Judge OKs use of funds from slain mom’s estate to pay lawyer in daughter’s Bali murder trial

Updated: A 19-year-old Chicago woman on trial in Bali for the slaying of her mother at a resort hotel has won an emergency motion filed Thursday in Illinois state court seeking to get money for her defense from her mom’s $1.56 million estate. In a Friday hearing, Cook County Chancery…

Jan 16, 2015 8:30 AM CST

International law bar takes aim at overbroad bans on Shariah law

The story of Florida's anti-Shariah law movement began three years ago with a courtroom bang, but it ended last May in a legislative whimper.

Jan 1, 2015 6:05 AM CST

1985-1994: The legacy of Nuremberg

Jan 1, 2015 5:00 AM CST

Germany OKs prosecution of former Nazi SS guard, now 93

Amidst a waning hunt for Nazi war criminals, a rare prosecution is being pursued in Germany. Authorities in Hanover plan to try former SS guard Oskar Groening as early as April, according to the Daily Mail, the Express and NBC News. Groening says he witnessed atrocities during World War II…

Dec 16, 2014 5:40 PM CST

Judge to end case over nude photos posted online by her husband by retiring from bench

As a 10-day hearing was set to begin Monday in a legal ethics case over nude photos of a senior Canadian judge, a lawyer for the Manitoba jurist asked that the case be dropped because her client plans to retire in May. Although the graphic photos were posted on the…

Nov 24, 2014 2:07 PM CST

Police at court for unrelated reasons spot suspect in theft case they’re investigating

Police officers called to investigate a Nov. 2 shoplifting at a Canadian grocery store didn’t have to put in a lot of legwork to find their suspect after obtaining a surveillance photo. As they were at work in the Barrie Courthouse on Friday, they spotted him. He was wearing the…

Nov 14, 2014 3:55 PM CST

Rolling Stones settle $12.7M insurance claim over shows canceled due to Jagger’s girlfriend’s death

Updated: A legal battle between the Rolling Stones and insurance underwriters, concerning the band’s $12.7 million claim over the cancellation of seven Rolling Stones performances earlier this year, has been settled on undisclosed terms. However, band members are unhappy because private information about their families and health were made public…

Nov 11, 2014 11:10 AM CST

UK intelligence may have eavesdropped for years on lawyer-client communications, documents show

As in the U.S., confidential communications between lawyers and clients in the United Kingdom are supposed to be protected by privilege against discovery by the government and others. However, documents were recently made public that show another standard applied to some government agencies. The release of the documents came in…

Nov 6, 2014 1:15 PM CST

Lawyer is reportedly missing, along with over $3 million in trust account

A Canadian real estate attorney is missing, along with all but about $89,000, in U.S. dollars, of over $3 million in mortgage funds from institutional lenders that had been held in a trust account at the sole practitioner’s law firm, according to the The Law Society of Upper Canada. Credit…

Nov 3, 2014 8:05 AM CST

Chinese Communist Party announces reform measures to increase judicial independence

China’s ruling Communist Party has announced measures to increase judicial independence, particularly by shining more sunlight on party officials getting involved in legal matters, the Associated Press reports. While some critics scoff at the likelihood of true reform, some others see the move as positive at the local level, where…

Oct 23, 2014 2:23 PM CDT

Does government owe moose-vehicle crash victims? Lawyer vows appeal after losing class action

More than 100 years ago, Canadian officials introduced moose on the island of Newfoundland, intending to provide a source of food. However, the moose population got out of control and is now the cause of hundreds of vehicle accidents annually as the nearly 1,000-pound, top-heavy animals suddenly sprint across roadways…

Sep 23, 2014 1:55 PM CDT

Gunman kills lawyer, wounds client in shooting at Denmark courthouse

A gunman killed a lawyer and critically wounded his client Tuesday in a courthouse shooting in Denmark. It may have been the first shooting in the history of the Copenhagen City Court, which was founded in 1771, the Associated Press reports. The names of the 57-year-old attorney who was killed…

Sep 16, 2014 4:10 PM CDT

Claimed Nazi volunteer during World War II, now 93, charged in deaths of 300K at Auschwitz

A 93-year-old man accused of serving as a Waffen-SS volunteer at one of Nazi Germany’s most notorious concentration camps during World War II is now facing criminal prosecution. The unidentified defendant was investigated about 30 years ago concerning his claimed work at the Auschwitz concentration camp, but no charges were…

Sep 15, 2014 12:10 PM CDT

Birth of a Nation: Find unclaimed land, and you can be king!

Sep 1, 2014 7:10 AM CDT

In business for a decade, global Wi-Fi venture once valued at $2B got financing based on fake work

For nearly a decade, a Spanish company known as Let’s Gowex SA claimed to be making a profit by offering public wi-fi in cities throughout the world. But that wasn’t true, entrepreneur Jenaro Garcia Martin, who heads the company, told Spain’s High Court last month. He and others familiar with…

Aug 14, 2014 8:15 PM CDT