Free Republic

RALEIGH, N.C. - In his time off between presidential bids, Democrat John Edwards courted Wall Street financial gurus and Main Street labor leaders. But when it comes to the money backing his second campaign, the wallets of wealthy attorneys who propelled the former trial lawyer's first run for the White House still open more than most. More than half of the Edwards donors who listed their occupations said they are attorneys, and they have given seven times more than any other profession, according to an Associated Press analysis of campaign finance data. By comparison, New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton...

A Jacksonville mother filed suit Monday against Orange Park Medical Center after she developed complications during pregnancy that left her permanently disabled. Natasha Meeks said her health problems started during the first trimester of her third pregnancy with frequent bouts of severe vomiting. She was hospitalized Jan. 12, 2006, after her condition showed no signs of improvement. Doctors at Orange Park Medical Center treated her for malnutrition, but it was later discovered she was suffering from far more than the aftereffects of vomiting. She said she first knew something was out of the ordinary when she went to a bathroom...

TITUSVILLE, Fla. — Death row inmate Mark Dean Schwab is a "scientific mystery" who should be spared execution so he can be further studied to prevent other pedophiles from raping and killing children, his attorney said in a motion for clemency. Schwab, 38, was sentenced to death for the 1991 kidnapping, rape and murder 11-year-old Junny Rios-Martinez of Cocoa. Schwab, who had recently been released from prison for raping another child, targeted Junny after seeing his picture in a newspaper. "As long as he's alive he is available for psychological research, examinations and evaluations, which could in the future prevent...

Law Firms Preparing to Sue Over Global Warming Posted by Noel Sheppard on June 26, 2007 - 09:22. And now for something completely insipid… As the media and their alarmists like soon-to-be-Dr. Al Gore have shamefully convinced enough of the population that man can actual control the climate, law firms around the nation are gearing up to sue possible offenders. I kid you not. As reported in Monday’s Dallas Morning News (h/t NBer alamojb, emphasis added throughout): Top Dallas firm Thompson & Knight started a dedicated climate-change practice June 4 with 26 lawyers. Today, Dallas' Vinson & Elkins will unveil...

If the President had said what Hunter just said, there would be no issue about the firings today. None.

A group of Democratic senators plans to introduce legislation reversing a new law allowing U.S. attorneys to live outside the districts they are appointed to serve. Sens. Dianne Feinstein (Calif.), Charles Schumer (N.Y.), Max Baucus (Mont.) and Jon Tester (Mont.) plan to drop a bill Monday that will undo a provision inserted into last year’s Patriot Act reauthorization. That language, included at the Department of Justice’s request, allows U.S. attorneys to live outside their districts if the attorney general gives them dual or additional responsibilities. The senators’ planned bill would require that U.S. attorneys reside in the district they are...

An all-female law firm is turning heads in Chicago with a new billboard and a blunt message: "Life's Short. Get a Divorce.'' The billboard, sponsored by Fetman, Garland & Associates, Ltd., a firm that specializes in divorce cases, features the six-pack abs of a headless male torso and tanned female cleavage heaving forth from a black lace bra. The ad is the brainchild of Corri Fetman, who told ABC News' Law & Justice Unit, "Law firm advertising is boring&Everything's always the same. It's lawyers in libraries with a suit on and the law books behind them. They don't say anything....

In moves designed to, yet again, work towards placing members of the Bush Administration (specifically the Left’s favorite whipping boy — political aide Karl Rove) in jeopardy, Democrats and their supplicant RINOs have launched their latest of an increasing number of investigations into anything and everything that is “Bush and Republican”. This time it is a Democrat attack against the firing of a number of US Attorneys in an attempt to have Attorney General Alberto Gonzales fired and top Bush officials grilled by a Democrat-run investigatory committee. This seems eerily reminiscent of the old USSR politburo. First, allow me to...

That J. Timothy Griffin's appointment to U.S. attorney in Little Rock would draw the ire of Democrats is not surprising, but wholly unfortunate. His political work has diverted attention from impressive government and military service. It could be that Democrats have payback on their minds. When Griffin worked as an associate independent counsel investigating Henry Cisneros, Bill Clinton's secretary of Housing and Urban Development, he might as well have signed over his life to the devil. Griffin's legal work on allegations of obstruction of justice by a sitting U.S. government official is laudable. But Democrats no doubt read the words...

5:45 P.M. EDT THE PRESIDENT: Earlier today, my staff met with congressional leaders about the resignations of U.S. attorneys. As you know, I have broad discretion to replace political appointees throughout the government, including U.S. attorneys. And in this case, I appointed these U.S. attorneys and they served four-year terms. The Justice Department, with the approval of the White House, believed new leadership in these positions would better serve our country. The announcement of this decision and the subsequent explanation of these changes has been confusing and, in some cases, incomplete. Neither the Attorney General, nor I approve of how...

