Criminal Practice

  • October 22, 2025

    Montana Tribe's $325K Public Safety Bid Too High, Feds Say

    The federal government says it has provided every available dollar to the Northern Cheyenne Tribe for criminal investigations and telecommunications services, arguing that a decision to only partially fund the tribe's contract proposal is consistent with the spirit and letter of the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act of 1975.

  • October 22, 2025

    La. Justice Faces Questions On Campaigns At Nom Hearing

    Two nominees for Louisiana federal court positions appeared before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, including a state Supreme Court justice who faced Democratic questions about the election process for his current role.

  • October 22, 2025

    Ex-Conn. School Buildings Official Convicted Of Corruption

    A federal jury on Wednesday convicted Connecticut's former school construction director on corruption charges, agreeing with prosecutors that Konstantinos "Kosta" Diamantis accepted bribes, committed extortion and lied to both the FBI and the IRS about payments he admitted accepting from two construction firms.

  • October 21, 2025

    Salesforce Gets Sex-Trafficking Suit Paused For Criminal Case

    The Texas federal judge overseeing consolidated litigation accusing Salesforce of benefiting from the sex trafficking of people on Backpage, the defunct classified ads website that used the company's software, put the case on ice Tuesday, saying a related criminal case must first be resolved.

  • October 21, 2025

    3rd Circ. Reinstates Union Rep's Pharmacy Fraud Charges

    The Third Circuit said Tuesday that it had revived charges against a union representative at a telecommunications company after finding that federal prosecutors sufficiently alleged that the rep submitted false claims to a pharmacy benefits manager for medically unnecessary testing and medicine.

  • October 21, 2025

    Pa. Panel Upholds 40-Year Sentence In Love Park Rape Case

    A Pennsylvania appeals court has ruled that a Philadelphia man was not unfairly sentenced after a trial court referenced his mobile searches for violent pornography when he was sentenced to up to 40 years in prison for rape.

  • October 21, 2025

    New York's Highest Court Demands Bail Denial Explanation

    New York's highest court said a Queens trial court wrongly failed to explain why a man charged with promoting and possessing child pornography was denied bail, reversing an appeals court's dismissal of his habeas petition Tuesday.

  • October 21, 2025

    NY Courts Can't Shield Memos To State Judges

    The New York State Office of Court Administration may have to finally turn over a batch of "secret memos" that instruct state judges on how to interpret the law, the state's highest court ruled Tuesday.

  • October 21, 2025

    Judge Won't Rush Ruling On Proposed Comey 'Filter Team'

    A Virginia federal judge rejected prosecutors' request for him to quickly rule on a proposed "filter team" to review potentially privileged evidence in their case against James Comey on Monday, ruling that the standard 14-day period for the former FBI director's team to fully respond to the proposal balances speed and fairness.

  • October 21, 2025

    CPA Admits $1.7M Tax Fraud, Pandemic Loan Charges

    A Massachusetts certified public accountant has agreed to plead guilty to failing to disclose to the IRS nearly $1.7 million in off-the-books compensation to an employee and making false certifications to obtain pandemic relief loans.

  • October 20, 2025

    'Unacceptable': NC DOJ Rebuked For Repeat Rule Violations

    A Raleigh, North Carolina, federal judge has sanctioned the state's Department of Justice, accusing one of its prosecutors of filing a frivolous motion in order to delay trial in an illegal detention lawsuit, while noting this isn't the first time the office has "tested the patience" of the federal judiciary.

  • October 20, 2025

    NJ Asks If Experts Are Needed For Mental Defenses

    New Jersey's Supreme Court on Monday heard arguments on whether expert testimony is needed to advance insanity or diminished capacity defenses in two murder cases, with defense attorneys and the American Civil Liberties Union arguing state lawmakers intended juries, with or without doctors, to evaluate evidence regarding state of mind.

  • October 20, 2025

    5th Circ. Affirms Fraud Conviction Of Failed Bank's Ex-CEO

    A Fifth Circuit panel upheld the conviction of former First NBC Bank CEO Ashton J. Ryan Jr., who was sentenced to 14 years in prison and ordered to pay $215 million in restitution after a jury found him guilty of bank fraud and conspiracy related to the collapse of the Louisiana bank.

