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2nd Circ. Revives Habeas Petition Over Counsel's Mistake
A divided Second Circuit panel ruled Tuesday that because a convicted sex trafficker's counsel during his first criminal appeal made an admittedly "inexcusable" mistake, the convict should be granted a second chance via a habeas petition to challenge his sentence.
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DOJ Ignores Court Discovery Order In Letitia James Case
The U.S. Department of Justice has refused to provide New York Attorney General Letitia James access to documents related to her October indictment on mortgage fraud charges, arguing Tuesday that a Virginia federal judge was too early in making the discovery order.
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Confirmation Ends Dem-Appointed Judges' Lock On 1st Circ.
The Senate voted 52-46 on Tuesday to confirm Joshua D. Dunlap, a partner at Pierce Atwood LLP, to the First Circuit.
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Conn. Firm Bookkeeper Asks To Delay Embezzlement Trial
A former law firm bookkeeper accused of embezzling $835,000 from the legal practice and from its managing partner's rental business asked a Connecticut federal judge on Monday to delay a scheduled January jury trial because of a health issue that requires surgery.
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Ga. Justices Uphold Ex-Atty's Matricide Conviction
The Supreme Court of Georgia on Tuesday upheld the murder conviction of a disbarred Peach State attorney who was found guilty of killing his mother on the day he was due to report to prison for stealing clients' money, ruling that "ample" circumstantial evidence tied him to the scene of the crime.
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2nd Circ. Hints Bankman-Fried's $11B Forfeiture Is Overkill
The Second Circuit suggested Tuesday that the government's $11 billion forfeiture order against Sam Bankman-Fried may be unconstitutionally large, noting that the staggering amount tops the raft of cases tasking the court with determining if such money judgments pass Eighth Amendment muster.
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Feds Defend Cases Against James Comey, Letitia James
The U.S. Department of Justice on Monday took a swing at bids by former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James to get their indictments thrown out, telling a federal judge the appointment of interim U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan was valid.
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The Lone Ranger Facing A BigLaw Powerhouse At High Court
It might seem curious for a solo practitioner to decline offers of professional assistance in his first U.S. Supreme Court case. It might seem risky to go it alone against a BigLaw team led by an appellate icon. But a legal lone ranger arguing Tuesday at the high court is feeling confident, and he does have a friend proofreading briefs, just to be safe.
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'Frankly, They're Irrelevant:' ABA Ratings In Trump's 2nd Term
The American Bar Association, long considered the gold standard for rating judicial nominees, no longer gets to interview them as Trump officials claim the group's "not qualified" rating for some nominees during Trump's first term shows it is a biased and "leftist" organization. Ironically though, ABA ratings for President Donald Trump's second-term picks are mostly positive so far.
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Justices Tackle Scope Of Military Contractor Liability
The U.S. Supreme Court appeared hesitant on Monday to completely shelter U.S. military contractors engaged in combatant activities from liability for state-based injury claims, as the justices questioned whether doing so could hurt troops.
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Judge Reminds Gov't To Follow Media Rules In James Case
A Virginia federal judge has reminded the parties in the government's alleged bank fraud case against New York Attorney General Letitia James not to publicly discuss grand jury proceedings after U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan texted with a reporter about the case in October.
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10th Circ. Affirms Atty Fees Award In Habeas Actions
The Tenth Circuit on Monday held that the Equal Access to Justice Act authorizes fee awards in habeas actions challenging immigration detention, affirming a Colorado federal court's ruling that a Guatemalan national can receive attorney fees after successfully petitioning for habeas relief from her immigration detention.
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Court Orders Cannon To Act On Bid To Unseal Trump Report
The Eleventh Circuit has given U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon 60 days to rule on media groups' requests to unseal the final report from special counsel Jack Smith's investigation into President Donald Trump's handling of classified documents, ruling Monday that the organizations had established "undue delay" in resolving their motions.
