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 | May 3, 2011 -- 6:30 p.m. EDT
TODAY'S POSTS
New York Plans to Boost Support to Public Defenders
States
across the country are reducing funding for public defenders due to
budgetary constraints. Contrary to the trend, though, New York's chief
judge, Jonathan Lippman, has pledged added support to public defenders.
ACLU Sues Utah Over Immigration Enforcement Law
The battle over immigration enforcement is reaching a fever pitch in Utah, as it has in other states.
Federal Taskforce to Investigate Price Gouging in Energy Market
Drivers
around the country are fighting mad about high gas prices, which exceed
$4 per-gallon in many markets. But could there be something fishy
behind these soaring prices? A federal taskforce is looking into that
very question, Attorney General Eric Holder said today.
West Coast Firms Boosting Associate Pay
West Coast-based law firms are boosting associate pay, another sign that the law-firm market is bouncing back.
In Round 2, Feds Putting on Leaner, More Targeted Case Against Blago
Retrial.
It's gotta be the one word that prosecutors have nightmares about. At
least with an acquittal, you can move on with your life. But a hung jury
followed by a retrial: Oy. It's not Groundhog Day, but Groundhog
Months. Nevertheless, prosecutors in the Rod Blagojevich corruption
trial went back to the drawing board with a new trial -- some nine
months after a jury hung on all but one count brought by prosecutors. On
Tuesday, federal prosecutors in Chicago will put on their first witness
in the retrial. That, according to the Chicago Tribune, will be FBI
agent Daniel Cain, who led the investigation of Blagojevich. Following
Cain, government lawyers said they would question John Harris, Blago's
last chief of staff. The reordering of the witnesses represents a signal
that allegations about the sale of Barack Obama's former senate seat
will take center stage early in the trial. And that would represent a
shift from the largely chronological order that prosecutors followed
last summer, putting their early emphasis on allegations of wrongdoing
from Blagojevich's first years as governor. "It was his thing, his
golden thing," Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Niewoehner told the
jury in his opening statement Monday. "He was going to get something for
himself in exchange for it." The first jury to hear evidence that
Blagojevich allegedly tried to sell a U.S. Senate seat and generally
abused his office with shakedowns for political and personal profit said
it was confused by a sprawling case and unsure when the impeached
governor's incessant chatter translated to a crime. On Monday, it
appeared to be lesson learned for federal prosecutors. Eight months
after the first panel was hung on all but one count, a new jury was
picked to weigh his retrial and heard a much slimmer, more focused
version of the government's corruption case.
Breaking: DOJ to Sue Deutsche Bank Over 'Reckless Lending Practices'
According
to a press release issued by the U.S. attorney's office in Manhattan,
the Justice Department will sue Deutsche Bank and its subsidiary
Mortgage IT for "years of reckless lending practices."
Was the Strike on bin Laden's Compound Legal?
The
killing of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden is engaging some of the
thorniest questions of the United States' post-Sept. 11 campaign against
terrorism, including the government's legal justification for carrying
out the targeted killing of suspected terrorists.
TiVo Nets Big-Bucks Patent Settlement
TiVo and Echo have settled patent litigation over digital-video-recording devices for $500 million, the parties announced today.
Former Winston & Strawn Lawyer Pleads Guilty in Ponzi Case
Jonathan
Bristol, 55, a former partner at Winston & Strawn, pled guilty
today to conspiracy to launder almost $19 million in funds for Kenneth
Starr, the one-time financier who ran a $30 million Ponzi scheme.
Contact WSJ's Law Blog at lawblog@wsj.com
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| TOP LAW NEWS |
| Health Issue Holds Up Galleon Deliberations
A
judge suspended deliberations in the insider-trading trial of Galleon
Group founder Raj Rajaratnam for a day because of a juror's medical
issue, and the defendant himself was absent from court because of
emergency surgery.
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| Dish, EchoStar Settle TiVo Dispute
Dish
Network and its former unit EchoStar agreed to pay TiVo $500 million to
settle a seven-year patent dispute over digital video recorder
technology.
Nortel Gets Court Nod for Auction of Patents
Nortel
Networks won court approval to go ahead with the final big auction of
its two-year global liquidation, with Google poised to open the bidding
on a collection of patents at $900 million.
PwC in $25.5 Million Settlement
Accounting
firm PricewaterhouseCoopers has agreed to pay $25.5 million to settle
investor class-action allegations that its audits failed to stop a large
accounting fraud at India's Satyam Computer Services.
Financial Overhaul Grows and Slows
The
Dodd-Frank law has produced more than three million words and about 62%
of the rules required by the law haven't even been proposed.
Business Gets New Class-Action Shield
The high court handed business a powerful shield against consumer class
actions Wednesday in a case involving AT&T, ruling that state laws
can't override contract clauses requiring customers to present
complaints individually to an arbitrator.
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