(2007-03-18) — Embattled U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales made a conference call Friday to the nation’s 93 U.S. attorneys to express his “profound regret” that he didn’t “fire every last one of you when I had the chance,” according to an unnamed source who was in on the call. The contrite Mr. Gonzales said he was sorry that only eight U.S. attorneys had lost their jobs, thus sparking a Congressional probe into accusations that the Bush administration “played politics” with political appointees. “If we had canned the lot of you, like President Clinton did when he took office, no one...

WASHINGTON - The recent firing of eight U.S. attorneys has raised questions about how they are appointed and the circumstances under which they may be dismissed. Here are some questions and answers: Q: What do U.S. attorneys do and how many are there? A: U.S. attorneys are the federal government's equivalent of local district attorneys. They are charged with prosecuting federal crimes in the judicial district in which they serve. There are 93 U.S. attorneys, one for each U.S. district court (except that Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands share a federal prosecutor). Q: Who gets these positions? A: The...

I'm rubber, you're glue ... A neighbor's house was burning -- I smelled the smoke and ran over. "Your house is on fire!" I yelled. He gave me a dirty look. "Oh yeah?" he said. "Well your lawn needs mowing." That didn't actually happen. Not literally. But it is the best illustration of what passes for reason among too many in this country. On Monday I wrote about the dismissal of eight, count 'em, eight United States attorneys by the Bush administration, all on one day, all with claims that their work was somehow substandard. Their work was not substandard,...

WASHINGTON - Democrats are moving to compel some of the eight U.S. attorneys who have been ousted to tell their stories publicly, under oath, after a federal prosecutor claimed he was fired for political reasons. A House subcommittee is slated to vote Thursday on subpoenas for four of the eight dismissed U.S. attorneys. The Senate Judiciary Committee, meanwhile, will send letters to those fired before voting next week on compelling their testimony, according to officials with both panels. The prosecutors have privately told both committees that they would not testify voluntarily but would honor a congressional subpoena, according to Sen....

Business for Valley defense attorneys is booming. Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas has been cracking down on criminals since 2004, and public defenders have scrambled to keep up as prison populations have swelled. “When Thomas came in, caseloads started going up much more,” said Tempe defense attorney David Cantor. He said the trend started with former Maricopa County Attorney Rick Romley, but attorneys saw a distinct caseload change with Thomas. The number of criminal cases filed in Maricopa County Superior Court has risen every year since at least 2001. County prosecutors filed more than 28,000 criminal cases in fiscal year...

A New York lawyer is suing a leading London hotel after he and his wife were attacked by bed bugs. Sidney Bluming and his wife Cynthia are seeking several million dollars in damages from the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group in the action filed at the US District Court, Manhattan. The couple claim they suffered hundreds of bites that left their skin red, swollen and itchy during a five-day stay at the Hyde Park hotel last May. They also say the bugs infested their luggage, which led to further problems in their apartment when they returned home. Mrs Bluming claims the...

It started out as a who's who of Twin Cities law firms joining forces to lure minority attorneys to Minnesota. But the Twin Cities Diversity in Practice group set off a tempest when it excluded a firm that handled a pair of landmark U.S. Supreme Court cases challenging affirmative action. The group's leaders said letting the Minneapolis law firm of Maslon, Edelman, Borman & Brand join the effort would hamper its mission: to make the bar more racially diverse. "Would this law firm participating in our effort help or hinder us to do what we are trying to do?" said...

While Texas plaintiffs lawyers have been leaving in droves from nursing-home and medical-malpractice litigation in the wake of tort reform, San Antonio’s Glenn Cunningham is still doing it—albeit with a radically different business model and a much thinner wallet. Before the 2003 changes in state law, Cunningham would round up seven or eight experts, take 15 to 20 depositions and easily spend $85,000 to $100,000 to work up a case. Apparently, the effort persuaded defendants they had problems on the facts and the law, because he often settled for $1 million to $3 million. But with new restrictions on medical-malpractice...

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) -- A federal judge has halted the sale of federal oil leases on a portion of Alaska's North Slope that environmentalists have pinpointed as a haven for migratory birds and calving caribou. The decision Monday blocks the sale of about 1.7 million acres that the Bureau of Land Management had planned for Wednesday. The sale would have included the Teshekpuk Lake area, which sits above 2 billion barrels of recoverable oil. Environmental groups have argued that a 600,000-acre section of the reserve at Teshekpuk Lake contains some of the most important wetlands in the Arctic. The decision...

The U.S. attorney’s office today joined in warning attorneys that they would be fined if they violate federal law barring unsolicited communications with family members of Flight 5191 crash victims. “We are also concerned that victims’ families may be subjected in this time of grief to unsolicited, and thus improper, communications concerning the accident by attorneys and law firms seeking to obtain clients for subsequent litigation,” said U.S. Attorney Amul R. Thapar. Until 45 days after a plane crash, federal law prohibits attorneys from contacting victims’ families about possible personal injury or wrongful death lawsuits. A $1,000 fine can be...