Criminal Practice

  • December 15, 2025

    1st Circ. Backs Mass. High Court In Juror Race Appeal

    The First Circuit has found that the dismissal of one of the only jurors of color from a 1999 murder trial did not run afoul of federal precedent because her occupation as a guidance counselor, not her race, led prosecutors to request that she be tossed from the jury pool.

  • December 15, 2025

    Judge Won't Boot Bondi-Appointed Prosecutor In LA

    A federal judge has refused to reconsider his ruling disqualifying Bill Essayli from holding the role of U.S. attorney but allowing him to serve as the first assistant U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, finding that Essayli's appointment by U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi is valid.

  • December 15, 2025

    Feds Deny Breaking Plea Deal With Ex-Morgue Manager

    Prosecutors told a Pennsylvania federal judge Monday that they did not breach a plea deal between the government and Cedric Lodge by seeking a harsh sentence for the former head of Harvard University's morgue who admitted to theft and trafficking of human remains, claiming that Lodge's arguments to the contrary amounted to buyer's remorse.

  • December 15, 2025

    Employee-Related Charges Against Goldstein Are Tossed

    A Maryland federal judge has dismissed several charges against SCOTUSblog founder Tom Goldstein related to employees at his law firm, agreeing that prosecutors had failed to establish a clear rule for determining whether employees are legitimate for tax purposes.

  • December 15, 2025

    PSEG Deputy GC, Former Prosecutor Tapped As Next NJ AG

    New Jersey Gov.-elect Mikie Sherrill named utility lawyer and veteran prosecutor Jennifer Davenport on Monday as her choice for state attorney general, selecting a longtime law enforcement leader she said will be central to her administration's agenda on affordability, public safety and government accountability.

  • December 15, 2025

    High Court Will Review Racial Bias In Miss. Jury Strikes

    The U.S. Supreme Court agreed on Monday to hear its second case involving the same Mississippi prosecutor's peremptory strikes of Black prospective jurors in a Black defendant's death penalty case — and the same state judge's approval of those strikes.

  • December 15, 2025

    Hunter Biden Disbarred In Conn. Over Gun, Tax Cases

    Hunter Biden, the son of former President Joseph R. Biden, was disbarred Monday in Connecticut for attorney ethics rule violations connected to an earlier disbarment by consent in the District of Columbia and complaints related to his convictions on gun and tax charges for which he was pardoned.

  • December 15, 2025

    Supreme Court Declines Cannabis Ban Review

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear a case challenging the federal marijuana ban, leaving in place a high court precedent that has governed cannabis policy for 20 years.

  • December 12, 2025

    DC Circ. Unsure Lower Court Could Toss Bergdahl Conviction

    The D.C. Circuit seemed to have doubts Friday morning about a lower court's decision to throw out the court-martial conviction and sentence of U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who was captured by the Taliban after deserting his post in Afghanistan.

  • December 12, 2025

    Carrying Gun While Fleeing Counts As Use, 10th Circ. Says

    The Tenth Circuit on Friday upheld the firearms conviction of an Oklahoma man, finding that despite his not physically possessing a weapon during a robbery and carjacking, prosecutors sufficiently proved a gun was present in his vehicle during the getaway.

  • December 12, 2025

    DOJ Shake-Up Keeps Criminal Tax Meetings, Ex-Official Says

    The U.S. Department of Justice — despite recently eliminating its Tax Division as part of a broad restructuring — continues to meet with practitioners representing clients who may face federal criminal tax charges, the former division chief said Friday.

  • December 12, 2025

    7th Circ. Halts Release For Hundreds Of Ill. ICE Detainees

    The Seventh Circuit on Thursday halted a Chicago federal judge's order requiring the release of hundreds of immigrants arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, saying the Trump administration was likely to succeed in arguing he should have conducted individual determinations about whether their arrest violated a consent decree it had previously entered in the case.

  • December 12, 2025

    NY Developer Charged In $8.5M Pandemic Loan Fraud

    A New York real estate developer fraudulently obtained $8.5 million worth of COVID-19 pandemic relief loans and spent the money on two seven-bedroom homes in the Hamptons, diamond jewelry and paying off personal and business debts, Massachusetts federal prosecutors said Friday.