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Mich. Justices To Review If Indigent Defendant Must Pay Atty
Michigan's highest court has said it will review a judge's decision to order a homeless man convicted of assault to pay his court-appointed counsel.
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DC Public Defender Funding To Halt Because Of Shutdown
Funding for public defender services in Washington, D.C., is about to run out as the government shutdown drags on, according to a recent letter from members of the D.C. Courts Joint Committee on Judicial Administration.
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Black Man Granted New Trial In Mass. Over Lawyer's Bias
A Black man who pled guilty to firearms offenses in 2018 after consulting with his lawyer — who was found to have made racist social media posts — is entitled to a new trial, Massachusetts' intermediate-level appeals court said Monday, unanimously reversing a lower court's decision.
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New Loan Forgiveness Rule Targets Trump Critics, States Say
Two lawsuits filed Monday, one by a coalition of states and the other by a group of cities, unions and advocacy organizations, are challenging a new Trump administration rule imposing "intentionally vague" and allegedly illegal restrictions on student loan forgiveness for public employees intended to stifle dissent.
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Holtzman Vogel Grows In Miami With Former Fed. Prosecutor
Holtzman Vogel Baran Torchinsky & Josefiak PLLC announced Monday that it has tapped a former assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida to serve as a partner in its Miami office.
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Ex-Paxton Attys Defend Conspiracy Suit Tied To Impeachment
Three of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's top deputies are not immune from allegations that they conspired to retaliate against former colleagues who raised allegations of witness tampering and other ethical misdeeds during Paxton's impeachment, those former colleagues have told a Texas federal court.
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Hartmann Doherty Adds Veteran Federal Prosecutor In NJ
Hartmann Doherty Rosa Berman & Bulbulia LLP expanded its white collar practice on Monday by adding a partner bringing nearly 30 years of experience as both a federal and state prosecutor in New Jersey.
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DeSantis Appoints Broward Judge To Fla. State Appeals Court
A judge for the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit of Florida has been appointed to the state's Fourth District Court of Appeal.
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Expert Sues DC Atty For Allegedly Pirating $30K J6 Report
A Texas-based expert report author has accused a Washington, D.C., attorney and her firm of unlawfully copying and distributing a copyrighted report regarding jury pool attitudes toward cases related to the Jan. 6, 2021, storming of the U.S. Capitol in at least three separate criminal cases, unlawfully bypassing a $30,000 licensing fee.
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Justices Skeptical Of Tolling Supervised-Release Absconders
The U.S. Supreme Court appeared hesitant Monday to embrace the government's arguments that the "fugitive tolling" doctrine, which bans criminal defendants from earning credits to reduce prison sentences while they are not behind bars, should also be used to penalize defendants who abscond from supervised release.
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Insurer Not Liable For Crypto Settlement Row, Judge Says
An insurer for an attorney and his practice does not owe $275,000 to an investment company over a soured cryptocurrency deal that ended in a $700,000 settlement, a Pennsylvania federal court ruled, finding that a contractual liability exclusion in the attorney's policy applies.
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Up Next At High Court: Tariffs, Fugitives & Contractor Liability
The U.S. Supreme Court will begin its November oral argument session Monday, during which the justices will consider President Donald Trump's authority to impose tariffs on foreign countries under an emergency statute, whether military contractors can be held liable for alleged breaches of contracts in war zones, and if there are time limits for litigants who want to vacate a void judgment. Here, Law360 breaks down the week's oral arguments.
Expert Analysis
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General Counsel And Legal Ops Must Work Together
It is critical for general counsel to ensure that a legal operations leader is viewed not only as a peer, but as a strategic leader for the organization, and there are several actionable ways general counsel can not only become more involved, but help champion legal operations teams and set them up for success, says Mary O'Carroll at Ironclad.
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How Generative AI's Growing Memory Affects Lawyers
A new ChatGPT feature that can remember user information across different conversations has broad implications for attorneys, whose most pressing questions for the AI tool are usually based on specific, and large, datasets, says legal tech adviser Eric Wall.
