New York

NYPD commissioner vows to root out bad cops

New York City Police Commissioner William J. Bratton warned against bad cops in a talk he gave to NYPD commanders Thursday. In the closed-door session, Bratton told the audience of about 800 officers that the department must rid its ranks of “[t]he brutal, the corrupt, the racist and the incompetent,”…

Oct 3, 2014 12:38 PM CDT

Murder conviction stands despite judge’s confession of liberal bias

Two judges are troubled by Donald Kagan’s 1999 conviction for second-degree murder, but the verdict remains intact. The first is now-retired judge Frank Barbaro, who found Kagan guilty in a bench trial. After his retirement, Barbaro concluded he was swayed by liberal bias when he convicted Kagan in the shooting…

Oct 2, 2014 12:22 PM CDT

Brooklyn DA launches hate crimes unit after spike in reports this year

Brooklyn District Attorney Keith Thompson has created a hate crimes unit in response to increased numbers of attacks in the borough based on the victims’ race or religion. The new five-prosecutor unit will have access to tools used for investigating organized crime, such as telephone interception capabilities, GPS transponders for…

Sep 30, 2014 12:45 PM CDT

Should the species of the victim influence punishment?

Should defendants convicted of animal abuse get jail time? The debate pits animal-rights activists against lawyers who contend a jail sentence can be disproportionate to the crime when an animal is the victim. The New York Times covered the issue raised by the prosecution of Brooklyn man Andre Robinson, 22,…

Sep 30, 2014 11:58 AM CDT

Three lawyers are accused of paying criminal justice staffer to send wealthy defendants to them

Three lawyers and a paralegal have been accused in an indictment of bribing a public official to steer wealthy criminal defendants to them based on a promise of a speedier arraignment. The defendants allegedly paid more than $40,000 to the employee between August 2013 and September 2014, report the New…

Sep 30, 2014 9:24 AM CDT

Federal judge axes Fox Rothschild in hacking case because firm represented a claimed victim company

A well-known Philadelphia-based law firm is conflicted out of representing the son of a Russian parliament member in a criminal hacking case, a federal judge in Seattle ruled Friday. That’s because the firm, Fox Rothschild, also has represented one of the many corporate victims from which the scheme—that prosecutors say…

Sep 26, 2014 3:20 PM CDT

Wall Street law partner sues New York police, says he was arrested for talking to Occupy protesters

A partner of a well-known law firm thought he had a constitutional right to talk with Occupy Wall Street anniversary protesters on his way to an appointment last September. But New York City police officers disagreed, according to partner Stephen Kass of Carter Ledyard & Milburn. Taken to a police…

Sep 26, 2014 1:10 PM CDT

White & Case opens new services center in Florida

White & Case has opened a new facility in Tampa, Florida, to provide centralized support services for the firm. Some New York employees will relocate to work there, and the firm will hire others locally, the Tampa Bay Times reports. “Our goal is to create a services center that serves…

Sep 25, 2014 5:05 PM CDT

New York Times article on hidden hospital costs sparks calls for change, suggestions for consumers

A New York Times (reg. req.) article about hidden surgery and hospital costs that can hit insured patients with unexpected bills of up to $100,000 or even more is apparently striking a chord with readers. The newspaper tells the story, among others, of a 37-year-old man who needs neck surgery.…

Sep 24, 2014 12:25 PM CDT

Judge nixes ex-lawyer’s plea to avoid weeks of handcuffed travel, says he must attend law firm trial

Remember Marc Dreier? Convicted in 2009 of a running a $400 million fraud from his now-defunct New York City law firm, the former attorney is serving a 20-year sentence at a federal prison in Minnesota. But a bankruptcy case concerning the Dreier firm is ongoing and, despite Dreier’s objection, he…

Sep 24, 2014 10:30 AM CDT

Law firm sues ex-partner, says he billed client for $2.3M in fictional work

A New York law firm sued a former partner Tuesday, contending that he billed a corporate client $2.3 million over an eight-year period for “nonexistent work on cases that had already been terminated and/or never existed.” David Denenberg also sought reimbursement for $800,000 in nonexistent expenses, Davidoff Hutcher & Citron…

Sep 23, 2014 4:10 PM CDT

Senior bin Laden aide gets life in terror case; defense argued his only crime was offensive speech

Rejecting a defense argument that a Kuwaiti cleric who served as a senior adviser to Osama bin Laden was guilty only of offensive speech, a federal judge in Manhattan on Tuesday sentenced Sulaiman Abu Ghaith to life in prison for his terrorism-support conviction earlier this year. Judge Lewis A. Kaplan…

Sep 23, 2014 1:40 PM CDT

Arab Bank is held liable in first civil trial victory under anti-terrorism law

Federal jurors in Brooklyn on Monday ruled in favor of about 300 terrorism victims and their relatives in a civil suit that accused Arab Bank of supporting terrorism by handling payments for Hamas. The verdict was believed to be the first against a bank for violating civil provisions in the…

Sep 23, 2014 9:46 AM CDT

Lawyer stole from cemetery so he could repay $1M he had stolen from clients, investigators say

A suburban New York City real estate lawyer has allegedly been living large for years on funds he misappropriated from clients. Charged earlier this year with stealing $1.9 million from a Staten Island cemetery while serving as its president, Timothy Griffin, 54, is now facing a new larceny case in…

Sep 18, 2014 4:00 PM CDT

NYC police to revise decoy purse operation to settle lawsuit

New York City’s police department has agreed to settle a lawsuit that claimed a decoy purse operation was leading to arrests of good Samaritans who hoped to return the items to their rightful owners. Police have agreed to revise the guidelines for the sting, dubbed “Operation Lucky Bag,” the New…

Sep 18, 2014 12:58 PM CDT