Ex-N.Y. Judge Gets Up to 10 Years in Prison

Jun 6, 2007 1:22 PM CDT

Alaskan Judge Joins Immunization Effort in India

If you happen to see children in the northern Indian state of Haryana with a touch of dye on their pinkie fingers and smiley face stickers on their shirts, chances are Michael I. Jeffery was involved.

Jun 5, 2007 8:10 PM CDT

N.J. Judge Apologizes in Ethics Probe

A New Jersey Supreme Court justice has apologized for interceding with Camden County courts in a case against a youth accused of bullying his son, saying his actions created the appearance of impropriety. In a letter to the court’s Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct, Roberto Rivera-Soto said he was “profoundly…

Jun 5, 2007 7:30 PM CDT

Rookie Judge Reportedly Investigated

A rookie Las Vegas judge who is fighting the chief judge’s effort to remove her is reportedly under investigation by a judicial conduct commission.

Judge Elizabeth Halverson has been accused of acting abusively toward her staff and behaving improperly on the bench, according to the Las Vegas Sun.

An affidavit from her former judicial executive assistant said Halverson made her staff have ice waiting on the bench for her and would scream if they let it melt, according to KVBC-TV in Las Vegas.

Jun 5, 2007 3:59 PM CDT

Destination: Capitol Hill

Bar leaders highlight four key issues as core of congressional blitz

Jun 5, 2007 7:30 AM CDT

Undisclosed Court Papers Trouble Critics

The federal clerk’s office for the Southern District of Florida did not post key documents to its Web site in a case involving Miami attorney Louis Robles. First Amendment advocates are troubled by the omission, which apparently violated rules of the U.S. Judicial Conference, according to the Daily Business Review.…

May 30, 2007 2:05 PM CDT

N.Y. Judicial Pay ‘An Embarrassment’

A study shows that pay for New York judges is 48th lowest among the states when adjusted for cost of living. The only states with lower cost-of-living-adjusted pay are Hawaii and Oregon, according to the study by the National Center for State Courts (PDF). Trial-level supreme court judges in the…

May 30, 2007 12:27 PM CDT

Suspended Pakistani Chief Judge Files Affidavit

Suspended Pakistani Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry filed an affidavit Tuesday which for the first time makes public his account of a March 9 meeting with the country’s president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf. According to Chaudhry’s account, which was filed with the Pakistan Supreme Court, the president and senior officials detained…

May 30, 2007 11:42 AM CDT

Ex-Judge Jailed in Child-Support Case

A former Brooklyn judge has been jailed for failing to pay nearly $270,000 in child support. Reynold Mason, who was ousted from the bench for taking funds from a client’s escrow account, was led out of the Manhattan courtroom on Thursday in handcuffs, according to the Associated Press. He had…

May 29, 2007 5:36 PM CDT

Pakistan Crisis: Lawyers Strike; Court Aide Shot

A worsening crisis in Pakistan over the country’s judicial independence reportedly included a nationwide strike by the legal community and general strikes that shut down major cities on Monday. Following violence over the weekend that each side blamed on the other, 2,500 lawyers rallied in Lahore against the government of…

May 14, 2007 4:19 PM CDT

N.J. Justice Faces Ethics Charge

A New Jersey Supreme Court justice faces an ethics charge that alleges he abused his position to influence police and courts in a bullying case. Roberto Rivera-Soto allegedly intervened on behalf of his 15-year-old son after telling school officials they were not doing enough to protect him from a bully,…

May 14, 2007 12:57 PM CDT

Critics: Fed’l Judge-to-be at Lesbian Ceremony

Michigan Court of Appeals Judge Janet Neff attended a same-sex commitment ceremony five years ago, and she still hasn’t heard the end of it in proceedings on her nomination to become a federal court judge. Her nomination, which was blocked last year by presidential candidate and U.S. Senator Sam Brownback,…

May 10, 2007 11:48 PM CDT

7th Circuit Wiki a First for Federal Appeals Courts

A wiki has been created by the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, reportedly the first such user-friendly Web site created by any federal appeals court in the country. The site is still being developed, but when it is fully up and running it will allow registered lawyers and judges…

May 10, 2007 10:26 PM CDT

Pakistan Protest: Gov’t Seals Top Atty’s Office

In the latest developments in a continuing lawyer-led protest in Pakistan, government officials closed the Karachi office of a top attorney representing a suspended Supreme Court judge whose recent motorcade from Islamabad to Lahore reportedly drew a crowd of tens of thousands of supporters. However, that closing on Wednesday by…

May 9, 2007 9:29 PM CDT

Security a Concern in Village Courts

A shooting in a Rockland County, N.Y., courtroom on Monday highlights safety issues in village and town courts. Litigant Leo Lewis Jr., 60, was charged Tuesday with second-degree attempted murder and criminal possession of a weapon, according to the New York Times. Police say he fired a shot in a…

May 9, 2007 3:57 PM CDT