- Adventures of a 28-year-old California foreclosure attorney [McSweeneys]
- National Enquirer ruled eligible for Pulitzer Prize consideration for John Edwards coverage [ABC, Guardian]
- Las Vegas attorney agrees to plead to unspecified charges in tort-mill scheme initially described by prosecutors as massive [ABA Journal, earlier here and here]
- Expect demands for greater regulation of general aviation after Austin attack [Skating on Stilts]
- Dear firm colleagues: does Morocco has an extradition treaty with the U.S.? Need to know quickly [Lowering the Bar] Related on Scott Rothstein: do not purchase investment advice from persons with gold toilets;
- Is a Texas prosecutor seeking to criminalize workplace accidents? [Bennett, Defending People]
- Cold comfort dept.: lawprof tired of people carrying on about being dragged through litigation, it’s not as if they’re being held liable [Howard Wasserman, Prawfsblawg]
- Iceland’s free-press project “is largely symbolic – which is not to say unimportant” [N.Y. Times quoting David Ardia, earlier]
Posts Tagged ‘Scott Rothstein’
February 3 roundup
- Many of our readers liked the ruling, but someone didn’t: “Judge censured for ordering class-action lawyer to take pay in $125,000 worth of gift-cards” [BoingBoing, ABA Journal, Leonard/L.A. Times, Lowering the Bar]
- “NFL Concedes In Who Dat Battle” [Lowering the Bar, more, earlier; here’s a protest t-shirt, and more on those]
- Some plaintiff’s lawyers give their side of the story, disputing fraud allegations in Dole banana-worker pesticide cases [Bronstad, NLJ, earlier]
- “Google Blog Bundle — 42 criminal defense blogs” [Mark Bennett] And while you’re at it, why not take a moment right now to put Overlawyered in your RSS blog reader?
- Massachusetts hardball: state lawmaker says private law schools might be breaking antitrust laws in working to oppose state school proposed in his district [ABA Journal via Above the Law; public law school plan OK’d]
- Making the rounds: why medieval trial by ordeal may not have been so crazy after all [Peter Leeson, Boston Globe and full paper (PDF) via Volokh]
- “Rothstein E-Mails Reveal Role of Former Plaintiffs’ Lawyer” [Brian Baxter, AmLaw Litigation Daily]
- Obama: I tried to reach across aisle on medical liability reform but GOP wasn’t nibbling. Fact check please [Wood, PoL]
Florida bar probing at least 35 senior lawyers in Rothstein firm
Does this set some sort of record? The bar confirmed that it is examining whether nearly three dozen “members of the former firm — Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler — lied about the amount of money in client trust accounts and whether they stole any of it. … Several of Rothstein’s former partners have said they were unaware of his scam.” [Miami Herald]
The donations of Scott Rothstein
Did they pave the way for the now-disgraced lawyer’s efforts to obtain lucrative securities class-action work from the state of Florida? [Sydney Freedberg, St. Petersburg Times]
December 18 roundup
- Class action to follow? Longtime Overlawyered favorite Gloria Allred now representing one of the Tiger Tootsies [The Observer]
- Alabama lawyer moves to postpone trial so he can see Crimson Tide take on Texas [Yahoo “Rivals”]
- “Thomas the Tank Engine attacked for ‘conservative political ideology'” [Telegraph; Canadian academic calls for tighter controls on children’s broadcasting]
- Government manages to lose money at bookie racket: “NYC’s Off-Track-Betting Seeks Bankruptcy Protection” [Bloomberg]
- “Rapist ex-lawmaker claims copyright on his name, threatens legal action” [Boing Boing, Volokh, Randazza/Citizen Media Law]
- Graubard Miller $42 million contingency fee “now in referee’s hands” [NYLJ; earlier Oct. 5, etc.]
- It’ll destroy our image of him: opponents say “alleged Ponzi schemer and disbarred attorney Scott Rothstein filed frivolous lawsuits” [DBR]
- New Hampshire disciplinary panel finds prominent injury attorney broke ethics rules in handling client who talked of firing him from multi-million-dollar case [Keene Sentinel]
Scott Rothstein and the legal profession’s image
The South Florida Daily Business Review finds a range of opinions:
“I don’t think he made us all look bad. I think he made lawyers wearing $5,000 suits and driving $500,000 cars look bad,” said David Markus, a Miami criminal defense attorney.
