If Chevaliee ”Chevy” Robinson, 30, was unhappy about pleading guilty to drug conspiracy and money laundering in Akron a few months ago, he was probably even less happy when he learned the identity of the snitch that helped set him up with the police: his lawyer Frank Pignatelli. Media has learned that Pignatelli found himself implicated in the drug conspiracy and agreed to work undercover with police in stings to incriminate others, including his own former clients. It is an extremely troubling use of a lawyer by law enforcement that the American Bar Association should review.
Continue reading “Lawyer and Narc: Ohio Attorney Goes Undercover to Help Police Trap His Client”
With lawyers and law students getting pink slips in the recession, Cristina Warthen, a Stanford law graduate, had a novel idea to support herself: she ran a high-priced call girl service. Warthen has now pleaded guilty and avoided jail time, agreeing to pay $313,000 in unpaid taxes as a prostitute who went by the name “Brazil.” She will serve a one year sentence of home detention and three years probation. She ran a website featuring her business named TouchofBrazil.net. She has said that the work as a call girl was done to pay off her student loans.
These are the types of dangers that law school simply does not prepare you for. Weusi McGowan, 37, wanted San Diego Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Fraser to replace his public defender Deputy Alternate Public Defender Jeffrey Martin. Fraser refused, so after a break McGowan returned to court and promptly produced a plastic baggie with fecal matter and smeared in on the face and hair of Martin. He then tossed the waste at the jury. The home-invasion robbery suspect got a new trial, a new lawyer, and presumably a new assault charge.
John Conyers, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, has subpoenaed Karl Rove to testify about the Bush administration’s firing of United States attorneys. The subpoena could force an interesting constitutional fight since President Obama would now be in a position to waive executive privilege and Attorney General nominee Eric Holder could allow the matter to go to a grand jury. I discussed this issue last night on Countdown in 
It was Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.’s version of a 
Controversial lawyer Geoffrey Fieger has lost a critical appeal before the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, which reversed a lower court decision in his favor. At issue is a state code requiring “civility for lawyers in their dealings with judges. In a 2-1 decision, the appellate panel ruled that the requirement is not is not unconstitutionally vague.
Washington is electric this morning. It is morning in America as literally billions around the world celebrate the Inauguration of our 44th President.
The Wise and The Commission on Judicial Performance in California is worried about the work ethic of Riverside Superior Court Judge Christopher Sheldon. Years ago, Sheldon was admonished for spending too much time jogging on the courthouse stairs and too little time judging in the courthouse. Now, he is again the subject of an investigation into his habit of blowing off the court around noon everyday. 
In what appears the first time that an Arkansas Supreme Court justice has been reprimanded, the Court sanctioned Justice Jim Gunter for hitting and shoving his sister of hitting and shoving at his father’s home in September 2007 in Hope, Arkansas.
Former Toledo attorney Karyn McConnell Hancock, 38, is heading to prison for four year. Hancock became infamous when she faked her own kidnapping. Now, she has been sentenced for stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from her clients. She is a former Democratic Toledo city councilman and the daughter of sitting Toledo Municipal Court Judge C. Allen McConnell.
It appears that another of the bar brethren is in difficulties with the law over drugs. Around the same time that a Chicago lawyer was having his 
A 60-year-old defense attorney in Chicago has been charged with smuggling marijuana and cigarettes to an inmate. Cook County Sheriff officials alleged that Dave Compton was caught in a transaction with the inmate’s girlfriend, Angela Bell. She allegedly gave him $250 bucks for the pots and smokes, which were hidden in his underwear.
U.S. News and World Report has long been the dominant ranking of law schools. However, there is competition from groups that disagree with the factors weighed by the magazine. One such competing ranking is done each year at Cooley Law School, which released the annual results this week below.