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Some of the nation’s wealthiest and most powerful law firms have donated hundreds of millions of dollars in free legal services to terror suspects at the Guantanamo Bay prison. Their work, bolstered by left-wing activists groups, has helped to free, or force the transfer, of hundreds of al Qaeda suspects to third countries. Some have gone back to terrorism and the job of trying to kill Americans. The work of big American law firms on behalf of al Qaeda is drawing new attention since Attorney General Eric Holder decided this month that Khalid Sheik Mohammed, who orchestrated the murder of...

Navy SEALs have secretly captured one of the most wanted terrorists in Iraq — the alleged mastermind of the murder and mutilation of four Blackwater USA security guards in Fallujah in 2004. And three of the SEALs who captured him are now facing criminal charges, sources told FoxNews.com.

Scott Fenstermaker, an attorney for terrorists at Gitmo, is on Bill O'Reilly now and is repeatedly refusing to answer the question, "Were the people killed on 911 murdered?" He just kept answering that the jury will decide that. He is also saying the trial will be filled with "US propaganda." No link, it's on O'Reilly.

According to POLITICO, Obama’s fans in the Beltway are shocked, shocked that he and his White House minions scapegoat White House General Counsel Greg Craig for Obama’s failed promise to close Guantanamo in one year. The closing of Guantanamo – as Obama’s critics have long predicted – ain’t gonna happen, because there’s no place else to put the hardcore terrorists currently housed there. When Obama announced his dubious executive order closing Guantanamo by January 2010, the Kool-Aid drinkers were ecstatic. “See?” they said, “This is why we elected him. We were so right.” No, they were so wrong. It was...

Texas' gay marriage ban may have banned all marriages AUSTIN — Texans: Are you really married? Maybe not. Barbara Ann Radnofsky, a Houston lawyer and Democratic candidate for attorney general, says that a 22-word clause in a 2005 constitutional amendment designed to ban gay marriages erroneously endangers the legal status of all marriages in the state. The amendment, approved by the Legislature and overwhelmingly ratified by voters, declares that "marriage in this state shall consist only of the union of one man and one woman." But the troublemaking phrase, as Radnofsky sees it, is Subsection B, which declares: "This state...

I want to know more about who is advising you on these decisions. There are attorneys at the Justice Department working on this issue who either represented Guantanamo detainees, or worked for groups who advocated for them. This prior representation I think creates a conflict of interest problems for these individuals. Grassley brought up the case of Neal Katyal, who is now the Principal Deputy Solicitor General. Katyal, formerly a law professor at Georgetown University, worked on legal challenges to the Military Commission Act -- he represented Osama bin Laden's driver -- and is reportedly still working on detainee questions...

A disbarred New York lawyer convicted in 2005 on charges of supporting terrorism by helping an imprisoned blind Egyptian cleric smuggle messages to militant followers was ordered to prison by a U.S. federal appeals court that upheld her conviction on Tuesday.

Vivid has announced that it has the tapes in its possession, and TMZ has published a letter from Vivid chair Steve Hirsch to Prejean's lawyers seeking the right to distribute "erotic footage that Carrie Prejean, former Miss California, produced for her boyfriend following their four (4) day rendezvous in February 2007." Law Offices of Charles S. Limandri P.O. Box 9120 16236 San Dieguito Road Suite 3-15 Rancho Santa Fe, CA 92067 Re: Carrie Prejean Dear Mr. Limandri: Vivid Entertainment ("Vivid") is interested in acquiring the rights to distribute the erotic footage that Carrie Prejean, former Miss California, produced for her...

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Every lawsuit filed or even threatened under a California law aimed at electing more minorities to local offices - and all of the roughly $4.3 million from settlements so far - can be traced to just two people: a pair of attorneys who worked together writing the statute, The Associated Press has found. The law makes it easier for lawyers to sue and win financial judgments in cases arising from claims that minorities effectively were shut out of local elections, while shielding attorneys from liability if the claims are tossed out. The law was drafted mainly...

No one ever accused Florida attorney Scott Rothstein of being subtle -- or of skimping. Some investors say they were impressed by the ties Scott Rothstein, left, had with Florida luminaries, including Gov. Charlie Crist, right. .At an Eagles concert this year, Don Henley, the band's drummer, singled out Mr. Rothstein and his wife, Kimberly. "I don't normally do this, but this goes out to Scott and Princess Kimmy on their one-year wedding anniversary," Mr. Henley told the audience as the band ripped into "Life in the Fast Lane," its paean to the perils of excess. Mr. Rothstein paid $100,000...

