ABS trailblazers revealed

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Wednesday 28 March 2012 by John Hyde

The Solicitors Regulation Authority today announced the identities of the first three alternative business structures.

The Co-operative Legal Services, John Welch & Stammers and Lawbridge Solicitors are the first to have their applications approved. They can now provide reserved legal activities while owned and managed by non-lawyers, under the terms of the Legal Services Act.

The SRA has spent almost three months processing more than 180 applications from a range of businesses.

Co-op Legal Services, set up in 2006, employs 400 staff and has plans to add a further 150 this year. ABS status will allow it to diversify into family law later this year, to complement services in personal injury claims, will writing, probate, conveyancing and employment law.

Operating in Witney, Oxfordshire, since 1932, John Welch & Stammers has seven fee earners and 11 support staff.

Practice manager Bernadette Summers will now be appointed as a non-lawyer managing partner to join two existing solicitor partners.

Lawbridge Solicitors, based in Sidcup, Kent, has one solicitor, Michael Pope, who will now be joined in the shareholding by his wife Alison, practice manager.

SRA chief executive Antony Townsend said the announcement is a culmination of two years’ work: ‘By stimulating competition and encouraging innovation, we should see consumers’ experiences enjoy a major boost.

‘Some people may be surprised that there are two high street practices with a handful of staff among the first wave of ABS organisations that we’ve authorised. But we’ve always said that ABS offers options for all firms.’

Justice minister Jonathan Djanogly said customers will find legal services ‘more accessible’ and the service ‘more competitive and efficient’.

Djanogly added: 'Our UK legal services are unrivalled around the world and these changes will allow them to reach new heights, as solicitors’ firms develop new markets, seek external investment and join up with other businesses to offer different products to consumers and provide opportunities for growth.'

The Law Society has congratulated all three practices on being the first to receive the ABS licence and said the trio all reflect the opportunities that non-lawyer ownership can offer.

John Wotton, president of the Law Society, said: 'The Co-operative Group is a well-known brand on the high street, with a substantial profile and a strong reputation for ethical business.

'I’d like to welcome Co-operative Legal Services into the Law Society fold. Lawbridge Solicitors and John Welch & Stammers are existing law firms who have taken an innovative step in adopting new ownership structures.’

He added that the latest development would introduce new ways of working and increase choice for consumers and corporate clients.

David Edmonds, chair of the Legal Services Board, stressed that while regulation has a part to play in the new era, it must not restrict growth.

'Breaking down barriers to entry and freeing the ways in which firm can operate is key. But the change and innovation has to be provider-led. We will be working to make sure that regulation does not create inappropriate barriers and targets risk. Supervision must be proportionate.’

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Rocket Lawyer(TM) Announces UK Leadership Team

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SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwire -03/30/12)- Rocket Lawyer?, the fastest growing online legal service, has moved forward in its plan to bring affordable legal help to the UK. As a critical first step, the company is pleased to announce the addition of Dr. Mark Edwards, as Corporate Vice President and General Manager of its UK division. Rocket Lawyer is also announcing the opening of its London office and the hiring of key staff who share the company's commitment to making the law more accessible to the British consumer online.

Rocket Lawyer provides easy and affordable legal services and has helped over 20 million people and organizations in the United States. As Rocket Lawyer expands its mission to serve the UK, Mark Edwards brings a wealth of experience and an understanding of the unique needs of British consumers.

"Many people in the UK have been underserved by traditional legal services," said Charley Moore, Founder and Executive Chairman of Rocket Lawyer. "Combine that with the current economic recovery and cuts to government legal aid, and it is even more compelling for us to offer an affordable alternative. We're thrilled to have Mark Edwards at the head of our UK service because of his experience and his shared passion for our mission."

The Rocket Lawyer UK team also includes Imran Shariff, as Head of Operations. Imran joins the team from BSkyB and brings several years of business performance management expertise.

About Mark Edwards, VP and General Manager
With a decade of experience as an innovator and business leader in the UK legal industry, Mark specializes in creating and growing new businesses based on sound market insight and customer need. He sees the team and the people in it as the crucial component for building a successful business.

Prior to joining Rocket Lawyer in 2012, Mark led the legal business development team for LexisNexis UK. There, he managed a cross-functional team, and was responsible for the full lifecycle of product innovation -- from proposition development and business case, through the launch and early sales traction. During his time at LexisNexis UK he built two new product lines.

Previously, Mark was a user experience consultant, working in various industries including telecommunications and health.

Mark has a Computing degree, a masters in User Experience, and a PhD in Artificial Intelligence.

About Rocket Lawyer?
At Rocket Lawyer, we believe everyone deserves easy and affordable legal services. Since 2008 we've helped over 20 million people and small businesses take care of their legal matters -- so they can focus on what really matters. For more information on Rocket Lawyer, please visit http://www.rocketlawyer.com and follow Rocket Lawyer on Twitter, Facebook and Google+.

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Gabriel Aubry Grilled By Halle Berry's Lawyer Under Oath - TMZ.com

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Gabriel Aubry is being grilled today under oath by Halle Berry's lawyer -- and we're told the end game for Halle is for Gabriel to admit he has plenty of free time to travel back and forth to France to visit Nahla.

Gabriel arrived at the office of Halle's lawyer Stephen Kolodny moments ago -- after a quick lunch with his own lawyer Gary Fishbein -- and we asked him several questions on the block-and-a-half walk (above). Gabriel wasn't in a talkative mood.

But here's the deal -- as we first reported, Halle wants to move to Paris with Nahla and fiance Olivier Martinez. Sources tell us Halle's lawyer will ask Gabriel about his work commitments. We're told he works very sporadically as a model and Halle believes he can still maintain a meaningful, long-distance relationship with Nahla as a result.

Gabriel has vehemently objected to the proposed move, which must be approved by the custody judge.

We're also told Kolodny will ask Gabriel about Halle's allegations that he has neglected Nahla and even put her in danger.

And, we're told finances are a subject of the depo, because Gabriel is asking Halle to pay child support and his lawyer's fees.

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Martin family lawyer known for civil rights cases - Boston.com

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SANFORD, Fla.—When Benjamin Crump got his first call from Trayvon Martin's father last month, the attorney counseled patience.

It had only been two days since a neighborhood watch volunteer had fatally shot the 17-year-old, and surely an arrest was imminent, thought Crump, who has pursued several civil rights cases against law enforcement agencies.

Two more days passed. Still nothing.

"I believed in my heart of hearts they were going to arrest him," Crump said Thursday in an interview. "I said, `Oh, they are going to arrest him. You don't need me on this.'"

More than a month later, there still has been no arrest.

But thanks largely to Crump's efforts, the case has stirred marches and rallies around the nation, merited comment from President Barack Obama, led to the resignation of the Sanford police chief and brought scrutiny from the U.S. Department of Justice into this Orlando suburb of 55,000 residents.

"When you have the president commenting on the matter and you have celebrities and politicians wearing their hoodies as a symbol of the cause that you're representing, and it has taken over the world's attention, this is overwhelming in a sense," said Crump, who was in Washington for several days of meeting with members of Congress and appearing on national news shows. "We've been pushing relentlessly day and night."

Crump's strategy for making the case international news began with a series of heart-wrenching news conferences in which Martin's parents spoke about their loss. Florida media outlets began to notice. Then, he enlisted U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown to help convince authorities to release 911 tapes, recordings that brought the case to the attention of national media. He's further ratcheted pressure on authorities by organizing a series of rallies and working with national civil rights figures such as Al Sharpton.

