States

New Claim: Justice Hecht Fee Discount

A new ethics complaint has been made about Texas Supreme Court Justice Nathan Hecht. He allegedly was given a discount on the legal fees he paid in a successful defense of an earlier ethics complaint, and a Travis County prosecutor is investigating this new complaint, reports the KWTX television station.…

Jul 25, 2007 8:55 PM CDT

Lawyer, 47, Moves to 6th Firm in 8 Years

If this is a day in 2007, the law firm at which David Wiseblood is working must be Seyfarth Shaw. Or possibly Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Gates, where he hung his shingle earlier this year, or–before its merger with Kirkpatrick & Lockhart–Preston Gates & Ellis. Lawyers leap laterally to new firms…

Jul 25, 2007 8:20 PM CDT

NY Panhandler Case Now a Class Action

A federal judge in New York City has certified as a class action a case brought on behalf of some 5,000 to 10,000 panhandlers allegedly arrested or forced off the streets for begging. Despite a 1992 federal court decision that the state loitering law being applied was unconstitutional–and an appeals…

Jul 25, 2007 7:57 PM CDT

Observers Agog Over Nev. Judge Saga

Halfway into her first year on the bench, Clark County District Judge Elizabeth Halverson is one of the best-known jurists in Nevada. Although a law school classmate praises her as an attorney capable of Harvard Law Review-quality work, it isn’t her legal intellect that’s attracting all the attention. Instead, Halverson…

Jul 25, 2007 6:25 PM CDT

Lohan’s Latest Spree Could Lead to Jail

No longer does Paris Hilton have star billing as Hollywood’s most notorious party girl. The dubious distinction now goes to actress Lindsay Lohan, 21, arrested early this morning in Santa Monica for allegedly drinking and driving on a suspended license. She was also charged with felony cocaine possession, after she…

Jul 25, 2007 1:18 AM CDT

Almost 800% Rise in Calif. Foreclosures

The number of California mortgage foreclosures has risen by almost 800 percent compared to the same period last year, according to figures released today. And experts predict the record-breaking situation is likely to get worse (or better, from the standpoint of lawyers who make a living representing foreclosing lenders), as…

Jul 25, 2007 12:35 AM CDT

Cost to See Kids: $2.5 M or More in NYC

Why would a family pay nearly $2.5 million to buy a needs-work apartment in New York City when they could live in a larger, nicer, single-family home with a yard in the suburbs? Because it gives dad–or, sometimes, mom or both parents–a chance to see the kids. A rapidly increasing…

Jul 25, 2007 12:04 AM CDT

N.Y. AG: Governor’s Office, Police in Plot

Updated: Top aides to New York’s Democratic governor have been suspended or reassigned, and Gov. Eliot Spitzer has apologized, in the wake of a scathing report by the state’s attorney general finding that Spitzer aides and state police conspired against the state senate’s Republican majority leader. “No one was accused…

Jul 24, 2007 9:22 PM CDT

Controversial MA Judge Struggling on TV

After Maria Lopez’s first courtroom gig came to an end, a second judicial career beckoned to the controversial former Massachusetts jurist. She was invited to host her own television show as “Judge Maria,” a role in which she is touted for telling it like it is. Now, however, the 53-year-old…

Jul 24, 2007 8:59 PM CDT

$21 M for Wrongful Birth Needs Fla. OK

A Florida couple has won a $21 million jury award over a misdiagnosis of their first child’s rare genetic defect that led them, they say, to have another child two years ago with the same debilitating disease. But Daniel and Amara Estrada won’t be able to collect the award unless…

Jul 24, 2007 8:30 PM CDT

Kangaroo Shoe Ban Upheld

The California Supreme Court has upheld a state law banning the sale of products made with kangaroo skin. Federal law does not pre-empt the state ban, the court ruled yesterday. The San Francisco Chronicle reports that the ruling could have a big impact on the makers of high-end soccer shoes,…

Jul 24, 2007 8:08 PM CDT

Woman Sues Fidel Castro in Dad’s Death

It isn’t every day that a U.S. court has to figure out how to serve a complaint on Fidel Castro–not to mention his brother, Raul, the Republic of Cuba and the Cuban army. So Justice Nancy Mills, who sits in Waldo County Superior Court in Maine, took a little time…

Jul 24, 2007 7:47 PM CDT

No Murder Charges for Katrina Doctor

A grand jury in New Orleans has refused to indict a doctor accused of murdering four hospitalized patients by having them injected with a lethal drug cocktail in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. However, a prosecutor said after the announcement of the grand jury’s findings that investigators in her office…

Jul 24, 2007 6:56 PM CDT

Fla. Judge: No Execution; It’s Too Cruel

A Florida judge has refused to impose the death penalty on a specific prisoner, following a botched 30-minute execution of another inmate on Dec. 13. Ruling Sunday in Ocala, after an 11-day evidentiary hearing, Circuit Judge Carven D. Angel agreed with the defense, reports the Associated Press. It would be…

Jul 24, 2007 5:18 PM CDT

$3,100 a Week for Summer Associates

Big Washington, D.C., law firms are paying summer associates as much as $3,100 a week while offering plentiful perks. The Washington Post writes about a dinner with a “Masters of the Universe ambience” atop the Kennedy Center, attended by summer associates at Steptoe & Johnson. Competition for top law grads…

Jul 24, 2007 4:45 PM CDT