Administrative Law

Judicial Conference Asks Congress for 13 More Bankruptcy Judges

Deluged with new bankruptcy filings, the federal courts need more judges to keep the docket moving, a federal courts official told a U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee today. “Our judicial resources are strained. And the cost to society of an overburdened bankruptcy system, especially in this economic climate, is enormous,”…

Jun 16, 2009 8:43 PM CDT

Mattel Agrees to Record $2.3M Fine in Lead-Tainted Toy Recall

Agreeing today to pay $2.3 million in penalties without admitting to any law violation, Mattel Corp. and its Fisher-Price division concluded a Consumer Product Safety Act case in which the companies had been accused of knowingly importing lead-tainted toys from China. The fine was the largest ever imposed by the…

Jun 5, 2009 8:58 PM CDT

Immigrants Can Reopen Deportation Cases If Effective Counsel is Denied, AG Holder Rules

Updated: Only days before President Barack Obama took office, then-Attorney General Michael Mukasey issued an opinion finding that noncitizens have no right to counsel in deportation proceedings and hence can’t reopen their cases if private lawyers have inadequately represented them. But on Wednesday Attorney General Eric Holder reversed that order…

Jun 3, 2009 8:56 PM CDT

Obama Pre-emption Rollback Is Last Nail in Coffin for Policy, Expert Says

President Obama has ordered federal agencies and departments to strike pre-emption language from regulations unless it can be legally justified, a move that has won applause from trial lawyers. The Bush administration had encouraged federal agencies to assert that their regulations pre-empted state laws on the same subject, the Wall…

May 21, 2009 4:55 PM CDT

Former Judge Cleared in Fla. Probe of Woman’s $400K Gifts to His Family

A former Florida judge who made headlines when he presided over custody hearings concerning Anna Nicole Smith’s infant daughter has been cleared once again in a second state agency investigation of over $400,000 in gifts reportedly made to his family by an elderly woman. There were no indications of exploitation…

May 20, 2009 8:32 PM CDT

Sarah Palin’s $150K Shopping Spree was Legal, FEC Says

A $150,000 shopping spree at Neiman Marcus, Victoria’s Secret and other well-known department stores by Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and her family was a legal use of political funds, the Federal Election Commission has held. In a 5-0 vote that was taken last month but announced today the FEC found…

May 19, 2009 11:15 PM CDT

CIA Rejects Request By Cheney to Declassify Two Interrogation Documents

Citing pending litigation under the Freedom of Information Act, the CIA has declined a request by Richard Cheney to declassify two documents that the former vice president contends would show that controversial interrogation methods used by the CIA after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks did elicit useful information. Critics…

May 14, 2009 8:19 PM CDT

Judge Posner Blames ‘People Like Me’ for the Economic Crisis

Judge Richard Posner says he probably misspoke when he advocated less government intervention in the private sector. Posner, a judge with the Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, tells U.S. News & World Report that he should have added a qualifier. “I’ve always been a strong supporter of deregulation,…

May 13, 2009 4:47 PM CDT

EEOC Files Age Discrimination Suit Over Firing of Strip Club Waitress, 56

The federal agency in charge of enforcing anti-discrimination laws has taken up the cause of a Texas strip club waitress allegedly illegally fired due to her age. Although 56-year-old Mary Bassi made a six-figure income, was popular with customers and sold a lot of liquor for Cover Girls, she was…

May 13, 2009 4:34 PM CDT

Derivatives Regulation Becomes a Popular Law School Offering

The financial meltdown has spurred interest in derivatives classes among law students interested in learning about the origins of the crisis and hoping to tap into an expanding job market for lawyers well-versed in financial regulations. New York Law School has seen so much interest in its derivatives course that…

May 8, 2009 3:18 PM CDT

New SEC Focus: Painting the Barn, Not the Sistine Chapel

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission may soon be using more discretion in civil investigations, focusing on the big fish rather than the small fry. Speaking today at a program on corporate investigations sponsored by the American Bar Association, an SEC official and the general counsel of the FBI said…

May 7, 2009 8:48 PM CDT

Study Predicts 5 Percent Growth in Legal Spending by Fortune 1000

A decline in legal spending by large companies is about to be reversed, according to a new survey of Fortune 1000 companies. The study by market research firm BTI Consulting says large companies will increase legal spending on outside counsel nearly 5 percent over the next six months, according to…

May 7, 2009 1:55 PM CDT

Ex-DOJ Lawyer Rips ‘Double Standard’ in Ethics Probe of Bradbury, Bybee & Yoo

A former senior lawyer at the U.S. Department of Justice read with interest news that three Office of Legal Counsel attorneys in a high-profile ethical investigation were offered a routine opportunity to review allegations made against them in a draft report. That so-called routine opportunity was provided to Steven Bradbury,…

May 7, 2009 12:09 AM CDT

Former Bush Officials Seek Changes in DOJ Report Critical of Bybee and Yoo

As the U.S. Department of Justice gets ready to release a legal ethics report on two government attorneys involved in the drafting of what some term “torture” memos authorizing the use of harsh interrogation methods after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, former Bush administration officials reportedly are lobbying for…

May 5, 2009 8:53 PM CDT

Highest-Paid NYC Parking Judge is Married to Administrative Agency Official

Despite discrepancies between Allan Patricof’s sign-in book and other time records, the New York City parking judge was properly paid the $110,472 he earned in 2006. Patricof, who racked up 2,315 hours that year—an average of 8.9 hours every weekday of that year, including holidays—put in time at home and…

May 4, 2009 7:34 PM CDT