The push began not long after Martin's death on the night of Feb. 26. Martin, wearing a hoodie, was walking home from a Sanford, Fla. convenience store when he was spotted by neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman, who called a police dispatcher to report Martin as suspicious. There was a confrontation, and Martin was shot. Zimmerman has told detectives he shot Martin in self-defense.

Martin's death raises questions about the role of vigilantism, racial profiling and Florida's self-defense laws. Under those laws, a person isn't obligated to retreat in a threatening situation. Zimmerman's father has said his son wasn't profiling Martin and that he isn't racist. Zimmerman's mother is Hispanic and his father is white.

Crump was first contacted by a cousin of Trayvon Martin's father. The cousin, a Miami attorney, was familiar with Crump's civil rights work in Florida. Before Martin's death, Crump was best known for representing the parents of a teenage boy who died after an encounter with guards at a Florida boot camp in 2006. The videotaped beating of Martin Lee Anderson attracted national attention and led to the closure of the state's boot camps for juvenile offenders.

Crump, 42, and his wife, Genae Angelique Crump, are raising two teenage boys who are the biological sons of Crump's cousin. The oldest is Martin's age.

"Trayvon hits home on many levels," Crump said.

Crump and his law partner, Daryl Parks, are Tallahassee-based personal injury attorneys who primarily handle wrongful death and negligence cases. But their everyday work often involves civil rights issues.

"Daryl and Ben look at things in a broader perspective," said James Messer, a Tallahassee attorney who serves on the board of the Tallahassee Bar Association with Crump. "While there may be a wrongful death issue, it involves, in their eyes, more than anything a civil rights cause ... (Crump) has a passion for issues that have something to do with civil rights violations."

Crump's advocacy on behalf of Martin's family has gotten the attention of established civil rights leaders. Both Sharpton and Jesse Jackson flew down to Sanford to participate in rallies and a meeting before the Sanford city commission.

"He has integrity, smarts and an uncanny ability," Jackson said about Crump. "He is not flashy. He is just kind of a basic, old, solid-thinking, country lawyer."

Crump gets the "country" part from growing up in Lumberton, N.C., a tiny town not far from Fort Bragg. His mother held down two jobs as a factory worker and hotel housekeeper. His biological father was a soldier at Fort Bragg. He was raised by his mother and her high school sweetheart who later became her husband. Crump regards him as his father. The oldest of nine siblings and step-siblings, Crump grew up in an extended family of cousins, uncles and aunts headed by his beloved great-grandmother, Mittie.

"She had a switch in her hand when we came home from school. She would ask what we learned in school that day, and she used that switch to enforce the importance of that question," Crump said of his great-grandmother.

Crump would spend all day every Sunday in Pentecostal church, often missing the chance to watch his Dallas Cowboys play on television. The influence of the church is visible in his public speeches when he often sounds more like a preacher than a lawyer. His interest in civil rights stems from attending segregated schools until he was in fifth grade.

"It was a situation to me, that I said, `Why do people on that side of the tracks have it so much better than people on our side of the tracks?'" he said.

When Crump was in high school, his mother sent him to Fort Lauderdale to live with the man he regarded as his father so he could have a male influence and be exposed to the culture that the bigger city offered.

He attended college and law school and Florida State University, where he met Parks, his future law partner. In his personal statement for law school, he said his hero was Thurgood Marshall, the U.S. Supreme Court's first black justice. After graduating, Parks and Crump formed their own law firm, Tallahassee-based, Parks and Crump.

Crump dodges the question of how, and if, he is being compensated by Trayvon Martin's parents.

"You do it because it's the right thing to do," he said. "As long as you make your goal to do right and do good, all of the money and financial material stuff will come."

? Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Lawyer Says Zuccotti Park Demonstrators Broke No Law - New York Times (blog)

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Robert Stolarik for The New York TimesPolice officers in Zuccotti Park, on Nov. 15, 2011 where they removed tents and arrested Occupy Wall Street protesters.

When hundreds of police officers entered Zuccotti Park early on Nov. 15, they dismantled tents and other structures that had been erected by Occupy Wall Street protesters in defiance of rules established in September by the park’s owner, Brookfield Properties.

The police also arrested dozens of protesters who refused to leave the park, charging them with offenses that included trespassing and disorderly conduct, as officers set up metal barricades around the park’s perimeter.

On Friday, a defense lawyer argued in Criminal Court in Manhattan that such charges filed against two of his clients should be dismissed.

While it might be appropriate for Brookfield to establish rules governing behavior in the park, the lawyer said, the company could not order people out of the park, because an agreement with the city required it to be open to the public 24 hours a day.

“Brookfield lacked the authority to exclude people,” the lawyer, Jethro M. Eisenstein, argued in support of a motion to dismiss the charges, contending that it was “unseemly and unjust to allow Brookfield to harness the power of the state” to clear the park of protesters.

But an assistant district attorney told Judge Matthew A. Sciarrino Jr. that the company was within its rights to revoke permission for protesters to be in the park while the police and sanitation workers removed banned structures.

“They have to have the ability to enforce rules,” the prosecutor, Ryan Hayward, said. “They did deem it necessary to close that park.”

Judge Sciarrino asked both sides to clarify certain points. He asked Mr. Eisenstein if he thought the rules allowed people to use Zuccotti Park for any purpose. Later, he told Mr. Hayward that experience had taught him that sometimes, “the law is not simply what the city says it is.”

At the heart of the arguments is the issue of what authority and responsibilities Brookfield has in managing Zuccotti Park, a half-acre granite expanse in the financial district that the Occupy protesters turned into a headquarters in mid-September. The park was created under an agreement that allowed developers of a skyscraper across Liberty Street to build 500,000 extra square feet of office space.

In return, the developers created a public space that would be open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

According to papers filed by Mr. Eisenstein and the New York Civil Liberties Union, Brookfield can limit public access to the park only after going through a process that involves gaining the approval of the City Planning Commission.

The district attorney’s office, along with the city’s Law Department, disagreed, writing that “Brookfield Properties was faced with a situation where the volume of tenting, structures, sleeping bags, pillows, clothes, trash and other personal property had created a safety condition,” and that the only effective remedy involved clearing people from the park.

At one point, Judge Sciarrino asked Mr. Hayward if he agreed that there was a distinction between rules of conduct and rules of access. Mr. Hayward replied that he did and that in order “to ensure compliance with rules of conduct that temporary closure needed to be effectuated.”

Mr. Eisenstein countered that the closure could not accurately be termed temporary because metal barricades surrounded the park for nearly two months after Nov. 15, and that people entering during that time were subject to searches by private security guards.

Judge Sciarrino did not rule immediately on the motion.

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Keith Olbermann's lawyer vows 'bad result' for Al Gore's Current - Los Angeles Times (blog)

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Keith Olbermann's lawyer is coming out swinging against Al Gore and Current TV.

The tiny network, co-founded by the former vice president and Nobel laureate, announced Friday that it had fired the liberal host because he didn't share its "values" of respect and collegiality.

In response, Patty Glaser, a veteran litigator who represents Olbermann, blasted Current in a phone call with Show Tracker.

"Keith Olbermann's termination is baseless," she said. "We will sue them for their improper conduct. They made a bad decision; they can expect a bad result."

The war of words comes after Current informed Olbermann on Thursday morning that his services were no longer needed. A source familiar with the situation said bosses grew frustrated after Olbermann took repeated unexcused absences from his talk show "Countdown," including the night before the March 6 Super Tuesday primaries, when interest in his brand of political talk was at a premium.

The two sides tried to hammer out a settlement Thursday and into Friday, but with Olbermann insisting on tens of millions of dollars to pay out his contract, they remained far apart, according to two sources with knowledge of the matter.

