Trials & Litigation

Case: E-Mail Could Mean Fatal Conflict, Absent Appropriate Disclaimer

Not having an appropriate e-mail set-up could cost a law firm dearly, according to a recent ethics opinion. If the system is open to the public and doesn’t require users to agree to a disclaimer eliminating confidentiality before hitting the send button, a law firm could be forced to withdraw…

Jun 5, 2007 8:27 PM CDT

ACLU: Botched Executions Need Scrutiny

A recent execution in Ohio took so long that the convict reportedly needed a bathroom break before he died. That’s just one reason why people need to know more about how the death penalty is imposed, including the identity of the executioners, says the American Civil Liberties Union. The organization’s…

Jun 5, 2007 7:56 PM CDT

Lawyer: Prosecutor’s Fatal DUI a Liability Issue for County

The fallout continues over a suburban Chicago prosecutor’s alcohol-laden lunch last month, after her office was closed down for the day by a bomb threat. A woman injured in a subsequent accident caused by Deputy Chief of Prosecutions Jane Radostits, 46, whose blood alcohol was three times the legal limit,…

Jun 5, 2007 6:46 PM CDT

Ex-Klansman on Trial for 1964 Kidnapping

Trial began yesterday in Jackson, Miss., for former Ku Klux Klansman James Ford Seale, accused of kidnapping two black men before they were murdered in 1964. In opening arguments, prosecutor Paige Fitzgerald said the trial would offer “an inside view into the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, a…

Jun 5, 2007 4:46 PM CDT

Tapes Crucial in Padilla Trial

Prosecutors began playing wiretapped phone conversations yesterday in the terrorism trial of Jose Padilla in Miami. A co-defendant can be heard on several of the tapes discussing sending military equipment to fighters in Chechnya in the 1990s, the New York Times reports. Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Frazier told jurors in…

Jun 5, 2007 2:48 PM CDT

Lawyers Clash in BAR/BRI Case

McGuireWoods and a former partner are clashing over leadership of a $49 million class action against bar review company BAR/BRI. Eliot Disner, who says the firm fired him after he wrote a brief last month criticizing a potential settlement, asked a judge to make him co-lead counsel in the litigation,…

Jun 5, 2007 1:15 PM CDT

Putting the Case Together

Focus on the elements necessary to tell a convincing story to the jury

Jun 5, 2007 8:32 AM CDT

Decline & Fall

As the golden age of consumer class actions ends, the question now is whether they have any future

Jun 5, 2007 8:20 AM CDT

Collaring the Clergy

Jeffrey Anderson goes global with his pursuit of pedophiles

Jun 5, 2007 8:14 AM CDT

Judge v. Jury

Forget what you know about who’s more likely to convict

Jun 5, 2007 7:06 AM CDT

2nd Circuit: F-Word Not Really Indecent; FCC: Enforcement Threatened

The F-word isn’t indecent enough to trigger Federal Communications Commission penalties when inadvertently used in television and radio broadcasts, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decided today. Its ruling focused on a 2003 Golden Globes presentation on NBC television by U-2’s lead singer, who made the comment “f-ing brilliant”…

Jun 5, 2007 2:06 AM CDT

6th Circuit Axes Late-Term Abortion Ban; Fallout over Supreme Court Decision

A Michigan law banning late-term abortions is unconstitutional because it is overly broad and “unduly burdens” a woman’s right to an abortion, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decided today. This is the third time that a Michigan law targeting so-called partial birth late-term abortions has been struck down,…

Jun 5, 2007 1:37 AM CDT

DUI Prosecutor’s Drunk Driving Death a Hard Lesson for Profession

The recent drunk driving death of a renowned Chicago area prosecutor is a hard lesson for the legal profession – and a number of those who could learn from it haven’t necessarily done so. Too often, those in charge of enforcing the law against others don’t apply it to themselves.…

Jun 4, 2007 11:15 PM CDT

Pal Tipped Plaintiff Attorney about ‘Flea’

One question remained unanswered – until today – about “Flea,” the once-anonymous physician whose biting blogging about his ongoing medical malpractice case recently led to a Perry Mason moment at his Boston trial. How did the plaintiff lawyer learn that the defendant doctor might have authored the blog? Another lawyer…

Jun 4, 2007 9:37 PM CDT

Death Suit Dismissed in Holloway Case

A Los Angeles judge has dismissed a California wrongful death suit filed over the disappearance of Natalee Holloway in Aruba. The parents of the Alabama teen, who vanished on May 30, 2005 while on vacation with high school classmates on the Dutch Caribbean island, have no jurisdiction to sue in…

Jun 4, 2007 7:16 PM CDT