Government

Derivatives Regulation Becomes a Popular Law School Offering

The financial meltdown has spurred interest in derivatives classes among law students interested in learning about the origins of the crisis and hoping to tap into an expanding job market for lawyers well-versed in financial regulations. New York Law School has seen so much interest in its derivatives course that…

May 8, 2009 3:18 PM CDT

New SEC Focus: Painting the Barn, Not the Sistine Chapel

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission may soon be using more discretion in civil investigations, focusing on the big fish rather than the small fry. Speaking today at a program on corporate investigations sponsored by the American Bar Association, an SEC official and the general counsel of the FBI said…

May 7, 2009 8:48 PM CDT

Taking Kids to Work Sparks Lawsuit, as Fla. Jail Guards Reportedly Stun Several

Updated: At least one parent of a Florida schoolchild has sued over “Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day,” after guards at three separate state prisons zapped visiting children with electronic stun guns on April 24 to demonstrate how they worked. The Florida Department of Corrections has acknowledged the…

May 7, 2009 8:15 PM CDT

4th Circuit Nixes Attorney Fee Award to Defendant in Terrorism Tort Case

In an unusual award of attorney fees to a prevailing defendant in a civil rights case, a federal court said a Muslim family whose Virginia home was lawfully searched had to pay about $41,000 to an individual they accused of conspiring with federal agents to fabricate evidence supporting the search.…

May 7, 2009 5:43 PM CDT

Ex-DOJ Lawyer Rips ‘Double Standard’ in Ethics Probe of Bradbury, Bybee & Yoo

A former senior lawyer at the U.S. Department of Justice read with interest news that three Office of Legal Counsel attorneys in a high-profile ethical investigation were offered a routine opportunity to review allegations made against them in a draft report. That so-called routine opportunity was provided to Steven Bradbury,…

May 7, 2009 12:09 AM CDT

Former Bush Officials Seek Changes in DOJ Report Critical of Bybee and Yoo

As the U.S. Department of Justice gets ready to release a legal ethics report on two government attorneys involved in the drafting of what some term “torture” memos authorizing the use of harsh interrogation methods after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, former Bush administration officials reportedly are lobbying for…

May 5, 2009 8:53 PM CDT

New Accusations Against Craiglist Suspect Fuel AG Attack on Website

Announcing new accusations today against the so-called Craiglist suspect involving a third claimed assault victim, the Rhode Island state attorney general also fired a verbal salvo at the website accused of posting advertisements to which Philip Markoff allegedly responded. The Boston medical student already was being prosecuted in Suffolk County,…

May 5, 2009 12:21 AM CDT

Highest-Paid NYC Parking Judge is Married to Administrative Agency Official

Despite discrepancies between Allan Patricof’s sign-in book and other time records, the New York City parking judge was properly paid the $110,472 he earned in 2006. Patricof, who racked up 2,315 hours that year—an average of 8.9 hours every weekday of that year, including holidays—put in time at home and…

May 4, 2009 7:34 PM CDT

Judicial Clerkships Becoming More Scarce and More Difficult to Attain

New law grads who think they can find refuge in a government job in a tight employment market may be in for disappointment, according to a career services official at the University of Kansas School of Law. Todd Rogers, assistant dean of career services, told the Kansas City Star that…

May 4, 2009 6:14 PM CDT

To Solve More Rape Cases, Government Needs to Test Backlog of DNA Evidence

When a 43-year-old legal secretary was raped in her home in Los Angeles a decade ago, a Los Angeles police detective had a gut feeling that a repeat offender was the perpetrator. To reduce an expected one-year delay in getting DNA evidence from the crime analyzed, Detective Tim Marcia personally…

May 1, 2009 7:48 PM CDT

Running for Election Requires Attorney to Disclose Client List, Law Dean Says

Should a lawyer running for election as city attorney have to disclose to the public a list of the clients he represented in private practice? There’s only one answer to that question: Yes, writes Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the new law school at the University of California at Irvine, in…

May 1, 2009 6:56 PM CDT

New Law Blogger: Russian President

Even as a Moscow court ruled last week that Russian officials could shut down websites containing extremist comments, the country’s president, former corporate attorney and law professor Dmitry Medvedev, was launching a new blog. Hosted by LiveJournal, it calls for a more open society. However, the comments will be monitored…

May 1, 2009 12:31 AM CDT

Sen. Leahy Asks Judge Bybee to Testify About ‘Torture’ Memos

In the latest development in an ongoing controversy over internal government memos about permissible interrogation techniques in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee has asked a government attorney who approved them to testify. A U.S. Department of Justice lawyer when…

Apr 29, 2009 11:04 PM CDT

Fordham Law Class Collects Personal Info About Scalia; Supreme Ct. Justice Is Steamed

Last year, when law professor Joel Reidenberg wanted to show his Fordham University class how readily private information is available on the Internet, he assigned a group project. It was collecting personal information from the Web about himself. This year, after U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia made public comments…

Apr 29, 2009 6:58 PM CDT

EPA Raids Chicago Suburb Accused of Providing Toxic Water to Residents

Criminal investigators from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency raided a suburban Chicago municipality today, presumably seeking information about the Village of Crestwood’s alleged provision of contaminated well water to the public. After raiding the village hall and Crestwood’s public works department, the investigators planned to hit the police department next,…

Apr 29, 2009 5:25 PM CDT