International Law

Judge indicates he will allow torture suit against psychologists who aided CIA

A federal judge in Spokane, Washington, has indicated he will allow a lawsuit filed against two psychologists accused of helping design a CIA interrogation program that included waterboarding. U.S. District Judge Justin Quackenbush said on Friday that he will deny a request to toss the suit by two psychologists who…

Apr 25, 2016 8:11 AM CDT

Lawmakers ask ABA why it withdrew book offer to Chinese human rights lawyer

Two Republican lawmakers are asking the ABA for “additional clarification” about its decision to withdraw a book offer made to a Chinese human rights lawyer. U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida and U.S. Rep. Chris Smith of New Jersey want to know whether the book project was canceled because of…

Apr 20, 2016 4:36 PM CDT

Lawsuit filed in US over intentional crash of German flight in French Alps

Lawyers for survivors of some of the 150 individuals who died when a co-pilot intentionally crashed a Germanwings flight in the French Alps last year have found a way to file suit over the incident in the United States. Investigators said privacy laws that allowed co-pilot Andreas Lubitz to conceal…

Apr 13, 2016 4:00 PM CDT

Hacked ‘Panama Papers’ law firm is raided by government officials

Following a massive data breach at a Panama-based law firm that a founding partner has blamed on a hack attack, government officials on Tuesday raided the headquarters of Mossack Fonseca & Co. The attorney general’s office said they were seeking “documentation linked to the information published in news articles that…

Apr 13, 2016 12:50 PM CDT

Partner: Massive data breach at ‘Panama Papers’ law firm was from hack attack, not internal leak

Journalists reporting worldwide about offshore wealth of prominent people got millions of confidential documents from Panama-based Mossack Fonseca as a result of an attack by hackers, not an insider data leak, a partner of the law firm says. “We rule out an inside job. This is not a leak. This…

Apr 6, 2016 4:30 PM CDT

Feds set up fake university, charge 21 brokers, recruiters and employers in visa-fraud sting

In what is being billed as a first-of-a-kind sting operation, a fake university set up by the feds resulted in criminal charges against 21 brokers, recruiters and employers in an alleged student and foreign worker visa fraud conspiracy. The University of Northern New Jersey purportedly operated out of an office…

Apr 6, 2016 3:20 PM CDT

Prosecutors launch probes after massive leak of Panama law firm’s documents

Following news of a massive leak of documents from a Panama-based law firm that has incorporated some 240,000 offshore shell companies, prosecutors around the world on Monday announced related probes. That included the Department of Justice, which said it is reviewing the documents to see if there is any violation…

Apr 5, 2016 2:45 PM CDT

Retired lawyer, 95, worked at ‘Tokyo Trials’ as legal secretary after WWII, knew Japanese leaders

Elaine Fischel practiced law for nearly six decades before retiring last year in her mid-90s. But it was her work in Japan as a legal secretary, before she went to law school, that provided some of the most indelible memories in her career. Then a staff secretary for the Los…

Apr 5, 2016 1:50 PM CDT

As its stock hovers near a record low, Slater & Gordon GC resigns after two months

Moana Weir started work on Jan. 29 as in-house legal chief and company secretary for Slater & Gordon, the Australia-based personal injury Goliath that made history by becoming the world’s first law firm to go public. But last month, after less than 60 days on the job and after law…

Apr 5, 2016 12:05 PM CDT

Lack of crime and bankruptcies means lower income for Japanese lawyers

Crime is approaching a record low in Japan, the number of bankruptcies is also plunging and, in general, people in Japan are less litigious than in the U.S., preferring to resolve disputes outside the court system. The volume of civil cases has remained steady for a decade. That is bad…

Apr 4, 2016 3:40 PM CDT

Attorney gunned down at Texas mall was de facto drug cartel chief, says defense lawyer for suspect

An attorney from Mexico gunned down at an upscale Texas shopping mall in 2013 was the de facto chief of a Mexican drug cartel, says a defense lawyer for one of the slaying suspects. But Juan Jesus Guerrero Chapa was also a U.S. government informant while serving as legal counsel…

Apr 4, 2016 1:20 PM CDT

Massive leak of law firm documents reveals offshore wealth of politicians and celebrities

One of the largest data leaks ever to occur resulted in more than 11 million documents from a Panamanian law firm that specializes in offshore incorporations and wealth management reportedly being sent to a German newspaper, Süddeutsche Zeitung. Shared by the newspaper through the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ)…

Apr 4, 2016 11:50 AM CDT

Congress can require pimps to pay restitution to overseas sex-trafficking victims, 11th Circuit says

Congress has the power to require international sex traffickers to pay restitution to their victims for sex trafficking that occurs overseas, a federal appeals court has ruled. The Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled (PDF) on March 24 that convicted pimp Damion St. Patrick Baston had to pay…

Apr 4, 2016 6:15 AM CDT

International tribunal finds Bosnian leader Karadzic guilty of genocide

A United Nations tribunal has found former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic guilty of genocide and other crimes for civil war atrocities. Karadzic, 70, was convicted on 10 of 11 charges on Thursday by the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, report the Guardian, the Washington Post…

Mar 24, 2016 11:53 AM CDT

Former State Department employee gets nearly 5 years in ‘international sextortion campaign’

A former State Department employee was sentenced Monday to four years and nine months in what federal prosecutors called an “international sextortion campaign” operated from his computer at the U.S. Embassy in London. They said Michael Ford, 36, tricked hundreds of women into providing him with their email and social…

Mar 21, 2016 3:45 PM CDT