…Still, if there is only 1 percent of bad lawyers in a state with 85,000 attorneys, the public could be more than vulnerable, [Nova Southeastern law professor Robert] Jarvis said.
“That is 850 rogue attorneys. That is a lot of rogues,” Jarvis said.
(& welcome WSJ Law Blog readers)
December 1 roundup
- Hertz drops libel lawsuit against investor research outfit that claimed its solvency was at risk [Crain’s New York, earlier]
- Report: New Jersey blogger jailed for threats against federal judges was on FBI informant payroll [AP]
- “Bentley Photos Are Props in Willie Gary’s High School Motivational Speech” [ABA Journal]
- Australian personal injury lawyers evade ad ban [Sydney Morning Herald]
- Scott Rothstein’s alleged Ponzi scheme “targeted people who invested in law suits” [Steele/Legal Ethics Forum] “Two Inside Looks at Rothstein’s Firm, Lifestyle” [Ambrogi/Legal Blog Watch]
- O’Quinn driving nearly twice speed limit on rainy pavement at time of crash [Chron]
- “Support for UN religious defamation rule drops” [Media Watch Watch] On the other hand? “Envoy’s Speech Signals Softening of U.S. Hostility to International Court” [AP]
- Rudely titled new book on how to avoid getting sued [Instapundit]
“Rothstein got top national rating for ethics”
Scott Rothstein, the Florida lawyer at the center of the biggest fraud investigation since, oh, Marc Dreier’s, got an “AV Preeminent” rating from Martindale-Hubbell, which says its ratings “serve as an objective indicator that a lawyer has the highest ethical standards and professional ability and are used by buyers of legal services to justify their hiring decision.” [Buddy Nevins, BrowardBeat via John Darer]
P.S. Related, from Worcester, Mass.: “‘Lawyer You Can Trust’ Gets Prison for Theft” [Ambrogi, Legal Blog Watch]
November 12 roundup
- Judge cites Oregon elder abuse act in barring animal rights activists from harassing elderly furrier [Zick, Prawfsblawg]
- After fraud accusations against Fort Lauderdale lawyer Scott Rothstein, politicos race to return his many donations [NYT, AmLaw Daily,
DBR and more, Ashby Jones/WSJ Law Blog and more (Ponzi investments could exceed $1 billion, per FBI)] - Ontario court ruling may invite U.S. class action lawyers to take on more projects in Canada [Kevin LaCroix]
- “Mississippi Cardiologist Won’t Go to Prison for Online Dating” [Balko, Freeland]
- Manuscript in the mail: “Kings of Tort”, Alan Lange/Tom Dawson book on Dickie Scruggs and Paul Minor scandals, which now has its own website and will go on sale Dec. 2;
- A “cultural institution destroyed” in Louisiana: more on proposed FDA ban on raw oysters [NYT, earlier]
- Update on Google Books settlement [Sag, ConcurOp]
- Mark Steyn on the Zack Christie case and other annals of knives-in-schools zero-tolerance [NRO, Steyn Online via Skenazy]
November 3 roundup
- American Federation of Teachers backs off earlier aggressive trademark stance against critical website [AFT Exposed via Ron Coleman, earlier]
- Unintended but ever-so-predictable consequence of cash-for-clunkers: cheap used cars now a lot less cheap [Coyote]
- Strange that Pat Robertson doesn’t seem to know hate-crime laws cover crimes motivated by religious bias [Neiwert]
- Court rules against New York law firm’s debt collection practices [ABA Journal]
- Trouble amid the Lamborghinis: rumors swirl of financial defalcations at prominent south Florida law firm [WSJ Law Blog and more] Plus: Rothstein’s huge bipartisan political donations [DBR]
- Ohio: “Man dressed as a Breathalyzer for Halloween is arrested for DUI” [Obscure Store]
- Blawg star Mark Herrmann (Drug & Device Law) writes a brief in Supreme Court case on (unrelated) topic of prosecutorial immunity for misconduct [Scott Greenfield]
- Administration’s task force on medical liability reform meets amid signs it won’t accomplish much [Wood, ShopFloor; related, Stanley Goldfarb/Weekly Standard]