FORT HOOD (November 9, 2009)—John P. Galligan, a retired military attorney who now practices criminal defense law said he was contacted Monday by the brother of the man accused opening fire Thursday at Fort Hood, killing 13 and injuring 29. Galligan, a retired Army Col., who practices in Belton and specializes in courts-martial, said Hasan’s family asked him to represent the Army psychiatrist, who was awake and able to talk Monday. Galligan said he was hoping to meet with Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan later Monday at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio. He told News 10 he informed military...

Seventy-four percent of American physicians believe they have less control over the way they practice medicine than they did five years ago, mostly due to medical malpractice litigation. The majority, 85 percent, said the threat of medical malpractice litigation is their primary hindrance to practicing medicine as they see fit. “We found that regardless of a physician’s political affiliation, the respondents attributed the practice of defensive medicine to excessive waste in the health care system,”

ATLANTA, GA—STEVEN H. BALLARD, 53, of McDonough, Georgia, was sentenced today by United States District Judge Thomas W. Thrash, Jr. to serve over five years in federal prison on a wire fraud charge involving a real estate investment scam that lasted over five years and defrauded a dozen victims in Georgia, Florida and Tennessee. Clayton County District Attorney Tracy Graham Lawson said, “I am gratified that the U.S. Attorney’s Office was able to present the losses of so many victims to the Court, and thereby obtain justice for those who relied on this former attorney and his ‘legal’ papers. In...

Because I know you were worried. Section 2531 (pp. 1431-1433) of the "Bend Over And Take It, America" bill seems tantalizing at first glance. IN GENERAL.—To the extent and in the amounts made available in advance in appropriations Acts, the Secretary shall make an incentive payment, in an amount determined by the Secretary, to each State that has an alternative medical liability law in compliance with this section. Hooray! Some medical liability reform at last! With financial incentives to the states who implement it! Not so fast.

A deputy assistant attorney general who said he was on his lunch break when an officer found him with a stripper and sex toys in his sport utility vehicle has been fired, his boss said Wednesday. Roland Corning, 66, a former state legislator, was in a secluded part of a downtown cemetery when an officer spotted him Monday, according to a police report obtained by The Associated Press under the Freedom of Information Act. As the officer approached, Corning sped off, then pulled over a few blocks away. He and the 18-year-old woman with him, an employee of the Platinum...

A new California law that gives poor residents the right to an attorney in civil matters such as child custody and foreclosure is being hailed as a model that could transform the nation's legal landscape. But critics argue that the law will result in a wave of case backlogs and could further burden court budgets. The law, signed this month by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, assures the poor legal counsel in an array of civil cases. Advocates for the change say poor people often wind up in court facing life-changing consequences -- such as eviction -- but go through the process...

Fearing that negative public feelings toward lawyers could be let loose, the Pennsylvania Bar Association backed away yesterday from calling for creation of a citizens' commission to look into changes to the state constitution. The best that a roomful of 350 lawyers could do with the hot-potato issue was to decide to pick another group of lawyers to look into constitutional proposals at a later date. (snip) The group's worry was that an eventual constitutional convention might take up issues the Bar Association has been fighting for decades, such as tort reform and caps on attorneys' fees.

Meet Stewart Rhodes. He graduated in 2004 from Yale Law School, where his paper, “Solving the Puzzle of Enemy Combatant Status,” won a prize for the best paper on the Bill of Rights. Before entering the law, he served as a U.S. Army paratrooper. What’s Rhodes up to now? Many military men turned lawyers troop off to large law firms, where the discipline and diligence cultivated in the armed forces help them succeed. Others join the JAG Corps or work for defense contractors. But Rhodes, who was a non-traditional student at YLS, has taken a non-traditional career path since graduating....

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) rejected the idea of incorporating tort reform into the health care legislation now under consideration. The issue arose when the Congressional Budget Office estimated that tort reform could reduce health care costs by $54 billion over the next decade. “Look, $54 billion is a drop in the bucket for a program that will cost at least $2 trillion over the same period,” Reid observed. “The impact on the taxpayers will be inconsequential.” Reid contrasted the “minuscule savings for taxpayers with the devastating impact that reducing tort costs would have on trial lawyers. The benefit...

