The prominent Los Angeles lawyer accepts a misdemeanor rap for laundering John Edwards contributions. [L.A. Times, earlier]
Archive for 2011
Breathe into the steering wheel now
Alcohol interlocks and our dystopian driving future [Rick Berman, Daily Caller; earlier here, here, etc.]
Philadelphia: “Injured fan sues Eagles”
While a player “was having a catch with fans in the stands,” one of the fans had an inaccurate throw and injured a bystander. Clearly time to crack down on — if not ban entirely? — such playful throwing sessions. [Philadelphia Inquirer]
“Foreclosure relief” and its temptations
The St. Petersburg Times explores the ethical issues raised by the practice of a Florida lawyer who “flies his six-seat Piper Malibu around Florida championing the cause of the little guy. His target: the big, bad banks.” The plan: charging upfront fees of up to $5,000, plus a contingency, for the privilege of enrolling in “mass joinder” suits demanding foreclosure relief.
Message board liability threats, cont’d
Paul Alan Levy reports on the doings of one Florida lawyer who “touts his past presidency of the ‘First Amendment Lawyers Association'” but “is apparently not so keen on the free speech rights of others.” And, also via Levy, a court has vacated the troubling order discussed earlier adopting a weak standard for subpoenas identifying anonymous comments, in a case involving the Façonnable clothing concern.
Raw milk dairy club raided (again)
Knock three times at the cheese-easy: “A yearlong sting operation involving a multitude of state and federal agencies brought to justice Wednesday a dangerous ring of raw dairy enthusiasts in California.” [C.J. Ciamarella, Daily Caller; Reason.tv]
Law schools roundup
- Law profs (some of them, anyway) bristle at “impractical scholarship” critique from Chief Justice Roberts [Ifill, ConcurOp; Adler; Chiang, Prawfs; Markel]
- Noisy exit by University of Baltimore law dean calls attention to law schools’ role as cash cows for universities [Caron]
- There’ll always be a legal academia: redefining banks as public nuisances [Lind via CL&P] “Disability as a Social Construct” [Areheart, Yale Law and Policy Review] North Dakota’s fiscal health? Nothing to do with shale boom or budget prudence, it’s that they’ve got a state-owned bank [Pasquale/Canova]
- “Why Does Pedigree Drive Law Faculty Hiring?” [Paul Caron] Using the accreditation process to mandate more tenure for lawprofs? [same] “ABA to Continue as Law School Accrediter, Despite Noncompliance With 17 Regs” [same]
- “Have Law Schools Violated Consumer Protection Laws?” [Jeff Sovern, CL&P] Villanova keeps mum after embarrassing revelations [Inquirer]
“Cartoonist Faces Prosecution for Videos Mocking Police”
The story everyone’s talking about: if you wanted a definitive example of the dangers of overbroad “cyber-stalking” statutes, here you go. [WSJ Law Blog, Balko, Volokh, Reason, Popehat]
Latin Jazz musicians sue over termination of Grammy category
In April the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS), which runs the Grammy awards, dropped 31 categories of competition, including Latin jazz, zydeco, Hawaiian and Native American. Musicians remain free to enter their work into competition in overlapping related categories. Now four Latin jazz musicians have filed suit, arguing “that NARAS is in effect forcing Latin jazz artists to now compete in broader jazz categories against more mainstream artists, hurting their chance of winning an award.” [Jazz Times]
Buffalo lawmakers irate at law firm ad set in council chambers
“What’s next? A dog food commercial?” fumed Council President David A. Franczyk, who says, as do colleagues, that they were never informed that a prominent local injury-law practice was filming a TV ad in its historic chambers [Buffalo News via WSJ]. The firm of Cellino & Barnes, which we’ve met previously on this site, says it has no plans to discontinue showing the ad despite the lawmakers’ displeasure.