Category: Lawyering

Bizarre, Criminal law, Lawyering

Dewey, Cheatem & Howe: Law Firms Losing Tens of Millions In Nigerian Scams

We have previously discussed how it is remarkable that people still fall for Nigerian Internet scams and fork over much of their life savings — allowing these criminals to thrive on the one percent of gullible people. Now it appears that these gullible parties include law firms which have forked over millions to Nigerian con men. The most common involves a con where a man asks a firm for help in a settlement negotiation or real estate deal. He offers the law firm a hefty cashier’s check to put in its escrow account. It is only after the firm pays out on part of the check that they discovered it is bogus. At least 600 attorneys and firms have fallen victim to the scam with losses exceeding $31 million.

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Lawyering, Society

Lawyers Have Bigger Briefs: Study Finds Lawyers and Judges Prone To Weight Gain

This may not come as much of a surprise to some, but lawyers report some of the highest rates of weight gain of any professions due to stress eating and eating out regularly. The study also reports high weight gain for administrative assistants, travel agents and other desk bound folk.

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Bizarre, Lawyering, Society, Torts

Oregon Jury Awards Woman $900,000 In Herpes Case After Defense Counsel Compares Claim To Spilled Coffee

It is apparently not a good argument to compare contracting herpes to spilled coffee.  It took just two hours for a jury to find a 69-year-old Oregon dentist liable for giving a nurse herpes.  It was however the attorneys arguments in court that raises eyebrows.  Defense attorney Shawn Lillegren attacked the nurse as a liar who said that she was just trying to be the next spilled coffee litigant to win the litigation lottery and that she needs to grow up. If so, she got it. The jury awarded her the full amount demanded in damages: $900,000 for her pain and suffering

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Congress, Justice, Lawyering, Politics, Science, Society, Supreme Court

First Circuit Strikes Down DOMA And Definition Of Marriage As Between A Man And A Woman

In a major victory for gay rights, the United States Court of Appeal for the First Circuit in Boston has found the Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional in a unanimous ruling. The court found that the 1996 law discriminates against homosexual couples. The law was supported by Bill Clinton and by the Obama Administration until the latter recently reversed its position in court and withdrew support for the law before the Court. The case is Gill v. Office of Personnel Management.

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Academia, Lawyering, Media, Politics, Society

Elizabeth Warren Admits She Claimed Minority Status . . . Then Faces Criticism Over Claim That She Was The First Nursing Mother To Take Bar

This morning three different law professors sent me this video of U.S. Senate Candidate and Harvard Law Professor Elizabeth Warren claiming to be the first nursing mother to ever take the bar exam. One of the professors, who is a liberal academic, noted that she knows that claim to be untrue from personal experience. However, as noted by Winnie Comfort of the New Jersey Judiciary (which administers state’s bar exam), the bar does not track nursing habits and women have been taking the New Jersey bar exam since 1895. This was not a claim to be a nursing Cherokee mother, but the question remains why Warren is making such controversial boasts when she has a great financial expertise record to run on. Worse still, Warren today admitted that she did in fact claim minority status at Penn and Harvard — after insisting that she was unaware of the claims.

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Bizarre, Lawyering, Media

Pom Wonderful: Recommended By One Out Of One Administrative Judge

The lawyers for juice maker Pom Wonderful appear to have found a way to make lemonade from a lemon. After the company was hit by a largely negative ruling by Administrative Judge D. Michael Chappell over false advertising of the health benefits of his product, the company used lines from the opinion as part of its new advertising. Many have complained that the selective quotation is misleading. Whatever the accuracy, it is a move that will not go over well with Chappell or other judges.

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Courts, Criminal law, Justice, Lawyering, Media, Politics

Justice Department Clears Its Own Lawyers Of Intentional Misconduct In Stevens Prosecution

The U.S. Justice Department again showed how its protects its own in scandals involving government lawyers. The DOJ has long been notorious in refusing to seriously punish its own lawyers for wrongdoing while pushing the legal envelope on criminal charges against others. The slightest discrepancy in testimony or omission in reporting can bring a criminal charge from the DOJ. The DOJ is particularly keen in finding intentional violations or substitute for intent in federal rules — bending laws to the breaking point to secure indictments. However, when its attorneys are accused of facilitating torture or lying to the court or withholding evidence, the general response is a long investigation and then a slap on the wrist. This week is no exception. Waiting until late Thursday to inform Congress to guarantee a low media coverage, the DOJ announced that it had found no intentional violations by its attorneys in the failed prosecution of U.S. Senator Ted Stevens — despite the contrary finding made by an independent investigation. Instead, the investigation again offered rhetorical punishment as a substitute for true punishment — declaring that the attorneys were only guilty of “reckless professional misconduct.” As a result, Joseph Bottini will be suspended for only 40 days and James Goeke will be suspended for 15 days. Even that level of punishment is viewed as noteworthy for the DOJ given its prior history of whitewashing misconduct by its attorneys. Even the finding of misconduct and brief suspension was contested within the department by Terrence Berg, a lawyer with the department’s Professional Misconduct Review Unit.

