Massachusetts

Mass. Lawyer Loses License for a Year for Charging $93.8K Contingent Fee, Absent a Contingency

A Massachusetts lawyer has lost his license for a year and a day, pursuant to a stipulated agreement, for charging an elderly woman a contingency fee of nearly $94,000 in a situation in which there was no contingency. John S. Tara was acting as a special administrator for the estate…

Nov 21, 2011 10:03 PM CST

Hit with $1.50 Starbucks Fee for Coffee Purchase, a Well-Connected Individual Makes a Difference

An undisclosed $1.50 fee that Starbucks reportedly was charging nationwide to customers who purchased less than a pound of coffee is no more. The coffee company decided to eliminate the fee after a relative brought it to the attention of the undersecretary of the Massachusetts Office of Consumer Affairs and…

Nov 14, 2011 10:26 PM CST

Judge Jails Ex-Harvard English Major Convicted re Application Lies for Putting Harvard on New Resume

It appears that a series of alleged omissions and lies on college applications, as well as claimed plagiarism on at least one prestigious scholarship application, has finally caught up with Adam Wheeler. Kicked out of Harvard University in 2009 after this history came to light, he was criminally charged in…

Nov 9, 2011 10:23 PM CST

Lawyer Takes Plea re Alleged $600K Client Theft, Gets Probation and Deferred Adjudication

A real estate lawyer in Massachusetts has taken a plea concerning his theft of nearly $600,000 in client funds he was supposed to distribute at two closings to pay off mortgages and compensate the sellers. Attorney Edward “Pete” Vincent admitted the government could prove two counts of larceny, the Martha’s…

Nov 9, 2011 9:46 PM CST

Can Citizens Use Cellphones to Record Cops? Joining 1st Circuit, Oregon Appeals Court Says Yes

Arrests of individuals who record police as they are being questioned have been much in the news lately. Among the latest to be criminally charged is a Florida man is being held in the Palm Beach County Jail in lieu of $4,500 bail for allegedly recording officers on his iPhone…

Nov 2, 2011 1:24 AM CDT

Veteran Criminal Defense Attorney Gets Probation for Stealing Ice Cream Shop Signs

A bizarre case in which a veteran Massachusetts criminal defense lawyer admitted he took ice cream shop signs after concluding (wrongly, the shop owner says) that she had called the police on his adult son as he was performing a magic show in front of the shop, has ended with…

Oct 27, 2011 5:32 PM CDT

UMass Law Dean Resigns Today, Effective Tomorrow, Cites Personal and Health Reasons

The dean of the new law school at the University of Massachusetts tendered his resignation today, effective at 5 p.m. tomorrow. Robert V. Ward Jr. cited personal and health reasons, as well as a two-hour commute in a resignation letter published by the Boston Herald. Unidentified sources at UMass said…

Oct 20, 2011 9:54 PM CDT

Top Mass. Court Offers Suit Options for Buyers of Property Won in Dubious Foreclosure Cases

What’s a good-faith buyer to do if a foreclosed property purchased from a financial institution turns out to have been seized in a questionable court case? That was the issue that the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court addressed today in litigation brought by a real estate developer who converted a foreclosed…

Oct 18, 2011 10:54 PM CDT

Law Grads Rita and Gustave Hauser Give $40M to Harvard; Floyd Abrams Donates $3M to Yale

A former BigLaw partner and a cable television pioneer are donating $40 million to Harvard University, one of two institutions where the two spouses earned law degrees. The money from Rita and Gustave Hauser will be used to provide teaching grants to faculty, adminstrators and students and to improve teaching…

Oct 18, 2011 8:06 PM CDT

Law School Recovers $173K That Former Administrator Admitted He Stole

New England Law Boston dean announced that school has recovered $173,000 embezzled by the school’s former controller in an email to students and staff on Friday. Although Dean John F. O’Brien didn’t specify how the funds were obtained, the news came one day after Douglas Leman, who had worked at…

Oct 12, 2011 12:15 AM CDT

Astrology Software Maker Files Infringement Suit over Time Zone Database Used in Computers

An astrology company has filed a copyright infringement suit against two computer experts who maintain time zone databases used to set local times on computers using UNIX operating systems. Software maker Astrolabe says in its complaint (PDF), filed on Sept. 30 in federal court in Massachusetts, that it owns the…

Oct 7, 2011 5:10 PM CDT

Ex-Law School Controller Pleads Guilty in $173K Embezzlement Aided by Tuition Breaks

A former controller at New England Law Boston has pleaded guilty to charges alleging he embezzled $173,000 from the school in part by giving students breaks on tuition. Douglas Leman had worked at the law school for 17 years, the Boston Globe reports. He was accused of using a computer…

Oct 7, 2011 4:48 PM CDT

Mass. GOP Urges Harvard to Eliminate Law Prof Elizabeth Warren’s Salary as She Runs for the Senate

After seemingly coming close to joining the Obama administration as chief of the new consumer protection agency she helped create, Harvard University law professor Elizabeth Warren is now running, as a Democrat, for a seat in the U.S. Senate. If nominated, her Republican opponent would be incumbent Scott Brown. But…

Sep 20, 2011 8:32 PM CDT

Retired Harvard Law Prof Pleads Guilty to Vehicular Homicide

A retired Harvard law professor avoided jail time when he pleaded guilty on Monday to vehicular homicide. Retired international law professor Detlev Vagts, 82, was sentenced to three years of probation and six months of house arrest for the accident last year that killed a woman on a scooter, report…

Sep 20, 2011 1:41 PM CDT

1st Circuit Reinstates Original $675K Award Against Grad Student in Music Download Case

Disappointed both with the original $675,000 federal jury verdict against him in a music downloading case and the “equally as insane” $67,500 to which a trial judge subsequently reduced the verdict, citing constitutional concerns, a Boston University graduate student appealed. But there was bad news for him on Friday: Saying…

Sep 19, 2011 8:44 PM CDT