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White Collar
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August 15, 2024
Tom Girardi Has Dementia, USC Neurologist Tells Calif. Jury
A University of Southern California neurology professor testified Thursday in Tom Girardi's California federal criminal trial that she diagnosed him with mild-to-moderate dementia months after his law firm collapsed, although the lawyer insisted at the time that his memory was fine and that he was still busily working at his firm.
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August 15, 2024
Colo. Atty Sues Bank, Opposing Counsel Over Hack Attack
A Colorado attorney and conservative radio personality is suing Wells Fargo and opposing counsel in a divorce proceeding over their alleged role in a hacking incident that apparently caused him to wire $375,000 for a client's divorce settlement to Hong Kong.
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August 15, 2024
Collin County Gets Win In Ken Paxton Prosecution Fee Fight
A Texas appeals court handed Collin County a victory Thursday in a long-running fight over how much special prosecutors should get paid for the criminal case against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, ordering the trial court to vacate its past orders awarding attorney fees to the prosecutors.
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August 15, 2024
Matthew Perry's Assistant And 2 Drs. Charged In Actor's Death
The former personal assistant for actor Matthew Perry and two doctors have been criminally charged in connection with the "Friends" star's death last year from an overdose of ketamine, according to a criminal complaint unsealed Thursday in California federal court.
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August 15, 2024
Trump's $100M Tort Claim Against DOJ Faces Uphill Climb
Experts say Donald Trump's $100 million claim against the federal government for the search of his Mar-a-Lago estate and the prosecution of the allegedly illegal retention of classified documents there will be an uphill climb for the former president because of the limited application of the Federal Tort Claims Act.
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August 15, 2024
2nd Circ. Won't Revive Platinum Investors' Ch. 7 Challenge
A New York bankruptcy court correctly refused to overturn the approval of a $2.5 million settlement in the bankruptcy of a founder of defunct hedge fund Platinum Partners, the Second Circuit ruled Thursday, finding that the approved deal was superior to an alternative offer.
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August 15, 2024
New Study Shows No Link Between Bail Reform, Crime Rates
Bail reform has had no statistical impact on crime rates across the country, according to a study released by the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law on Thursday.
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August 15, 2024
SEC Nabs $5.75M Judgment Against Unregistered Broker
A Florida man and his business have agreed to pay the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission $5.75 million to end claims they operated as unregistered broker-dealers for at least four years.
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August 15, 2024
Lin Wood Must Pay Ex-Partners $3.75M, Ga. Jurors Say
A Georgia federal jury said Thursday that controversial ex-attorney Lin Wood must pay $3.75 million to his three former law partners and cover their attorney fees and costs, with the exact amount of those fees to be determined Friday morning.
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August 15, 2024
NJ Gov. To Replace Menendez With Former Chief Of Staff
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy officially announced on Friday that his former chief of staff, George Helmy, will serve out the term of convicted U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., whose resignation takes effect Aug. 20.
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August 15, 2024
Judge Gives Plaintiffs' Attys $1M In Fees For Derivative Row
A Massachusetts federal judge sliced 60% off a request for attorney fees in a shareholder derivative lawsuit Wednesday, awarding plaintiffs' counsel $1 million for their work on the case, which led to a noncash settlement.
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August 15, 2024
Montana Sen. Tester Says BIA Must Do More To Protect Tribes
The senior U.S. senator from Montana has asked the Biden administration to authorize an independent review of the Bureau of Indian Affairs' efforts to ensure the public safety of Native American tribes in the state, saying a dire lack of trained law enforcement officers is "unacceptable."
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August 15, 2024
Del. Chancery OKs $175M Judgment Against Insys Founder
The convicted founder of drugmaker Insys has told Delaware's Chancery Court he agreed to accept a $175 million judgment as part of a settlement with the company's liquidation trust over his role in an opioid kickback scheme that drove the firm into bankruptcy.
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August 15, 2024
Fake Prescription Caper Yields $10.2M Fine For Bankrupt Co.
A Manhattan federal judge hit a defunct unit of bankrupt biotechnology concern DMK Pharmaceuticals Corp. with a $10.2 million fine Thursday, after the subsidiary admitted to criminally faking horse-drug prescriptions in a scheme that generated $4.2 million.
