Appellate Practice

Lawyer accused judges of ‘incompetence and ignorance’ in pleading, ethics complaint alleges

A North Carolina lawyer is facing disciplinary charges in part over some off-color remarks he made in his pleadings about opposing counsel and a panel of state appeals court judges. Michael J. Anderson of Wilson is accused in the complaint (PDF) of engaging in discourteous conduct that is degrading to…

Nov 3, 2015 4:26 PM CST

Jones Day hires 10 US Supreme Court clerks, ‘a stunningly large number,’ law prof says

Ten individuals who clerked for U.S. Supreme Court justices in the court’s last term have joined Jones Day. They represent nearly one-quarter of the clerks who worked for current and former justices during that period, and are expected to be paid hiring bonuses of at least $300,000 each, the National…

Nov 2, 2015 3:00 PM CST

Mayer Brown associate prepares to make SCOTUS debut in politically charged redistricting case

Mayer Brown associate Michael Kimberly says he isn’t that nervous about making his debut oral argument before the U.S. Supreme Court next week. After all, he’s been preparing for the moment ever since law school. “I was a student in the very first class of the Yale Law School Supreme…

Nov 2, 2015 1:35 PM CST

Appeals court OKs suit against school district over a student who knocked down others on field trip

A divided New York appellate court has OK’d a lawsuit filed against a school district by the parents of two girls knocked to the ground by an 11-year-old boy during a field trip to the Bronx Zoo. At issue is whether those in charge properly supervised the children during the…

Oct 26, 2015 3:45 PM CDT

9th Circuit OKs doubling of prison term for defendant who laughed at sentencing

Laughter after he was sentenced to a year in federal prison for a probation violation cost a California defendant another year behind bars. When U.S. District Judge Lawrence O’Neill challenged Ramon Ochoa’s demeanor he insisted he hadn’t been laughing at the sentence and apologized. But the Fresno judge, who’d just…

Oct 23, 2015 7:00 AM CDT

Death-row inmate seeking ‘spiritual freedom’ opts for statutory right to electric chair

Wayne Doty was already serving a life prison term for a 1996 murder when he and another man incarcerated at Florida State Prison in Raiford murdered a fellow inmate. That second murder, of a man accused of stealing a package of cigarettes, put Doty, now 42, on death row. After…

Oct 22, 2015 3:10 PM CDT

Husband’s tears weren’t protected by spousal privilege, appellate court rules

A husband’s tears during a private drive with his wife could be used as evidence to help convict him in a rape case, a North Carolina appeals court ruled Tuesday. It rejected a defense lawyer’s argument that the man’s crying was essentially an admission by silence and hence a privileged…

Oct 20, 2015 2:30 PM CDT

Appeals court nixes 10-year plea deal in claimed contract hit attempt on family lawyer

An appeals court has nixed a plea deal by one of the men allegedly involved in performing a claimed contract hit attempt on a New Jersey divorce lawyer in 2002. However, that means that all the original charges will be reinstated against defendant Vancleve Ashley, who had gotten a 10-year…

Oct 15, 2015 12:10 PM CDT

Lawyer convicted of murder, then granted new trial, has conviction reinstated

In 2013, a Calfornia divorce lawyer was convicted of second-degree murder in the Arizona slaying of his stepdaughter’s husband. Then, only a few months later, Robert Fischer had the rare experience of seeing his jury conviction reversed by the trial judge due to insufficient evidence. Now Fischer has suffered another…

Oct 13, 2015 1:20 PM CDT

Chemerinsky: New term’s most important cases—so far

At 10 a.m. Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court began its October term for 2015, and many of the cases before it present issues that court has dealt with in recent years. The court granted certiorari in 34 cases for the term before it went on its summer recess and granted…

Oct 8, 2015 8:30 AM CDT

Lawyer blasted by federal appeals court for forwarding judge email did nothing wrong, state bar says

Corrected: Although blasted by a federal appeals court last year for circulating a congratulatory email from a federal judge, a BigLaw partner did nothing calling for attorney discipline, the California State Bar has determined. Partner Edward Reines of Weil Gotshal & Manges said in an August pro hac vice motion…

Oct 2, 2015 12:55 PM CDT

Oklahoma governor stops execution of Richard Glossip after SCOTUS denies last-minute appeal

For the second time this month, the scheduled execution of Richard Glossip has been canceled within hours of when he was to be put to death by the state of Oklahoma, for a murder he says he had no role in committing. This time, it was the state’s governor who…

Sep 30, 2015 5:10 PM CDT

Convicted judge can’t get pension back, even after felony is reduced to a misdemeanor

Convicted in 2004 of one felony and multiple misdemeanors for giving preferential treatment to friends and local sports team members in traffic ticket and driving-under-the-influence cases, a former California judge had hoped to get his pension back after the trial court reduced the lone felony to a misdemeanor. However, a…

Sep 29, 2015 4:35 PM CDT

Small firm sanctioned nearly $282K by federal judge for pursuing frivolous case

A long-running case over Native American land rights has resulted in a steep sanction for a small Minnesota law firm. Known for its civil rights litigation, three-partner Mohrman, Kaardal & Erickson was ordered Friday to pay $281,906.34 in legal bills for its opponents. A federal judge said the firm had…

Sep 28, 2015 10:00 AM CDT

SCOTUS justices should reveal their votes on cert petitions, law prof argues

The U.S. Supreme Court should announce the vote tallies when it accepts or rejects cert petitions, a law professor argues. Writing in the New York Times, Stanford law professor Jeffrey Fisher argues that the court should “lift the veil of secrecy that shrouds” its decisions to hear cases by announcing…

Sep 25, 2015 9:15 AM CDT