Massachusetts

US Attorney Files Fair Housing Suit Over Condo Rules Restricting Kids’ Play

Contending that a Massachusetts condominium association violated fair housing law by restricting children’s play activities in outdoor common areas, the local U.S. attorney has filed a federal lawsuit against Stonecleave Village in Methuen and its property managers. The suit claims they violated federal law that prohibits discrimination against families with…

Feb 26, 2010 7:08 PM CST

As Bomb Case Linked to Ala. Prof Is Reopened, New Evidence Also Is Cited in Brother’s Death

In a series of new investigations related to the prior conduct of a biology professor accused of shooting three colleagues to death and wounding three others at a faculty meeting at the University of Alabama at Huntsville earlier this month, at least three unrelated probes are now being conducted in…

Feb 26, 2010 5:19 PM CST

Would-Be Students Clamor to Apply at New UMass Law School

Applications tripled in February after the Southern New England School of Law merged with the University of Massachusetts, creating the first public law school in the state. Looking only at February data, the school has received triple the number of applications over the same month last year, the Herald News…

Feb 24, 2010 4:50 PM CST

Mass. Lawyer Suspended for Using Client’s Handicapped Parking Permit

A Massachusetts lawyer has been suspended for a year and a day for using a client’s handicapped parking permit in an effort to get more than a dozen parking tickets dismissed. Lawyer Garrison Stuart Corben, 36, was accused of using the placard issued to the parents of a disabled girl…

Feb 23, 2010 2:40 PM CST

Getaway Car Incident Spurs Call for Probe into Ala. Prof’s Prior Exoneration

Why wasn’t University of Alabama shooting suspect Amy Bishop charged for allegedly trying to steal a getaway car after shooting her brother in 1986? A columnist who is asking the question wants a special prosecutor to investigate. Bishop was never charged in the 1986 incident after she and her mother…

Feb 17, 2010 5:17 PM CST

As Bank Takes Possession of Home, Couple Argues, to No Avail, ‘We Paid Cash,’ Suit Says

As mortgage foreclosures continue to surge throughout the nation, there’s at least one case that should never have been filed, a Massachusetts couple says. It concerns their future retirement home in Florida, for which, they say, they paid their life savings, in cash. Although there was no mortgage at all…

Feb 12, 2010 8:49 PM CST

Munchausen Mom Gets 40 Years in Death of 2-Year-Old Daughter

A woman who was convicted of child abuse in West Virginia and sentenced to one year in jail after she was caught on tape in a hospital trying to smother her infant son was sentenced today to a 40-year prison term in Florida for the earlier suffocation death of her…

Feb 12, 2010 6:30 PM CST

Record Profits in ‘09 For Biggest Boston Firms

Despite economic woes and layoffs in Boston’s legal sector, senior lawyers from three of the city’s largest firms are reporting they had their most profitable year ever in 2009. Bingham McCutchen, Fish & Richardson, and WilmerHale told the Boston Globe that they recorded their highest average profits per partner last…

Feb 5, 2010 4:50 PM CST

Lawyer in $1.7M Case Used Trust Account to Launder Money, Feds Say

A Boston-area criminal defense lawyer has been federally charged in a money-laundering case, accused of conspiring with another defendant to conceal the source of $1.7 million in illegal drug-trafficking proceeds over a four-year period starting in 2006. The co-defendant, Secundino Cespedes, and Rafael Benzan, a Massachusetts business owner who reportedly…

Feb 4, 2010 8:00 PM CST

Higher Ed Board Approves Plan for Public Mass. Law School

Today the Massachusetts Board of Higher Education unanimously approved a plan to merge the unaccredited Southern New England School of Law with the University of Massachusetts. The vote paves the way for the state’s first public law school, according to the Associated Press, the Herald News of Fall River and…

Feb 2, 2010 6:40 PM CST

Lawmaker to Mass. AG: Law Schools May Be Misusing Public Funds to Fight Competitor

In a new escalation of an ongoing controversy about whether a non-ABA-accredited law school should merge with the University of Massachusetts, a state lawmaker is calling for an investigation of potential antitrust issues. Three competitors of Southern New England School of Law may be misusing public funds to lobby against…

Jan 30, 2010 2:35 AM CST

K&L Gates Cut Bill from $806K to $574K in $1.2M Matter, But Court OK Is Elusive

A K&L Gates bill for $710,322 in legal fees and $95,868 in costs for defending a contested $1.2 million estate sparked objections from lawyers for family members arguing over a 91-year-old man’s will. But even after a Massachusetts Probate & Family Court negotiated a $574,322 compromise, attorney Thomas Maffei of…

Jan 29, 2010 3:16 AM CST

Lawyer Indicted & Cleared in Case Linked to Serial Murders of 3 Clients Has Died

A criminal defense and personal injury lawyer who said his life became a living hell after his name was linked to the still-unsolved serial killings of nine Massachusetts women has been found dead at his home. Kenneth Ponte was in his early 60s. Authorities say his death does not appear…

Jan 28, 2010 6:24 PM CST

Appellate Law Clerk Is Out of a Job After Ghostwriting Claim

A senior staff attorney with the Massachusetts Appeals Court is out of a job after a magazine article accused him of offering to sell a term paper. The lawyer, Damian Bonazzoli, “no longer works at the court” after an investigation of the matter, according to a statement issued by court…

Jan 28, 2010 1:41 PM CST

Irked Judge Discharges Law Grad’s Student Loans, Critiques Senior Jurist

Ordered to reconsider his earlier opinion discharging the $82,000 student loan debt of a 65-year-old unemployed law school graduate, an obviously annoyed bankruptcy judge has granted Denise Bronsdon the same relief a second time. And, underlining his displeasure with a remand opinion (PDF) issued by the chief judge of the…

Jan 14, 2010 9:44 PM CST