Administrative Law

Lawyer Represents Convicted Boyfriend, Gets Into Battle of Wills With Probation Dept., is Suspended

An Arizona criminal defense lawyer has been suspended from practice for six months by a state supreme court order (PDF), followed by two years of probation, for representing a man with whom she already had a relationship. In addition to damaging his case during a battle of wills with his…

Dec 21, 2010 7:38 PM CST

Probate Judge Can’t Moonlight at a Funeral Home, Says Ethics Panel

Adding another gig to the list of jobs forbidden to moonlighting jurists, a South Carolina ethics panel has ruled that a newly elected probate judge who happens to be a licensed funeral director can’t continue to work weekends at a funeral home. “[A] judge should not engage in business or…

Dec 20, 2010 10:09 PM CST

Commerce Dept. Panel’s Report Calls For Internet ‘Privacy Bill of Rights’ and New Oversight Office

In a report (PDF) released today, an Internet policy task force at the U.S. Department of Commerce calls for the creation of a “Privacy Bill of Rights” as well as an oversight office to help enforce it. Although it made little mention of a “do not track” option suggested last…

Dec 17, 2010 12:12 AM CST

Secretary: I Told Managing Partner He Was Out of His Mind As He Defended Thieving Colleague

In an ongoing legal ethics trial of six attorneys from a prominent Maine law firm, a former secretary there has now given her account of what was said after she blew the whistle on a trust and estates partner who had stolen from Verrill Dana and its clients. In an…

Dec 16, 2010 12:39 AM CST

After Babies’ Deaths, Feds Ban Drop-Side Cribs, OK ‘Strongest Crib Standard in the World’

Following the deaths of at least 32 babies since 2000 from falls or strangulation, the Federal Product Safety Commission today adopted new crib-safety specifications that one observer called the “strongest crib standard in the word.” The new rules ban all drop-side cribs and impose tougher rules for crib slats and…

Dec 15, 2010 8:05 PM CST

At Issue in Ethics Trial: Did Verrill Dana Try to Cover Up in $300K Partner Theft Matter?

After hearing on June 13, 2007 that a secretary had blown the whistle on a longtime Verrill Dana senior partner, then-managing partner David Warren asked to see check copies, bank records and a spreadsheet and confronted his accused colleague, John Duncan, on June 28. Duncan looked him the eye, Warren…

Dec 14, 2010 7:07 PM CST

Legal Reformer Has Deficit Solution: Sunset Provisions in Every Law

Legal reform activist Philip K. Howard has a proposal to cut the deficit: All laws should automatically expire after 10 to 15 years. Howard, a Covington & Burling partner, says laws are nearly impossible to repeal after their adoption, “bogging the country down” in regulations that result in higher taxes…

Dec 14, 2010 12:00 PM CST

Six Verrill Dana Lawyers Face Possible Discipline re Ex-Chair’s $300K Theft

After a secretary blew the whistle on her boss, John Duncan, other lawyers at a prominent Maine firm looked into the matter, eventually determined that the longtime senior lawyer and former chair of Verrill Dana had stolen some $300,000, and they ousted him. But it took about four months for…

Dec 13, 2010 11:41 PM CST

Law License of Ex-Gov and Ex-AG of NC Is Suspended After Criminal Conviction

A former governor and attorney general of North Carolina who also, until earlier this year, was practicing at McGuireWoods, has had his law license suspended while attorney disciplinary proceedings are ongoing. The action against Mike Easley’s law license was taken earlier this week after he made an Alford plea last…

Dec 11, 2010 3:11 AM CST

As Jim Morrison Wins Pardon, ACLU Says Dead Rock Stars Shouldn’t Dominate Clemency Board Agenda

Backed by Florida’s outgoing governor, former Doors front man Jim Morrison won a posthumous pardon today of his indecent exposure and profanity conviction resulting from a raucous 1969 rock concert in Miami. However, the action today by the state’s clemency board wasn’t music to the ears of everyone attending the…

Dec 9, 2010 9:57 PM CST

Congress Votes to Exempt Lawyers from ‘Red Flags Rule’

With a vote of the House of Representatives today, Congress has exempted lawyers from the so-called Red Flags Rule. Last month, the U.S. Senate also voted to protect attorneys and other professionals from having to comply with its record-keeping and safeguarding requirements. Hard-fought by the American Bar Association, the rule,…

Dec 7, 2010 9:53 PM CST

Jailhouse Sex Merits Disbarment, Top Calif. Court Says

A California lawyer’s claim that jailhouse sex was consensual and lasted no more than “an hour’s total duration” shows he still doesn’t get it and should be disbarred, a state bar court judge held and the state supreme court agreed. In an order last week it held that Patrick Earl…

Dec 7, 2010 9:30 PM CST

Breyer: Would Court-Eating Dog Excuse Late Deadline?

In oral arguments on Monday, Justice Stephen G. Breyer and Ruth Bader Ginsburg explored ways to allow the wife of a schizophrenic veteran who missed a filing deadline to pursue his appeal for additional disability benefits. Lawyers for David Henderson, who died shortly before the case was argued, claimed his…

Dec 7, 2010 4:39 PM CST

Report Says Ex-Maricopa Co. Attorney and Aide Should Be Disbarred, Alleges Conspiracy Against Judge

An out-of-state lawyer brought in by the Arizona Supreme Court to investigate a controversial former Maricopa County attorney has recommended that Andrew Thomas be disbarred. The investigator, attorney John Gleason of Colorado, contends, among other accusations, that Thomas and former deputy county attorney Lisa Aubuchon “conspired with each other and…

Dec 6, 2010 9:42 PM CST

‘Helter Skelter’ Slayer Charles Manson Chats on ‘Cell’ Phone, Gets Extra 30 Days on Life Term

Among the thousands of contraband cell phones confiscated from California prison inmates in recent years was one found under the mattress of Charles Manson, the notorious architect of the 1969 slayings of pregnant actress Sharon Tate and others at her home. It is a concern that an inmate convicted of…

Dec 4, 2010 1:09 AM CST