Massachusetts

‘Secret’ Videos of Public Police Work Can Be Considered Criminal

Ever since the police beating of Rodney King in 1991 made international headlines after being captured by a citizen bystander on videotape, such recordings have often played a key role in substantiating claims that authorities have abused suspects and arrestees. However, a more than 40-year-old two-party consent law in Massachusetts…

Jan 13, 2010 12:23 AM CST

Lawyer Charged in Alleged Scheme to Divert Mortgage Payoffs to Fake Company

A Massachusetts attorney is accused of using his legal skills to identify properties that were about to be sold and then recording documents to make it look as though a fake company he created held the mortgage on them. But before Leon Gelfgatt could collect the $1.3 million in mortgage…

Dec 18, 2009 7:32 PM CST

As Boston-Based Firms Grow Globally, US Competitors Expand in Beantown

Despite a difficult legal economy, some historically Boston-based law firms are expanding. But many are doing so internationally rather than growing their practices at home. Bingham McCutchen made 15 hires this year, of which five were overseas and none in Boston, reports the Boston Globe. And Ropes & Gray has…

Dec 16, 2009 6:10 PM CST

Weil Gotshal’s Boston Holiday Party Was in the Conference Room

The managing partner of Weil Gotshal & Manges in Boston says a decision to hold the office’s holiday party in a conference room instead of a restaurant wasn’t about saving money. Instead, it was about being mindful of the hardships faced by clients and employees during the economic downturn, office…

Dec 16, 2009 4:08 PM CST

98-Year-Old Woman Indicted in Death of 100-Year-Old Roommate

A 98-year-old woman has been sent to a mental hospital for a competency evaluation after being indicted on a second-degree murder charge in the death of her 100-year-old roommate. The women lived in Brandon Woods nursing home in Dartmouth, Mass. The defendant, Laura Lundquist, is thought to be the oldest…

Dec 14, 2009 12:26 PM CST

Driver Convicted in Death of Mama Duck, But Gets No Jail Time

A jury this week took only 15 minutes to convict a 25-year-old man of animal cruelty for running over a mother duck, in front of her 12 ducklings, in a Massachusetts shopping mall parking lot. But Joshua Linhares was sentenced to probation rather than the year in jail that prosecutors…

Dec 10, 2009 7:23 PM CST

Ex-Lawyer Released After 33 Months in ‘Debtor’s Prison’

A disbarred Massachusetts lawyer has been released from jail after being held 33 months for civil contempt. After Richard Birchall was released on Wednesday, he ate a roast beef sandwich with his lawyer at a deli in Orleans, the Cape Cod Times reports. He claims he doesn’t have the $1.3…

Dec 4, 2009 3:41 PM CST

Harvard Law Students Clamor for Aid and Public Interest Jobs, Forcing Changes

Updated: Harvard Law School has reinstated free coffee and announced stipends of $35,000 to 12 graduates working in public interest law. But in a year of tight budgets, something had to give. Now on the chopping block: a pilot program announced last year that waived third-year tuition for students who…

Dec 1, 2009 1:11 PM CST

Partners of Mintz Levin and Choate Form New Law Firm

Two Boston partners at well-known law firms are striking out on their own. Lawrence Gennari and Neil Aronson are forming their own firm in Needham, Mass. It will apparently focus on corporate law, including start-up companies, according to the Journal of New England Technology. “We really want to try something…

Nov 17, 2009 6:12 PM CST

U Mass Prez Backs Plan to Create State’s 1st Public Law School

The president of the University of Massachusetts announced today that he will support a proposal to establish the state’s first public law school under the U Mass banner. Under the plan, Southern New England School of Law, which is not accredited by the American Bar Association, would donate its campus…

Nov 13, 2009 9:05 PM CST

Law Grad, 59, Looks Forward to Decades of Practice

Relatives of Dana Muller lived well into their 90s, and her 83-year-old mother still takes aerobics classes regularly. So it isn’t unrealistic, the 59-year-old recent law graduate says, to expect that she could practice at least into her 70s. A former legal secretary and law office manager who holds a…

Nov 11, 2009 7:57 PM CST

Court Nixes Ex-Judge’s Effort to End Alimony After Retirement

Although every situation must be considered based on its own individual facts, at least one retired former judge in Massachusetts will still be expected to continue paying his wife $42,000 a year in alimony. Voluntary retirement is a factor that can be considered in a petition to reduce alimony, but…

Nov 9, 2009 10:27 PM CST

Mass. Appeals Court Lawyer Reportedly Offered to Write Term Paper for $300

An undercover journalist researching the “shadowy underworld” of ghostwritten term papers says a senior staff attorney with the Massachusetts Appeals Court offered to write a term paper on physician-assisted suicide for $300. The lawyer, Damian Bonazzolli, was one of 62 people who offered a price quote to the undercover journalist,…

Nov 6, 2009 3:48 PM CST

Southern New England Law Dean Prepares for Battle over Merger Plan

Southern New England law school dean Robert Ward is preparing for battle over his school’s plan to merge with the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth and become the state’s first public law school. Ward defended his school during a tour of the campus with a Boston Globe reporter. Ward says…

Nov 6, 2009 2:41 PM CST

Sidley Austin Rescinds Offer to New Hire Suspected of Setting Fire to 9-11 Chapel

Updated: The law firm Sidley Austin has rescinded an employment offer to a Harvard law graduate who has turned himself in to police for allegedly setting fire to a Sept. 11 memorial in Manhattan. The suspect, 26-year-old Brian Schroeder, is a 2009 graduate of Harvard Law School, the Harvard Law…

Nov 2, 2009 7:05 PM CST