Category: Lawyering

Congress, Criminal law, Lawyering, Media, Politics, Society

THE PORTEOUS IMPEACHMENT CASE STARTS MONDAY

The Senate trial for United States District Court Judge Thomas Porteous begins Monday morning. I will be therefore out of pocket for the coming week and part of next week. Unfortunately, that means that postings will be extremely limited but I expect the denizens of this blog to post stories as comments in my absence. I will try to post a little each day on the schedule for the trial and maybe even a story to facilitate discussion depending if I have a second in the morning.

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International, Lawyering, Society, Torts

Lawyer Gets $6 Million After Colleague Falls On Her On Dance Floor

A Vancouver lawyer has secured a remarkably large award of $6 million for injuries sustained when a colleague at the law firm of Alexander Holburn Beaudin & Lang LLP fell back on her while dancing. What is striking is that Michelle Marie Danicek, 32 was able to get full payment for her future earnings as a lawyer in the case.
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Bizarre, Lawyering, Society

The Buzzing Bush

I am getting a lot of emails on the location of the “buzzing bush” that I mentioned this week in remarks at the ABA Convention in San Francisco. I mentioned that some courts have banned cellphones entirely — a practice that I oppose. This has led attorneys in one court to leave their cellphones secreted in a bush outside the door of the court which continually buzzes. While Moses has the burning bush, spectators encounter the buzzing bush outside of the Eastern District of Virginia.
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Bizarre, Constitutional Law, Courts, Lawyering, Media

D.C. Judge Hits NLJ With Prior Restraint Order

There is a major first amendment case brewing in Washington, D.C. The National Law Journal was hit with a temporary restraining order from D.C. Superior Court Judge Judith Bartnoff preventing it from publishing facts that its journalists found in publicly available documents. The court blocked the NLJ from revealing the name of a government agency investigating POM Wonderful, a pomegranate juice maker. After signing what appears to be an unconstitutional order, Bartnoff is quoted as saying “If I am throwing 80 years of First Amendment jurisprudence on its head, so be it.”
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Bizarre, Criminal law, Lawyering, Politics

Blagojevich’s Lawyer Vows to Go To Jail Over Closing Argument

Sam Adam Jr. is under a threat of jail from Judge James B. Zagel in the trial of former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich. Zagel has ruled that Adam cannot refer to witnesses whom the government conspicuously did not call to trial — even though prosecutors referred to non-appearing witnesses. Adam said he was prepared to go to jail over the issue.

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Bizarre, Constitutional Law, Criminal law, International, Lawyering, Politics, Religion

Iran Set to Stone Woman To Death — After Giving Her 99 Lashes — For Adultery

We often run Iranian blogs to show clown-like policies such as requiring Islamic haircuts or mannequin mascetomies. However, it is important to remember the plight of women and dissidents under Iran’s medieval Sharia system. There is no more frightening example than the scheduled stoning of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, 43, for conducting an “illicit relationship outside marriage.” Convicted in May 2006, Ashtiani has already been given 99 lashes under her Sharia sentence.

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Bizarre, Courts, Lawyering

Illinois Lawyer Suspended For Calling Judge a “Narcissistic, Maniacal Mental Case”

Melvin Hoffman, an Illinois lawyer with 35 years of experience, has been hit with a six-month suspension by the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission for calling Judge Patrick Murphy a “narcissistic, maniacal mental case” in a telephone conference call on a family law matter.
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Constitutional Law, Courts, International, Lawyering, Politics, Society, Supreme Court

Supreme Court Rules In Favor Of Expansive Reading of Material Support Law

The Supreme Court rejected first amendment claims and upheld a federal law on providing “material support” to foreign terrorist organizations in Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project. The material support law (found in the 1996 Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (AEDPA)) is the darling of prosecutors and widely ridiculed by civil libertarians for allowing virtually any act to be classified as material support. The ruling is a victory for Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan and a loss for civil liberties. Notably, however, even the conservatives on the Court found the interpretation of the Obama Administration to be too extreme.

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Bizarre, Criminal law, Lawyering, Politics, Society

The Scarlet Letter: New York Woman Charged With Adultery

New York prosecutors have charged a woman with criminal adultery after she was arrested allegedly during a tryst with a man in a public park. Suzanne Corona, 41, is the 13th person charged with adultery in New York since 1972. I have previously written about the unconstitutionality of these laws.
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Academia, Bizarre, Lawyering, Society, Torts

George Mason Reportedly Settles Rotunda Harassment Lawsuit With No Payment of Damages

KyndraKayeRotundaRecently we saw how the lawsuit filed by former George Mason Clinical professor Kyndra Rotunda (wife of constitutional law professor Ron Rotunda) against George Mason Law School and Dean Daniel Polsby (left) was largely dismissed by U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema. At the time, I expressed doubt that Rotunda would want to go forward to trial on the remaining state counts. Now, it appears that Rotunda has settled the lawsuit without any payment of money. The settlement involves unreported “equitable relief.”
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Academia, Bizarre, Courts, Lawyering, Society

George Mason Law School Wins Dismissal of Rotunda Sexual Harassment Lawsuit

KyndraKayeRotundaWe have been following the sexual harassment lawsuit filed by former George Mason Clinical professor Kyndra Rotunda (wife of constitutional law professor Ron Rotunda) against George Mason Law School and Dean Daniel Polsby (left). This week, U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema not only dismissed the sexual harassment claims against Polsby and the school but barred Rotunda from amending her complaint.
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Bizarre, Courts, Criminal law, Justice, Lawyering, Politics, Society

Obama Official Suggests That Government May Not Process Illegal Immigrants Arrested Under Arizona Law

The Obama Administration appears close to doing what many thought was unthinkable from a political standpoint: opposing the enforcement of federal law for any illegal immigrants caught in Arizona. That appears to be the suggestion of John Morton, assistant secretary of homeland security for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in an interview this week.

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