Karen Read Sues Police For Lax Oversight Of 'Unfit' Officers

By Carolyn Muyskens

Karen Read, the Massachusetts woman acquitted last year of killing her police officer boyfriend in a trial that garnered national attention, said in a suit filed Thursday that police agencies were negligent for entrusting the case to "biased and corrupt" officers whose private messages were filled with bigoted language.

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Deepfake Mocks Judge Spearheading Judiciary Deepfake Rule

By Jeff Overley

The New York federal judge developing policies for phony audiovisual materials revealed Thursday firsthand experience with the subject: an artificial intelligence video on social media that depicts him as a maniacal Nazi who recently sentenced a private equity executive to prison "for being a Republican."

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Bolton To Plead Guilty In Classified Info Case

By Jared Foretek

Former National Security Advisor John Bolton will plead guilty to charges that he illegally retained classified national defense information.

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Atlantic City Mayor Sues County Prosecutor After Acquittal

By George Woolston

Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small has sued Atlantic County Prosecutor William E. Reynolds for malicious prosecution and violation of his civil rights, alleging Reynolds' prosecution of Small on child abuse charges was a politically motivated attempt to remove him from office.

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4th Circ. Revives Inmate Suit, Citing Deleted Prison Video

By Elizabeth Daley

An inmate whose prison disciplinary conviction for indecent exposure led to his transfer to a maximum security facility should not have lost his case without having his sanctions request over destroyed video evidence reviewed, a Fourth Circuit panel said Thursday, vacating and remanding a lower court's decision.

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7th Circ. Upholds Drug-Premises Enhancement In Meth Case

By Parker Quinlan

The Seventh Circuit has upheld a nearly 16-year prison sentence for an Indiana man, finding that a home he used primarily to sell drugs makes him eligible for a prison sentence increase under the federal sentencing guidelines.

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Goldstein Seeks Sentencing Delay, Citing New Tax Claims

By Jared Foretek

SCOTUSblog founder Thomas Goldstein renewed his push Wednesday in Maryland federal court for a delayed sentencing, saying prosecutors blindsided his defense by including additional uncharged years of alleged tax avoidance in the government's sentencing memorandum.

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NC Doctor Seeks Probation In $11M Medicare Fraud Case

By Parker Quinlan

A North Carolina doctor convicted of making false statements as part of an $11 million Medicaid fraud scheme has asked a federal judge in the state to not send her to federal prison and instead give her probation after a jury found her guilty.

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Blanche's AG Bid Could Face Rocky Path In Senate

By Courtney Bublé

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche will be tapped for the permanent role, but he might not have a smooth path to confirmation.

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Brief

Ex-Newark Deputy Mayor Gets Prison In Bribery Scheme

By Carla Baranauckas

A former Newark deputy mayor was sentenced to just over a year in prison in New Jersey federal court for accepting cash and luxury gifts from two real estate developers involved in redevelopment projects for city-owned properties.

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NC Justices Launch Commission To Tackle Legal Deserts

By Elizabeth Daley

Forty-eight of North Carolina's 100 counties are classified as legal deserts, and a commission established by the state's supreme court will aim to address this dearth of attorneys at a meeting Friday, the North Carolina Judicial Branch said.

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Analysis

'Parallel' DOJ, SEC Investigations Not So Parallel Anymore

By Phillip Bantz

The level of coordination between the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has decreased under the Trump administration, resulting in disjointed investigatory efforts and misaligned timing in parallel investigations, experts say.

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Jersey City Drops Suit Over Cops' Off-Duty Pot Use

By Jonathan Capriel

Jersey City dropped its federal lawsuit that sought to terminate police officers who used recreational marijuana while off duty after a New Jersey appeals court affirmed the officers' reinstatement, ruling that there was no conflict between federal firearm restrictions for drug users and state law.