Olbermann accused Gore and Current co-founder Joel Hyatt of a cynical money-saving move. "For more than a year I have been imploring Al Gore and Joel Hyatt to resolve our issues internally, while I've been not publicizing my complaints, and keeping the show alive for the sake of its loyal viewers and even more loyal staff," Olbermann tweeted. "Nevertheless, Mr. Gore and Mr. Hyatt, instead of abiding by their promises and obligations and investing in a quality news program, finally thought it was more economical to try to get out of my contract."

Olbermann's ouster comes just two months after Current bosses assured journalists that previous conflicts with Olbermann had been settled.

"We're fine," Gore told Show Tracker in January when asked about the Olbermann situation.

RELATED:

Conservatives rejoice at Keith Olbermann's Current ouster

Keith Olbermann sacked by Current

Al Gore looks beyond Current spat

— Scott Collins (twitter.com/scottcollinsLAT)

Photo: Keith Olbermann was fired by Current TV and now plans to sue, his lawyer says. Credit: Jason Kempin/Getty Images.?

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Lawyer cites PTSD to defend US soldier in Afghan killings

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The lawyer for a US soldier charged with killing 17 villagers in southern Afghanistan said Wednesday he will cite Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) to defend the serviceman.

Attorney John Henry Browne added that prosecutors will have trouble proving their case against Staff Sergeant Robert Bales, whose alleged attack further strained already tense ties between Washington and Kabul.

Bales, 38, is said to have walked out of his base in the southern province of Kandahar in the early hours of March 11 and mounted a massacre in two nearby villages, with many of his victims women and children.

"When the experts are done with this case, there'll definitely be PTSD... I know a lot about PTSD and the symptoms and everything, and I'm convinced from my conversations that PTSD will be an issue," he told CNN.

The lawyer, who said he has met his client for 11 hours, downplayed reports that Bales had confessed, or even spoken about the shootings when he returned from the alleged attacks in the early hours.

"I don't know that I trust anything about him saying 'I shot people,' because I have not heard that from any source I trust," Browne told CNN in an interview.

Bales, who is being held at the Fort Leavenworth military base in Kansas, has been charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder, as well as six counts of assault and attempted murder in connection with the massacre.

Browne claimed there was a lack of evidence from the scene.

"It's not a traditional crime scene. There is no crime scene. The military has not even been back to the villages where this allegation stems from. They haven't been back there," Browne said.

"So there's no crime scene, there's no DNA, there's no fingerprints, there's no confession. It's -- you know, the Afghan people traditionally, I understand, and understandably, bury their dead very quickly.

"So it's going to be a tough case for the prosecutors," he added.

The killings have put further strain on the already difficult relationship between Kabul and Washington, after the burning of Korans by American soldiers in mid-February triggered deadly anti-US protests.

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Sacramento Personal Injury Lawyers to Open Demas Law Group - PR Web (press release)

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Sacramento, California (PRWEB) March 30, 2012

A team of Sacramento injury attorneys embarks on a new course by forming the Demas Law Group. The firm began operation under this name in March of 2012. The firm's primary mission is to serve the Sacramento community in a wide array of personal injury matters. The firm is comprised of Sacramento personal injury attorneys who have decades of collective experience helping injured clients in California.

The Demas Law Group will be led by John N. Demas. Mr. Demas has successfully handled personal injury cases in the Sacramento area for twenty years, including wrongful death, catastrophic injury and defective products claims. He has represented victims of automobile, trucking, and construction accidents. Mr. Demas has earned a reputation with attorneys, clients, and insurance companies alike as a vigilant advocate for injured victims. His skill and expertise have led to some of the largest verdicts in Sacramento County history. He has been selected by his peers as a Northern California Super Lawyer for 2009, 2010, and 2011, an exclusive honor limited to less than 5% of all attorneys, and approximately 1% of plaintiff personal injury attorneys. He was recently recognized as the Trial Lawyer/Advocate of the Year by the Capitol City Trial Lawyers Association, in recognition for his extraordinary trial results and intrepid work in advocating the rights of consumers. In addition, Mr. Demas has been granted membership to The American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA), and has a 10/10 rating, the highest possible rating, with the prominent attorney ranking web site, Avvo.com. He is also a member of The Justice Roundtable, an organization consisting of 100 of the nation’s top personal injury attorneys.

The Demas Law Group is committed to achieving the best possible results for its clients. Its primary objective is to serve the members of the community through open communication, compassion, and strong ethical values. The personal injury attorneys at Demas Law Group offer specialized legal skills, experience and diligence and devote all their resources to providing exceptional legal representation and personal service. Their track record of success includes numerous seven-figure settlements and verdicts, and has earned them accolades from their peers and community.

The Demas Law Group has received an "AV" rating, the highest possible national rating from Martindale-Hubbell. In addition, the firm has been given the highest marks for "adherence to professional standards of conduct, ethics, reliability and diligence."

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San Diego Personal Injury Attorney Announces the Launch of a New Website - PR Web (press release)

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San Diego, CA (PRWEB) March 30, 2012

http://www.SanDiegoPersonalInjuryAttorneyz.org, based in San Diego, California announces the launch of its new website. Clients can find valuable information regarding San Diego personal injury lawyers and other services by visiting this website.

Of the thousands of people involved in automobile accidents each year, many fail to pursue further justice for their injury. A serious car accident can mean time off of work, continual health problems and mounting medical bills during a hospital stay. Insurance companies only cover a small portion of these overwhelming expenses. Anyone involved in a car accident should consult a San Diego personal injury lawyer to find out how they can get what is owed to them after an accident.

Each year thousands of people are involved in automobile accidents that lead to hospitalization, long term injury and even death. The staff at San Diego Personal Injury Attorneys are focused on providing justice for injured parties who need a San Diego personal injury lawyer. With years of experience living and representing clients in and around the San Diego, California area, the law firm knows what it takes to win a case against other drivers after an accident.

The new website, SanDiegoPersonalInjuryAttorneyz.org, has been launched to provide clients with valuable information on what to do in event of an accident. The San Diego auto accident lawyer that is chosen will hire expert witnesses to testify on your behalf during a court hearing. The goal of any lawyer is to work for the best possible outcome for their client. More information on the benefits and things clients should know about automobile accidents can be found on the new http://www.SanDiegoPersonalInjuryAttorneyz.org website.

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Lawyer denies mobster has information on Gardner art museum heist

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By Milton J. Valencia, Globe Staff

The lawyer for the latest person of interest in the investigation into the mysterious 1990 art heist at Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum said today that his client, despite being hounded by investigators for at least two years, maintains he has no information about the notorious crime.

A. Ryan McGuigan, the lawyer for 75-year-old Robert Gentile, said federal prosecutors are torturing his client by keeping him jailed on drug distribution charges in Connecticut in an effort to squeeze information out from him about the museum heist.

But “he spoke with authorities, he’s cooperated with them as best as he could, he just didn’t have anything for them,” McGuigan said, adding that Gentile has even been brought before a grand jury to testify.

Gentile, a reputed member of the Mafia from Manchester, Conn., is being held without bail following his February arrest for allegedly distributing illegally obtained prescription drugs. He faces the potential for far more serious charges after investigators allegedly found guns and other materials, including silencers and ammunition, during a search of his home.

A spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Connecticut said an investigation into Gentile remains ongoing.

McGuigan said the original drug charges were based on information provided by a confidential informant who had tried to entice Gentile into egregious, illegal behavior before.

He questioned whether his client was set up by the confidential informat, whose relationship with Gentile suspiciously began after investigators identified Gentile as a person of interest in the Gardner art theft.

