Family Law

Federal appeals judge should be suspended for failing to cooperate in mental fitness probe, report says

A special committee appointed to investigate the competence of a 96-year-old federal appeals judge is recommending that she be suspended from hearing all cases for a year for failing to cooperate in the probe.

Aug 4, 2023 1:04 PM CDT

Was slap that left mark child abuse? Suspended judge who sought to hide son’s act didn’t think so

A judge in Wayne County, Michigan, has been censured and suspended for six months without pay for hiding evidence that her son had physically abused one of her grandsons.

Aug 4, 2023 9:04 AM CDT

Shadow Foster Care

In formal foster care, child protective services agencies annually separate more than 250,000 children from their parents and place them in their state’s legal custody under the oversight of a family court judge. By some estimates, agencies separate the same number of children through hidden foster care but do so by suggesting parents transfer physical custody to a kinship caregiver, such as a grandparent or aunt.

Aug 1, 2023 3:30 AM CDT

Advocates support use of kinship caregivers in child welfare cases

Extensive research also shows many benefits to placing children with kinship caregivers if they are available. These include minimizing the trauma of family separation, increasing placement stability and improving behavioral outcomes.

Aug 1, 2023 12:05 AM CDT

Is family court too flawed to be fixed?

Jane M. Spinak did not set out to write a book arguing for the abolition of family court. She thought that she would be making the case for a set of sensible reforms. But the more she dug into the history of the family court system, the previous attempts at reform, and the examples of real world harms that the system had caused, the more she began to believe there was no saving it.

Jul 26, 2023 8:07 AM CDT

Free litigation training for attorneys who represent domestic violence survivors is available through the ABA

The ABA Commission on Domestic and Sexual Violence Trial Skills Institute helps attorneys who represent survivors of domestic violence improve their advocacy and litigation skills. Participants act as counsel for a party in a hypothetical case involving domestic violence and develop theory, opening statements, closing arguments, direct examinations and cross-examinations.

Jul 19, 2023 8:09 AM CDT

Federal judge’s ‘people like you’ comments don’t require sentence reversal, 7th Circuit says

A federal judge’s comments about “people like you” weren’t the kind of inflammatory remarks that would require resentencing of a man who pleaded guilty to unlawful gun possession by a felon, a federal appeals court has ruled.

Jul 6, 2023 10:31 AM CDT

SCOTUS will decide whether subjects of domestic-violence restraining orders can be banned from gun ownership

The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday agreed to decide the constitutionality of a federal law that bans gun ownership by people subject to domestic-violence restraining orders.

Jul 5, 2023 11:31 AM CDT

Ex-judge agrees to disbarment after she is accused of stealing money from former Tuskegee Airman

A retired judge in Cook County, Illinois, has asked the Illinois Supreme Court to remove her from the attorney rolls after an ethics complaint accused her of stealing more than $246,000 from a Tuskegee Airman who had been married to her aunt.

Jun 30, 2023 8:41 AM CDT

Judge recuses after he is accused of declaring that Middle Eastern men are abusive

Updated: A judge in Cook County, Illinois, has agreed to step down from a case after a lawyer alleged he made statements that are “violent, discriminatory, racist and antagonistic” during an in-chambers discussion.

Jun 23, 2023 8:30 AM CDT

3 judges block state restrictions on gender-affirming health care in 1 week’s time

Within a one-week period, federal judges have blocked laws in three states that restrict gender-affirming health care for transgender people.

Jun 22, 2023 11:22 AM CDT

Indian adoption law upheld by Supreme Court, but equal protection issue remains undecided

The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld a federal law giving preferences to tribes in Native American adoptions but left consideration of challengers’ equal protection argument for a future case in which plaintiffs have standing to raise it.

Jun 15, 2023 10:23 AM CDT

BigLaw partner resigns after terminally ill ex-wife posted videos of his tirades

A Greenberg Traurig partner has resigned from the law firm following its investigation into a situation arising from a four-year divorce and custody battle.

Jun 13, 2023 3:24 PM CDT

Lawyer for federal appeals judge barred from new cases finds orders ‘incredible’ and ‘stunning’

A lawyer representing a 95-year-old federal appeals judge is criticizing a judicial council’s refusal to assign her new cases and an investigating committee’s new focus on her failure to cooperate.

Jun 8, 2023 8:58 AM CDT

Lawyer censured for using TeamViewer to snoop on former firm’s business activity

A lawyer in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, has been censured after acknowledging that he “fell into stupid” and accessed his former law firm’s computer system to monitor his former partner’s business activity.

Jun 6, 2023 3:24 PM CDT