Appellate Practice

Lawyer blasted by federal appeals court for forwarding judge email did nothing wrong, state bar says

Corrected: Although blasted by a federal appeals court last year for circulating a congratulatory email from a federal judge, a BigLaw partner did nothing calling for attorney discipline, the California State Bar has determined. Partner Edward Reines of Weil Gotshal & Manges said in an August pro hac vice motion…

Oct 2, 2015 12:55 PM CDT

Oklahoma governor stops execution of Richard Glossip after SCOTUS denies last-minute appeal

For the second time this month, the scheduled execution of Richard Glossip has been canceled within hours of when he was to be put to death by the state of Oklahoma, for a murder he says he had no role in committing. This time, it was the state’s governor who…

Sep 30, 2015 5:10 PM CDT

Convicted judge can’t get pension back, even after felony is reduced to a misdemeanor

Convicted in 2004 of one felony and multiple misdemeanors for giving preferential treatment to friends and local sports team members in traffic ticket and driving-under-the-influence cases, a former California judge had hoped to get his pension back after the trial court reduced the lone felony to a misdemeanor. However, a…

Sep 29, 2015 4:35 PM CDT

Small firm sanctioned nearly $282K by federal judge for pursuing frivolous case

A long-running case over Native American land rights has resulted in a steep sanction for a small Minnesota law firm. Known for its civil rights litigation, three-partner Mohrman, Kaardal & Erickson was ordered Friday to pay $281,906.34 in legal bills for its opponents. A federal judge said the firm had…

Sep 28, 2015 10:00 AM CDT

SCOTUS justices should reveal their votes on cert petitions, law prof argues

The U.S. Supreme Court should announce the vote tallies when it accepts or rejects cert petitions, a law professor argues. Writing in the New York Times, Stanford law professor Jeffrey Fisher argues that the court should “lift the veil of secrecy that shrouds” its decisions to hear cases by announcing…

Sep 25, 2015 9:15 AM CDT

Lawyer who blamed difficulties of solo practice for mistakes in brief won’t get a third chance

A lawyer who blamed destroyed computer files for errors in a first brief and the pressures of solo practice for errors in the second is not getting a third chance. In a decision on Tuesday, Maine’s top court refused to reconsider its order rejecting the second appellate brief filed by…

Sep 24, 2015 9:47 AM CDT

Appeals court blasts school’s claim teen ‘consented’ to teacher sex, nixes defense jury verdict

Making a controversial claim that a 14-year-old consented to sex with a teacher, in order to win a tort case, appears not to have paid off for a California school district. Reversing a jury verdict for the defense, a state appeals court on Wednesday ruled in no uncertain terms that…

Sep 17, 2015 11:10 AM CDT

Did robbery defendant forfeit right to an attorney? Top state court to decide

Joshua Nisbet didn’t want to represent himself in a Maine robbery trial. But a state court judge said he had to do so because he couldn’t get along with the five attorneys previously appointed at various times to represent him in the Cumberland County case and he last two said…

Sep 17, 2015 5:50 AM CDT

Oklahoma appeals court stays execution of Richard Glossip

The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeal on Wednesday stayed the scheduled execution of Richard Glossip—who was at the center of a lethal-injection case before the U.S. Supreme Court—with barely three hours to spare. The court said it granted the last-minute reprieve in order to “give fair consideration” to death row…

Sep 16, 2015 5:15 PM CDT

State appeals court dismisses contempt charges against DA over tardy filings

A New York state appeals court has dismissed contempt of court charges against St. Lawrence County District Attorney Mary Rain after Rain apologized for her office’s repeated failure to file court papers on time. Rain laid much of the blame on a former assistant, whom she said had led her…

Sep 16, 2015 1:30 PM CDT

30-day suspension for sex with client isn’t too lenient, lawyer argues

Seeking to persuade Tennessee’s top court to impose a 30-day license suspension on an attorney who admittedly had sex with a client, the respondent’s counsel on Wednesday argued that the client consented. But counsel’s arguments did not seem to be well-received by at least some members of the Tennessee Supreme…

Sep 9, 2015 4:35 PM CDT

Botched investigation, lack of evidence required acquittal of Amanda Knox, top Italian court says

A botched investigation by Italian authorities made it impossible to answer certain questions about exactly what happened when the 21-year-old roommate of Amanda Knox was murdered in 2007, the country’s top court said Monday. But, in the absence of any evidence putting Knox, now 28, and her then-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito,…

Sep 9, 2015 1:25 PM CDT

School district blasted for saying teen consented to sex with teacher makes same claim in appeal

A California school district yanked 14 cases away from its legal counsel last year after a firestorm arose over a legal argument he made to win a civil case. But now, on appeal of that same case, the district is making much the same argument, saying that a 14-year-old student…

Sep 3, 2015 11:30 AM CDT

Long conference is a longer shot for cert petitions; study suggests newbie law clerks are to blame

The statistics tell the story. Getting the U.S. Supreme Court to accept a cert petition during the “long conference” when summertime cert petitions are considered, is more difficult than during the term that lasts from October to June. During the term, the justices grant about 1.1 percent of cert petitions,…

Sep 3, 2015 5:45 AM CDT

Which SCOTUS justices crib the most from briefs?

Justice Clarence Thomas apparently cribs a bit more from briefs submitted to the U.S. Supreme Court than other current justices, according to a study that used anti-plagiarism software to determine the overlap. Lawyer Adam Feldman, a doctoral candidate in political science at the University of Southern California, conducted the study,…

Aug 28, 2015 9:36 AM CDT