Pennsylvania

ABA brief supports cause of action for constructive denial of counsel due to PD underfunding

Criminal defendants shouldn’t have to wait until after trial to assert claims for ineffective assistance of counsel when underfunding makes public defenders unable to deliver competent and diligent representation, according to an ABA amicus brief. The brief (PDF), filed with the Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Thursday, supports a cause of…

Sep 11, 2015 10:15 AM CDT

Lawyer gets 48 months for defrauding estate of $2.3M

A suburban Philadelphia lawyer who diverted more than $2.3 million from a $6 million estate into his law firm accounts was sentenced Thursday to 48 months in federal prison. Randall Scott, 72, pleaded guilty earlier this year to mail fraud and tax charges. Between December 2005 and October 2011 he…

Sep 11, 2015 9:20 AM CDT

Gay lawyer’s retaliation suit over a rescinded job offer is dismissed

A gay lawyer’s retaliation lawsuit against his former law firm and a potential employer has been dismissed in a one-page order that doesn’t indicate whether the case settled. U.S. District Judge L. Felipe Restrepo of Philadelphia dismissed the case Tuesday after ruling last month that the plaintiff, lawyer Jeffrey Downs,…

Sep 11, 2015 5:45 AM CDT

Nonlawyer accused of practicing since 2003 faces federal charges

After more than a decade of alleged fraudulent law practice as a claimed Pennsylvania lawyer, authorities say, a nonlawyer is facing federal charges. Leaford George Cameron, 62, who primarily handled immigration matters, was indicted Thursday on charges of mail fraud, wire fraud and making false statements, the Philadelphia Daily News’…

Sep 10, 2015 4:20 PM CDT

Leak of discipline case against Pennsylvania AG taints jury trial in criminal case, her counsel says

After confirmation this week of earlier news reports that lawyer disciplinary authorities in Pennsylvania are seeking to suspend the law license of the state attorney general, her counsel is blasting the public revelation of a process that is supposed to be confidential. “The leaks about a disciplinary proceeding to suspend…

Sep 10, 2015 11:45 AM CDT

Lawyer’s yen for online selling led to a $25M family business

Linda Lightman earned her law degree at Brooklyn Law School because she thought it was pathway to “traditional success.” But the former New York labor and employment attorney left that job in 1991. For the last 15 years, she has operated her own online resale company, Linda’s Stuff. With the…

Sep 8, 2015 3:30 PM CDT

Founding partner in ‘state of shock’ over planned dissolution of 18-attorney law firm

After nearly 40 years in business, a well-regarded 18-attorney law firm in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, is poised to dissove. Managing partner Kim Smith announced Thursday that Hartman Underhill & Brubaker expects to close its doors within the next several months, citing the departures of some lawyers, resultant loss of business…

Sep 8, 2015 2:30 PM CDT

Parents fail in bid to block gender-change surgery for 48-year-old

Christine Kitzler had spent 16 months preparing for gender-reassignment surgery scheduled Tuesday, including a 24-hour fast. But the medical procedure didn’t take place as scheduled, because the parents of the 48-year-old transgender woman asked a Pennsylvania Common Pleas Court judge to block the surgery. They claimed she is incompetent to…

Sep 3, 2015 3:40 PM CDT

No lawyers in satellite office? No problem; Dilworth is like Netflix, its CEO says

Dilworth Paxson will keep its New York office open although there will be no lawyers there after the departure of three partners last month and the planned exit of an associate. The New York office will be used for a startup incubator and for the firm’s associated venture fund, which…

Sep 3, 2015 7:12 AM CDT

Don’t suspend state attorney general’s law license, petition-signers urge disciplinary authorities

After a reported effort by Pennsylvania attorney disciplinary authorities to suspend the law license of the state’s embattled attorney general, her supporters are fighting back. They have launched a petition drive urging the disciplinary board of the state supreme court not to take any action against attorney general Kathleen Kane…

Sep 1, 2015 1:47 PM CDT

Lawyer is charged with raping client

A Pennsylvania defense attorney has been charged with raping a client. Vincent A. Cirillo Jr., 56, faces charges of sexual assault and rape of an unconscious victim over an incident earlier this month, Philly.com reports. “My story hasn’t been told yet, and it will come out in due course,” he…

Sep 1, 2015 12:55 PM CDT

Porn emails cited by Pennsylvania AG are unsealed; she says senders ‘manufactured’ case against her

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has unsealed 398 pages of emails containing pornographic, racist and sexist materials that were sent and received by state employees on office computers, including lawyers and agents with the Attorney General’s office. Newly unsealed documents also include a petition filed by Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane…

Aug 27, 2015 10:20 AM CDT

Man fatally shot by officer in courthouse incident sought suicide ‘by cop,’ cousin says

A knife-wielding man’s Tuesday attack on a security officer at a Pennsylvania courthouse was “random, not personal,” the Chester County district attorney says. DA Tom Hogan and others praised the swift reaction of a courthouse deputy for saving a slashed colleague by fatally shooting to death the alleged attacker, Curtis…

Aug 26, 2015 2:45 PM CDT

Law grad is shot and killed; his body is found in parked car

A Temple University law graduate was found dead in his car in a nursing home parking lot in Delaware on Monday. Police found the victim, 27-year-old Shazim Uppal, in the parking lot of Genesis Healthcare in Hockessin, Delaware, report Delaware Online and NBC Philadelphia. He died from gunshot wounds to…

Aug 26, 2015 7:44 AM CDT

Man fatally shot in courthouse lobby by deputy scaled White House wall earlier in year, DA says

A Pennsylvania man shot and killed in the lobby of a suburban Philadelphia courthouse on Tuesday had been arrested earlier this year for scaling a wall and entering the White House grounds in Washington, D.C., authorities said. Curtis Smith, 34, entered the lobby of the Chester County Courthouse in West…

Aug 25, 2015 1:45 PM CDT