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A Model For Optimal Legal Tech Investment Strategy
Legal organizations struggling to work out the right technology investment strategy may benefit from using a matrix for legal department efficiency that is based on an understanding of where workloads belong, according to the basic functions and priorities of a corporate legal team, says Sylvain Magdinier at Integreon.
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Series
My Nonpracticing Law Job: Recruiter
Self-proclaimed "Lawyer Doula" Danielle Thompson at Major Lindsey shares how she went from Columbia Law School graduate and BigLaw employment associate to a career in legal recruiting — and discovered a passion for advocacy along the way.
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Series
Ask A Mentor: How Do I Balance Social Activism With My Job?
Corporate attorneys pursuing social justice causes outside of work should consider eight guidelines for finding equilibrium between their beliefs and their professional duties and reputation, say Diedrick Graham, Debra Friedman and Simeon Brier at Cozen O'Connor.
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Personality Tests And Machine Learning Applications In Law
Mateusz Kulesza at McDonnell Boehnen looks at potential applications of personality testing based on machine learning techniques for law firms, and the implications this shift could have for lawyers, firms and judges, including how it could make the work of judges and other legal decision-makers much more difficult.
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AI Is Reshaping Lawyering: What To Expect In 2024
The future of lawyering is not about the wholesale replacement of attorneys by artificial intelligence, but as AI handles more of the routine legal work, the role of lawyers will evolve to be more strategic, requiring the development of competencies beyond traditional legal skills, says Colin Levy at Malbek.
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Embrace Active Voice In Legal Writing — In Most Cases
Legal writers should strive to craft sentences in the active voice to promote brevity and avoid ambiguities that can spark litigation, but writing in the passive voice is sometimes appropriate — when it's a moral choice and not a grammatical failure, says Diana Simon at the University of Arizona's James E. Rogers College of Law.
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Series
Ask A Mentor: How Can I Help Associates Turn Down Work?
Marina Portnova at Lowenstein Sandler discusses what partners can do to aid their associates in setting work-life boundaries, especially around after-hours assignment availability.
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How AI Legal Research Tools Are Shifting Law Firm Processes
Although artificial intelligence-powered legal research is ushering in a new era of legal practice that augments human expertise with data-driven insights, it is not without challenges involving privacy, ethics and more, so legal professionals should take steps to ensure AI becomes a reliable partner rather than a source of disruption, says Marly Broudie at SocialEyes Communications.
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Data Source Proliferation Is A Growing E-Discovery Challenge
With the increased usage of collaboration apps and generative artificial intelligence solutions, it's not only important for e-discovery teams to be able to account for hundreds of existing data types today, but they should also be able to add support for new data types quickly — even on the fly if needed, says Oliver Silva at Casepoint.
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Bracing For A Generative AI Revolution In Law
With many legal professionals starting to explore practical uses of generative artificial intelligence in areas such as research, discovery and legal document development, the fundamental principle of human oversight cannot be underscored enough for it to be successful, say Ty Dedmon at Bradley Arant and Paige Hunt at Lighthouse.
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Why I Use ChatGPT To Tell Me Things I Already Know
The legal profession is among the most hesitant to adopt ChatGPT because of its proclivity to provide false information as if it were true, but in a wide variety of situations, lawyers can still be aided by information that is only in the right ballpark, says Robert Plotkin at Blueshift IP.
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Series
Ask A Mentor: How Can I Use Social Media Responsibly?
Leah Kelman at Herrick Feinstein discusses the importance of reasoned judgment and thoughtful process when it comes to newly admitted attorneys' social media use.
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Yada, Yada, Yada: The Magic Of 3 In Legal Writing
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Attorneys should take a cue from U.S. Supreme Court justices and boil their arguments down to three points in their legal briefs and oral advocacy, as the number three is significant in the way we process information, says Diana Simon at University of Arizona.