thu, 01 Nov 2012 05:00:30 -0500 41083.abajournal.com http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/hurricane_sandy_sweeps_work_away_from_some_law_firms_and_toward_others/ Updated: As what is expected to be an epic storm sweeps into the East Coast from Florida to Canada and could hit the Northeast especially hard, courts and law firms both large and small joined numerous other establishments—including the U.S. Supreme Court—on Monday in announcing that their operations would be… Business of Law, Law Practice Management, Judiciary, Law Firms, Large Firm, Solos/Small Firms, Natural Disasters, Hurricane Sandy, States, Delaware, District of Columbia, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia Mon, 29 Oct 2012 14:45:59 -0500 41340.abajournal.com http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/after_law_firm_cut_partner_pay_one_found_another_way_to_up_ante/ A Delaware attorney was already struggling to deal with several deaths in his family and had been seeking treatment for depression when his law firm, in September 2010, imposed a 25-percent partner pay cut in order to stay afloat financially after several years of a recessionary economy. At that point,… Careers, Lawyer Pay, Legal Ethics, States, Delaware Tue, 16 Oct 2012 12:45:10 -0500 41162.abajournal.com http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/as_6_connolly_bove_partners_exit_for_biglaw_firms_ip_super-boutique_merger_/ Although Connolly Bove Lodge & Hutz has lost at least six partners to major general practice law firms since announcing an expected merger with Novak Druce + Quigg a month ago, that has not affected the two law firms' plan to merge into an intellectual property "super-boutique" that would be… Business of Law, Intellectual Property Law, Law Firms, Midsize Firm, Partners, States, Delaware, Texas Mon, 15 Oct 2012 11:00:25 -0500 41143.abajournal.com http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/pa._bankruptcy_lawyer_shot_in_home-invasion_robbery_by_masked_suspects/ A longtime bankruptcy lawyer was shot multiple times Monday night in a struggle during a home-invasion robbery in his Pennsbury, Pa., home, state police said. Fred Barakat, 63, is expected to survive, according to the Journal Register and NBC… Bankruptcy Law, Criminal Justice, States, Delaware, Pennsylvania Tue, 25 Sep 2012 10:31:27 -0500 40861.abajournal.com http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/2_law_firms_poised_to_collect_305m_del._chancery_attorneys_fee_award_plus_2/ A well-known Wilmington, Del., law firm and its Pennsylvania-based co-counsel are poised to collect one of the biggest legal-fee awards ever made in a securities class action, after the Delaware Supreme Court on Friday rejected a motion for reargument of the massive payout, which at last report totaled about $305… Corporate Law, Judiciary, Law Firms, Midsize Firm, Securities Law, Trials & Litigation, Attorney Fees, States, Delaware, Pennsylvania Mon, 24 Sep 2012 11:46:54 -0500 40843.abajournal.com http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/judicial_arbitration_in_delaware_chancery_court_violates_first_amendment_fe/ A federal judge in Philadelphia has ruled that closed-door arbitrations by Delaware chancery court judges violate a First Amendment right of access to trials. U.S. District Judge Mary McLaughlin ruled in a suit filed by the Delaware Coalition for Open Government, report the Wall Street Journal… Alternative Dispute Resolution, Constitutional Law, First Amendment, Judiciary, States, Delaware Fri, 31 Aug 2012 06:43:46 -0500 40493.abajournal.com