(CNSNews.com) – International law dealing with refugees should be amended to cover people affected by disasters attributed to climate change, environmental lawyers are arguing. With the United Nations and others predicting upward of 200 million people being displaced by 2050 as a result of environmental changes, the London-based Foundation for International Environmental Law and Development (FIELD) says they will need help dealing with “statelessness and compensation.” “International refugee law focuses on those who are persecuted for political, racial or religious reasons,” the organization’s director, Joy Hyvarinen, said in a statement Thursday. “It was not designed for those who are left...

Thanks to an intrepid blogger with the tag Trapdoc posting a letter to Mark Steyn, the search for the Wikipedia Libelist responsible for damaging posts to the Rush Limbaugh account has been narrowed to the IP address of a New York City law firm: "The quotes were added by a user with the IP address of 69.64.213.146. This address has been used mostly to make changes to the article about Rush, but also Karl Rove, Sean Hannity,.. James Dobson and Sara Palin from 2005 until earlier this year. "While others have noted this in various forums, no one seems to...

      | |     Manhattan Moment [Print]  [Email]         James R. Copland: Here's what is stopping tort reform By: James R. Copland OpEd ContributorOctober 14, 2009 In his September 9, nationally televised speech before a joint session of Congress, President Obama made news by saying that medical-malpractice litigation "may be contributing to unnecessary costs" in the U.S. health-care sys¡©tem.Since then, trial-lawyer advocates--including their lobbying arm, the American Association for Justice (AAJ), and various allied "consumer" groups such as the Center for Justice and Democracy--have been engaged in a fierce counter-attack. Front-and-center among the lawyer-advocates' arguments is that...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Legal Newsline)-Frivolous lawsuits filed by the nation's trial lawyers are a drain on the economy, former U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese III said Thursday night. Meese, who served in Ronald Reagan's California gubernatorial and U.S. presidential administrations, said lawsuit abuse is a "silent drain on the economy" and "a stealth threat to businesses and consumers."

The ABA Journal has this interesting thought attributed to Justice Scalia. Asked to comment on whether the quality of advocacy before the U.S. Supreme Court was too low, Justice Scalia is quoted as saying: “I used to have just the opposite reaction. I used to be disappointed that so many of the best minds in the country were being devoted to this enterprise. “I mean there’d be a … public defender from Podunk, you know, and this woman is really brilliant, you know. Why isn’t she out inventing the automobile or, you know, doing something productive for this society? “I...

A unanimous Missouri Supreme Court has imposed a stayed suspension and probation for one year in a case that involved a fee agreement "purporting to give [the lawyer] sole authority to settle claims, with or without [the client's] consent." The attorney represented the client in three matters and initially charged by the hour. When the client was unable to keep current with the monthly bills, the attorney proposed (and the client agreed to) a contingent fee arrangement that included the following language: ...because I am taking a risk with you on this case, and because I am more familiar with...

Now that the Bush administration is no longer there to actively lobby for Israel, the situation for the Jewish state at the hands of the assorted Israel bashers and anti-Semites of the world is growing more and more grave. Currently, the top-of-the-page headline on the home page of the influential left-wing British newspaper The Guardian is “Lawyers seek arrest of Israeli defence minister in UK for alleged war crimes.”

Stung by the prospect of withdrawal of federal aid following the airing of video evidence of its corruption, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) has filed a suit against filmmakers James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles. ACORN attorney Jack Cozener argued that “real damage has been done here. The ACORN organization is losing millions in government money. Justice requires compensation for this wrong.” Cozener said he will be demanding that “100% of the profits that O’Keefe and Giles reap from this effort—from the films, any books or other media—be turned over to my clients. After all, it is...

Many experts have pointed to tort reform as a key element of any effort to hold down the costs of health care: The New York Times has reported that as a result of such lawsuits, “doctors have responded by changing the way they deliver babies, often seeing a relatively minor anomaly on a fetal heart monitor as justification for an immediate cesarean.” .. President Barack Obama said to the American Medical Association: ..Now, just hold on to your horses here, guys. (Laughter.) I want to be honest with you. I’m not advocating caps on malpractice awards — (boos from some...