“If you believe in that coincidence, I’ve got a bridge to sell you,” McGuigan said. “This case is a pretext to get him incarcerated to the point they believe he will give information up, and in all honesty, he just doesn’t have it.”

Federal prosecutors acknowledged during a bail hearing in US District Court in Hartford on Tuesday that they believe Gentile may have information about the painting thefts, the Hartford Courant first reported. Tom Carson, a spokesman for the US attorney’s office in Connecticut, confirmed the interest in Gentile related to the museum investigation, but would not elaborate.

Assistant US Attorney John Durham, the same prosecutor who led the investigation into the FBI’s scandalous ties with organized crime figures in Boston, said in court that discussions with Gentile had so far been unproductive.

The heist remains one of the most mysterious thefts of art in the world, and the Gardner Museum is offering a $5 million reward for any information. Federal investigators have also offered immunity for information about the theft.

The heist was pulled off on March 18, 1990. Authorities said at least two men dressed as police officers conned their way into the museum in the early morning hours, tied up the security guards, and left with 13 masterworks, including three Rembrandts, and five by Degas. Some of the stolen pieces could sell for $50 millio on the open market, art experts say.

Investigators have long suspected Boston’s underworld of carrying out such an orchestrated crime.

Gentile is said to be a “made” member of the Mafia with ties to a Philadelphia crime family, Durham said in court Tuesday. He was introduced to the Mafia by capo Robert Luisi, who was from Medford and had ties to Philadelphia, according to Durham.

Luisi was a well-known Boston Mafia figure who pleaded guilty in 2000 to the murder of a rival gangster and who agreed to cooperate with prosecutors in exchange for a lighter sentence. He later reneged on cooperating and was sentenced in 2003 to 20 years on cocaine charges.

Durham said in court Tuesday that Luisi implicated his associates, including Gentile, in other crimes.

McGuigan, Gentile’s lawyer, said his client had no information about the heist, suggesting that if he did, he would have likely stepped forward and collected the $5 million reward.

In the meantime, he said, his client – whom he described as an elderly, obese man – is growing ill in a detention center awaiting trial as prosecutors press him for information.

“It’s the largest unsolved art theft in the history of the world, and they’ve had one lead in 22 years that went nowhere. This is the second one,” McGuigan said.

Milton J. Valencia can be reached at mvalencia@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @miltonvalencia.

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Lawyer who killed Kanpur cop got firearm licence while in jail - Indian Express

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A probe has been ordered into how lawyer Saurabh Verma, who shot dead sub-inspector (S-I) Devendra Kumar and injured a constable with his licenced revolver inside Naubasta police outpost on Thursday night, had procured firearms licence.

Verma has several criminal cases pending against him and is learnt to have procured the arms licence while he was in jail in 2004.

Kanpur SP (City) Umesh Kumar Singh told The Indian Express that the lawyer has been jailed thrice in cases related to robbery and the Gangster Act registered at Chakeri and Barra police stations of the city earlier.

Kanpur Additional District Magistrate (ADM) City Shailendra Singh said he has ordered a probe into the procedure through which Verma was issued the licence in 2004. The probe will find out if there were lapses behind issuing him the licence and the reasons behind the police and the administration not recommending for cancellation of the licence if the person was facing criminal cases, the ADM City said.

SP (City) Singh said Verma was in a drunken state when he was brought to the police outpost by S-I Devendra and constable Mohan Baghel late on Thursday.

Verma was threatening his father to shoot himself with his revolver. The policemen did not search him when he was brought to the outpost. He allegedly misbehaved with the S-I and indulged in a fight with him. As Devendra tried to overpower him, Verma fired two bullets in his head.

The assailant fired at constable Baghel too, who sustained bullet injuries in his hand. Constable Satyabhan hit Verma with his rifle?s butt and overpowered him, the SP (City) added.

... contd.

Tags: Saurabh Verma, Devendra Kumar, Naubasta, Umesh Kumar Singh

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Reginald E. Gilliam Jr., lawyer and lobbyist - Washington Post

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Reginald E. Gilliam Jr., lawyer and lobbyistText SizePrintE-mailReprints The Washington Post

Reginald E. Gilliam Jr., a lawyer and lobbyist who served as a senior executive for Sodexo, a Gaithersburg-based food and facilities management company, died March 28 at George Washington University Hospital. He was 67.

He had complications from lymphoma, said his wife, Arleen Gilliam.

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Personal Post(Courtesy of Gilliam Family) - Reginald E. Gilliam Jr., right, a lawyer and lobbyist who served as a senior executive for Sodexo, a Gaithersburg food and facilities management company, died March 28 at George Washington University Hospital.

Mr. Gilliam, the son of a Pullman railroad car porter, was a Harvard-educated lawyer. He first came to the Washington region in 1975 as the legislative counsel to Sen. John Glenn (D-Ohio).

In 1980, President Jimmy Carter appointed Mr. Gilliam to the Interstate Commerce Commission, a regulatory body that oversees the railroad, long-haul trucking and passenger bus industries. In his three years at the commission, he advocated the hiring and promotion of minorities.

During the mid-1980s, he served as New York state’s director of commercial transportation under Gov. Mario Cuomo (D) before becoming chief of staff for Rep. Louis Stokes (D-Ohio) a senior member of the Congressional Black Caucus.

In 1993, Mr. Gilliam joined the lobbying firm Hill and Knowlton, where his clients included the city of Cleveland and the Republic of Botswana. He was senior managing director at Hill and Knowlton before joining Sodexo in 2002. He helped establish the firm’s government affairs office and was a senior vice president at the time of his death.

Reginald Earl Gilliam Jr. was born Dec. 29, 1944, in New York’s Harlem neighborhood. He was a 1965 graduate of Lincoln University, a historically black college in Pennsylvania. He was a 1968 graduate of Harvard Law School, where he helped found the Harvard Black Law Students Association.

He taught political science at Williams College in Massachusetts before moving to Washington.

Survivors include his wife of 42 years, Arleen Fain Gilliam, of Vienna.

— T. Rees Shapiro

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Tampa Personal Injury Attorney Says Florida's New PIP Law Presents Challenges - PR Web (press release)

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Holiday, FL (PRWEB) March 29, 2012

Tampa personal injury attorney Lawrence Disparti warned Florida drivers today that recently passed changes in state PIP law make it important for the injured to act quickly to protect their rights to insurance payments.

Florida’s personal injury protection insurance law, or PIP, now puts the burden on the injured individual to qualify for compensation to pay for medical expenses and other losses due to their injuries, said Disparti, founder of the Disparti Law Group.

“Some are calling the new law a boon to insurance companies, and we tend to agree,” said Disparti, founder of the Disparti Law Group.

The law firm serves accident and injury victims throughout the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater metropolitan area, including victims of motor vehicle accidents.

“What’s important now is that people hurt in car accidents take the steps they need so they will not miss out on the financial assistance they are entitled to receive.”
House Bill 119 is an amendment to the PIP law adopted in 1972 to ensure that anyone injured in a Florida auto accident would quickly get money to treat their injuries.

The bill, which was adopted during the recently completed legislative session, requires injured people to obtain medical care within 14 day of their injury. The care must be from a physician, osteopath, dentist, chiropractor, physician’s assistant or advanced registered nurse practitioner, or from a hospital or in a facility wholly owned by a hospital.

Also, a physician, osteopathic physician, dentist, supervised physician’s assistant or advanced registered nurse practitioner must determine that the individual has had an “emergency medical condition” for them to qualify for the full $10,000 medical benefit defined in the PIP law since its inception.

Without declaration of an emergency medical condition, the insurance payment is capped at $2,500.

