An increasing number of criminal cases are not going to trial, and the implications have negative consequences for the entire justice system, according to a new report by the ABA Criminal Justice Section’s Plea Bargaining Task Force.
A federal appeals court has vacated sanctions against two Dechert partners and ordered the judge who imposed the punishment to consider whether the attorneys subjectively engaged in bad-faith conduct.
The U.S. Supreme Court’s newest justice was the only dissenter Thursday, when the high court allowed a concrete company to sue a union local in state court for alleged destruction of corporate property.
The Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico School of Law is out of compliance with an accreditation standard involving admissions, according to a notice posted Wednesday by the council of the ABA’s Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar.
ChatGPT represents a dizzying leap in the capabilities of generative AI, which can create original content based on the dataset the technology draws upon. But while some in the industry are exploring its potential to aid in legal research, contract review, communications and litigation strategy, there is plenty of hand-wringing about how it could make lawyers obsolete.
With the popularity of social media platforms like Facebook, TikTok, Reddit, Twitter and YouTube, online armchair detectives have been able to help authorities in some cases by offering tips. But there also have been instances of misinformation, fake experts and unsupported theories being presented as fact and of innocent people being targeted.
School districts across the country are joining the fray. They argue they have been forced to hire additional counselors, develop resources and train staff to handle the burgeoning number of students succumbing to what they describe as a youth mental health crisis.
Although St. Louis is not the only U.S. city with an exclusion law for low-level offenders, critics say these types of measures raise constitutional concerns and result in sending troubled people elsewhere—often within the same municipality—while acute social problems are ignored. Proponents of the laws say they help deter illegal activity.
Just one phone call accusing someone of child abuse, whether it turns out to be true or not, can mark that person for life, slapping them with a host of collateral consequences outside of the criminal justice system.
