New York

Does Legal Fees Motion in $590M Citigroup Case Include $1K Per Hour for Low-Paid Contract Lawyers?

A protester has filed an objection to a legal-fees request in a securities case settled by Citigroup for $590 million, contending that the lead plaintiffs law firm is trying to charge $1,000 per hour for some contract attorneys who were actually paid only a small fraction of that amount. Attorney…

Jan 3, 2013 8:03 PM CST

Lawyer Can Depose Former Chief NY Administrative Judge re Libel Suit Over ‘Law and Order’ Episode

An attorney who filed a libel suit over a character in a fictional television show that he says could be understood to portray him in an unflattering light has gotten an OK from the trial judge overseeing the case to depose a former chief administrative judge for the state of…

Jan 2, 2013 5:29 PM CST

Unprecedented Era of Insider-Trading Enforcement Casts a Wide Net, With Help of Electronic Evidence

With the help of electronic technology, those in charge of enforcing securities laws have created an unprecedented era of enforcement against those who betray workplace confidences, friends or even family members with corporate connections, to score illegal gains by buying and selling based on inside information. While federal prosecutions in…

Dec 21, 2012 9:36 PM CST

Peter Madoff Gets 10 Years, Is Ordered to Pay $143B, for His Role in Brother’s Ponzi Scheme

Imposing a sentence that had been agreed to months earlier, at a Thursday hearing that gave victims a chance to make their feelings known, a federal judge in Manhattan gave Peter Madoff a 10-year prison term for his role in his brother Bernard Madoff’s infamous Ponzi scheme. An attorney by…

Dec 21, 2012 5:10 PM CST

Appeals Court ‘Troubled’ By NY Law School Job Stats, But Says Lower Court Was Right to Nix Suit

A Manhattan appeals court ruled Thursday that a trial court judge was right to dismiss a lawsuit by graduates of New York Law School over the institution’s marketing materials. The Appellate Division, First Department held that the school’s disclosures about its graduates’ employment, although “unquestonably incomplete,” weren’t actionable under a…

Dec 20, 2012 7:12 PM CST

Investors Sue Cozen and Blank Rome, Say Ex-Partner Conspired to ‘Dupe’ Them in $27M Real Estate Deal

A group of investors is suing Cozen O’Connor and Blank Rome, contending that a former partner of both law firms conspired with a landlord and his business partner to “dupe” them concerning the value of a real estate development project. The former partner, Charles Naselsky, is currently serving federal time…

Dec 20, 2012 5:01 PM CST

Ex-BigLaw Partner Gets No Time for Helping Disbarred Celebrity Money Manager Launder $18M

A former partner of Winston & Strawn who helped a now-disbarred attorney working as a celebrity money manager with a $35 million Ponzi scheme by laundering $18 million through attorney trust accounts will not have to serve any prison time. Saying that Jonathan Bristol, 57, had had his judgment clouded…

Dec 19, 2012 5:00 PM CST

6 Attorneys Among 21 NYC Law Firm Workers Charged in Asylum Conspiracy Case

Updated: Six attorneys are among 21 employees of 10 law firms in New York City who have been criminally charged in federal court in Manhattan with participating in a claimed conspiracy to win asylum for individuals based on false claims of persecution. A total of 26 individuals are named as…

Dec 18, 2012 10:39 PM CST

Report: Law Prof, Other Critics Complain About DOJ Approach to ‘Too Big to Jail’ Bank Crimes

A record settlement of $1.9 billion with HSBC that was announced earlier this month as result of a federal money-laundering probe against the United Kingdom-based bank was hailed by some as a sign that the justice system is working. But others don’t see much benefit in the pact with a…

Dec 18, 2012 7:04 PM CST

Police ID Getaway Car in NYC Law Student Slaying

Police in New York City have reportedly identified the getaway car used by a suspect who was caught on surveillance camera footage this week shooting to death a California law student in Midtown Manhattan who was visiting the Big Apple for unknown reasons. However, the Lincoln MKX was a rental…

Dec 14, 2012 5:00 PM CST

Judge Nixes Ex-Con’s Effort to Gain Cancer Care by Shoplifting, Arranges Another Health Plan

Desperate for high-quality medical treatment for his leukemia and remembering the excellent care he got during a 20-year prison stint for cocaine trafficking conspiracy, Frank J. Morrocco said he shoplifted $23 worth of goods from a New York state supermarket last month in the hope of being reincarcerated. A federal…

Dec 11, 2012 11:51 PM CST

Suspect Sought in Law Student Slaying; Video Captured Apparently Targeted NYC Shooting

Police have released part of a surveillance video that shows a man walking up behind a 31-year-old law student in Midtown Manhattan in broad daylight on Monday afternoon and shooting him in the head with a semiautomatic handgun. Authorities in New York City are now seeking the man as a…

Dec 11, 2012 11:08 PM CST

Law Student Is Shot and Killed in Midtown Manhattan

Updated: A law student from Los Angeles who was visiting New York was shot and killed on Monday afternoon in Midtown Manhattan a block from Central Park. The victim, 31-year-old Brandon Woodard, had recently transferred to the University of West Los Angeles Law School from Whittier Law School, his stepfather…

Dec 11, 2012 2:42 PM CST

US Supreme Court to Hear Same-Sex Marriage Cases

The U.S. Supreme Court is going to weigh in on same-sex marriage. Among the certiorari petitions it accepted Friday (PDF) are two in which this is a central issue, as the New York Times (reg. req.) details. One of the two cases to be reviewed by the high court, Hollingsworth…

Dec 7, 2012 9:23 PM CST

SEC Sues Fla. Lawyer, Says He Used Atty Niece’s ID to Issue Opinion Letters, Faked Her Signature

Banned in 2010 from issuing opinion letters concerning so-called Pink Sheets stocks, a Florida lawyer has been accused of assuming another attorney’s identity in order to continue doing so. In a civil suit (PDF) filed yesterday in federal court in New York City, the Securities and Exchange Commission accuses Guy…

Dec 7, 2012 7:53 PM CST