Legislators say the law’s changes will reduce insurance fraud. Others disagree.

“Floridians are in for a rude awakening,” Florida Consumer Action Network spokesman Bill Newton said in the Insurance Journal. “Instead of measures aimed at preventing true fraud, we’re left with a bill that pads the pockets of big insurance companies.”

The Tampa personal injury lawyers of Disparti’s firm help clients throughout Florida to obtain insurance settlements as part of the firm’s insurance coverage litigation practice.

“Now more than ever, as soon as possible after a car accident or any other kind of accident that causes a serious injury, the harmed party should seek the help of an experienced personal injury attorney,” Disparti said.

“Insurance companies stay in business by paying as little as possible when policyholders file claims,” he said. “Florida’s new PIP law does not make it impossible to obtain full insurance payments, but it could make it more difficult in many cases.”

Disparti said that many times the $10,000 PIP payment does not cover all of the injured party’s expenses and losses. In those cases, a personal injury lawsuit may be necessary.

“If a person has been seriously injured in an accident or lost a loved one in a car wreck or similar incident, they have a right to proper compensation for their losses,” he said. “An experienced personal injury lawyer will work hard to ensure they get the full amount of compensation they deserve.”

About Disparti Law Group, P.A.

Disparti Law Group, P.A., is a Tampa personal injury and disability benefits law firm that provides legal assistance to individuals in cases involving car accidents, slip-and-fall or premises liability, products liability, medical malpractice, wrongful death, nursing home neglect and inadequate security. The firm also helps clients with Social Security Disability (SSD), Supplemental Security Income (SSI), railroad disability (FELA and RRB claims) and veterans’ benefits (including TSGLI claims).

The firm serves clients across the U.S., including Illinois, Ohio, Georgia, Tennessee, Houston, Chicago, St. Louis, Washington, D.C. and the South Florida communities of Tampa, Miami, St. Petersburg, Sarasota, Bonita Springs, Clearwater, Fort Meyers, Holiday, Naples and Port Charlotte. To learn more about the Tampa personal Injury and Social Security disability lawyers of the Disparti Law Group, P.A., call (800) 633-4091 or use the firm’s online contact form.

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Lawyer Says Zuccotti Park Demonstrators Broke No Law

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Robert Stolarik for The New York TimesPolice officers in Zuccotti Park, on Nov. 15, 2011 where they removed tents and arrested Occupy Wall Street protesters.

When hundreds of police officers entered Zuccotti Park early on Nov. 15, they dismantled tents and other structures that had been erected by Occupy Wall Street protesters in defiance of rules established in September by the park’s owner, Brookfield Properties.

The police also arrested dozens of protesters who refused to leave the park, charging them with offenses that included trespassing and disorderly conduct, as officers set up metal barricades around the park’s perimeter.

On Friday, a defense lawyer argued in Criminal Court in Manhattan that such charges filed against two of his clients should be dismissed.

While it might be appropriate for Brookfield to establish rules governing behavior in the park, the lawyer said, the company could not order people out of the park, because an agreement with the city required it to be open to the public 24 hours a day.

“Brookfield lacked the authority to exclude people,” the lawyer, Jethro M. Eisenstein, argued in support of a motion to dismiss the charges, contending that it was “unseemly and unjust to allow Brookfield to harness the power of the state” to clear the park of protesters.

But an assistant district attorney told Judge Matthew A. Sciarrino Jr. that the company was within its rights to revoke permission for protesters to be in the park while the police and sanitation workers removed banned structures.

“They have to have the ability to enforce rules,” the prosecutor, Ryan Hayward, said. “They did deem it necessary to close that park.”

Judge Sciarrino asked both sides to clarify certain points. He asked Mr. Eisenstein if he thought the rules allowed people to use Zuccotti Park for any purpose. Later, he told Mr. Hayward that experience had taught him that sometimes, “the law is not simply what the city says it is.”

At the heart of the arguments is the issue of what authority and responsibilities Brookfield has in managing Zuccotti Park, a half-acre granite expanse in the financial district that the Occupy protesters turned into a headquarters in mid-September. The park was created under an agreement that allowed developers of a skyscraper across Liberty Street to build 500,000 extra square feet of office space.

In return, the developers created a public space that would be open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

According to papers filed by Mr. Eisenstein and the New York Civil Liberties Union, Brookfield can limit public access to the park only after going through a process that involves gaining the approval of the City Planning Commission.

The district attorney’s office, along with the city’s Law Department, disagreed, writing that “Brookfield Properties was faced with a situation where the volume of tenting, structures, sleeping bags, pillows, clothes, trash and other personal property had created a safety condition,” and that the only effective remedy involved clearing people from the park.

At one point, Judge Sciarrino asked Mr. Hayward if he agreed that there was a distinction between rules of conduct and rules of access. Mr. Hayward replied that he did and that in order “to ensure compliance with rules of conduct that temporary closure needed to be effectuated.”

Mr. Eisenstein countered that the closure could not accurately be termed temporary because metal barricades surrounded the park for nearly two months after Nov. 15, and that people entering during that time were subject to searches by private security guards.

Judge Sciarrino did not rule immediately on the motion.

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Philip Harnett Corboy, Jr. Receives Distinguished Alumnus Award from DePaul ... - Business Wire (press release)

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CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Corboy & Demetrio partner Philip Harnett Corboy, Jr. has received the 2012 Distinguished Alumnus Award from DePaul University College of Law. Philip “Flip” Corboy, Jr. is a 1977 graduate of the law school. Corboy was honored for his leadership roles in the legal community, his life-long charitable work and his 35 years of accomplishments as a trial lawyer.

“This is the highest distinction the College of Law can bestow. The award is to recognize alumni who have reached the pinnacle of their careers, maintaining a level of career excellence over their lifetime”

“This is the highest distinction the College of Law can bestow. The award is to recognize alumni who have reached the pinnacle of their careers, maintaining a level of career excellence over their lifetime,” according to Gregory Mark, Dean of DePaul University College of Law.

Flip Corboy is a past President of the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association and a past President of the Board of Directors of the Legal Assistance Foundation of Chicago, the nation’s second largest legal aid agency. In 2002, Flip was inducted into the American College of Trial Lawyers, the nation’s pre-eminent, invitation-only organization of trial lawyers who are considered the best in their state.

Receiving the 2012 Distinguished Alumnus Award is just one of many accolades Flip Corboy has received for his accomplishments as a trial lawyer. Flip was named to Best Lawyers in America, 2012 Edition, in the area of personal injury litigation. This was the seventh year in a row Corboy received such an honor. His Chicago law firm, Corboy & Demetrio, was named to Best Law Firms in the Chicago metropolitan market by U.S. News, which publishes U.S. News & World Report.

Flip Corboy was given the elite designation of Illinois Super Lawyer for the eighth year in a row in 2012. Corboy was also named to The Top 100 Lawyers in Illinois by Illinois Super Lawyers for the fourth straight year.

In addition, Corboy has attained the prestigious designation of Leading Lawyer by the Leading Lawyers Network for nine consecutive years since the award’s inception.

Flip Corboy’s record of success is extensive. He has tried or settled more than 55 cases in which plaintiffs have recovered $1 million or more. Those successes include a $22.5 million settlement in 2011 for the family of a Rockford, Illinois, woman who died in a train derailment; an $18 million settlement for a Mexican national killed by piece of falling glass in downtown Chicago; a record-setting $17 million jury verdict for a brain-damaged victim who was knocked down by a limousine; an $11 million settlement for a Chicago dental student burned in an automobile fire; a record-setting $7 million settlement for a 78-year-old woman who was hurt when she was struck by an automatic door at Target; and a record-setting $4.5 million verdict for an Central Illinois couple who were passengers in a car that was hit by a pizza delivery car.

