Massachusetts

Lawyer Had Early Claim to Fame: Photograph of His Plummet to Safety

An infant whose drop from a second-floor window was chronicled in an award-winning photograph is now a Boston-area lawyer. The child dropped from a window 30 years ago this week is a graduate of the Massachusetts School of Law and now apparently enrolled in the graduate tax program at the…

May 30, 2008 1:16 PM CDT

Lawyer is Artist, Teacher, Musician and Now, a Recording Artist

A Massachusetts plaintiffs lawyer with an unusual career history has released a new jazz CD. The lawyer, Karen Ristuben, is of counsel at the Boston law firm Meehan, Boyle, Black & Fitzgerald, where she represents plaintiffs in medical malpractice cases, Legal Blog Watch reports. A former paralegal at the firm,…

May 14, 2008 4:46 PM CDT

Grand Jury Convened re Borrowed Courthouse Key

A Massachusetts prosecutor reportedly has enlisted the help of state police and a grand jury in investigating as a criminal matter whether a court security officer unlawfully entered her office after hours to get a key to an unoccupied jury room, so attorneys could use the bathroom there. Northwestern District…

May 9, 2008 8:04 PM CDT

Lawyers Drugged at Bingham Events, Ex-Associate Says

A former first-year associate at Bingham McCutchen complains that the law firm didn’t do enough to investigate alleged druggings of attorneys by a former employee and/or attendee of firm events and keep its female attorneys safe. In discrimination complaints filed with state and federal agencies, former associate Michelle Moor says…

May 8, 2008 5:08 PM CDT

Firms Err When They Treat Pregnant Lawyers ‘as Bellies,’ Lawyer Says

A Boston associate who filed bias and retaliation claims against her law firm, Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky & Popeo, is one of several Massachusetts lawyers who have filed discrimination complaints against their firms. Lawyer Kamee Verdrager filed the claim with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination following a complaint from…

May 7, 2008 11:55 AM CDT

Teens Learn of Financial Pitfalls in Boston Bar Program

Boston teens are being invited to watch mock bankruptcy hearings in federal court in a program designed to show the consequences of taking on too much debt. The program, sponsored by the Boston Bar Association and the federal bankruptcy court in Massachusetts, is a “personal-finance version of ‘Scared Straight’ for…

May 6, 2008 5:13 PM CDT

Counsel on Call Brings More Contract Attorney Options to Boston

For a number of lawyers who want a better balance between their work lives and their personal lives or a more flexible schedule, being a contract attorney can be the answer. While the job admittedly can be a fast track to document review projects, it can also offer a chance…

May 5, 2008 3:19 PM CDT

Imagine: Yoko Ono in 2 Lawsuits Over John Lennon Rights

In two separate lawsuits, the widow of John Lennon is seeking to protect her late husband’s memory from commercial exploitation. Yoko Ono reportedly wants to force the removal of an excerpt from Lennon’s song “Imagine” from a documentary about Darwinian evolution and regain possession of a 1970 home video that…

Apr 24, 2008 11:19 PM CDT

Banned in Boston: Prisoner Legal Self-Help Books

A nonprofit publisher of legal self-help volumes intended for incarcerated criminals has sued Massachusetts over a claimed state ban on distribution of its books throughout the prison system. Prison Legal News contends in the suit that state Department of Correction officials refuse to add the publisher to the list of…

Apr 23, 2008 9:47 PM CDT

Moonlighting Mass. Judge Steps Down

A Massachusetts probate and family court judge who has been under fire for reportedly running a sideline real estate business and accepting compensation related to his former law practice has agreed to step down and apologized. Michael Livingstone, 51, will resign from the bench, effective June 12, and is taking…

Apr 17, 2008 5:02 PM CDT

Law Firm’s Office Hours: 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.

Clients seeking to meet with their counsel at one downtown Boston law firm are encouraged to try to do so during its regular office hours—between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m., Monday to Friday—although special arrangements can be made to meet at other times. But for many individual and small business…

Apr 8, 2008 5:47 PM CDT

Judge Who Recalled Jury Rejects Race Bias Claims

A Massachusetts judge who, in an unprecedented move, recalled jurors to query them about potential racial bias in a murder case, has rejected the allegations that bias played a role in the jury’s decision. Barnstable Superior Court Judge Gary A. Nickerson ruled that when a juror referred to the defendant,…

Apr 8, 2008 3:37 PM CDT

Judge Decides ‘Media Frenzy’ After Arrest Doesn’t Require Him to Quit

A well-respected Boston bankruptcy judge is reconsidering his decision to resign after a flurry of publicity about the circumstances of his arrest for drunken driving. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Somma had submitted his resignation after media reports that he was wearing a cocktail dress and high heels at the time…

Apr 3, 2008 10:55 AM CDT

Federal Judge Blocks Bear Exec From Leaping to New Company

A federal judge issued an order yesterday that bars a former Bear Stearns executive from joining Morgan Stanley. The order by U.S. District Judge Nathaniel Gorton in Boston said Bear Stearns was likely to succeed on the merits of its case against Douglas Sharon, Reuters reports. Sharon was executive director…

Mar 28, 2008 12:04 PM CDT

Ex-Prosecutor Acquitted in 2nd Sex Case, Still Faces 3rd Trial

A former prosecutor in the Boston area has been acquitted in a sex crime case, marking the second time this year that he has won a trial in which he was accused of an actual or attempted rape. However, after the jury verdict in his favor yesterday, Gary Zerola still…

Mar 27, 2008 11:00 PM CDT