Business Development

Feds Try to Kick Prominent Defense Lawyer Off Hip-Hop Mogul’s Drug Case, Calling Him House Counsel

Claiming that a prominent New York defense lawyer has multiple conflicts of interest and has acted unethically by accepting attorney’s fees in cash, prosecutors are asking a federal judge in Brooklyn to bar Jeffrey Lichtman from defending a hip-hop mogul in a major drug case. However, Lichtman says he has…

Jul 13, 2011 12:30 AM CDT

Former Casey Anthony Lawyer Says She Was Attacked Twice During the Case

A Chicago lawyer says her defense of death-penalty defendants has brought hate mail, but she was physically attacked because of her work in just one case—the Casey Anthony trial. DePaul University law professor Andrea Lyon resigned from the Anthony case about a year ago, saying she couldn’t continue because the…

Jul 6, 2011 5:58 PM CDT

Donations Help Offset $40K in Court Costs Faced by Ex-Cheerleader’s Family

The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal by a Texas cheerleader kicked off the squad because she wouldn’t cheer for an athlete she had accused of rape. But her cause is gaining momentum in social media circles as an online campaign via Facebook and Twitter has raised more…

Jul 5, 2011 5:59 PM CDT

Whitey Bulger Asks for Court-Appointed Lawyer, Again

James “Whitey” Bulger, the 81-year-old fugitive and alleged killer recently captured by the FBI, was expected to ask for a court-appointed lawyer today, despite reports that $820,000 in cash was stashed in the Santa Monica, Calif., apartment where he was found. It will be the second time Bulger, the alleged…

Jun 30, 2011 5:04 PM CDT

Winning Law Firm Loses $33K SLAPP Motion Legal Fee Bid; Using Associate Was Self-Representation

After prevailing on appeal concerning a SLAPP motion against another California law firm, Carpenter & Zuckerman sought to recover a little over $33,000 in attorney fees. But, after agreeing that Carpenter & Zuckerman could recover its attorney fees for successfully defending the other law firm’s appeal, the 2nd District Court…

Jun 23, 2011 8:57 PM CDT

Transgender Law Grad Sues Oregon Over Hysterectomy Coverage Denial, Alleges Discrimination

A law graduate who says the hormones he took as part of a female-to-male sex change have put him at heightened risk of ovarian and uterine cancer is suing the state of Oregon for refusing to cover a hysterectomy that his doctor says is medically necessary. Alec Esquivel, 41, also…

Jun 21, 2011 11:01 PM CDT

Bud Selig Nixes Dodgers Owners’ Divorce Pact, Says TV Money Can’t Be Used to Pay Couple’s Lawyers

Following earlier word that the battling owners of the Los Angeles Dodgers had achieved a settlement of their contentious divorce comes news that Major League Baseball’s commissioner has, in effect, nixed it. By voiding a television deal on which the divorce pact was predicated, Commissioner Bud Selig put Frank and…

Jun 21, 2011 12:22 AM CDT

Religious Leaders Object to Law Firm’s Free Divorce Offer

A United Kingdom law firm ordinarily charges about 600 pounds for a divorce. But Follett Stock Solicitors has hit the headlines by offering them for free this month. Religious leaders are slamming the offer, which they say encourages a hasty decision to untie the knot. But the law firm counters…

Jun 20, 2011 5:05 PM CDT

Ky. Bar Recommends Disbarment for Mass Tort Lawyer Stan Chesley

The Kentucky Bar Association Board of Governors is recommending that famous mass tort lawyer Stanley Chesley be disbarred for his role in a $200 million fen-phen settlement that ended with prison sentences for two other lawyers. Chesley had charged $20 million to help settle the case for the plaintiffs’ lawyers,…

Jun 15, 2011 4:02 PM CDT

Suit Seeks Return of Legal Fees in Win Allegedly Obtained Through Judicial Bribery

Family members of an emergency medical technician who died in a Texas helicopter crash allege in a lawsuit that they are entitled to a refund of $5.2 million in legal fees because they obtained favorable rulings in the wrongful death suit through their lawyers’ payment of bribes. The suit was…

Jun 14, 2011 6:59 PM CDT

Fla. Couple Ready to Seize Bank of America Furniture After Winning Foreclosure Fight

A Florida couple fighting a mistaken foreclosure called 25 law firms before they found a lawyer willing to take their case. Finally Warren and Maureen Nyerges hired Todd Allen, who won their foreclosure fight and obtained a court order for payment of $2,500 in attorney fees, report the Associated Press…

Jun 7, 2011 11:48 AM CDT

Defense Lawyer Charged with Arranging to Bribe Cop to Say Client Was DEA Informant

Corrected: A California lawyer and a Rialto police officer have been taken into custody and charged with bribery after allegedly arranging for a client of attorney Lawrence Anthony Witsoe to pay $2,500 for the benefit of the officer. In exchange, the officer allegedly falsely told the Orange County District Attorney’s…

Jun 6, 2011 7:33 PM CDT

Kagan Opinion Deems Fee-Shifting Calculations to Be ‘Rough Justice’

If litigation had more dramatic resolutions, fee-shifting litigation would be a lot easier, Justice Elena Kagan muses in a U.S. Supreme Court ruling today on attorney fee awards. The issue: How should a court apportion attorney fees under the civil rights fee-shifting statute when a plaintiff asserts both frivolous and…

Jun 6, 2011 5:17 PM CDT

Orrick Seeks to Withdraw from Bratz Case, Cites $1.2M in Unpaid Fees

Another law firm representing Bratz doll manufacturer MGA Entertainment is claiming the company isn’t paying its legal bills. Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe is seeking to withdraw from representing MGA in a second case after helping the company win $88.5 million in a retrial over rights to Bratz doll profits, the…

Jun 3, 2011 11:59 AM CDT

The Son Also Rises: After Blago, Sam Adam Jr. Is Ready for a New Role

OK, call him an actor—or even a used car salesman—Sam Adam Jr. doesn’t care. He did, after all, minor in acting at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. At one point he could see his life going in that direction. But now he’s a defense lawyer, and a very good one. And…

Jun 1, 2011 8:40 AM CDT