South Africa’s top court ends Pistorius murder appeal; sentencing now looms

The top court in South Africa has denied Oscar Pistorius leave to appeal his murder conviction in the 2013 shooting death of his girlfriend, law graduate and model Reeva Steenkamp. A spokesman for the National Prosecuting Authority said the Constitutional Court made the ruling Thursday, finding the appeal had “no…

Mar 3, 2016 4:05 PM CST

Oscar Pistorius was guilty of murder, rather than manslaughter, appeals court finds

A South African appeals court has overturned Oscar Pistorius’ manslaughter conviction and found that he is instead guilty of murder. The track star faces a minimum sentence of 15 years in prison as a result of the ruling Thursday, the New York Times and the Guardian report. Pistorius had been…

Dec 3, 2015 9:14 AM CST

Corporate BigLaw partner held hostage at luxury hotel in Mali is safe

A corporate partner at a Canadian BigLaw firm is safe after being held hostage at a luxury hotel in Bamako, the capital of Mali, on Friday. Pierre Boivin of McCarthy Tetrault and other Canadians known to have been in the Radisson hotel as it was stormed by Islamic extremists armed…

Nov 23, 2015 11:50 AM CST

New court at one of world’s busiest train stations will speed administration of justice

Railway police stand ready to ticket fare-dodgers and others who violate the rules at one of the busiest train stations in the world. But a cumbersome judicial process, compared to the relatively minor nature of the alleged crimes, can be a deterrent to those responsible for issuing and enforcing the…

Nov 18, 2015 4:35 PM CST

Pistorius to serve remaining sentence for law grad’s slaying on house arrest

Almost exactly one year after he was sentenced to five years in the shooting death of his girlfriend, Oscar Pistorius is about to be allowed to serve the rest of his time on house arrest instead of in prison, starting next week. Law graduate and model Reeva Steenkamp was killed…

Oct 16, 2015 11:20 AM CDT

Allen & Overy, first UK Magic Circle firm to open in Toronto, is closing its office there

Only a year after Allen & Overy became the first of London’s leading corporate law firms to open an office in Toronto, the so-called Magic Circle firm is closing the Canadian outpost. The move follows the announced plan of founding Toronto partner Francois Duquette to take an in-house job at…

Sep 29, 2015 11:35 AM CDT

Vivek Maru: Drawing the arc to global justice

After finishing at Harvard College and before entering Yale Law School, Vivek Maru, born and reared in the U.S., took off more than a year to live in a hut made of sticks and dung amid the poverty and pollution of India’s Kutch region, from which his grandfather came. Maru…

Sep 2, 2015 8:30 AM CDT

If US were to prosecute over Cecil the lion’s slaying in Africa, what would legal basis be?

Following news that the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service was seeking to question a Minnesota dentist who has been linked to a high-profile lion-poaching case in Zimbabwe, Africa, observers wondered what the legal basis might be. There is speculation that American officials may be looking for possible violations of the…

Aug 5, 2015 11:15 AM CDT

Political powers blunt good law, human rights lawyer says

Aug 1, 2015 1:20 AM CDT

US seeks to question Minnesota dentist in shooting of Cecil the lion

Already sought for questioning by authorities in Zimbabwe over the claimed poaching of a popular lion allegedly lured from an African national park to be hunted and slain, a Minnesota dentist is now in hot water in the U.S. as well. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service has tried without…

Jul 30, 2015 4:55 PM CDT

ABA commends court’s decision to release human rights lawyer and editor

The ABA is commending the Swaziland Supreme Court decision to release a human rights lawyer and an editor who were sent to prison for publishing articles questioning the independence of the judiciary. The court overturned the contempt of court convictions last Tuesday of lawyer Thulani Maseko and Nation editor Bheki…

Jul 6, 2015 10:32 AM CDT

Human rights lawyer: Magna Carta’s inspiration has been subverted by powers that be

The inspirational, and aspirational, template of the Magna Carta for the constitutions and legal documents that succeeded it is one of the recurring themes at the ABA London Sessions commemorating the 800th anniversary of the sealing of the historic charter. However, words and phrases are only as good as the…

Jun 13, 2015 11:18 AM CDT

Egyptian lawyer gets 25 years in fatal US Embassy bombings after ‘enormously generous’ plea bargain

An Egyptian lawyer was sentenced Friday to 25 years in federal prison for his role in fatal 1998 bombings at U.S. embassies in Africa that killed 224 people. Calling the plea bargain that capped the sentence for Adel Abdul Bary at 25 years “enormously generous,” U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan…

Feb 6, 2015 3:10 PM CST

Girl barred from school over Ebola fears is back in class, and lawsuit is settled

A Connecticut girl who was barred from school for 21 days after returning from a trip to Nigeria has returned to the classroom. The 7-year-old girl, a third-grader at Meadowside Elementary School in Milford, Connecticut, was allowed back in school Friday after the settlement of a lawsuit against the school…

Nov 3, 2014 2:25 PM CST

Sparks fly over mistranslated Orrick press release about new Ivory Coast office

A BigLaw firm’s use of the word “lawyer,” in a press release about a new office or affiliation, might not seem unusual or controversial. However, when that press release is translated into French, it could pose a problem, as a furor over Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe’s announcement last week of…

Oct 31, 2014 10:50 AM CDT