New Jersey

Kobe Bryant battles mom for ownership of sports memorabilia from his youth in 2 federal courts

Not one but two federal courts have been asked to weigh in on the issue of whether Kobe Bryant’s mom had a right to clear out his boyhood bedroom and sell at auction the sports memorabilia she found there. Initially, the Philadelphia-area auction house to which Pamela Bryant consigned the…

May 10, 2013 5:50 PM CDT

Unhappy with child-custody award, woman and parents plotted to murder her ex-husband and his mom

A former elementary school teacher and her father pleaded guilty Thursday to their admitted roles in a plot to murder her former husband because they were unhappy with a child-custody award in the couple’s divorce case. Then, after onetime third-grade teacher Kathleen Dorsett was arrested in the 2010 slaying of…

May 10, 2013 3:30 PM CDT

Did Kobe Bryant’s mom get OK to auction items left in his boyhood bedroom? Federal judge grants TRO

Just in time for Mother’s Day, basketball great Kobe Bryant is involved in a federal lawsuit against his own mother, who he says cleared out his former boyhood bedroom without his permission to obtain sports memorabilia for an unauthorized auction. After a dispute developed, a New Jersey auction house filed…

May 9, 2013 6:43 PM CDT

Cahill steps down in Rutgers probe due to local counsel conflict, is replaced by Skadden

Last month, Cahill Gordon & Reindel was hired by Rutgers University to conduct an independent review of the school’s handling of the suspension and firing of former men’s basketball coach Mike Rice. But on Friday, after discovering a conflict, Cahill stepped down from the representation and has been replaced by…

May 9, 2013 4:50 PM CDT

Immigration ‘lawyer’ conned clients and courts for years, 35-count indictment alleges

Although Michael Schorr is not a lawyer, he practiced in immigration courts in New York and New Jersey for four years by simply borrowing other attorneys’ bar registration numbers or using a fake number, authorities allege. Arrested Friday and held without bail, he is accused of stealing tens of thousands…

May 7, 2013 7:00 PM CDT

Can remote texter be liable if driver is distracted by message? Appeals court mulls novel theory

It’s common knowledge that texting and driving is a bad idea and, in a number of jurisdictions, illegal. New Jersey is one of them. But what about sending a text to someone you know is behind the wheel? In addition to moral responsibility, could there be any civil liability for…

May 6, 2013 10:32 PM CDT

Registered sex offender charged with using law firm computer to distribute child porn

A registered sex offender working as a paralegal at an unidentified law firm in Paterson, N.J., has been criminally charged, accused of using his law firm computer to distribute child pornography. Kevin Rease, 32, was denied bond at a hearing Wednesday in federal court in Newark, after the government argued…

Apr 25, 2013 4:39 PM CDT

New fallout for Rutgers over fired coach as ex-employee files whistleblower suit

A former employee filed a whistleblower suit against Rutgers University in state court in New Jersey on Friday, contending that he suffered retaliation for complaining about mistreatment of basketball players. Eric Murdock, who made public a video that led to the recent firing of the basketball coach, followed by the…

Apr 8, 2013 7:27 PM CDT

Lawyer is disbarred for dealings with partners in soured real-estate venture

A New Jersey lawyer who had two previous run-ins with ethics authorities has now been disbarred because of his dealings with partners in a real estate business. The New Jersey Supreme Court disbarred Vincent Paragano in an opinion (PDF) issued last week, the New Jersey Star-Ledger and the Legal Profession…

Apr 2, 2013 10:40 AM CDT

Judge allows suit against Widener law school over job stats, cites ‘thread of plausibility’

A federal judge has refused to dismiss a lawsuit claiming that Widener University School of Law posted misleading and incomplete job statistics. Senior U.S. District Judge William Walls of New Jersey allowed the suit to proceed in an opinion (PDF) published last week. Eight Widener law grads claimed in the…

Mar 25, 2013 11:30 AM CDT

Ex-prosecutor guilty of law firm racketeering shouldn’t have tried his own case, juror says

A former state and federal prosecutor convicted this week of operating his law firm as a racketeering enterprise and participating in drug-dealing, prostitution and even a conspiracy to murder witnesses, might have done better to let a defense lawyer handle his trial, a juror says. As he himself questioned witnesses…

Mar 20, 2013 7:40 PM CDT

Jury convicts ex-prosecutor accused of operating law firm as racketeering enterprise

Once a prominent New Jersey criminal defense attorney, Paul Bergrin was convicted Monday by a federal jury in Newark of all 23 counts he faced in a case in which he was accused of operating his law firm as a racketeering enterprise and conspiring to murder witnesses, among other crimes.…

Mar 18, 2013 7:24 PM CDT

Lawyer takes state plea, will pay $1M to widow’s estate; federal $8.5M Ponzi probe continues

A New Jersey lawyer has pleaded guilty in state court to money laundering and promised to fully repay within five years the estate of the elderly widow he bilked of $1.1 million Michael Kwasnik has also agreed to repay, before his scheduled May 10 sentencing, the client couple from whom…

Mar 14, 2013 6:41 PM CDT

Archer & Greiner lays off 14 lawyers, 27 staffers

After mergers during the past several years that brought its attorney roster from 150 to nearly 210 lawyers, a well-known law firm with longtime roots in New Jersey is retrenching. Archer & Greiner gave layoff notices last week to 14 attorneys and 27 staff members, the New Jersey Law Journal…

Mar 12, 2013 9:04 PM CDT

Attorney on trial in claimed law firm racketeering case can’t get some witnesses to testify

Seven weeks into the federal trial of a New Jersey criminal defense attorney accused of operating his law firm as a racketeering enterprise that trafficked in drugs and prostitution and conspired to murder adverse witnesses, the prosecution has rested. Paul Bergrin, 57, who is acting as his own lead counsel,…

Mar 7, 2013 6:15 PM CST