  • October 20, 2025

    Lack Of Police Funding 'Catastrophic' For SD Tribe, Suit Says

    A South Dakota tribe is asking for an order that would require the federal government to sufficiently fund its public safety resources, arguing that the United States' failure to treat law enforcement as a trust and treaty obligation continues to be catastrophic for it and its members.

  • October 20, 2025

    Split Mich. Panel Orders Probe Into Black Juror's Removal

    A divided Michigan state appeals court has granted a hearing to a man convicted of child sexual abuse to determine if a prospective juror was removed because of his race.

  • October 20, 2025

    Connecticut Official Had 'Dirtiest Hands Of All,' Jury Told

    Former Connecticut school construction director Kosta Diamantis was a "corrupt public official" who pushed local authorities to hire a masonry contractor and a construction management firm that paid him a cut of their negotiated government contracts, prosecutors told a jury during closing arguments Monday.

  • October 20, 2025

    10th Circ. Nixes Internet Restrictions In Child Porn Case

    The Tenth Circuit has ruled that a lifetime internet restriction imposed as part of a man's sentence for child pornography and exploitation charges should be reversed, finding that there was not sufficient legal basis to uphold the restriction.

  • October 20, 2025

    Suspended Pa. Atty Admits To Crypto Scam Role With Brother

    A suspended Pennsylvania attorney pled guilty in federal court Monday to conspiracy and wire fraud, after prosecutors say he and his brother diverted funds that investors intended for cryptocurrency investment fund High Street Capital Fund USA LP into their personal accounts or another entity they controlled, Hvizdzak Capital Management.

  • October 20, 2025

    3rd Circ. Suspects Process 'Circumvention' In US Atty Role

    The Third Circuit on Monday seemed inclined to back a district court's finding that the U.S. Department of Justice's designation of President Donald Trump's former personal lawyer as New Jersey's top federal prosecutor violated federal law, with one jurist suggesting the appointment raised "serious constitutional implications."

  • October 20, 2025

    Comey Seeks Dismissal Of Case Brought Out Of 'Spite'

    Lawyers for former FBI Director James Comey asked a Virginia federal court Monday to dismiss charges that he lied to Congress, arguing that his September indictment was ordered by President Donald Trump out of "personal spite," and fired back at claims that his lead attorney needs to be disqualified from the case.

  • October 20, 2025

    Officer Guilty Of Murder, 2 Cleared In NY Inmate Beating Death

    A New York state jury on Monday convicted a former correction officer of murder for beating a prisoner to death in December, and acquitted two more officers of charges following a two-week trial.

  • October 20, 2025

    Mass. Clients' Protection Board Seeks $1M From Disbarred Atty

    A former Massachusetts attorney who was disbarred in 2023 and later pled guilty to embezzling funds from client accounts is now facing malpractice and conversion claims worth about $1 million.

  • October 20, 2025

    Feds Reduce Charge Against SEIU Official Over ICE Protest

    Federal prosecutors in California have downgraded from a felony to a misdemeanor an obstruction charge against the Service Employees International Union's California head, who was arrested in June during a protest at an immigration raid.

  • October 20, 2025

    High Court To Hear Case Asking If Drug Users Can Have Guns

    The U.S. Supreme Court decided on Monday to address "a four-way circuit conflict" over whether it is legal to prevent users of drugs — including marijuana, which the majority of states have legalized in some fashion — from possessing firearms.

  • October 17, 2025

    Nursing Exec Denied New Trial On Wage-Fixing Claims

    A Nevada federal judge has denied a new trial to a nursing executive convicted of wage-fixing conspiracy and wire fraud after he claimed the U.S. Department of Justice misled the jury about sweetheart terms of a cooperation deal with another company.

Expert Analysis

  • E-Discovery Quarterly: Rulings On Relevance Redactions

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    In recent cases addressing redactions that parties sought to apply based on the relevance of information — as opposed to considerations of privilege — courts have generally limited a party’s ability to withhold nonresponsive or irrelevant material, providing a few lessons for discovery strategy, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • How DOJ's New Data Security Rules Leave HIPAA In The Dust

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    The U.S. Department of Justice's recently effective data security requirements carry profound implications for how healthcare providers collect, store, share and use data — and approach vendor oversight — that go far beyond the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, say attorneys at Nelson Mullins.

