Legal History

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

After Scalia: The Supreme Court goes back to work amid uncertainty

Antonin Scalia was a force on the Supreme Court for nearly 30 years, both for his conservative judicial outlook and his sheer strength of personality. His unexpected death on Feb. 13 at a ranch resort in Texas has plunged the court into a period of uncertainty—one that could last well…

Apr 1, 2016 3:10 AM CDT

April 16, 1947: Deadly ship explosions lead to first class action

Even before the end of World War II, the U.S. began to repurpose its wartime manufacturing for peacetime, and one of the first industries targeted was munitions production. As early as 1943, some factories previously devoted to the development of explosives began conversion to the manufacture of fertilizer for large-scale…

Apr 1, 2016 12:30 AM CDT

Retailer must make website accessible to visually impaired and pay plaintiff legal fees, judge rules

In what a lawyer for the plaintiff is calling a landmark decision, a California judge has ordered a luggage retailer to make its website accessible to those who are visually impaired. Bag’n Baggage must also pay $4,000 plus attorney’s fees for plaintiff Edward Davis, which are expected to top $100,000,…

Mar 25, 2016 4:20 PM CDT

Judge nixes rare murder case against a California corporation

Finding that the probable cause standard was not met, a California judge on Friday dismissed what defense lawyers say is the first murder case ever pursued against a state corporation. However, rehab company A Better Tomorrow and four employees still face dependent adult abuse charges in the 2010 death of…

Mar 18, 2016 1:25 PM CDT

Unanimous US Senate OKs contempt resolution against Backpage, the first in 20 years

For the first time in 20 years, the U.S. Senate has OK’d a contempt case. It voted unanimously Thursday to authorize Senate legal counsel to pursue a federal court action against Backpage.com, which has resisted lawmakers’ efforts to scrutinize its business practices, according to Cleveland.com and the Wall Street Journal…

Mar 17, 2016 3:30 PM CDT

Changing to daylight savings time on courthouse clock ‘a tough climb’

Springing forward to daylight savings time can be a real challenge when you’re dealing with a historic courthouse clock. It isn’t simply the four faces and the complicated antique mechanism but the climb—initially, on an old staircase with narrow treads and then on several ladders to get to the clock…

Mar 14, 2016 5:00 PM CDT

California lawmakers OK raising legal smoking age from 18 to 21

The California state senate on Thursday gave the final legislative OK to a package of smoking bills, sending to Gov. Jerry Brown for consideration new rules that would, among other things, raise the legal age for purchasing cigarettes to 21 from 18. If he approves, the state would become only…

Mar 10, 2016 3:20 PM CST

Repeat offender who met with clients at bar association law library gets time for posing as attorney

A nonlawyer who brazenly offered his services as an immigration attorney and met with clients in the Brooklyn Bar Association’s law library, which he called his office, has been sentenced to a 2- to 4-year prison term. Howard Seidler, 70, pleaded guilty last month to grand larceny and immigrant services…

Mar 10, 2016 10:40 AM CST

First-time offender blames lawyers for 33-year DUI term, but judge points to beer pong video

Lawyers for Kenneth Richard Jenkins had hoped for a four- to eight-year prison term in his driving-under-the-influence case because he was a first-time offender and expressed remorse for the accident he caused that killed three people. But a judge gave Jenkins nearly 33 years at his 2011 sentencing, unfavorably influenced…

Mar 7, 2016 4:10 PM CST

Judge OKs first ‘assisted death,’ with help of physician, in Canada

For the first time in Canadian history, a judge has OK’d a plan for physicians to provide an “assisted death” to a patient, in this case a retired psychologist suffering from ALS. The unidentified woman made her case last week in a private, in camera hearing before an Alberta Court…

Mar 1, 2016 4:05 PM CST

A ‘conversation’ with the late, great lexicographer Samuel Johnson

Recently I had the opportunity to sit down with the great Samuel Johnson (1709–1784)—or rather with his books—to see what he had to say about lawyers, their profession and their writing. I essentially interviewed him through his known sayings.

Mar 1, 2016 2:30 AM CST

Martin Luther King Jr. offers insight into ‘justice for all’

"In a real sense all life is interrelated. All men are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly." —Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Mar 1, 2016 2:20 AM CST

March 14, 1984: The savings and loan crisis begins

On the morning of March 14, 1984, a team of federal regulators arrived at an inconspicuous strip mall in the eastern Dallas suburb of Mesquite to seize control of what had been one of the nation's fastest-growing thrift institutions, Empire Savings and Loan.

Mar 1, 2016 12:30 AM CST