  • December 12, 2025

    Utah Officials Challenge Halt Of Psilocybin Church Case

    County and local officials in Provo City, Utah, have urged the Tenth Circuit to revive a state court prosecution against a church that uses psilocybin as a sacrament, saying a lower district judge erred by halting the legal action and finding it was conducted in bad faith.

  • December 12, 2025

    DC Circ. OKs Detention For Man Who Threatened Prosecutor

    A split D.C. Circuit panel ruled Friday that a man can continue to be held in federal prison for further evaluations, even though he completed his full sentence, for continuing to make graphic threats against an assistant U.S. attorney.

  • December 12, 2025

    Del. US Atty Resigns Citing 'Politics,' Successor Appointed

    The acting U.S. Attorney for Delaware said Friday that she is resigning, citing "a highly politicized, flawed blue-slip tradition" for nominees and saying she "fully" supports her first assistant, who has been appointed by a federal judge to succeed her.

  • December 12, 2025

    Fired UMich Coach Sherrone Moore Charged With Stalking

    Former University of Michigan football coach Sherrone Moore "barged" into an unnamed victim's home and "terrorized" her hours after being fired from the university, Washtenaw County prosecutors said Friday in Moore's first court appearance on charges of home invasion and stalking.

  • December 12, 2025

    2025 Sees State Courts Diverge From Federal Criminal Norms

    Some of this year's most notable criminal appellate rulings homed in on differences between state and federal constitutional protections against the most serious punishments, with movement in Michigan, bucking the trend in Wyoming, and an ambiguous but potentially earthshaking decision out of Texas.

  • December 11, 2025

    Feds Reportedly Fail To Reindict NY AG Letitia James, Again

    New York Attorney General Letitia James' attorney Thursday celebrated reports that another Virginia federal grand jury declined to reindict her on charges of mortgage fraud, the second jury in a week to reject a case President Donald Trump had pushed prosecutors to pursue against a political opponent he's called "guilty as hell."

  • December 11, 2025

    Ex-Abercrombie CEO Headed For Competency Hearing

    A New York federal judge said Thursday she will hold a competency hearing for former Abercrombie & Fitch Co. CEO Michael Jeffries to see whether he can stand trial on sex trafficking charges, following recent findings that he's overcome his earlier incompetency.

  • December 11, 2025

    Colo. Appeals Court Backs New Reasonable Doubt Instruction

    A split Colorado appeals court Thursday upheld the use of a new model jury instruction on a reasonable doubt standard that a man convicted of possessing child sexual abuse material said lowered the burden for prosecutors to prove that a defendant is guilty.

  • December 11, 2025

    Texas Business Group CEO Resigns After Sexual Assault Suit

    The CEO of Texas' largest business association has stepped down after a woman who founded a business advocacy group said he attempted to coerce her into a sexual relationship and then assaulted her when she rejected his advances. 

  • December 11, 2025

    Former Colo. DA Suspended For Professional Misconduct

    A former Colorado district attorney has been suspended from practicing law for six months by a disciplinary judge after failing to adequately prosecute one case, improperly involving himself in another and calling his prior office a "pile of steaming diarrhea and hatred."

  • December 11, 2025

    5th Circ. Backs Man's Convictions In $3.6M Fraud Scheme

    The Fifth Circuit upheld conspiracy convictions for a Dallas man accused of fleecing a bank out of $3.6 million in renewed business loans, after rejecting his argument that the jury's learning of his brother's guilty plea tainted his case, ruling Wednesday that the plea did not directly implicate the man in the conspiracy.

  • December 11, 2025

    3rd Circ. Won't Toss Drug Plea Over Judge's Involvement

    The Third Circuit on Thursday refused to vacate a plea agreement in a drug case, finding that while a Pennsylvania federal judge violated judicial rules by imposing a longer sentence than prosecutors wanted, the defendant was unable to prove that the interference substantially violated his rights.

Expert Analysis

  • Series

    Mindfulness Meditation Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Mindful meditation enables me to drop the ego, and in helping me to keep sight of what’s important, permits me to learn from the other side and become a reliable counselor, says Roy Wyman at Bass Berry.