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Bizarre, Criminal law, Lawyering

Woman Admits That She Falsely Accused Convicted High School Student of Rape After He Serves His Time In Jail . . . Woman Keeps $1.5 Million Award As Rape Victim

Brian Banks was a former high school football star when he was accused of rape by Wanetta Gibson. Gibson’s name was sealed as a rape victim while Banks was publicly accused as a rapist despite his insistence that it was consensual sex. It was his word against hers and prosecutors threatened him with life imprisonment if he went to trial, so he pleaded guilty to a rape that he did not commit. He spent five years in jail. When he was released he was surprised when his “victim” asked to befriend him on Facebook. She later admitted that she made the whole thing up but did not want to give back the $1.5 million that she won in a judgment against the school district for her alleged rape. She retains the money despite admitting to lying about the rape.

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Courts, Criminal law, International, Lawyering, Military, Politics

Pakistani Doctor Who Helped U.S. Find Bin Laden Is Reportedly Sentenced To 33 Years In Prison

The United States has long been criticized for disregarding the sovereign rights of Pakistan and other countries in launching drone attacks and military operations. Now, Pakistan has responded with a reported lengthy sentencing of the Pakistani doctor, Shakil Afridi, who helped track down Osama Bin Laden as guilty of “high treason.”

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Bizarre, Congress, Constitutional Law, Courts, Lawyering, Media, Politics, Society, Supreme Court

Supreme Court Declines To Review Outrageous $650,000 Fine Against Student Who Downloaded and Shared 30 Songs

We have been following the outrageously abusive fines being imposed on citizens for downloading and sharing songs — obscenely large fines allowed by Congress under laws written by lobbyists for the music and movie industries. Law firms have been targeting even people who try to inform citizens of their rights. Now, in one of the most abusive cases involving a former Boston university student, the Supreme Court has refused to review a $675,000 fine against Joel Tenenbaum, 28, for downloading and sharing 30 songs. Despite the general condemnation of these actions, Congress is cowed by pressure from the industry lobby. The most abusive litigation is directed by the Recording Industry Association of America.

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Bizarre, Courts, Lawyering

Two Attorneys Disqualified After Scheduling Depositions at Dunkin’ Donuts and One Played “Angry Birds” and Drew Pictures of Male Genitalia To Mock Opposing Counsel

Richard Celler of Morgan & Morgan has a rather unique approach to depositions. Celler was removed from a case by U.S. District Judge Cecilia Altonaga after scheduling depositions at a Dunkin’ Donut shop, appearing in shorts and teeshirts, drawing pictures of male genitalia to mock opposing counsel, and playing video games like Angry Birds during depositions. This case in Miami shows another recent case of a lawyer in Texas who was charged with sanctionable conduct for a bizarre series of emails to opposing counsel concerning the scheduling of depositions. I thought I had been in some heated depositions in my career, but I now feel like a mere piker practicioner.

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Criminal law, Lawyering, Society, Torts

San Francisco Attorney Arrested After Parts Of His Mercedes Traced To Fatal Hit-And-Run

Spencer Freeman Smith, 32, a partner at the San Francisco firm of Smith Patten was arrested this week on suspicion of felony hit-and-run and manslaughter in connection with the death and hit-and-run of Bo Hu, 57, of China, who was bicycling along a road when he was hit by a Mercedes-Benz. Police traced pieces of Smith’s brand new 2012 Mercedes-Benz CLS550 to his home.

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Courts, Criminal law, Lawyering, Politics

New York Judge Admits To Using Medical Marijuana To Relieve Pain From Cancer

Judge Gustin Reichbach of Brooklyn has written an extraordinary op-ed in the New York Times where he admits to breaking the law by using marijuana to relieve his suffering from Stage 3 pancreatic cancer. New York does not allow such use of marijuana and the Obama Administration has been cracking down with raids and arrests over the use of medical marijuana. Reichbach details how, with cancer treatment, “Nausea and pain are constant companions. ” As a result, “I did not foresee that after having dedicated myself for 40 years to a life of the law, including more than two decades as a New York State judge, my quest for ameliorative and palliative care would lead me to marijuana.” But his admits that he came to rely on the drug and has added his voice to thousands who defend the use of medical marijuana. He is a justice of the State Supreme Court in Brooklyn.

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Criminal law, Justice, Lawyering, Politics, Society

Medical Report On Zimmerman Shows Broken Nose, Lacerations, and Back Injury

The evidence for the trial of George Zimmerman is slowly taking form. Yesterday, a medical report was disclosed by the family physician of George Zimmerman where the doctor found a “closed fracture” of his nose, a pair of black eyes, two lacerations to the back of his head and a minor back injury the day after he fatally shot Trayvon Martin. While this is the family physician, it would still constitute important evidence in claiming self-defense, particularly when combined with accounts from the paramedics that found injuries to Zimmerman. An autopsy report released today also revealed bruises on Martin’s knuckles, consistent with a fight (though they could be bruises sustained in self-defense). In the meantime, the Justice Department has indicated that it may bring hate crime charges against Zimmerman — charges that would be questionable on the current evidence that has been made public in the case.

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Bizarre, Constitutional Law, Lawyering, Politics, Society

Virginia Blocks Gay Prosecutor From State Court

Chief Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Tracy Thorne-Begland appears to have been successful in every aspect of his life: as a Navy fighter-pilot, a top prosecutor, and the father to two twin children. With bipartisan support he would have appeared a shoe in for a state judgeship. However, he was denied in a vote of 33-31 by the Virginia House of Delegates because of one other fact — Thorne-Begland is gay. For gays and lesbians, the state seal (which is my favorite among the states) now has a more sinister meaning.

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