SCOTUS antitrust ruling against dentists raises questions about lawyers’ regulatory structures

The organized bar is feeling pain from a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that a regulatory board for the dental profession in North Carolina doesn't have state-action immunity in a Federal Trade Commission antitrust action challenging the board's efforts to block nondentists from providing teeth-whitening services to consumers.

Apr 1, 2016 3:00 AM CDT

US student gets 15 years of hard labor in North Korea in case over political banner

An American college student has been sentenced to 15 years of hard labor in North Korea in a case over a political banner. In a televised news conference last month, University of Virginia student Otto Frederick Warmbier, 21, admitted he had tried to steal a banner with a political slogan…

Mar 16, 2016 10:15 AM CDT

Apparent cyberthieves used Bangladesh bank codes to get $100M from its Federal Reserve account

Apparent cyberthieves took advantage of a disconnect between the work week in New York and the work week in Bangladesh to steal $100 million from the account held by the country’s central bank at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. However, it could have been worse: Unusually large transactions…

Mar 11, 2016 2:50 PM CST

Detained Chinese rights lawyer is allowed to leave for US

A detained Chinese law professor who pushed for the adoption of a jury system in China has been allowed to leave the country for the United States. Charges were dropped against Chen Taihe, and he joined his wife and children in California on March 1, report the New York Times…

Mar 8, 2016 1:53 PM CST

China’s latest crackdown on lawyers is unprecedented, human rights monitors say

The attacks published in China's state-sponsored news media pulled no punches. Wang Yu is an "arrogant convict of a woman," screamed an op-ed article in one major newspaper. Wang Yu is a "hypocritical and false lawyer." Wang Yu is a "shrew."

Feb 1, 2016 12:10 AM CST

Letter from international legal community condemns arrests of Chinese lawyers

Prominent lawyers and former judges joined with presidents of international bar associations in condemning in a Monday letter the recent arrests of Chinese lawyers and associates. “You have repeatedly stated that ‘China is a country ruled by law,’ ” says the letter to Chinese president, Xi Jinping, which is published…

Jan 25, 2016 10:38 AM CST

Butler Snow announces Singapore, Hong Kong offices

Butler Snow announced Tuesday that it has opened an office in Singapore and a virtual office in Hong Kong. A second full-service office in Hong Kong will follow. Kurt Rademacher will head the Singapore office, which is expected to focus on advising what a news release describes as “ultra-high net…

Jan 13, 2016 12:03 PM CST

Several Chinese lawyers are arrested; state media said one was ‘blabbering about the rule of law’

China has formally arrested several human rights lawyers on charges of subversion about six months after detaining them, according to other lawyers. Among those arrested was Wang Yu, the country’s most prominent woman human rights lawyer, report Reuters and the Associated Press. Wang has defended an online free-speech advocate and…

Jan 13, 2016 7:52 AM CST

China human rights lawyer gets suspended sentence for online posts

China human rights lawyer Pu Zhiqiang has received a suspended three-year sentence for “inciting ethnic hatred” and “picking quarrels” in online posts. The sentence has the effect of barring Pu from law practice, report the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.). He has already been imprisoned…

Dec 22, 2015 11:30 AM CST

Chinese officers scuffle with protesters outside trial of human-rights lawyer

It took about three hours on Monday for a Chinese court to try a human-rights lawyer accused of “picking quarrels” and inciting ethnic hatred for his sarcastic posts on a website similar to Twitter. The New York Times calls the trial of Pu Zhiqiang “the latest attempt by the Communist…

Dec 14, 2015 8:51 AM CST

Innocence project movement in China rises to aid the wrongfully convicted

China's death penalty train, widely believed to be the world's most active, is showing some signs of slowing down. And domestic innocence projects may be having an effect, though small, on getting wrongful convictions in capital crimes overturned.

Dec 1, 2015 2:30 AM CST

Chinese companies doing business in the US build barriers to legal remedies

While an increasing number of Chinese companies are doing business in the U.S., China has nevertheless built a legal firewall around its financial services firms by refusing to acknowledge the jurisdiction of U.S. courts and regulatory agencies.

Nov 1, 2015 2:45 AM CST

Chinese firms keep a low profile in the US, but ambitions grow

Nov 1, 2015 1:30 AM CDT

Book: 4 federal lawyers OK’d raid in which Bin Laden was slain before consulting AG Eric Holder

Working in such secrecy that even the U.S. attorney general was not consulted until the attack was about to take place, four senior federal lawyers drafted legal memos approving in advance the fatal raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan in 2011. To ensure that news of the planned…

Oct 29, 2015 12:45 PM CDT

Baby born on China Airlines flight diverted to Alaska eligible for US citizenship, official says

A Taiwanese woman who gave birth on Oct. 8 aboard a China Airlines flight to Los Angeles that was diverted to Alaska may have succeeded in what local media in Taiwan have portrayed as an effort to gain U.S. citizenship for the baby. A state official in Alaska says an…

Oct 23, 2015 2:00 PM CDT