Throughout his career, Flip Corboy has demonstrated a strong commitment to public service. Before becoming a nationally-recognized personal injury lawyer, Flip spent seven years as Assistant State’s Attorney in the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office becoming a “first chair” prosecutor and prosecuting major felony cases.

Flip has also maintained a close relationship with the law school that educated him. Corboy sits on Dean’s Council at the DePaul University College of Law and serves on the board of DePaul University’s President's Club.

About Corboy & Demetrio

Corboy & Demetrio is one of the nation’s premier law firms. It represents individuals and their families in serious personal injury and wrongful death cases and is renowned for its achievements in the courtroom and for its contributions to the community. The rights and concerns of its clients are at the core of Corboy & Demetrio’s practice. That commitment, dedication, compassion and relentless drive has resulted in exceptional service and exceptional results for its clients. The firm has acquired more than $3 billion in settlements and verdicts and has attained almost 600 settlements and verdicts in excess of $1 million. To contact Flip Corboy or any of our Chicago personal injury lawyers, call 312-346-3191 or toll free at 800-356-3191. We are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. For more information about our law firm go to corboydemetrio.com.

View the original article here

Two Firm Injury Lawyers Recognized as Top 40 Under 40 Trial Lawyers in Virginia - PR Web (press release)

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Virginia Beach, VA (PRWEB) March 30, 2012

The National Trial Lawyers has selected Virginia injury attorneys Emily Mapp Brannon and Kevin Duffan, associates with the Shapiro, Lewis & Appleton law firm, for inclusion in “Top 40 under 40″ trial lawyers in Virginia.

The National Trial Lawyers Top 40 Under 40 is a professional organization comprised of America’s top young trial attorneys. Membership into the Top 40 Under 40 association is by invitation only and is limited to lawyers under the age of 40 who are chosen by a comprehensive selection process that includes peer nominations and third-party research. Those lawyers selected have excelled in the court room, possess superior qualifications, and have displayed leadership as young trial lawyers.

Basically, this means Emily and Kevin are some of the best personal injury lawyers in Virginia under the age of 40.

Our Virginia personal injury law firm is proud that Emily and Kevin were selected for this prestigious honor. They represent our firm’s commitment to excellence and willingness to advocate our client’s rights from the initial pleading all the way to a jury trial, when necessary.

Emily and Kevin’s achievement comes on the heels of the firm being selected as one of the best injury law firms in Virginia for 2011-2012 by U.S. News & World Report.

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Lawyer says U.S. blocks investigation of Afghan massacre

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SEATTLE (Reuters) - The lawyer defending the U.S. soldier accused of murdering 17 Afghan civilians claims U.S. authorities are blocking his ability to investigate the incident.

John Henry Browne, the lawyer for Staff Sergeant Robert Bales, said U.S. forces in Afghanistan have prevented his team from interviewing injured civilians at a hospital in Kandahar, and are allowing other potential witnesses to scatter, making it difficult to track them down.

"When prosecutors don't cooperate, it's because they are concerned about the strength of their case," said Browne at a press conference at his downtown Seattle office on Friday.

Bales was formally charged last week with the murders of eight adults and nine children in a pre-dawn shooting rampage in southern Afghanistan on March 11, which further eroded U.S.-Afghan relations already strained by a decade of war.

He could face the death penalty if convicted.

No date has been set for a trial, but U.S. military prosecutors are putting together their case while Browne is preparing his defense.

Browne said he has a team of investigators in Afghanistan now, but they are receiving little cooperation from military prosecutors who filed the charges.

"We are facing an almost complete information blackout from the government, which is having a devastating effect on our ability to investigate the charges preferred against our client," he said in a statement released earlier on Friday.

A reliable account of the events of the night of the massacre has not yet emerged. A recent report indicated Afghan villagers doubt Bales acted alone. Other reports suggest Bales left his base twice during the night.

"I don't believe that's the case, but we don't know for sure at this point," Browne said on Friday.

Browne said his investigators had spoken to U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan but had not managed to contact any witnesses.

DENIED ACCESS

"When we tried to interview the injured civilians being treated at Kandahar Hospital we were denied access and told to coordinate with the prosecution team," Browne said in the earlier statement.

"The next day the prosecution team interviewed the civilians i njured. We found out shortly after the prosecution interviews of the injured civilians that the civilians were all released from the hospital and there was no contact information for them." That means potential witnesses will scatter and could prove unreachable, Browne said.

Prosecutors had not shared their investigative findings with his team, and would not share images captured by a surveillance camera on a blimp above the base which the Army says shows Bales returning to the camp after the alleged shooting, he said.

The next step in the case is for Bales - who is being held at a military detention center at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas - to undergo a mental assessment by Army doctors independent of both the prosecution and defense, to determine if he is fit to stand trial, known as a "sanity board" in the Army.

That could take several months, Browne said.

After that has occurred, the military justice system requires a preliminary hearing, known as an "Article 32" hearing, to establish whether there is a strong enough case to proceed to a court martial.

Browne said it was too early to say whether post-traumatic stress disorder would feature in his defense against the charges. "I don't know whether it will at all," said Browne.

"First thing we have to find out is whether the government has a case. Until we're convinced the government has a case, we're not going to start speculating on what our defenses are going to be."

(Reporting By Bill Rigby; Editing by Todd Eastham and Paul Simao)

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Philip Harnett Corboy, Jr. Receives Distinguished Alumnus Award from DePaul ... - MarketWatch (press release)

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CHICAGO, Mar 30, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Corboy & Demetrio partner Philip Harnett Corboy, Jr. has received the 2012 Distinguished Alumnus Award from DePaul University College of Law. Philip “Flip” Corboy, Jr. is a 1977 graduate of the law school. Corboy was honored for his leadership roles in the legal community, his life-long charitable work and his 35 years of accomplishments as a trial lawyer.

“This is the highest distinction the College of Law can bestow. The award is to recognize alumni who have reached the pinnacle of their careers, maintaining a level of career excellence over their lifetime,” according to Gregory Mark, Dean of DePaul University College of Law.

Flip Corboy is a past President of the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association and a past President of the Board of Directors of the Legal Assistance Foundation of Chicago, the nation’s second largest legal aid agency. In 2002, Flip was inducted into the American College of Trial Lawyers, the nation’s pre-eminent, invitation-only organization of trial lawyers who are considered the best in their state.

Receiving the 2012 Distinguished Alumnus Award is just one of many accolades Flip Corboy has received for his accomplishments as a trial lawyer. Flip was named to Best Lawyers in America, 2012 Edition, in the area of personal injury litigation. This was the seventh year in a row Corboy received such an honor. His Chicago law firm, Corboy & Demetrio, was named to Best Law Firms in the Chicago metropolitan market by U.S. News, which publishes U.S. News & World Report.

Flip Corboy was given the elite designation of Illinois Super Lawyer for the eighth year in a row in 2012. Corboy was also named to The Top 100 Lawyers in Illinois by Illinois Super Lawyers for the fourth straight year.

In addition, Corboy has attained the prestigious designation of Leading Lawyer by the Leading Lawyers Network for nine consecutive years since the award’s inception.