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Jury Hears Closings In Trial Over Alleged Tax Shelter Scheme

By Rachel Konieczny

Prosecutors told a Colorado federal jury Thursday that four individuals defrauded the government by using their businesses to help promote and sell abusive and illegal trust tax shelters, while the defendants argued they lacked knowledge of the alleged scheme and can't be held responsible.

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Conn. Looks To Wipe Out CFTC's Contract Crackdown Suit

By Alex Lawson

Connecticut has taken aim at the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, blasting the agency's federal lawsuit to halt the state's efforts to police event contract trading as "wrongheaded."

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Insurer Says Background Check Missed Worker's Arson Case

By Matthew Santoni

A North Carolina-based staffing agency and its background-check contractor allegedly failed to flag that a job applicant for a Scranton, Pennsylvania, warehouse was awaiting trial on arson-related charges, and the warehouse's insurer claims in a federal lawsuit that makes them liable for the damages after that worker set a fire at his new job.

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Ex-Worker Pleads Guilty In Air Force Bid-Rigging Scheme

By Elaine Briseño

A former employee of a business that provided shelving and storage to the U.S. Air Force has pled guilty in Georgia federal court to two felony charges that accused him of conspiring to rig bids and defraud the U.S. Department of Defense.

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Series

Competing At Poker Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Playing poker in male-dominated rooms taught me to treat skepticism as background noise when my opponents seem to underestimate me, to apply pressure when it matters and to adapt without losing strategic discipline — skills that are all indispensable in restructuring and insolvency matters, says Alexis Gambale at Pashman Stein.

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Quinn Emanuel, Texas Boutique Match Milbank Associate Pay

By Kevin Penton

Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP and a Texas-based litigation boutique are the latest firms to match Milbank LLP's pay hikes for associates, with annual increases of $10,000 to $20,000 that top off at $455,000.

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Georgia Fed. Judge Facing Impeachment Threat, New DQ Bid

By Emily Johnson

A Georgia federal judge reportedly disciplined for having sexual intercourse in her chambers and attending a political event is facing renewed pressure, as a former UPS employee seeks her disqualification from his dismissed racial discrimination lawsuit and a Georgia congressman drafts articles of impeachment to remove her from the bench.

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'Kentucky Hammer' Tries To Control Attys, PI Market, Suit Says

By James Boyle

The principal attorney of personal injury firm Isaacs & Isaacs PCS, who advertises as the "Kentucky Hammer," has been accused by a former attorney at the firm of bullying his employees into signing unfavorable contracts and attempting to monopolize the local personal injury market.

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Baker Donelson Seeks 'No Recovery' Ruling In Ponzi Fallout

By Emily Sawicki

Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz PC on Thursday asked a Mississippi federal court to issue a single check-box form ruling that states the firm does not owe a monetary judgment stemming from a jury's verdict finding it committed negligent supervision amid a timber company's nine-figure Ponzi scheme, which was perpetrated in part by two of the firm's then-partners.

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Calif. Bar Accuses More Attys In Unlicensed Practice Scheme

By Lauren Berg

Three more attorneys at the Los Angeles personal injury firm facing investigation for its involvement in a record $4 billion sex abuse settlement against Los Angeles County are facing disciplinary charges by the State Bar of California, alleging the firm illegally practiced law outside the state.

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NY AG Must Preserve Cohen Docs In Trump's Civil Fraud Case

By Frank G. Runyeon

The New York state trial court judge overseeing President Donald Trump's civil fraud case granted his request to preserve notes from private meetings between state litigators and Trump's former attorney Michael Cohen after the key witness said he felt "pressured" to testify.

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SEC Disgorgement Powers Stay Intact After High Court Fight

By Jessica Corso

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday said that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission could collect ill-gotten gains from alleged fraudsters without having to identify victims who were financially harmed by the fraud, declining to place further limits on the agency's disgorgement powers six years after it last did so.

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Titan Of The Plaintiffs Bar: Robbins Geller's David Knotts

By Sydney Price

Right after graduating from Cornell University Law School, David Knotts, a native of Kansas City, Missouri, landed at one of the world's largest corporate defense firms.

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