Litigation: The Founding Fathers envisioned the states as laboratories for ideas and choices. If the administration needs a demonstration project for successful tort reform, it need look no further than Mississippi. When President Obama said during his health care speech to Congress that he would "look into" malpractice reform and support "demonstration projects" at the state level, Gov. Haley Barbour of Mississippi, a Republican, responded: "If they want a demonstration project, come down to Mississippi. I'll show you a demonstration project." Mississippi enacted tort reform in 2004, including caps on medical malpractice awards. As a result, the number of medical...

Tony Trimble couldn't catch a break. As one of the lead attorneys for Sen. Norm Coleman following Election Day, he hadn't stopped working in months. And as he watched the Republican's lead over Democrat Al Franken slip steadily and then finally vanish in the largest recount in American history, he marveled at how everything seemed to be breaking Franken's way. Clerical corrections, countless one- and two-vote shifts from sloppily filled-out ballots, major judicial rulings. They all added to Franken's vote quarry. In the closing days of the recount, Trimble watched, dumbstruck, as 933 rejected absentee ballots — once the domain...

Does anyone know why Michelle Obama had her law license revoked in 1993?

The U.S. Tax Court ruled Monday that Brooklyn, N.Y. tax lawyer William G. Halby, 78, had no legal basis to deduct prostitutes and pornography as medical expenses on his federal tax returns. Judge Joseph Robert Goeke upheld the Internal Revenue Service's determination that Halby owed $21,000 in back taxes plus $4,000 in accuracy-related penalties for his disallowed write-off of $120,000 of what the court delicately (and in quotations) called "service providers" as well as pornographic materials. According to the opinion, Halby did maintain careful records as is generally required for deductions. He "kept track of these visits in a journal,"...

WASHINGTON (CNNMoney.com) -- As President Obama turns up the heat on health care reform, one new and surprising detail to emerge is his pledge to tackle medical malpractice. "I don't believe malpractice reform is a silver bullet, but I have talked to enough doctors to know that defensive medicine may be contributing to unnecessary costs," Obama said Wednesday night. Obama's decision to wade into the issue has some insiders scratching their heads, because cutting down on medical malpractice lawsuits is a Republican tenet.

I was just watching Linda Douglass, Obama poodle, on FOX NEWS. She refused to answer whether BHO was going to promote TORT REFORM in his dog 'n pony show tonight...she merely said "Obama has talked about it a lot." blah blah blah So my question is: could Obama create "tort reform" this way: MAKE EVERY DOCTOR A DEFACTO EMPLOYEE OF THE GOVERNMENT. THE GOVERNMENT CANNOT BE SUED--SO NO LAWSUITS AGAINST DOCTORS WOULD BE PERMITTED. I know Obama and the libs are in bed with trial lawyers, so this may not happen...but it crossed my mind.

Another View: Lock the Law School Doors September 2, 2009, 10:00 am Dan Slater, a former litigator, argues that there are too many places at too many law schools, especially with the current hiring slump at law firms. This summer, in the staid world of legal education, where curriculum is uniform and scholars are trained in the art of like-mindedness, one dean hatched a contrary plan. In a memo to incoming students, Patricia D. White, the dean of University of Miami School of Law, surmised: “Perhaps many of you are looking to law school as a safe harbor in which...

Even though it is widely acknowledged that lawsuits are a major factor in the escalation of health care costs over the last few decades, no attempt to rein-in lawsuit abuse is included in the 1000+ page health care reform bill. Former Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean explains why. “First, the bill is already long enough,” Dean argued. “Adding even one more page would make it unreadable.” “Second, lawyers are America’s heroes,” Dean contended. “You can’t turn on TV without seeing a lawyer fighting crime, ensuring justice, or rescuing the weak. Voters wouldn’t stand for a bill scapegoating this noble...

WASHINGTON — The US Central Intelligence Agency will pay the legal fees of any officers involved in a government probe of alleged abusive interrogation techniques, the Washington Post said Friday. CIA Director Leon "Panetta will do everything he can to ensure that anyone who needs legal representation has it, whether they have liability insurance or not," a senior intelligence official was quoted as saying. "It's a question of fairness. People who did tough jobs for the country won't be left by the side of the road." Some, but not all, CIA agents working on controversial assignments take out personal liability...

For arbitration’s opponents, ensuring that consumers can go to court is not the end goal. It is actually the first step of a two-step dance at the plaintiffs’ lawyer prom. The second step is to allow these consumer cases to become large class actions—the kind that are famous for making a relatively few plaintiffs’ lawyers rich while giving the consumer masses pennies on the dollar, or even coupons, for their trouble.