Flip Corboy’s record of success is extensive. He has tried or settled more than 55 cases in which plaintiffs have recovered $1 million or more. Those successes include a $22.5 million settlement in 2011 for the family of a Rockford, Illinois, woman who died in a train derailment; an $18 million settlement for a Mexican national killed by piece of falling glass in downtown Chicago; a record-setting $17 million jury verdict for a brain-damaged victim who was knocked down by a limousine; an $11 million settlement for a Chicago dental student burned in an automobile fire; a record-setting $7 million settlement for a 78-year-old woman who was hurt when she was struck by an automatic door at Target; and a record-setting $4.5 million verdict for an Central Illinois couple who were passengers in a car that was hit by a pizza delivery car.

Throughout his career, Flip Corboy has demonstrated a strong commitment to public service. Before becoming a nationally-recognized personal injury lawyer, Flip spent seven years as Assistant State’s Attorney in the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office becoming a “first chair” prosecutor and prosecuting major felony cases.

Flip has also maintained a close relationship with the law school that educated him. Corboy sits on Dean’s Council at the DePaul University College of Law and serves on the board of DePaul University’s President's Club.

About Corboy & Demetrio

Corboy & Demetrio is one of the nation’s premier law firms. It represents individuals and their families in serious personal injury and wrongful death cases and is renowned for its achievements in the courtroom and for its contributions to the community. The rights and concerns of its clients are at the core of Corboy & Demetrio’s practice. That commitment, dedication, compassion and relentless drive has resulted in exceptional service and exceptional results for its clients. The firm has acquired more than $3 billion in settlements and verdicts and has attained almost 600 settlements and verdicts in excess of $1 million. To contact Flip Corboy or any of our Chicago personal injury lawyers, call 312-346-3191 or toll free at 800-356-3191. We are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. For more information about our law firm go to corboydemetrio.com.

SOURCE: Corboy & Demetrio, P.C.

Corboy & Demetrio, P.C. Helen Lucaitis, Esq., Communications Director 33 N. Dearborn Street, 21st floor Chicago, IL 60602 Phone: 312-346-3191 or 312-550-2077 (cell 24/7) Email: hhl@corboydemetrio.com

Copyright Business Wire 2012

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US soldier's lawyer slams Afghan killings 'blackout'

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The lawyer representing a US soldier accused of killing 17 Afghan villagers condemned what he called an "information blackout" that prevents him from preparing his defense case.

Attorney John Henry Browne on Friday said his team had been blocked from interviewing witnesses and injured civilians in southern Afghanistan following the alleged massacre earlier this month.

"We were expecting a lot more cooperation. The prosecutors in this case promised us a lot of cooperation which we're just not getting," he told reporters in Seattle.

"We are facing an almost complete information blackout from the government, which is having a devastating effect on our ability to investigate the charges preferred against our client," he added in a statement.

His client Sergeant Robert Bales, 38, is said to have walked out of his base in the southern province of Kandahar in the early hours of March 11 and mounted a massacre in two nearby villages, with many of his victims women and children.

Browne met his client earlier this month at the Fort Leavenworth military base in Kansas, where Bales is detained charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder, as well as six counts of assault and attempted murder.

But his team has made little progress on the ground in Afghanistan. "When we tried to interview the injured civilians being treated at Kandahar Hospital, we were denied access and told to coordinate with the prosecution team," it said.

The next day, prosecutors interviewed the injured civilians, but Browne's office found out shortly afterward that "the civilians were all released from the hospital and there was no contact information for them.

"In addition, we are being denied access to the injured civilians medical records that are in the possession of the government which makes it even more impossible for us to try to locate and interview these crucial witnesses," it said.

"The prosecution is withholding the entire investigative file from the defense team while the potential witnesses scatter into unknown and potentially inaccessible areas in Afghanistan."

Browne, who said his team had also not been shown an alleged video of Bales, conceded that under military trial rules, they do not have the right to shared "discovery" information until 30 days before a so-called Article 32 preliminary hearing.

"In this case, they actually promised us that if we sent people to Afghanistan... they would cooperate, and make witnesses available for us. And they've obviously violated that promise," he said.

He also warned that the defense -- which will have access to the results of a "sanity review" of Bales expected in the next two months and not made officially available to prosecutors -- could withhold cooperation.

"If they want cooperation from us they better start cooperating more," he told reporters.

Browne said earlier this week that post-traumatic stress disorder will almost certainly be part of his defense, adding that prosecutors will have trouble proving their case against Bales.

The killings have further strained the already difficult relationship between Kabul and Washington, at an all-time low after the burning of Korans by Americans, a spate of deadly anti-US protests and an earlier video showing US Marines urinating on the corpses of Taliban militants.

US military officials declined to respond directly to Browne's allegations. But army spokesman George Wright told AFP: "The US Army will continue to work with the Bales legal defense team in the months to come."

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Mich. lawyer's firing over anti-gay remarks upheld - Wall Street Journal

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LANSING, Mich. — A state hearing officer has upheld the 2010 firing of an assistant attorney general who was accused of harassing the gay student government president at the University of Michigan.

William Hutchens of the Michigan Civil Service Commission says Andrew Shirvell was justly dismissed. He says the attorney engaged in "hate speech" on a blog and "physical and mental harassment."

Shirvell was fired by then-Attorney General Mike Cox in November 2010. He appealed, saying his conduct toward Christopher Armstrong was protected by the First Amendment. But the hearing officer says Shirvell's actions, even in his off hours, put his office in a bad light and could have discouraged people from working there.

Hutchens' decision is dated March 21. Shirvell's lawyer says the decision will be appealed.

—Copyright 2012 Associated Press

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Lawyer: Pollock 'absolutely not guilty' - Atlanta Journal Constitution (blog)

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6:30 pm March 27, 2012, by Ken Sugiura

The attorney for Georgia Tech assistant men’s tennis coach Conor Pollock asserted his client’s innocence Tuesday. Pollock was arrested Saturday on charges of rape and possession of cocaine and marijuana.

“He is absolutely not guilty,” J. Tom Morgan said. “That’s not defense lawyer [talk]. This kid is absolutely not guilty.”

Pollock was arrested after a 23-year-old woman told Atlanta police investigators that Pollock raped her early Saturday. According to information gathered by police, Pollock approached the woman and a friend outside a Buckhead bar and invited them to his apartment.

According to a police report, “The victim advised police that she remembers being at the apartment and then waking up to the suspect raping her.”

Morgan acknowledged that the two met at the bar and returned to Pollock’s Buckhead apartment, but said that Pollock did not rape the woman.

“We all make decisions we regret later, but that doesn’t mean those decisions were criminal acts,” he said.

Morgan said he filed a bond motion Tuesday to have a bond set for Pollock, who remains in Fulton County jail. It is his hope that all three charges will be dropped, beginning with the rape charge.

Pollock, hired by Tech last August, has been placed on administrative leave.

Ken Sugiura, Georgia Tech blog

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Lawyer John Henry Browne on Afghan killings suspect Robert Bales: Was ‘the last tour was too much for someone with a ...

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A defense lawyer for Staff Sgt. Robert Bales said Monday he expects his client to be charged in the murder of 16 Afghans on Thursday. Going into his first face-to-face meetings with Bales, Seattle attorney John Henry Browne said he expected military prosecutors to issue the most severe charges against his client, a 38-year-old career Army soldier and married father of two. And he suggested that the defense may try to argue that Bales should never have been sent to Afghanistan with a concussive brain injury in the first place.

"We know what they are going to say—it's something really bad," Browne told Bloomberg News' David Mildenberg in an interview Monday in Lansing, Kan., near the Fort Leavenworth base where Bales has been held since Friday. The accused staff sergeant is currently residing in a private cell in the military base's medium-security prison.