  • AI Litigation Tools Can Enhance Case Assessment, Strategy

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    Civil litigators can use artificial intelligence tools to strengthen case assessment and aid in early strategy development, as long as they address the risks and ethical considerations that accompany these uses, say attorneys at Barnes & Thornburg.

  • Attys Beware: Generative AI Can Also Hallucinate Metadata

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    In addition to the well-known problem of AI-generated hallucinations in legal documents, AI tools can also hallucinate metadata — threatening the integrity of discovery, the reliability of evidence and the ability to definitively identify the provenance of electronic documents, say attorneys at Law & Forensics.

  • When Atty Ethics Violations Give Rise To Causes Of Action

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    Though the Model Rules of Professional Conduct make clear that a violation of the rules does not automatically create a cause of action, attorneys should beware of a few scenarios in which they could face lawsuits for ethical lapses, says Brian Faughnan at Faughnan Law.

  • How Gov't May Use FARA To Target 'Domestic Terrorism'

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    After the Trump administration’s recent memo directing law enforcement to use the Foreign Agents Registration Act to prosecute domestic terrorism, nonprofit organizations receiving funding from foreign sources must assess their registration obligations under the statute, say attorneys at Pillsbury.

  • 10 Quick Tips To Elevate Your Evidence Presentation At Trial

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    A strong piece of evidence, whether in the form of testimony or exhibit, is wasted if not presented effectively, so attorneys must prepare with precision to help fact-finders both retain the information and internalize its significance, says Allison Rocker at Baker McKenzie.

  • Series

    Practicing Stoicism Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Practicing Stoicism, by applying reason to ignore my emotions and govern my decisions, has enabled me to approach challenging situations in a structured way, ultimately providing advice singularly devoted to a client's interest, says John Baranello at Moses & Singer.

  • Series

    The Biz Court Digest: Texas, One Year In

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    A year after the Texas Business Court's first decision, it's clear that Texas didn't just copy Delaware and instead built something uniquely its own, combining specialization with constitutional accountability and creating a model that looks forward without losing touch with the state's democratic and statutory roots, says Chris Bankler at Jackson Walker.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Educating Your Community

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    Nearly two decades prosecuting scammers and elder fraud taught me that proactively educating the public about the risks they face and the rights they possess is essential to building trust within our communities, empowering otherwise vulnerable citizens and preventing wrongdoers from gaining a foothold, says Roger Handberg at GrayRobinson.

  • 5 Crisis Lawyering Skills For An Age Of Uncertainty

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    As attorneys increasingly face unprecedented and pervasive situations — from prosecutions of law enforcement officials to executive orders targeting law firms — they must develop several essential competencies of effective crisis lawyering, says Ray Brescia at Albany Law School.

  • Opinion

    It's Time For The Judiciary To Fix Its Cybersecurity Problem

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    After recent reports that hackers have once again infiltrated federal courts’ electronic case management systems, the judiciary should strengthen its cybersecurity practices in line with executive branch standards, outlining clear roles and responsibilities for execution, says Ilona Cohen at HackerOne.

  • Identifying The Sources And Impacts Of Juror Contamination

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    Jury contamination can be pervasive, so it is important that trial teams be able to spot its sources and take specific mitigation steps, says consultant Clint Townson.

  • Key NY State Grand Jury Rules Can Shape Defense Strategy

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    As illustrated by recent cases, New York state's grand jury rules are more favorable than their federal counterparts, offering a genuine opportunity in some cases for a white collar criminal defendant to defeat or meaningfully reduce charges that a prosecutor seeks to bring, says Ethan Greenberg at Anderson Kill.

  • Series

    Writing Novels Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Writing my debut novel taught me to appreciate the value of critique and to never give up, no matter how long or tedious the journey, providing me with valuable skills that I now emphasize in my practice, says Daniel Buzzetta at BakerHostetler.

  • SDNY OpenAI Order Clarifies Preservation Standards For AI

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    The Southern District of New York’s recent order in the OpenAI copyright infringement litigation, denying discovery of The New York Times' artificial intelligence technology use, clarifies that traditional preservation benchmarks apply to AI content, relieving organizations from using a “keep everything” approach, says Philip Favro at Favro Law.

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