Renowned trial lawyer, who won more than 100 verdicts over $1M, dies at 83

Richard Grand, a longtime Tucson, Ariz., trial lawyer known for his big wins and courtroom skills that other lawyers sought to emulate, died Sunday in San Francisco. He was 83 years old. A theater lover, he traveled as far as London to see shows with his wife of 61 years,…

Apr 11, 2013 5:00 PM CDT

Obit that spurred Twitter outrage sparks punctuation criticism by law prof

A New York Times obituary for rocket scientist Yvonne Brill has sparked outrage on Twitter and a defense by a Harvard law academic fellow who nonetheless takes issue with the newspaper’s punctuation. The Times changed its lede in response to the criticism, according to the New York Times Public Editor’s…

Apr 3, 2013 10:40 AM CDT

Another Texas DA steps in to help 10-prosecutor office cope after Kaufman County DA is slain

In the wake of a weekend slaying of a Texas district attorney and his wife that has put law enforcement officials there and elsewhere on high alert, a district attorney from another jurisdiction has gone to Kaufman County to help the 10-prosecutor office cope with the situation. Randy Reynolds, who…

Apr 1, 2013 7:33 PM CDT

Legal journalist dies near 50th anniversary of the case he chronicled in ‘Gideon’s Trumpet’

Former New York Times reporter Anthony Lewis has died at the age of 85, just one week after the 50th anniversary of the Supreme Court case he chronicled in the book Gideon’s Trumpet. Lewis died on Monday as a result of complications from renal and heart failure, the New York…

Mar 25, 2013 4:41 PM CDT

Renowned criminal lawyer found dead in apparent suicide

One of Europe’s most powerful and successful lawyers has been found dead in what is being reported an apparent suicide, on the shoreline of the private island he purchased in the Brittany region of France, along with a home, for 10 million Euros several years ago. Olivier Metzner, 63, was…

Mar 18, 2013 6:41 PM CDT

Colleagues mourn NY courts lawyer who died in suicide leap with son

Colleagues of a Manhattan courts employee who died Wednesday in an apparent suicide expressed sadness and surprise. Cynthia Wachenheim, 44, died Wednesday after jumping from her eighth-floor apartment window in Harlem with her 10-month-old son, report the New York Times, the New York Law Journal, the Associated Press and the…

Mar 15, 2013 6:35 PM CDT

Lawyer’s dad who favored ‘fashion house Fruit of the Loom’ and Bunny Bread is honored in obit

The life of Harry Weathersby Stamps, a man who “only stayed in the finest quality AAA-rated campgrounds,” is being honored in an obituary written by his daughter, an in-house lawyer in Texas. Stamps died on March 9, the day of the switch to what he called “the devil’s time,” according…

Mar 13, 2013 12:04 PM CDT

Bryan Cave legal secretary gains $100K, thanks to Ed Koch

Former New York Mayor Ed Koch has bequeathed $100,000 to his longtime secretary. Mary Garrigan, now 63, began working with Koch in his congressional office in 1975. She remained with him as he governed New York and when he joined the Manhattan law firm Bryan Cave, the New York Times…

Mar 12, 2013 12:45 PM CDT

Person of interest in lawyer’s slaying is arrested

A person of interest being sought by authorities in the apparent slaying of a Colorado family law attorney has been arrested in Idaho. Warren Dale Watson was arrested Friday in Caldwell on an unrelated prior warrant, KUSA reports. The body of Claudia Miller, 66, was found in her law office…

Mar 8, 2013 11:42 PM CST

Joseph Kelner, attorney who sued sitting Ohio governor over Kent State slayings, is dead at 98

Joseph Kelner, a personal injury attorney best known for the litigation battle he fought, and arguably won, over an iconic Vietnam War protest at Kent State University, has died. He was 98 years old. A former president of the New York State Trial Lawyers Association and the American Trial Lawyers…

Mar 8, 2013 7:55 PM CST

Illinois pol who was one of the nation’s first female law professors dies at the age of 86

A ground-breaking Illinois politician who was one of the nation’s first female law professors has died at the age of 86. Dawn Clark Netsch died Tuesday as a result of complications from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, the Chicago Sun-Times reports. Netsch was the first female…

Mar 5, 2013 2:00 PM CST

Former ABA president who led bar’s fight to save Legal Services Corp. has died

Mar 1, 2013 7:20 AM CST

Federal judge and civil rights figure Oberdorfer dies at 94

Former U.S. District Judge Louis Oberdorfer, one of the founders of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, has died on his 94th birthday. Oberdorfer died at his home in McLean, Va., on Thursday, report the Washington Post and the Associated Press. He was appointed to the federal court…

Feb 25, 2013 2:46 PM CST

A life of firsts for trailblazing Illinois Justice McMorrow, dead at the age of 83

A trailblazing Illinois Supreme Court justice, Mary Ann McMorrow, has died at the age of 83. McMorrow died on Saturday after a brief illness, report the Chicago Sun-Times and the Chicago Tribune. McMorrow was the first female justice on the Illinois Supreme Court and its first female chief justice. She…

Feb 25, 2013 1:19 PM CST

Legal theorist Ronald Dworkin dies at age 81

Legal theorist Ronald Dworkin has died at the age of 81. The cause of death was leukemia, report the Associated Press, the New York Times and the New York University School of Law, where Dworkin was a faculty member. He was also emeritus professor at University College London. The Times…

Feb 14, 2013 4:56 PM CST