States

N.C. Drops Ethics Charges Against PD Who Told of Dead Client’s Confession

The North Carolina State Bar has dismissed an ethics complaint against the appellate defender who revealed statements his client made long before he committed suicide in prison that could help exonerate another inmate. Editorials in the Raleigh News & Observer and the Greensboro News-Record are praising the decision to drop…

Feb 5, 2008 3:37 PM CST

Husch Blackwell Sanders to Open Chicago Office

The newly merged law firm Husch Blackwell Sanders will open an office in Chicago early this year. The firm is opening in the city to expand relationships with about 50 clients in banking, insurance and other areas, the National Law Journal reports. Husch Blackwell lawyer John Mandelbaum, who will lead…

Feb 5, 2008 2:52 PM CST

Associates at Top KC Firms Top $100K

Top Kansas City law firms are raising salaries for new associates by as much as 10 percent this year, boosting pay to more than $100,000 a year. The Kansas City Star reports that the firms are paying more as they compete for associates. New associates at Bryan Cave will earn…

Feb 5, 2008 1:51 PM CST

Expletive Deleted: Judge Accused of Profanity-Laced Tongue-Lashing

A state disciplinary panel has accused a New Jersey judge of unleashing a profanity-laced tongue-lashing as he ordered a lawyer out of his courtroom, New Jersey Star-Ledger reports. The complaint (PDF) against Judge F. Michael Giles of Essex County says he was neither dignified nor courteous when he ordered the…

Feb 5, 2008 1:32 PM CST

$5K DePaul Student Award Honors Slain IP Lawyer

A $5,000 award has been established in memory of a Chicago intellectual property lawyer who was murdered in a shooting rampage at his law firm in late 2006. The scholarship will be awarded to a third-year student at DePaul University College of Law who is “expected to make the greatest…

Feb 5, 2008 12:39 AM CST

BP Pleads Guilty in Texas Refinery Explosion That Killed 15

A federal judge in Houston is one step closer to approving a criminal plea deal by petroleum giant BP concerning a 2005 explosion at a Texas refinery that killed 15 and injured more than 170. BP entered a guilty plea today, but U.S. District Judge Lee Rosenthal hasn’t yet decided…

Feb 5, 2008 12:03 AM CST

States Seek Unclaimed Property for Themselves, Owners Sue

Once upon a time, legislatures throughout the country enacted unclaimed property laws intended to make sure that banks and other companies holding assets that the owners seemed to have forgotten about made efforts to notify them. But today a growing number of states are making it more difficult for owners…

Feb 4, 2008 11:22 PM CST

Authorities Say Lawyer & Family Slain By Son, 15

A 15-year-old Maryland teen allegedly shot his father, mother and two younger brothers to death as they slept, then spent more than 12 hours with his friends before calling 911. Among those found dead in the suburban Baltimore home over the weekend is attorney John Browning, 45, who was a…

Feb 4, 2008 10:50 PM CST

Fewer Law Firm Options for New Grads?

Some say they couldn’t find law firm jobs. Others say they didn’t want to. But the bottom line for a small fraction of the nation’s newly minted law school graduates is a nontraditional business job that has only a peripheral connection, at best, to practicing law, reports the Recorder (sub.…

Feb 4, 2008 8:25 PM CST

Roy Tolles, Old-School Founder of Leading Law Firm, Dies at 85

Edwin Leroy Tolles, a renowned California attorney who founded a leading Los Angeles law firm, has died. He was 85. A gentleman of the old school who founded and ran the law firm now known as Munger, Tolles & Olson while simultaneously devoting himself to family life, Roy Tolles is…

Feb 4, 2008 7:40 PM CST

Vick Gets to Keep $20M Bonus

Overturning an October ruling by a special master, a federal judge ruled today that fallen football superstar Michael Vick can keep a $20 million bonus that the Atlanta Falcons had sought to recover from its former quarterback. Once Vick made the team’s 80-man roster, he earned the so-called roster bonus…

Feb 4, 2008 6:18 PM CST

Court Upholds $21K Award Against Faxing Lawyer

A New York appeals court has upheld a $21,000 award against a lawyer who faxed unsolicited information about legal malpractice cases to another lawyer. The court said the faxes sent by Andrew Lavoott Bluestone violated a federal law that bars unsolicited ads, the New York Law Journal reports. Scott Greenfield,…

Feb 4, 2008 5:21 PM CST

Tougher NYC Construction Rules Planned After Injury Increase

A rapidly rising number of deaths and injuries at high-rise construction sites after a building boom is prompting New York City officials to recommend more stringent safety regulations. Among the new rules included in proposed municipal legislation: contractors must register with the city, and, although high-rises are defined as buildings…

Feb 4, 2008 4:38 PM CST

Judge Raps ‘Cat and Mouse Game,’ Withholds Attorney Fees

A federal bankruptcy judge has refused to approve a fee request of almost $75,000 by a New York law firm because it did not clearly disclose the relationship between the lead lawyer and one of the unsecured creditors he represented. Lawyer Douglas Spelfogel of Berkman, Henoch, Peterson & Peddy of…

Feb 4, 2008 4:27 PM CST

DA Admits Deleting E-Mail, Making Errors in Testimony

District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal of Harris County, Texas, acknowledged in a Friday hearing that he deleted more than 2,500 e-mails he had been ordered to produce in a civil suit. Rosenthal also told U.S. District Judge Kenneth Hoyt of Houston that he made some errors in previous sworn statements about…

Feb 4, 2008 3:19 PM CST