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August 15, 2024
Prof Rips DOJ, VW's 9th Circ. Bid To Shield Jones Day Docs
A Loyola Marymount University professor has urged the Ninth Circuit to shut down the U.S. Department of Justice and Volkswagen AG's relentless "obfuscation" in a long-running dispute over access to confidential Volkswagen documents that were part of a Jones Day investigation into the automaker's 2015 emissions-cheating scandal.
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August 15, 2024
NYC Real Estate Atty Charged With $200K Theft From Client
An embattled Harlem real estate attorney already facing one criminal case has been indicted on a separate felony larceny charge, with prosecutors claiming he stole $210,000 from a client in an apartment deal gone awry.
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August 15, 2024
White Collar Partner Duo Joins Duane Morris In NY
Duane Morris has hired two new trial partners in New York who've spent the last 15 years working together as white collar attorneys at Peckar & Abramson.
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August 15, 2024
Pa. Atty And Wife Apologize To Lawyer For Theft Allegations
A Pennsylvania attorney and his wife have apologized for accusing another attorney of stealing money from a business venture, saying in a court settlement record that they have no evidence that the lawyer committed the theft and that they retract their earlier statements.
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August 15, 2024
Ex-Mich. Speaker Says Poor Health Merits Early Release
The former speaker of Michigan's House of Representatives and ex-chair of a marijuana licensing board is asking to serve the rest of his prison sentence following a bribery conviction at home, saying he is eligible for early release due to his age and complications from a serious heart condition.
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August 15, 2024
Trump Seeks To Delay NY Sentencing Until After Election
Donald Trump asked to delay sentencing in his New York hush money case until after the 2024 presidential election, arguing he needs time to potentially appeal if he loses an attempt to erase the felony conviction on the basis of presidential immunity.
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August 15, 2024
Asphalt Co. To Pay $6.5M For Criminal Bid-Rigging Scheme
A Detroit-area asphalt paving company was sentenced Thursday to pay $6.5 million after it pled guilty to participating in a sprawling bid-rigging scheme in Michigan, with federal prosecutors alleging the company's leaders worked with competitors to drive up the price of paving contracts.
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August 15, 2024
Ga. Man Accused Of Trying To Steal $1.9M In COVID Funds
A Georgia man was indicted in a scheme to steal $1.9 million in pandemic relief money and accused of wire fraud, submitting fraudulent federal tax returns and stealing dozens of Social Security numbers, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Wednesday.
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August 14, 2024
Lin Wood Defends Social Posts In Long Day Of Testimony
Controversial ex-attorney Lin Wood was pushed on his claim that social media posts he made about three of his former law partners following the 2020 dissolution of his firm were an attempt at self-defense when he took the stand Wednesday in Georgia federal court.
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August 14, 2024
Girardi Kept 'Opening A Wound,' Tearful Ex-Client Tells Jury
A woman whose son was seriously injured in a car accident shed tears Wednesday while testifying in Tom Girardi's criminal trial, recalling her increasingly desperate attempts to get a final $1 million owed to her from a lawsuit settlement as the embattled attorney gave her varying excuses for why she wasn't getting the funds.
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August 14, 2024
Tuna Price-Fixing Deal Comes With A Catch: $26M In Fish
Two groups of buyers accusing major canned tuna producers of price-fixing have asked a California federal judge to give the first seal of approval to settlements totaling more than $168 million in cash, plus $26 million in packaged tuna products.
Expert Analysis
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A Midyear Forecast: Tailwinds Expected For Atty Hourly Rates
Hourly rates for partners, associates and support staff continued to rise in the first half of this year, and this growth shows no signs of slowing for the rest of 2024 and into next year, driven in part by the return of mergers and acquisitions and the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence, says Chuck Chandler at Valeo Partners.
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A Timeline Of Antisemitism Legislation And What It Means
What began as hearings in the House of Representatives Committee on Education and the Workforce has expanded to a House-wide effort to combat antisemitism and related issues, with wide-ranging implications for education, finance and nonprofit entities, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.
