Appellate Practice

Seattle Battles Its Own Attorney in Dispute Over US Supreme Court Appeal in Excessive-Force Case

A Washington state lawyer hired by the city of Seattle to defend three police officers accused of using excessive force by repeatedly using a stun gun on a pregnant woman after a traffic stop is running amok, as city officials see the situation. After an en banc federal appeals court…

Jan 20, 2012 9:48 PM CST

Post-Sentencing Facebook Comments Put NinjaVideo ‘Phara’ On Fast Track to Prison Cell

The woman known as the “Phara” of a now-defunct movie downloading site apparently made two crucial miscalculations when she was sentenced earlier this month in a criminal copyright-infringement case. First, Hana Beshara posted about her 22-month prison term on a Facebook account for NinjaVideo and elsewhere, in a manner that…

Jan 17, 2012 10:40 PM CST

DOJ Legal Opinion Backs Obama’s Recess Appointment Power During ‘Pro Forma’ Sessions

The president has the authority to make recess appointments during “pro forma” Senate sessions, according to a Justice Department legal opinion released today. The opinion is dated Jan. 6, two days after President Obama made four controversial recess appointments—that of Richard Cordray to head the new Consumer Financial Protection Agency…

Jan 12, 2012 5:02 PM CST

3rd Circuit Vows Crackdown on Lengthy Brief Requests

A federal appeals court is seeing so many motions asking for permission to exceed word and page limits in briefs that it is warning lawyers they won’t be granted absent special circumstances. In an unusual standing order, the Philadelphia-based 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said motions to exceed the…

Jan 12, 2012 11:30 AM CST

Surprising Observers, Aga Khan Fights Record $75M French Divorce Court Award

To many, a divorce award of $75 million or so might seem astronomical. But it’s practically small change to a man worth between $5 and $10 billion. And so observers expected the Aga Khan to ante up when a French court ruled in September he should pay that amount to…

Jan 11, 2012 8:34 PM CST

ABC Lawyer Points to Unclothed Supreme Court Sculptures During Indecency Arguments

A lawyer representing ABC pointed out some bare buttocks in the U.S. Supreme Court while arguing against the constitutionality of an indecency ban. Former solicitor general Seth Waxman told the justices on Tuesday that the Federal Communications Commission had received complaints about a network broadcast showing an unclothed statue during…

Jan 11, 2012 1:38 PM CST

10th Circuit Says Federal Judge Got It Right, Correctly Blocked Okla. Voter Ban on Shariah Law

A federal appeals court in Denver today gave a green light to a lawsuit over an Oklahoma voter initiative that approved a state constitutional amendment banning state courts from looking to Islamic religious law in their rulings. Executive director Muneer Awad of the Council on American-Islamic Relations had standing to…

Jan 10, 2012 8:59 PM CST

2nd Circuit Axes Refco Lawyer’s Conviction in $2.4B Fraud Case, Says Judge Erred re Juror Note

Convicted by a federal jury in New York in 2009 and sentenced to seven years in a $2.4 billion corporate securities fraud case, a former Mayer Brown partner today won a vacation of his conviction. Because Joseph Collins was denied his constitutional right to be present at every stage of…

Jan 9, 2012 8:21 PM CST

Political Discrimination Suit Against Former Dean to Go to Trial, says Appeals Court

A federal appeals court has reinstated a lawsuit against the former dean of the University of Iowa College of Law for failing to hire a part-time employee as a full-time instructor due to her conservative politics. The district court initially granted Carolyn Jones’ motion for summary judgment, which claimed that…

Jan 3, 2012 7:21 PM CST

DA Mulls Call for Case Review, Because Top Court Justice Got Free Legal Services from Party’s Firm

A Wisconsin district attorney is pondering whether to ask the state supreme court to reconsider a controversial ruling over a state collective bargaining law for public employees, following news that one of the justices who voted on the case received free legal representation from a party’s law firm, the Milwaukee…

Dec 22, 2011 8:55 PM CST

Ruling Leaves Prosecutors with No Evidence to Prosecute Lawyer Accused of Killing Law Partner

A Kansas City lawyer accused of killing his law partner has obtained a favorable appeals ruling that leaves prosecutors without any evidence to prosecute him. The Missouri Court of Appeals for the Western District has refused to issue a writ of prohibition blocking a trial judge who tossed all of…

Dec 22, 2011 2:53 PM CST

Dateline and Experts Question Murder Conviction of Dad, Despite DNA Match with Ex-Con

Corrected: South Carolina prosecutor Kevin Brackett says he has no doubts about the murder convictions he obtained in 2004 against a South Carolina dad and a convicted ex-con. Police initially charged the father, Billy Wayne Cope, with the murder of his 12-year-old daughter and didn’t drop charges when DNA pointed…

Dec 21, 2011 5:02 PM CST

Paper Says Wis. Supreme Court Justice Voted on Cases of Law Firm That Represented Him for Free

Updated: Represented for free by Michael Best & Friedrich in a legal ethics matter, a Wisconsin supreme court justice then helped decide cases in which a party was represented by the same law firm, reports the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. In one of those cases, State Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman…

Dec 20, 2011 5:40 PM CST

‘Extraordinary Legal Event’ Unfolds as Man Exonerated of Wife’s Murder Seeks to Hold DA Accountable

Michael Morton spent nearly 25 years in prison for murdering his wife before Texas authorities finally tested DNA evidence and determined that another man was responsible for the slaying. Formally exonerated by a Texas judge today, Morton is asking, through his lawyers, to try to hold accountable the prosecutor he…

Dec 19, 2011 9:57 PM CST

Federal Judge Calls Blago Lawyer’s New-Trial Motion ‘Harebrained,’ Says Contempt Ruling Could Result

Updated: A federal judge today sharply scolded a lawyer for pointing a finger at the forewoman of a jury that convicted former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich in a political corruption case, reports the Chicago Tribune. A motion signed by Lauren Kaeseberg that sought a new trial for Blagojevich based on…

Dec 19, 2011 5:59 PM CST