Personal Lives

89-Year-Old DA Extols Benefits of Tai Chi

Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau credits his weekly tai chi lessons with helping instill patience that helps him in complicated cases. The 89-year-old DA took up tai chi after he cracked five ribs in a bicycle accident four years ago, the Am Law Daily reports. Morgenthau thought it would be…

Aug 4, 2008 1:57 PM CDT

Akerman Partner Dies Trying to Save Wife in River Accident

A partner at Akerman Senterfitt in Miami died during a Colorado vacation when he tried to rescue his wife after she slipped on wet rock and fell into a river. Lawyer Steven Chaykin, 57, was a former federal prosecutor in the law firm’s white-collar criminal and government investigations group. As…

Aug 1, 2008 12:29 PM CDT

Teen Son to be Tried as Adult in Md. Lawyer’s Murder

A teenage son who allegedly murdered his father, a Maryland lawyer, his mother and two younger brothers as they slept earlier this year will be tried as an adult, a judge decided yesterday. Despite testimony from a psychiatrist that Nicholas Browning, who was 15 at the time of the crime…

Jul 30, 2008 4:54 PM CDT

New Theory Why US Attorneys Were Axed: Perceived Sexual Orientation?

It wasn’t just political affiliation that some top officials at the Department of Justice may have considered when making decisions about hiring and firing. According to the Los Angeles Times, a perceived same-sex relationship based on false rumors of a nonexistent affair between two female prosecutors may also have led…

Jul 29, 2008 11:29 PM CDT

Columnist Chased by Lawyer, After Accident, Has Brain Tumor

A 77-year-old syndicated newspaper columnist who reportedly hit an elderly pedestrian and didn’t stop last week until a lawyer chased him down on a bicycle was diagnosed a few days later with a brain tumor. Robert Novak revealed the Sunday diagnosis today, and is suspending his work for the Chicago…

Jul 28, 2008 7:39 PM CDT

Lawyer Chases Down Columnist Novak After Accident

Updated: After syndicated columnist Robert Novak reportedly hit a homeless pedestrian with his car Wednesday morning and didn’t immediately stop, an attorney on a bicycle chased him down. “The bicyclist was David Bono, a partner at Harkins Cunningham, who was on his usual bike commute to work at 1700 K…

Jul 23, 2008 7:03 PM CDT

Oldest Patent Lawyer Dies at the Age of 107

A retiree dubbed “the oldest patent attorney in the United States” by National Public Radio has died at the age of 107. Yardley Chittick, a graduate of George Washington University Law School, practiced law until he was 85, the Boston Globe reports. He had estimated that he worked with about…

Jul 23, 2008 2:24 PM CDT

Big Firm Lawyer Among Those Bidding to Own Cubs

A lawyer at Hinshaw & Culbertson in Chicago would like to become one of the new owners of the Chicago Cubs. Labor and employment partner Thomas Mandler is among a group of investors submitting a bid to buy the team, the AmLaw Daily reports. He is also reportedly lead counsel…

Jul 22, 2008 3:29 PM CDT

Famed Trial Lawyer Gerry Spence: My New Blog Frightens Me

Ever wondered what famed Wyoming trial lawyer Gerry Spence might think about a big case or an unusual legal strategy? Reading his brand-new blog may offer an opportunity to find out. At present, it contains exactly one post, but Spence says more are forthcoming. Given his prolific writing as an…

Jul 18, 2008 7:49 PM CDT

Multitasking Winstead Lawyer Exercises While He Works

Winstead partner Ross Robinson doesn’t go to the gym, but he still manages to work out for almost as many hours as he devotes to work each day. He does it by walking on a treadmill as he works. Robinson told the Tex Parte Blog that he walks at a…

Jul 17, 2008 5:37 PM CDT

Lawyer and Economist Ben Stein Writes on Economics of Love

Law and economics is a burgeoning field, but lawyer and economist Ben Stein is addressing another field: love and economics. Stein writes in the New York Times that, in general, “the returns in love situations are roughly proportional to the amount of time and devotion invested. If you invest caring,…

Jul 14, 2008 2:35 PM CDT

Disbarred Georgia Attorney Now Breaking Into Cars, Cops Say

Disbarred several years ago, a Georgia attorney has allegedly turned to a new line of work—automobile break-ins. Police in Alpharetta, Ga., say Phillip Strickland, 38, is responsible for a five-county car break-in spree, and plan to charge him with “a slew” of felony theft counts, reports the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. They…

Jul 11, 2008 5:01 PM CDT

Lawyer Band Practices in Judge’s Chambers

A federal judge who plays the saxophone allows a group of 35 Chicago lawyers who play in a jazz group called the Barristers Big Band to practice in her chambers. U.S. District Judge Blanche Manning of Chicago, an accomplished musician who also performs and records with the KCR Ensemble, is…

Jul 10, 2008 4:52 PM CDT

Justice Breyer and Several Lawyers Were Victims of Data Breach

Personal identifying information about U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen G. Breyer and several lawyers was inadvertently exposed when an employee of an investment firm used file-sharing software on a company computer. The breach occurred when an employee of the Wagner Resource Group used the file-sharing network LimeWire to trade music…

Jul 9, 2008 2:32 PM CDT

Slain Attorney Didn’t Back Down from Opposing Party’s Alleged Threats

Updated: When Xia Zhao graduated from the University’s of California’s Hastings College of the Law in the midst of the dot-crash, she was disappointed that she didn’t get a big-firm job offer. But that didn’t stop the Chinese immigrant, who had already surmounted many other obstacles, from founding her own…

Jul 7, 2008 9:55 PM CDT