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Criminal Enforcement Considerations For Gov't Contractors
Government contractors increasingly exposed to criminal liability risks should establish programs that enable detection and remediation of employee misconduct, consider voluntary disclosure, and be aware of the potentially disastrous consequences of failing to make a mandatory disclosure where the government concludes it was required, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.
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Opinion
States Should Loosen Law Firm Ownership Restrictions
Despite growing buzz, normalized nonlawyer ownership of law firms is a distant prospect, so the legal community should focus first on liberalizing state restrictions on attorney and firm purchases of practices, which would bolster succession planning and improve access to justice, says Michael Di Gennaro at The Law Practice Exchange.
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FBI Raid Signals Growing Criminal Enforcement Of Algorithms
The U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division's increased willingness to pursue the use of algorithmic pricing as a potential criminal violation means that companies need to understand the software solutions they employ and stay abreast of antitrust best practices when contracting with providers, say attorneys at Rule Garza.
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How Attorneys Can Reduce Bad Behavior At Deposition
To minimize unprofessional behavior by opposing counsel and witnesses, and take charge of the room at deposition, attorneys should lay out some key ground rules at the outset — and be sure to model good behavior themselves, says John Farrell at Fish & Richardson.
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Best Text Practices In Light Of Terraform's $4.5B Fraud Deal
Text messages were extremely important in a recent civil trial against Terraform Labs, leading to a $4.5 billion settlement, so litigants in securities fraud cases need to have robust mobile data policies that address the content and retention of messages, and the obligations of employees to allow for collection, say Josh Sohn and Alicia Clausen at Crowell & Moring.
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Tricky Venue Issues Persist In Fortenberry Prosecution Redo
Former Rep. Jeff Fortenberry was recently indicted for a second time after the Ninth Circuit tossed his previous conviction for improper venue, but the case, now pending in the District of Columbia, continues to illustrate the complexities of proper venue in "false statement scheme" prosecutions, says Kevin Coleman at Covington.
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Series
Solving Puzzles Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Tackling daily puzzles — like Wordle, KenKen and Connections — has bolstered my intellectual property litigation practice by helping me to exercise different mental skills, acknowledge minor but important details, and build and reinforce good habits, says Roy Wepner at Kaplan Breyer.
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Texas Ethics Opinion Flags Hazards Of Unauthorized Practice
The Texas Professional Ethics Committee's recently issued proposed opinion finding that in-house counsel providing legal services to the company's clients constitutes the unauthorized practice of law is a valuable clarification given that a UPL violation — a misdemeanor in most states — carries high stakes, say Hilary Gerzhoy and Julienne Pasichow at HWG.
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6 Lessons From DOJ's 1st Controlled Drug Case In Telehealth
Following the U.S. Department of Justice’s first-ever criminal prosecution over telehealth-prescribed controlled substances in U.S. v. Ruthia He, healthcare providers should be mindful of the risks associated with restricting the physician-patient relationship when crafting new business models, says Jonathan Porter at Husch Blackwell.
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In Memoriam: The Modern Administrative State
On June 28, the modern administrative state, where courts deferred to agency interpretations of ambiguous statutes, died when the U.S. Supreme Court overruled its previous decision in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council — but it is survived by many cases decided under the Chevron framework, say Joseph Schaeffer and Jessica Deyoe at Babst Calland.
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Opinion
Justices' Malicious-Prosecution Ruling Shows Rare Restraint
The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Chiaverini v. City of Napoleon, Ohio, declining to limit malicious-prosecution suits, is a model of judicial modesty and incrementalism, in sharp contrast to the court’s dramatic swings on other rights, says Steven Schwinn at the University of Illinois Chicago Law School.
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Opinion
Trump Immunity Ruling Upends Our Constitutional Scheme
The U.S. Supreme Court’s Trump v. U.S. decision elevates the president to imperial status and paves the way for nearly absolute presidential immunity from potential criminal prosecutions — with no constitutional textual support, says Paul Berman at the George Washington University Law School.
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High Court Paves Middle Ground For Proceedings Obstruction
The U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Fischer sensibly leaves the door open for prosecutors to make more nuanced assessments as to whether defendants' actions directly or tangentially impair the availability or integrity of anything used in an official proceeding, without criminalizing acts such as peaceful demonstrations, say attorneys at Perry Law.