Georgia

Another Virtual Law Firm Allows Lawyers to Work Less, Earn More

A virtual law firm that got its start in Atlanta, FSB FisherBroyles, appears to have a business model similar to Virtual Law Partners. Both firms both hire seasoned lawyers and allow them to work at home, the Charlotte Business Journal reports. FSB FisherBroyles allows partners to keep 85 percent of…

Oct 7, 2010 10:30 AM CDT

Allergan to Pay $375M in Criminal Case Over Off-Label Marketing of Botox

A federal judge in Atlanta yesterday okayed a $375 million settlement of a criminal case by Allergan Inc. concerning the company’s marketing of Botox drug for off-label purposes not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Although Allergan denies wrongdoing, aside from one misdemeanor count over its marketing of…

Oct 6, 2010 5:05 PM CDT

Will Convicts Appeal Cases Heard by Federal Judge Accused in Stripper Drug Case?

Lawyers are debating whether charges against the senior federal judge accused of a making a parking lot drug buy will spur successful appeals by defendants whose cases he oversaw. The 67-year-old Atlanta federal judge, Jack Camp, is free on a $50,000 unsecured bond, according to the Fulton County Daily Report.…

Oct 6, 2010 12:28 PM CDT

Exotic Dancer’s Tip Links Federal Judge, 67, to Drug & Firearms Case

Updated: A senior federal judge was arrested Friday in a drug and firearms case and held over the weekend in an undisclosed location. The case resulted from a tip by an exotic dancer at an Atlanta strip club from whom U.S. District Judge Jack Camp allegedly purchased illegal substances and…

Oct 4, 2010 8:53 PM CDT

Lawyer Says His Longtime Secretary Is the Informant Who Secretly Recorded Him

A secretary who testified for a Georgia lawyer accused of federal drug and money-laundering charges, helping win his acquittal last year, apparently had a change of heart. The secretary, Brandy Rivera, became a secret informant, says her onetime boss, lawyer Mark Shelnutt. And Shelnutt was the target, according to the…

Oct 4, 2010 11:00 AM CDT

Settlement Would Give Creditors Half of Educator’s ‘Smarter than a 5th Grader’ Prize

Half of $1 million won by a Georgia educator on the show Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader? may go to her creditors rather than the schools she designated to get the money. A settlement proposing the split will be considered in an Oct. 8 bankruptcy hearing, the Atlanta…

Sep 30, 2010 6:18 PM CDT

Acquitted in 2009 Federal Drug Case, Ga. Lawyer Is Arrested Anew by State Authorities

Acquitted less than a year ago in a federal drug and money-laundering case, after being accused of accepting drug money for legal fees, a Georgia lawyer has been arrested again. But this time the case is being pursued by the state. Mark Shelnutt allegedly was caught on audio- and videotape…

Sep 24, 2010 11:28 PM CDT

Prosecutor Opposes Defendant’s Saintly Name-Change Request

A Georgia prosecutor is opposing a defendant’s request to change his name to Saint Jody Almighty Bedrock. The defendant, Shelby Marwan Hegg, is accused of aggravated battery, but he says the name change idea is legit: It’s based on his religious reawakening, according to the Associated Press and the Macon…

Sep 21, 2010 3:08 PM CDT

11th Circuit Must Decide: Did Lawyer with TB Plead a Sufficient Case Against CDC?

A lawyer who found himself at the center of an international furor after traveling with what was originally publicly proclaimed to be a highly contagious form of tuberculosis is fighting to revive a lawsuit against the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention alleging that the CDC violated his privacy by…

Sep 15, 2010 7:07 PM CDT

Lawyer’s Mom Helps Inmate Pen Pal Win Conviction Reversal

Carol Raeber intended to be a just a pen pal to James “Country” Parkerson, who is now 40. But the more she corresponded with the Dooly State Prison inmate, the more the Georgia woman felt that he couldn’t be guilty of the vicious murder he had been convicted of committing…

Aug 30, 2010 7:50 PM CDT

Judge Says New Evidence in Troy Davis Murder Case Is ‘Largely Smoke and Mirrors’

A Georgia federal judge re-examining the evidence has concluded that jurors would still find death-row inmate Troy Anthony Davis guilty of murder, and new evidence to the contrary is “largely smoke and mirrors.” U.S. District Judge William Moore issued a 172-page order on Tuesday rejecting Davis’ claim that he is…

Aug 25, 2010 4:13 PM CDT

Judge, 65, Shoots and Kills Intruder at His Home

A 65-year-old Georgia judge shot and killed an intruder at his Richmond County home early Friday, authorities say. Superior Court Judge Carlisle Overstreet was uninjured but upset after the incident around 4 a.m. reports the Augusta Chronicle. The dead man, 20-year-old John Howard Jr., and another man allegedly threw a…

Aug 23, 2010 8:35 PM CDT

Ex-Bar Prez to Probe for Case Problems from Chief Judge’s Affair with Asst. Public Defender

The chief judge in Fayette County, Ga., abruptly resigned earlier this year when it came out that he was having an affair with an assistant public defender working in his courtroom. But that wasn’t the end of it. The assistant PD resigned, too, and now the Georgia Public Defender Standards…

Aug 20, 2010 8:09 PM CDT

Think the Mortgage Meltdown Has Made All Lenders Warier? Think Again

Despite the much-publicized mortgage meltdown of recent years, some lenders apparently still haven’t learned their lesson. In a decimated neighborhood on the South Side of Chicago, homes have been selling lately for around $350,000. But simply driving by and looking at the boarded-up older homes that can be seen throughout…

Aug 17, 2010 7:57 PM CDT

SCOTUS Nixes Effort By ‘Birther’ Attorney Orly Taitz to Avoid $20K Fine

Fined $20,000 for pursuing what a federal judge in Georgia determined to be a frivolous claim that President Barack Obama is not a U.S. citizen and hence unqualified to serve in that office, so-called birther attorney Orly Taitz reportedly may have intended to seek a stay of the stunning financial…

Aug 16, 2010 9:28 PM CDT