Celebrities

Tom Cruise Makes Surprise Visit to Harvard Entertainment Law Class

Attendance was way up yesterday at a Harvard Law School entertainment law class after Tom Cruise made an unexpected appearance along with a celebrity lawyer who was serving as a guest lecturer. Some 30 minutes after entertainment attorney Bertram Fields, who graduated from the law school in 1952, took the…

Oct 6, 2009 8:15 PM CDT

Suspect’s Lawyer in Letterman Case Does Talk Shows, Says Client Lacked Intent

Celebrity lawyer Gerald Shargel, who is representing a CBS News producer accused of attempting to extort $2 million from David Letterman, did the rounds this morning on network television shows. His client, he says, is a sophisticated, award-winning crime journalist–who accepted a $2 million check in what is now being…

Oct 5, 2009 4:48 PM CDT

After Split & ‘Kate Plus 8’ Show Rename, Jon Now Finds TV Unhealthy for His Kids

Over the past four years, a television show about Jon and Kate Gosselin’s family life with their eight children–now 8-year-old twins and 5-year-old sextuplets–have made them a household name. But after a separation and divorce filing announced in June that put them on the front page of supermarket tabloids for…

Oct 2, 2009 7:44 PM CDT

David Letterman’s Lawyer Wore Wire to Get Evidence re Alleged Extortion Attempt

When a 48 Hours producer allegedly tried to extort $2 million from David Letterman last month by threatening to go public about the late-night television show host’s now-admitted sexual relationships with women employees, Letterman called his lawyer. And the unidentified attorney came through, first setting up a meeting with Robert…

Oct 2, 2009 6:43 PM CDT

Alec Baldwin Offers Divorce Advice in Paperback Book

Divorcing actress Kim Basinger was hell, says actor Alec Baldwin. Plus it cost both of them some $3 million in legal fees. But in a book that details the wrenching experience and has just been released in paperback, A Promise to Ourselves, he also offers some advice to others about…

Oct 1, 2009 5:33 PM CDT

O.J. Simpson Prosecutor Marcia Clark Bolsters Case Against Polanski

After initial protests over the what some see as the unfairness of the arrest last week of fugitive film director Roman Polanski in a decades-old California sexual abuse case concerning a 13-year-old girl, additional observers are now weighing in on the side of the prosecution. Columnist Steve Lopez at the…

Oct 1, 2009 1:15 AM CDT

Director Roman Polanski Arrested in Switzerland in 1977 Sex Case

Film director Roman Polanski was arrested at an airport in Zurich on Saturday on a U.S. warrant for having sex with a 13-year-old girl in 1977. Polanski, 76, was traveling to the country to receive an award at a film festival, according to stories in the New York Times, the…

Sep 28, 2009 12:10 PM CDT

Kirsten Dunst is Star Witness in Trial Over Theft of $13K Designer Handbag

Actress Kirsten Dunst was the star witness today in a New York trial of a mechanic accused of stealing a $13,000 Balenciaga handbag from her swanky Soho Grand penthouse suite in 2007. Also missing were a $2,000 Marc Jacobs purse and $2,000 in cash, among other items, testified Dunst, who…

Sep 24, 2009 8:34 PM CDT

New Charges for Lawyer-Boyfriend in Drug Case re Anna Nicole Smith’s Death

Attorney Howard Stern is facing new charges in a case against him and two physicians concerning their alleged involvement in the drug overdose death in 2007 of his former girlfriend, celebrity Anna Nicole Smith. In an amended criminal complaint filed today in Los Angeles, the district attorney’s office contends that…

Sep 23, 2009 5:38 PM CDT

Sotomayor Salsas With Esai Morales at D.C. Gala

It isn’t only in the legal arena that the newest member of the U.S. Supreme Court bench can demonstrate impressive footwork. Invited onto the dance floor last night by actor Esai Morales at an annual Washington, D.C., gala held by the National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts, Sonia Sotomayor drew…

Sep 16, 2009 8:16 PM CDT

‘King of Collagen’ Michael Jackson Doc Sues Over Rival’s Comments to Tabloid

A dermatologist to former King of Pop Michael Jackson has sued a rival California physician for libel, contending that the doctor’s comments to a British tabloid newspaper has harmed his reputation and Beverly Hills medical practice as the “King of Collagen.” Dr. Arnold Klein alleges in the defamation suit he…

Sep 16, 2009 5:00 PM CDT

Hulk Hogan Sues Lawyers Over $1M Bill, Says He Wasn’t Told About Insurance

Updated: Wrestling star Hulk Hogan has sued two Florida attorneys, contending that they charged more than $1 million to defend his son in an auto accident case and related matters at billable hourly rates of nearly $500 without telling him his auto insurance company would have paid for legal counsel…

Sep 14, 2009 5:37 PM CDT

Crime Novelist Lisa Reardon Is Jailed in Case Reminiscent of Her Books

It sounds like a plot from a Lisa Reardon novel. But this criminal case isn’t fiction, and Reardon, rather than orchestrating the courtroom drama, is the real-life defendant. The 47-year-old writer is being held in Michigan’s Washtenaw County Jail in lieu of $500,000 bail, accused of having shot her father…

Sep 11, 2009 10:28 PM CDT

Incest Case of Dead Civil Rights Leader Not Abated; Judge Cites Victim Rights

When a criminal defendant dies while his conviction is being appealed, the federal courts dismiss the charges, as happened in the case of Enron executive Kenneth Lay. But in a precedent-setting Virginia case, a different rule has been applied in the case of a well-known 1960s civil rights worker who…

Sep 11, 2009 5:12 PM CDT

Recording Companies Sue Show of Ellen DeGeneres, the Newest Idol Judge

The nation’s biggest record companies have sued The Ellen DeGeneres Show, claiming songs played while DeGeneres dances violated their copyrights. The suit filed in federal court in Nashville, Tenn., alleges that when the show’s representatives were asked why they didn’t obtain licenses to the songs, they replied they didn’t ”roll…

Sep 11, 2009 12:53 PM CDT