  • Opinion

    Section 1983 Has Promise After End Of Nationwide Injunctions

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    After the U.S. Supreme Court recently struck down the practice of nationwide injunctions in Trump v. Casa, Section 1983 civil rights suits can provide a better pathway to hold the government accountable — but this will require reforms to qualified immunity, says Marc Levin at the Council on Criminal Justice.

  • Reel Justice: 'Oh, Hi!' Teaches Attys To Return To The Statute

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    The new dark comedy film “Oh, Hi!” — depicting a romantic vacation that turns into an inadvertent kidnapping — should remind criminal practitioners to always reread the statute to avoid assumptions, meet their ethical duties and finesse their trial strategy, says Veronica Finkelstein at Wilmington University School of Law.

  • DOJ-HHS Collab Crystallizes Focus On Health Enforcement

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    The recently announced partnership between the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to combat False Claims Act violations, following a multiyear trend of high-dollar DOJ recoveries, signals a long-term enforcement horizon with major implications for healthcare entities and whistleblowers, say attorneys at RJO.

  • How Courts Are Addressing The Use Of AI In Discovery

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    In recent months, several courts have issued opinions on handling discovery issues involving artificial intelligence, which collectively offer useful insights on integrating AI into discovery and protecting work product in connection with AI prompts and outputs, says Philip Favro at Favro Law.

  • Series

    Playing Baseball Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Playing baseball in college, and now Wiffle ball in a local league, has taught me that teamwork, mental endurance and emotional intelligence are not only important to success in the sport, but also to success as a trial attorney, says Kevan Dorsey at Swift Currie.

  • APA Relief May Blunt Justices' Universal Injunction Ruling

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    The Administrative Procedure Act’s avenue for universal preliminary relief seems to hold the most promise for neutralizing the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Trump v. CASA to limit federal district courts' nationally applicable orders, say attorneys at Crowell.

  • Opinion

    Prosecutors' Duty To Justice Sometimes Demands Mea Culpa

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    Two recent cases — U.S. v. Lucas and U.S. v. Echavarria — demonstrate that prosecutors’ special ethical duty to seek justice can sometimes be in tension with other obligations and incentives, but it nonetheless requires them to concede their mistakes in the interests of justice, say Eastern District of Texas law clerk Ian Stephens and Texas A&M University law professor Jemila Lea.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Skillful Persuasion

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    In many ways, law school teaches us how to argue, but when the ultimate goal is to get your client what they want, being persuasive through preparation and humility is the more likely key to success, says Michael Friedland at Friedland Cianfrani.

  • FCA Working Group Reboot Signals EHR Compliance Risk

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    The revival of the False Claims Act working group is an aggressive expansion of enforcement efforts by the Justice Department and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services targeted toward technology-enabled fraud involving electronic health records and other data, say attorneys at ArentFox Schiff.

  • Litigation Inspiration: How To Respond After A Loss

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    Every litigator loses a case now and then, and the sting of that loss can become a medicine that strengthens or a poison that corrodes, depending on how the attorney responds, says Bennett Rawicki at Hilgers Graben.

  • New Interpol Silver Notice Could Be Tool For Justice Or Abuse

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    Interpol has issued dozens of Silver Notices to trace and recover assets linked to criminal activity since January, and though the tool may disrupt organized crime and terrorist financing, attorneys must protect against the potential for corrupt misuse, say attorneys at Clark Hill and Arktouros.

  • Justices' Resentencing Ruling Fortifies First Step Act Tools

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent Hewitt v. U.S. ruling clarifies that resentencing after vacatur must reflect the law in effect at the time of the new sentencing, ultimately strengthening the strategic tools available to defense attorneys under the First Step Act, says Benson Varghese at Varghese Summersett.

  • The Metamorphosis Of The Major Questions Doctrine

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    The so-called major questions doctrine arose as a counterweight to Chevron deference over the past few decades, but invocations of the doctrine have persisted in the year since Chevron was overturned, suggesting it still has a role to play in reining in agency overreach, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.

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