Dems' Ace in the Hole on Health Care: Tort Reform "It will be tough to make some of these changes if doctors feel like they're looking over their shoulders for fear of lawsuits... some doctors may feel the need to order more tests and treatments to avoid being legally vulnerable." (President Obama, American Medical Association June 2009). "Anyone who denies there is a crisis in medical malpractice is probably a trial lawyer." (Barack Obama 1996 Illinois State Senate race). "I'm not advocating caps on malpractice awards." (President Obama, AMA convention June 2009). The first two statements are right on Mr....

Dolphins Blamed For Woman's Slip And Fall Allecyn Edwards, possibly wanting to prove she could be as creative as her parents were with her first name, alleged in a complaint filed August 18 that the Brookfield Zoo and its dolphins are responsible for injuries she suffered last year. Yessss . . . Just a Little Closer to the Pool, Human Edwards alleges that the zoo "recklessly and willfully trained and encouraged" its dolphins to "throw water at the spectators . . . making the floor wet and slippery." The zoo and/or its dolphin accomplices are therefore blamed for the creation...

Sarah Palin is calling for Tort Reform to be the hallmark of any kind of health care reform: President Obama's health care "reform" plan has met with significant criticism across the country. Many Americans want change and reform in our current health care system. We recognize that while we have the greatest medical care in the world, there are major problems that we must face, especially in terms of reining in costs and allowing care to be affordable for all. However, as we have seen, current plans being pushed by the Democratic leadership represent change that may not be what...

I don't know if this has been posted but follow the link to the Washington Examiner. As usual Scott is on right on track.

The elephant in the room that no one wants to talk about is the very high and escalating cost of malpractice insurance that every health care provider must recover if they are going to practice medicine in this country. It all starts with tort reform -- putting some limits on the liability that our providers are exposed to whenever malpractice is charged or suspected. If there were some sensible limits in place, then there would not be the pressure to practice defensive medicine. Some estimates of the cost to our system of defensive medicine range upwards of 25-30 percent of...

An attorney was arrested late Tuesday after accepting $53,500 in cash that he believed was half of a bribe being paid in exchange for him instructing his client to lie to a federal prosecutor and a federal grand jury investigating allegations of immigration fraud. Alfred Nash Villalobos, 44, a South Lake Tahoe resident who recently relocated from West Hills, was arrested by FBI agents Tuesday afternoon at a law office in Century City. Villalobos was charged in a criminal complaint filed yesterday with obstruction of a grand jury proceeding. According to the affidavit in support of the complaint filed yesterday...

Seven lawyers in Tabriz and Mashhad who had been representing young Iranians detained in post-presidential election protests have been killed by the Iranian authorities in recent days, according to sources in Iran. Their deaths have deterred other lawyers from taking detainees' cases, they added. The sources spoke to The Jerusalem Post by telephone, and requested that their identities remain undisclosed for their own security. In Tabriz, Iran's fourth-largest city, the bodies of five lawyers were returned to their families earlier this week, the sources said. The five had been representing some of the hundreds of Iranians detained in the northwestern...

...strangely, tort reform is not part of any of the Democratic party bills revising the United States health care system. [Obama] told the American Medical Association that he is "not advocating caps on malpractice awards." Even though they might significantly lower medical costs, Obama said he believes caps "can be unfair to people who've been wrongfully harmed." That might very be the real reason, but there is a major question-mark that arises when you look at the campaign contributions from the 2008 presidential election.... If you look at the latest Federal Election Commission (released 7/13/09), you see that President Obama...

How great would this country be without lawyers

Health Costs: Lawyers are responsible for more unneeded procedures than "greedy" doctors. But instead of capping malpractice awards, bureaucrats will soon decide which treatments are OK and whether you're worth it.Health Costs: Lawyers are responsible for more unneeded procedures than "greedy" doctors. But instead of capping malpractice awards, bureaucrats will soon decide which treatments are OK and whether you're worth it.

Why did Michelle Obama give up her license to practice law in 1993? Records listed at the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission of the Supreme Court of Illinois list her status as "voluntarily inactive and not authorized to practice law." It further states that Michelle license is "on court ordered inactive status." The statement has many bloggers wondering why a court would issue an order to stop Michelle Obama from practicing law, and some have even suggested the first lady faced may have been facing allegations of misconduct. Michelle Obama, known as Michelle Robinson at the time, attended Princeton University...