2 Former TSU Law Students Sue Over ‘Arbitrary and Capricious’ D Grade in First-Year Contracts Class

Updated: Jonathan Chan and Karla Ford expected to be second-year law students at Texas Southern University this year. Instead, the two are making headlines after filing an unusual federal lawsuit in the Southern District of Texas last week. It contends the D grades they got from an adjunct professor teaching…

Feb 8, 2012 7:50 PM CST

Federal Judge in Texas Says Requiring Sonograms Before Abortions to Go Forward

A Texas federal judge ruled today that he would not block a state law requiring women to have a sonogram before having an abortion, following a directive by the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that the statute is constitutional. Previously U.S. District Court Judge Sam Sparks had…

Feb 6, 2012 10:59 PM CST

Probate Lawyer, 65, Says She Forgot Loaded Gun in DFW Carry-On, Faces Potential Felony Case

A Texas trusts and estates lawyer was briefly taken into custody and faces a potential felony case after reportedly forgetting that she had a loaded handgun in her carry-on computer bag as she boarded an American Airlines flight to Houston yesterday at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. Judith Kenney, 65, was…

Jan 19, 2012 9:12 PM CST

Federal Judge Says Allen Stanford Lawyers Can’t Quit, Must Defend Him in Upcoming $7B Fraud Trial

A federal judge in Houston has nixed an effort by lawyers for R. Allen Stanford to withdraw from his defense less than two weeks before he is scheduled to stand trial in a $7 billion fraud case. Although they claim not to have had enough time and resources to prepare…

Jan 13, 2012 10:46 PM CST

Latest Lawyers for Billionaire Allen Stanford Want to Call It Quits; $7B Fraud Trial Is Days Away

The latest lawyers for a onetime billionaire—whose legal representation has been a revolving door for a dozen or so attorneys—are seeking court permission to withdraw less than two weeks before R. Allen Stanford’s scheduled criminal trial over his role in an alleged $7 billion fraud. Attorneys Ali Fazel and Robert…

Jan 12, 2012 6:22 PM CST

Federal Judge to Serve as Founding Dean of New Law School in Dallas

A federal judge has been selected as the first dean of a new Texas law school expected to open in 2014 in a renovated former department store in downtown Dallas. Administrators of the University of North Texas Dallas College of the Law today announced that senior U.S. District Judge Royal…

Jan 11, 2012 9:08 PM CST

In Speedy Ruling, 5th Circuit Refuses to Block Abortion Sonogram Law

Ruling only six days after hearing oral arguments, a federal appeals court has allowed Texas to enforce a law requiring women to get sonograms before abortions. The opinion (PDF) by Judge Edith Jones of the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals vacated a preliminary injunction issued by U.S.…

Jan 11, 2012 2:36 PM CST

Report: Ex-SEC Enforcement Leader, Now a BigLaw Partner, Will Pay $50K re Work for Accused Swindler

A former enforcement chief at the Securities and Exchange Commission’s office in Fort Worth, Texas, has reportedly agreed to pay $50,000 to settle a civil complaint by the U.S. Department of Justice that he violated federal ethics rules by representing a Ponzi schemer too soon after leaving the SEC. In…

Jan 11, 2012 12:26 AM CST

Imprisoned Ex-Attorney Says Cash Bribes, Call Girls at Law Firm Condo Aided $1.2B Ponzi Scheme

Cash bribes totaling at least $1 million and call girls helped him pull off a $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme, a disbarred Florida lawyer said during a 10-day deposition in a federal courtroom in Miami last month. Now serving a 50-year prison term, Scott Rothstein said he hoped to win a…

Jan 9, 2012 6:44 PM CST

Onetime Billionaire Allen Stanford Is Competent for $7B Fraud Trial, Judge Rules

A onetime Texas billionaire who has been imprisoned as a flight risk since 2009 is competent to stand trial next month in a $7 billion fraud case, a federal judge in Houston ruled today. Although experts for R. Allen Stanford, 61, said he suffers from amnesia and other mental impairments…

Dec 22, 2011 9:15 PM CST

Is Onetime Texas Billionaire Faking Memory Loss to Avoid Trial in $7B Alleged Fraud?

R. Allen Stanford is scheduled to go to trial in January in an alleged $7 billion fraud in which investors were duped into buying so-called certificates of deposit at an offshore bank that are now worth next to nothing. But the former Texas billionaire isn’t competent to defend himself, he…

Dec 20, 2011 7:12 PM CST

Criminal Defense Lawyer Charged in Alleged $1.5M Fraud On Clients Obtained Under False Pretenses

A Texas criminal defense attorney has been arrested and criminally charged, along with two other defendants including his wife, for allegedly defrauding clients of nearly $1.5 million by persuading them, under false pretenses, to retain him to do their legal work in federal cases in Houston. Abraham Moses Fisch, 52,…

Oct 28, 2011 8:33 PM CDT

Supreme Court Accepts Case Challenging Mortgage Fees Charged by Quicken Loans

Updated: The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether federal law bars mortgage lenders from charging “unearned fees” at closings if they aren’t part of a kickback or fee-sharing arrangement. The federal government supports the plaintiffs, who claim Quicken Loans Inc. charges unearned fees in violation of the Real…

Oct 12, 2011 11:00 AM CDT

Last-Minute Call re EEOC Matter Results in New Litigation Battle for Employment Lawyer

When a would-be client called James L. Arruebarrena as a mediation conference was about to occur in her federal employment discrimination administrative complaint, the New Orleans employment practitioner says he leapt into action. Although he couldn’t attend the conference personally, which was being held in Texas, on such short notice,…

Oct 3, 2011 7:24 PM CDT

Insult to Injury: Texas Workers’ Comp System Denies, Delays Medical Help

Oct 1, 2011 10:10 AM CDT