Afternoon Briefs: Actress sentenced in college admissions scandal; judge sides with transgender Ohioans

Actress Felicity Huffman gets 14 days in prison for college admissions scandal Actress Felicity Huffman was sentenced Friday to 14 days in prison for her involvement in the college admissions scandal. In May, Huffman pleaded guilty to conspiring to pay $15,000 to a fake charity to facilitate cheating when her…

Sep 13, 2019 4:51 PM CDT

Judge rejects prosecutor bid to drop charges against ‘straight pride’ protesters; defense lawyer handcuffed

Updated: A district attorney in Boston is asking the state’s highest court to step in after a judge refused her office’s bid to drop charges against protesters and observers at a “straight pride” parade. Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins filed an emergency petition Wednesday. She contends in a press…

Sep 5, 2019 10:59 AM CDT

Pelvic exams performed without patients’ permission spur new legislation

Sep 1, 2019 1:50 AM CDT

Lawyer with Crohn’s disease goes public with Starbucks story to publicize bathroom-access laws

A lawyer with Crohn’s disease hopes to raise public awareness about bathroom-access laws with a personal story about his quest to use a bathroom at Starbucks. Stephen Marcus, 64, helped get a law passed in Massachusetts requiring retailers to open employee-only restrooms to people who have inflammatory bowel diseases in…

Aug 22, 2019 9:52 AM CDT

What helped this attorney qualify for public service loan forgiveness? Diligence—and social media

Like many seeking public service student loan forgiveness, Jeffrey Morgan says he got bad information from student loan servicing centers. However, thanks to Twitter and Reddit—and perhaps his experience as a government lawyer dealing with bureaucracy and deciphering regulatory language—he’s now part of the estimated 5% who have had student loans discharged.

Aug 15, 2019 6:00 AM CDT

Judge tosses suit over Harvard Law Review’s alleged racial and sexual preferences, allows do-over complaint

A federal judge in Boston has dismissed a lawsuit alleging that Harvard Law Review violates federal law by using racial and gender preferences when selecting its student members.

Aug 9, 2019 10:02 AM CDT

New ABA pro bono program gives Mary Ryan a firsthand look at immigration at the border

“Part of the whole point, I think, in the ABA making this opportunity available is so that people can talk about it to people who care what’s happening on the border but can’t go themselves,” says Mary Ryan, an environmental litigator at Nutter McClennen & Fish in Boston. “It will make you a better advocate.”

Jul 24, 2019 6:30 AM CDT

ADA questions remain over web accessibility cases and the lack of DOJ regulations

Disability rights advocates say web accessibility, the practice of designing and coding websites so that people with disabilities can use them, can be accomplished through simple changes, such as changing color contrast and adding video captions. However, the legal landscape surrounding web accessibility has become more complex.

Jul 1, 2019 2:15 AM CDT

Law firm awarded $900K in suit contending departing lawyers took confidential files

A former Boston law firm has been awarded $900,000 in its suit claiming that departing lawyers breached their duty of loyalty when they took the firm’s electronic database of files and misused confidential information. Jurors found for the Governo Law Firm last week in its suit against six departing lawyers…

Jun 28, 2019 12:40 PM CDT

Federal judge blocks ICE from making civil immigration arrests at courthouses

On Thursday, a federal judge in Boston granted a preliminary injunction that blocks U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement from making civil arrests at state courthouses in Massachusetts. U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani ruled in a suit filed by two district attorneys, public defenders and immigration advocates, report the Boston Globe,…

Jun 21, 2019 4:01 PM CDT

In states where inmates can vote, few exercise their right to cast ballots

When Sen. Bernie Sanders championed voting rights for prisoners during a CNN town hall, he spotlighted an intensifying national debate about why going to prison means losing the right to vote.

Jun 14, 2019 7:30 AM CDT

Former Willkie co-chair pleads guilty in college admissions scandal

Gordon Caplan, the former co-chairman of Willkie Farr & Gallagher, pleaded guilty Tuesday to an accusation that he paid $75,000 to a college admissions consultant to have an exam proctor correct some of his daughter’s answers on the ACT. Caplan pleaded guilty in Boston federal court to a charge of…

May 22, 2019 10:30 AM CDT

2 US law firms lost over $117K to international cybercrime network, indictment alleges

A law firm in Washington, D.C., and a law office in Wellesley, Massachusetts, are among the victims of malware attacks by an overseas cybercrime network.

May 17, 2019 11:13 AM CDT

Judge faces obstruction of justice charges; ICE says she helped immigrant evade courthouse arrest

A Newton District Court judge and a state court officer are facing criminal charges for allegedly helping an undocumented immigrant evade U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the courthouse in April 2018.

Apr 25, 2019 3:35 PM CDT

Compelled-password decision is ‘death knell’ for Fifth Amendment, state justice argues

A defendant can be compelled to enter a password to his cellphone as long as prosecutors prove just one thing, Massachusetts’ top court has ruled. Prosecutors must show beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant knows the password, according to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. Prosecutors met that burden in…

Mar 11, 2019 2:10 PM CDT