Ken Starr and Alan Dershowitz Said to Join Trump Team
President Donald Trump will be defended at his Senate trial by his impeached predecessor’s ex-prosecutor Kenneth Starr and professor Alan Dershowitz.
Read more
Attorneys
Judge Finds Asylum Seekers Have Right to Counsel
Finding asylum seekers have a right to counsel when undergoing interviews to determine whether they can be returned to Mexico under the “Remain in Mexico” program, a federal judge Tuesday confirmed immigration law guarantees attorney access for migrants.
Read more
Avenatti to Remain in SoCal Jail Pending Trial in NY Extortion Case
A federal judge in California ordered embattled attorney Michael Avenatti held without bail on bank and wire fraud charges until he can be transported to New York next week to stand trial on extortion charges there.
Read more
Feds Nab Attorney Michael Avenatti After Hearing in State Bar Case
Federal agents arrested embattled attorney Michael Avenatti on Tuesday evening following hours of testimony by the attorney in state bar proceedings after a former client accused him of misappropriating settlement money.
Read more
St. Louis Police Union Blasts Prosecutor’s Conspiracy Lawsuit
A police union spokesman on Tuesday called St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner the worst prosecutor in the country, a day after she accused the union and city of a racist conspiracy to force her out.
Read moreEmbassy Attorney Policy
The government’s policy barring attorneys from attending passport and Consular Reports of Birth Abroad interviews at the U.S. Embassy in Djibouti was a violation of due process, a federal court in New York ruled. Plaintiffs testified that embassy employees routinely confiscated their passports and other documents and would be “detained for hours without food, water, or their required medication.”
Read more
House Pushed at DC Circuit on Plans to Impeach Trump Again
In a hearing that will determine whether a onetime top adviser to President Donald Trump will testify at his Senate trial, the D.C. Circuit sought confirmation Friday on whether House Democrats plan to file more articles of impeachment.
Read moreTaco Bell Robbery
A man convicted of murdering four employees of a Clarksville, Tennessee, Taco Bell during a 1994 robbery is entitled to “conflict-free” representation during motion for a new trial proceedings, an appeals court in the state ruled, finding that counsel engaged in “many unethical behaviors” while representing the man.
Read more
Prosecutors: Deeply-in-Debt Michael Avenatti Sought Payday
Prosecutors say California attorney Michael Avenatti was over $15 million in debt when he tried to extort up to $25 million from Nike, while Avenatti’s lawyers say the money he legally requested to conduct an internal probe of the sportswear giant was a bargain.
Read more
Judge Rejects Beef Over Ballot Wording in LA County DA Race
A candidate for Los Angeles District Attorney’s office will be allowed to list her occupation as a federal public defender on the upcoming 2020 primary ballot, after an LA judge rejected a challenge Tuesday from a voter who claims the candidate no longer works in that office.
Read moreBar Dues
Declining oral arguments or detailed briefing, a Seventh Circuit panel on Monday agreed the U.S. Supreme Court’s holding in Janus v. AFSCME did not undo its previous finding that state bar fees do not amount to compelled speech as long as they’re used to improve the legal profession and its services to the community.
Read more
Florida Governor, Attorney Trade Barbs on Minimum Wage Ballot Measure
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and a prominent attorney clashed Friday over whether a ballot measure to increase Florida’s minimum wage to $15 by 2026 will prompt companies to increase automation and shed low-paying jobs.
Read more
Sides Wrangle Over Attorney Fees in Kona Brewing Settlement
A hearing to approve a settlement between a craft beer brewer and customers who say they were hoodwinked into believing the beer was made in an exotic location morphed into a theater to litigate a much larger issue: whether large consumer class actions actually benefit consumers.
Read moreThe Block & Leviton law firm sued the Federal Trade Commission for information on “the $5 billion fine imposed on Facebook” in June, particularly whether “the company’s negotiators unfairly prioritized the interests of Facebook’s controlling stockholder, Mark Zuckerberg, over the interests of the company.
Read moreFBI
Editors of Lawfare sued the FBI in a federal FOIA complaint, for information on allegations of inconsistent discipline of FBI personnel because of their personal views on the investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
Read moreKellyanne Conway
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington sued the U.S. Office of Special Counsel in federal court, to compel it to perform its nondiscretionary duty to file a complaint in the Merit Systems Protection Board against Kellyanne Conway based on its determination that she repeatedly violated the Hatch Act, warranting her removal from federal service.
Read moreCalifornia Teachers
The Golden Gateway Center claims the California State Teachers’ Retirement System owes it $9.2 million in legal fees from litigation over a San Francisco waterfront development, in superior court.
Read moreHead of California State Bar Stepping Down in January
California State Bar executive director Leah Wilson will resign Jan. 17, after a term marked concurrently by upheaval within the agency and visionary reforms that now face an uncertain future.
Read more