Alex Jones Escapes Immediate Sandy Hook Payment Bid

By Emily Lever

Bankrupt Infowars host Alex Jones has escaped a request to immediately pay more than $1 billion to the families of Sandy Hook Elementary School victims who sued him for defamation, the Connecticut Appellate Court has ruled.

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Atty's Vanity Plate Gets Spotlight In Fatal Shooting Trial

By Brian Steele

A Connecticut prosecutor has zeroed in on the vanity license plate that was on Cramer & Anderson LLP partner Robert L. Fisher Jr.'s car when he fatally shot an attacker in June 2021, asking the defendant's character witnesses Wednesday if they knew about it, and if so, what they thought of it.

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Murder Convict's Outbursts At Issue Before Conn. High Court

By Aaron Keller

A trial judge violated due process guarantees by adding criminal contempt sentences to a felony murder convict's prison term because of a series of racial and profane outbursts during a habeas corpus hearing, the convict's appointed counsel told the Connecticut Supreme Court on Wednesday.

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Willkie Farr Partner Gets $23K Fee In Suit Over Media Tip

By Aaron Keller

A Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP partner has won the bulk of a $27,420 bid to recoup personal attorney fees after prevailing in a First Amendment feud with his former landlord's lawyer over a media leak, with a judge clipping just $3,550 for lack of a novel legal issue.

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Trump's NIH Cost-Cutting Measure Blocked By Judge

By Brian Dowling

A Massachusetts federal judge ruled Wednesday that the Trump administration cannot cap indirect costs for research grants at the National Institutes of Health, rejecting the move as a rushed cost-saving measure that violates federal law governing the expenses.

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Revived Bill To Add Judges Teed Up For Another House Vote

By Courtney Bublé

The House Judiciary Committee voted out of committee three bills on Wednesday along party lines, including legislation to add more federal judgeships that the federal judiciary says are needed desperately but has become subject to partisan fighting.

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Water Main Co. Will Pay $1M After Chemicals Killed Fish

By Ryan Harroff

A sewer and water line maintenance company was sentenced to pay $1 million and will spend three years on federal probation after knowingly dumping pollutants into a Connecticut waterway, killing over 150 fish and contaminating the area, acting U.S. Attorney Marc H. Silverman has announced.

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DC Judge Skeptical Of Trump's Power To Oust NLRB Member

By Braden Campbell

A Washington, D.C., federal judge hearing a former National Labor Relations Board member's challenge to her January removal appeared Wednesday to buy the fired official's side of a closely watched debate over the vitality of foundational U.S. Supreme Court law on the president's power over independent agencies.

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Brief

Paul Newman's Daughters End IP Suit Against Newman's Own

By Ryan Harroff

Late actor Paul Newman's daughters withdrew their lawsuit from Connecticut state court accusing the Newman's Own Foundation of trading off their father's name for non-food-related purposes and breaching its duty to fund their own foundations despite the deceased film star's intent.

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Amazon, Others Must Face Guo Ch. 11 Clawback Claims

By Ben Zigterman

A Chapter 11 trustee can chase cash payments Chinese exile Miles Guo passed through nondebtor alter ego shell companies when buying goods and services from a long list of companies and law firms, a Connecticut bankruptcy judge has ruled.

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Trump Tells Admin To Yank Perkins Coie Security Clearance

By Lauren Berg

Perkins Coie LLP is the latest law firm to face the ire of President Donald Trump, with Trump ordering on Thursday the immediate suspension of the firm's security clearances over its diverse hiring efforts and its representation of certain political figures, including former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

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Diverse Judiciary Is Crucial, Justice Jackson Tells Attys

By Carolina Bolado

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson told attorneys in Miami on Thursday at the American Bar Association's annual White Collar Crime Institute that her judicial philosophy is "still under development" and said diversity in the judiciary is necessary to help instill confidence in the judicial branch of government.

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Bove May Sidestep Discipline In Adams Scandal, Experts Say

By Phillip Bantz

Ethics complaints piling up against acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove over his efforts to drop the corruption case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams could result in disciplinary action at the state level, but it's highly unlikely that he'll face any consequences from the U.S. Department of Justice and its office charged with investigating attorney misconduct, experts say.

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Contempt Of Atty's 'Own Making,' Judge Says In Allowing Trial

By Hayley Fowler

A Dutch software company can't push back a copyright trial after one of its attorneys from Womble Bond Dickinson was held in contempt and was temporarily kicked off the case, a North Carolina federal judge ruled, finding the predicament "entirely of counsel's own making."

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Holland & Knight Adds Partner Who Was FBI General Counsel

By Daniel Connolly

The FBI has lost its general counsel, who has joined Holland & Knight LLP as a partner in its national security and defense industry group, the firm announced Thursday.

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Bankruptcy Court's Input Sought In Judge Romance Row

By Catherine Marfin

A federal judge asked a Texas bankruptcy court to determine if the CEO of a now-bankrupt barge company has standing to sue over a former judge's secret romance with a Jackson Walker partner.

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Meltzer Lippe, Fired Partner Agree To End Sex Bias Suit

By Grace Elletson

Meltzer Lippe Goldstein & Breitstone LLP and a former partner have agreed to end her New York federal court suit claiming she was fired from the firm after she complained about its sexist work environment, according to a Thursday court filing.

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State Attacks Atty's Self-Defense Claim In Law Firm Shooting

By Aaron Keller

A prosecutor says Connecticut law allows jurors to mull whether a Cramer & Anderson LLP partner reopened a fight with a man who allegedly followed him into his law firm's parking lot and attacked him, teeing up a Friday ruling that could threaten the lawyer's self-defense claims against a manslaughter charge.

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Analysis

Wheeling & Appealing: The Latest Must-Know Appellate Action

By Jeff Overley

Believe it or not, there's still important litigation happening that doesn't involve President Donald Trump, and the proof exists in this month's circuit court calendars. During the remaining weeks of March, arguments will explore numerous high-profile topics, including a law firm's severe punishment for alleged misconduct in 9/11 litigation and a judicial rebuke of Trader Joe's for "an attempt to weaponize the legal system."

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Judges Urge Attys To Help Restore Confidence In Judiciary

By Carolina Bolado

Federal district judges at the American Bar Association's white collar conference Thursday decried threats and attacks on judges and urged attorneys to help them restore public confidence in the judiciary.

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Fake NY Lawyer Charged With Stealing $200K From Clients

By Emily Sawicki

A New York man has been indicted on charges he impersonated a lawyer and stole $200,000 from clients over the course of nearly three years, the Manhattan District Attorney's Office announced Thursday.

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Brief

Dems Intro Their Own Version Of The JUDGES Act

By Courtney Bublé

Top Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee reintroduced a version of the JUDGES Act on Thursday that would not take effect until after the next president is elected, unlike a version from their Republican counterparts that would take effect this year.

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