International Courts/Tribunals

Custom double-decker bus serves as mobile courthouse for far-flung trials in Abu Dhabi

A double-decker bus has been customized for use as a mobile courthouse, in which trials will be conducted in far-flung corners of Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. The lower level of the vehicle houses the courtroom and the upper level has administrative offices, reports the RT network. Multiple…

Apr 28, 2014 6:25 PM CDT

Lawyers say ‘woefully inadequate’ courthouse meals threaten clients’ defense

Skimpy meals served to jail inmates appearing in court in at least one Canadian province leaves them too hungry to defend themselves properly, some lawyers say. So they have been filing motions to get more food for their clients. It is undisputed that lunch for inmates at Ontario courthouses commonly…

Apr 21, 2014 11:00 AM CDT

Captain who abandoned sinking ferry is arrested; 64 dead, hundreds missing in South Korean waters

Updated: The captain of a ferry that sank Wednesday in South Korean waters, killing at least 64 people, has been arrested. Although specific charges against Lee Jun-seok, 69, haven’t been revealed, reports that he abandoned ship ahead of passengers and crew may have resulted in his arrest, according to CNN…

Apr 18, 2014 7:10 PM CDT

Chevron can sue Patton Boggs over law firm effort to collect $9.5B verdict, federal judge rules

In the latest salvo in a hard-fought international environmental case, a federal judge in New York has OK’d a request by Chevron Corp. to sue a law firm representing the oil company’s opponent in its efforts to collect a $9.5 billion judgment awarded by a court in Ecuador. Although Patton…

Mar 31, 2014 9:24 PM CDT

Japan’s Antarctic whaling is temporarily halted by international court

The International Court of Justice has ordered a temporary halt to Japan’s Antarctic whaling program. The court ruled against Japan in a dispute brought by Australia, which accused the country of using a loophole to avoid a 1986 moratorium on commercial whaling, the New York Times reports. The court concluded…

Mar 31, 2014 4:59 PM CDT

Police officer critically wounded, suspect dead in shooting that locked down Canadian courthouse

A police officer was critically wounded Friday in a shooting near the entrance of a Canadian courthouse located in a suburb of Toronto. Those in the A. Grenville and William Davis Courthouse in Brampton scrambled as shots were heard, and lawyers, judges and others were locked into courtrooms as police…

Mar 28, 2014 4:30 PM CDT

Thousands of lawyers protest ‘unnecessary and crippling’ UK legal aid cuts, boycott court hearings

Up to 1,000 lawyers or more protested outside Parliament in London on Friday over what one bar association called “unnecessary and crippling” legal aid cuts, as thousands more boycotted crown court hearings in major cities throughout the United Kingdom. At issue is a 215 million-pound cut to the country’s annual…

Mar 7, 2014 6:40 PM CST

Thefts of $470M in bitcoins spur lawsuits, calls for regulation; a ‘bitcoin paradox,’ law prof says

Following recently discovered thefts of some $470 million in virtual currency that shut down the world’s largest bitcoin exchange and a Canadian bitcoin bank, hundreds of investors who lost assets are looking to seek redress in class actions. But observers are wondering how it will be possible to solve crimes…

Mar 5, 2014 11:30 PM CST

Federal judge rules for Chevron in civil-racketeer case, bans collection of $9B enviro award in US

In the latest blow to the plaintiffs and their lawyers in hard-fought litigation against Chevron Corp. over environmental damage in Ecuador, a federal district court judge in New York has issued a blistering ruling in an unusual civil racketeering case. It blocks their ability to collect, here in the U.S.,…

Mar 4, 2014 9:41 PM CST

3 slain in attacks at 2 German law firms; suspect, a former client, is in custody

Apparently angry over an adverse ruling in an employment case which he had unsuccessfully sought to appeal, a 48-year-old man fatally attacked three people, including at least two lawyers, and set fire to two German law firms on Friday, authorities say. Authorities say Yanqing T. stabbed attorney Ulrike F. to…

Mar 3, 2014 5:30 PM CST

Heavy metal frontman charged with manslaughter during concert film, creating ‘searing’ legal drama

The plan was to create a concert film focusing on fans as heavy metal band Lamb of God toured Europe in 2012. But then, when the group reached the Czech Republic, frontman Randy Blythe was arrested, charged with manslaughter and jailed for over a month before his lawyer could obtain…

Feb 26, 2014 10:55 PM CST

Seized cellphones led to capture of ‘most wanted’ Mexican drug trafficker, authorities say

The U.S. will seek extradition of the claimed leader of the Sinaloa drug cartel, who was captured over the weekend sleeping in a condo in a Mexican beach resort town in an early-morning raid backed by the American government. Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán, 56, said to be the “most wanted”…

Feb 24, 2014 6:30 PM CST

Amanda Knox vows to fight guilty verdict in Italian murder case, says it ‘hit me like a train’

Amanda Knox said the latest guilty verdict in an Italian murder trial over the 2007 slaying of her roommate there, while both women were foreign exchange students, “hit me like a train.” In an exclusive interview Friday with Good Morning America, the Seattle resident said she watched in disbelief as…

Jan 31, 2014 8:55 PM CST

Lawyer fined for telling friend that client ‘Harry Potter’ author wrote new novel under pseudonym

A British lawyer has been rebuked and fined £1,000 by the Solicitors Regulation Authority for violating client confidentiality by revealing to his wife’s best friend that the author of the best-selling “Harry Potter” children’s book series had written a new novel under a pseudonym. The revelation sent sales of the…

Dec 31, 2013 5:40 PM CST

Thalidomide plaintiffs agree to $80M settlement in Australian case; discovery continues in US

Decades after women were given Thalidomide to combat morning sickness during pregnancy in the 1950s and 1960s and wound up delivering babies with missing or deformed limbs and other birth defects, survivors are still seeking compensation. Litigation continues in the United States, the United Kingdom and Spain, but more than…

Dec 4, 2013 12:00 AM CST