Massachusetts

Boston Lawyer’s Suit Over Unaffordable Loans Could Be a Model

A Boston lawyer’s suit targeting two large mortgage companies accused of making unaffordable loans could spur similar suits throughout the country. Gary Klein, of the law firm Roddy, Klein and Ryan, filed suit against Bank of America Home Mortgage and Wells Fargo Home Mortgage in federal court in June and…

Aug 5, 2009 1:25 PM CDT

Boston Cop Who Dissed Harvard Prof in E-Mail Sues Over Suspension

The controversial disorderly conduct arrest last month of Harvard University professor at his own Cambridge, Mass., home continues to create fallout far from the original scene, two weeks after officials agreed to drop the case against Henry Louis Gates Jr. A federal civil rights lawsuit has now been filed by…

Aug 4, 2009 5:55 PM CDT

Harvard’s Gates, Officer Accept Obama Invite to Discuss Arrest Flap Over a Beer

In the initial heat of battle over his controversial arrest last week for disorderly conduct at his own home in Cambridge, Mass., a prominent Harvard University scholar had talked about filing a lawsuit over the incident. Apparently mistaken by a passer-by for a housebreaker, Henry Louis Gates Jr. had contended…

Jul 27, 2009 8:41 PM CDT

Harvard Scholar Plans Documentary After Arrest for Trying to Break Into Own Home

Corrected: Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. says his arrest for trying to break into his own home is leading him on a new path: He is planning a documentary on the treatment of blacks by the criminal justice system. “I want to be a figure for prison reform,” he…

Jul 22, 2009 1:15 PM CDT

Weil Gotshal Paralegal Ad Is Bummer for Recent Law Grads

A recent e-mail to 2009 law graduates trumpeted a BigLaw job opportunity they might wish to pursue in the Boston area. The problem was, it was a job advertisement for a paralegal position at the local office of Weil Gotshal & Manges. A copy of the job ad is posted…

Jul 21, 2009 7:57 PM CDT

Lawyer Accuses Wal-Mart of ‘Counsel Shopping’ for Low Settlement

Lawyers discussed competing settlement offers last week in an employee suit against Wal-Mart, leading the lawyer for the two named plaintiffs to accuse the company of “counsel shopping.” Carolyn Beasley Burton, who represents the named plaintiffs in the Massachusetts suit filed eight years ago, was first working on the case…

Jul 21, 2009 6:30 PM CDT

Name Partner Quits Bromberg Boutique in Merger Spat

A 30-year-old Boston-based intellectual property boutique has abruptly changed its name, as one of its co-founders and another partner announced their resignation yesterday over other partners’ refusal to consider a merger. In a letter yesterday, co-founder Lee Bromberg and another partner, Erik Belt, said they will resign from Bromberg &…

Jul 21, 2009 6:03 PM CDT

Case Against Harvard Prof Gates, Arrested at Home, Will Be Dropped

A disorderly conduct case against a prominent Harvard University professor arrested last week at his own home by Cambridge, Mass., police will be dropped by the Middlesex County District Attorney’s office, the Boston Globe reports. The case made international headlines after Henry Louis Gates Jr., who is one of the…

Jul 21, 2009 4:46 PM CDT

Harvard Prof Gates Arrested Trying to Enter Own Home; Ogletree to Defend

Updated: Harvard University’s Henry Louis Gates Jr. is facing a disorderly conduct charge, after being arrested by Cambridge police on Thursday while trying to enter his own locked home near the campus, according to Bloomberg and the Associated Press. Gates, 58, is the director of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute…

Jul 20, 2009 6:06 PM CDT

Lawyer Vindicated After Long Fight for Wrongfully Convicted Brother

A Massachusetts lawyer portrayed by Hilary Swank in a recently completed movie says a $3.4 million settlement vindicates the years she spent fighting for the release of her wrongfully convicted brother. Betty Anne Waters worked her way through law school and became a lawyer at the age of 40 to…

Jul 15, 2009 4:27 PM CDT

RIAA Wants Harvard Prof to Take Case Recordings Off the Web

The Recording Industry Association of America says that Harvard Law Professor Charles Nesson is violating court orders and privacy laws by posting recordings of pretrial hearings and depositions to his blog and to the Berkman Center for Internet and Society website. Wired’s Threat Level blog provides links to examples of…

Jul 6, 2009 8:25 PM CDT

Ex-Mass. AG Jumps from Greenberg Traurig to Cooley Manion

Former Massachusetts Attorney General Tom Reilly is ready to get back into the courtroom. Reilly starts work today in the Boston office of Cooley Manion Jones after two years building a government investigation, regulatory and civil litigation practice at Greenberg Traurig, the Boston Herald reports. Reilly, who went back into…

Jul 1, 2009 11:57 AM CDT

Feds Wary of Boston Lawyer’s Work, Creating Problems for Legitimate Clients

Attorney John Dvorak has represented hundreds of clients in immigration matters over the past eight years. But recently the feds have begun rejecting some of his cases, contending that it has found fraudulent documents in a significant number of them, reports the Boston Globe. This has apparently put some legitimate…

Jun 29, 2009 6:35 PM CDT

Ex-Bingham Associate Sues Firm Over Work Situation, Claimed Party Drugging

Although a Massachusetts state agency earlier dismissed an ex-associate’s complaint that Bingham McCutchen didn’t do enough to protect her from a fellow law firm employee who allegedly sexually harassed women workers and may even have drugged some, Michelle Moor is trying again. She filed a discrimination suit in state court…

Jun 26, 2009 11:55 PM CDT

Mass. State Bar Admits 1st Graduate of Online Law School

For the first time ever, a graduate of an Internet-based law school has been admitted to practice in Massachusetts. Ross Mitchell was sworn in June 22, reports the National Law Journal. He earned his juris doctor degree at Concord Law School, which offers law classes online rather than in a…

Jun 26, 2009 4:29 PM CDT