[Related: Staff Sgt. Robert Bales - what we know so far]

Reports that Bales' family had been suffering financial difficulties and other strains associated with his repeated absences due to three tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan were not relevant, Browne said. He also disputed reported accounts from unnamed military officials that alcohol and marital strains may have been a factor leading up to Bales' alleged March 11 house-to-house shooting rampage, which left nine children dead.

"Everyone has had issues in their lives," Browne told Bloomberg. "Some people do six or seven tours, but the question is whether the last tour was too much for someone with a concussive brain injury."

Daniel Conway, a military lawyer who represented another U.S. soldier charged in 2010 with killing Afghan civilians and also from Joint Base Lewis-McChord, told Yahoo News Monday that a military jury is not likely to be sympathetic to a defense that argues Bales suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and was sent on too many deployments.

"Good luck trying to convince a military jury with a PTSD defense," Conway told Yahoo News in a telephone interview Monday. "A lot of them have multiple family stresses. It will be difficult to convince them that kind of defense" is legitimate.

What Browne is probably trying to do is not argue for a complete acquittal of Bales, Conway said, but instead work to ratchet down the charges. A full acquittal would require that Browne convince a military jury that his client "was unable to perceive the wrongfulness of his or her acts," Conway explained. "That's a tough hurdle."

More likely, Bales' defense will argue that his client's acts "were not premeditated," Conway said. That could possibly expose him to lesser offenses, such as second-degree murder or even manslaughter.

Such mental health determinations "are very relevant" in terms of determining whether Bales faces the death penalty for his alleged acts, Conway said.

Click image to see more photos

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"Always positive": Neighbors, army colleagues describe Bales

As his legal preparations get under way, military colleagues and neighbors who knew Bales are still reeling from the shock that he is the suspect in the Afghanistan massacre.

Originally from the Cincinnati suburb of Norwood, "Bobby" Bales, the youngest of five sons, was described by neighbors as a well-liked, popular and kind extrovert, a high-school football player who looked out for an autistic child up the street, the New York Times' James Dao reported Monday.

"Mr. Bales was a gregarious, chatty, engaged teenager who played football and threw himself into an array of clubs and activities, including theater," Dao wrote, citing Bales' Norwood High School principal David Griffel: "He's one of those kids you remember: a real extrovert."

Army colleagues in Washington state who served with him in Iraq similarly described a sunny Bales to reporters, using words like "solid," and offering up photos of him wearing a broad grin.

Bales was "a really good" soldier and "one of those guys who was always positive," Maj. Brent Clemmer told NPR's Martin Kaste on Sunday. Clemmer nominated Bales to receive a medal for valor for his conduct in the battle of Najaf in 2007, but he did not receive it, Kaste reported, noting that Bales did get awards for good conduct.

But there may have been signs that things became harder for Bales after his third Iraq tour, in which he suffered a brain concussion when his vehicle hit an IED. On that tour, he also lost part of a foot in another incident.

[Related: Hidden perils of traumatic brain injuries]

"I've talked to people who have done both Iraq and Afghanistan, and they say they'd pick Iraq any day of the week because Afghanistan is just so brutal," Bales' former platoon leader in Iraq, Capt. Chris Alexander, told NPR's Kaste.

Bales' attorney Browne previously said that Bales and his family were unhappy about his most recent deployment to Afghanistan, which he began in December.

The surprise combat tour came after a series of other setbacks and disappointments for Bales and his family related to his Army career over the past year.

In a blog that Bales' wife, Karilyn Bales, kept of family life, which the New York Times reported on, she wrote last year about their disappointment that Bales had not received a promotion to sergeant first class, which would have come with a pay increase of about $350 per month. But she tried to see the bright side, saying maybe it would free the family to relocate to a new military base where they could have adventures and more control over their lives (and fewer combat deployments). On her list of preferred destinations, the Times reported: Germany ("best adventure opportunity!"), Italy, Hawaii ("nuff said!) and Kentucky, near her husband's family in southern Ohio.

That was her last entry, in a blog called the Bales' Family Adventures, which has since been removed.

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Strauss-Kahn lawyers fight against prostitutes claim - CNN

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Ex-International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn is not allowed to have contact with others involved in the probe.Attorney: There is no evidence Strauss-Kahn knew women at sex parties were paidOther suspects say the former IMF chief did not know, Henri Leclerc saysStrauss-Kahn is warned he is being investigated for "aggravated pimping"French police are investigating a high-profile prostitution ring in Lille

Paris (CNN) -- Lawyers for Dominique Strauss-Kahn pushed back Tuesday against allegations that he facilitated prostitution in France, saying there was "no significant evidence" the former International Monetary Fund chief knew young women at parties he attended were being paid for sex.

Other suspects held over an investigation into prostitution centered around the city of Lille "said that Dominique Strauss-Kahn did not know that these women were being paid," Strauss-Kahn's lawyer Henri Leclerc said in a news conference.

"We hear that these women say otherwise. Well, no! I can tell you these women do not say otherwise," he said.

Strauss-Kahn was formally warned Monday that he is under investigation for "aggravated pimping" for accusations that he participated in a prostitution ring, prosecutors said.

He is not allowed to have contact with other people involved in the investigation, nor is he permitted to talk to the media about the case. Strauss-Kahn was released under a €100,000 ($133,000) bail, according to prosecutors.

Strauss-Kahn is now at a point in the French legal system that comes after an arrest and before formal charges are filed.

He faces allegations of habitual involvement in a prostitution racket.

The description of the alleged crime as "aggravated" means it took place on a regular and involved basis, and "pimping" means facilitating a prostitution operation, not just being a customer.

Leclerc said it was possible to question his client's morals, but that he had not broken the law.

"We can criticize in terms of virtue, in terms of how a man should conduct himself," the lawyer said. "But in reality, this is just unruly conduct. You can hate it, you may not find it virtuous -- everyone is entitled to their own opinion -- but it is not a crime."

Frederique Beaulieu, another lawyer for Strauss-Kahn, said Tuesday: "You have to remember that in our country having relations with a prostitute is not a crime."

While prostitution is not illegal in France, profiting from the prostitution of another person is against the law, according to the French Penal Code. Authorities are also investigating whether corporate funds were used to pay for the prostitutes.

Leclerc said in December that there was no evidence that such funds were misappropriated.

Last month, Strauss-Kahn was held for more than 24 hours by police in Lille and questioned about alleged involvement in the prostitution ring.

His attorneys released a statement in November calling the allegations against their client "unhealthy, sensationalist and not without a political agenda."

The prostitution probe, nicknamed the "Carlton Affair" by the French press, kicked off in October.

It centers around the city of Lille, w3here investigators began looking into claims that luxury hotels, including the Carlton, served as a base for a high-profile prostitution network.

In December, Strauss-Kahn's attorney Leclerc acknowledged in an interview with radio station Europe1 that his client attended sex parties, but said Strauss-Kahn was unaware the women in attendance were prostitutes.

A hotel manager and four other men were arrested late last year in connection with the investigation.

The Carlton Affair continues a string of sexual allegations against Strauss-Kahn. He has not been convicted of any crime.

One of the sex scandals torpedoed his expected run for the French presidency this year. He stepped down from the top job at the IMF after that incident, in which a New York hotel maid accused him of sexual assault and attempted rape in May. He denied the accusation.

The case ultimately fell apart after prosecutors decided they could not be sure about the credibility of the alleged victim, despite forensic evidence that showed a sexual encounter had occurred.

Strauss-Kahn also faced allegations of attempted rape from a young French writer. Tristane Banon filed a complaint, alleging a 2003 attack, though it could not be pursued because of a statute of limitations.

Strauss-Kahn denied the allegations and has since filed a countersuit in France, alleging slander.

CNN's Brian Walker contributed to this report.

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