Law

Law

After the LAPD response to a 2020 protest outside the mayor's mansion led to an excessive force lawsuit, attorneys representing the Police Department insisted they had turned over all relevant evidence. But then lawyers for the plaintiffs - activists from Black Lives Matter-L.A. - found footage recorded on the officers' body-worn cameras showed them tapping out messages on their phones, apparently sending texts to other LAPD officials that were never handed over.

David Lammy's plans to introduce judge-only criminal trials in England and Wales will save less than 2% of time in crown courts, the Institute for Government (IFG) has said. In a report that casts doubt on the ability of the changes, which will slash the number of jury trials to achieve their goal of wiping out the courts' backlog, the thinktank described the gains from judge-only trials as marginal.

A woman who endured years of physical abuse and coercive control fled to her local garda station barefoot in her blood-soaked pyjamas after the latest assault by her husband, a court heard.

In a complaint filed in New York state court Tuesday, BRC Group Holdings said Willkie allegedly helped former Franchise Group Inc. CEO Brian Kahn hide federal investigations into earlier fraudulent conduct while assisting with a take-private deal that involved both clients. According to Law.com, BRC Group Holdings also alleged that Willkie and Kahn worked together to hide crucial information and move the deal forward, which caused BRC Group Holdings to lose $735 million and Franchise Group to go bankrupt in 2024.

In the latest episode of IPWatchdog Unleashed, I had the opportunity to sit down with Ted Wood-a unique figure whose career spans military service, engineering and patent law. After spending time both in-house and at Am Law 100 firms, today Ted is Managing Partner of Wood IP. Our conversation, which took place August 8, was not only interesting and fun but a testament to the diverse pathways one can take to success, both in life and, specifically, in the engineering and patent law fields.

I worry about the safety of all our judges," she said. "As you work to peacefully resolve more than 1 million cases a year, you must not only feel safe, you must also be safe. Any violence against a judge or a judge's family is completely unacceptable. As public servants, you are dedicated to the rule of law.

A jury in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama awarded the Drummond Co., a coal company based in Birmingham, Alabama, $26 million in compensatory and $26 million in punitive damages against attorney Terrence Collingsworth on the defamation claims and $68 million on the claims under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, according to the story.

Senior U.S. District Judge Joan Lefkow of the Northern District of Illinois is presiding over the trial of Juan Espinoza Martinez, who is accused of soliciting the murder of Bovino, according to a story by CBS News. The trial begins this week. Investigators allege that Martinez sent Snapchat messages offering a bounty of $2,000 for information and $10,000 more "if you take him down," along with a photo of Bovino, according to CBS News.

The FTC said Tuesday it will appeal the November ruling in favor of Meta in its antitrust case against the social media giant. The FTC said it continues to allege that, for more than a decade, Meta Platforms Inc. has "illegally maintained a monopoly" in social networking through anticompetitive conduct "by buying the significant competitive threats it identified in Instagram and WhatsApp."

Khalil was taken into custody in March, after Secretary of State Marco Rubio invoked a rarely used mechanism in federal immigration law that claimed that the student's actions would have "potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States." The 30-year-old green-card holder was detained for three months, missing the birth of his first child, but was released in June.

A Missouri judge known for dressing up as Elvis Presley in the courtroom has been removed from office by the Missouri Supreme Court, ending a nearly two-decade judicial career amid concerns that his behavior undermined the integrity of the judiciary. The decision last month by the state's highest court was a rejection of a previously negotiated disciplinary agreement. The state supreme court ordered Judge Matthew E.P. Thornhill, a St. Charles County, Missouri, judge, off the bench effective immediately, Legal Newsline reports.

"Dismissal of the criminal charges is the appropriate outcome here," said Dominique Erney, Counsel, Justice System Reform at SCSJ. "Overly aggressive policing undermines public safety. Here, it placed our clients in a dangerous situation that was not of their making. They should never have been forced to endure this ordeal."

Skims' unconscionable business practices meant that the company did not have a system in place to shield New Jersey consumers buying online from being charged sales tax, the AG's office said. Kardashian founded the body-positive apparel and skin care company in 2019, so those practices were in place from the get-go, according to authorities. Celebs from Kim Cattrall to Anthony Hopkins have swanned or snickered in the reality star's shapewear, slimming face masks and even a bra with a built-in nipple.

For all our talk of AI disruption, few legal teams are tackling the true productivity killer: tab switching. Email bloat. Scattered context. Carl Davidson noticed it while practicing immigration law. His clients needed answers. His inbox overflowed. His case files were always one click too far away. And somewhere between toggling screens and pasting notes, he realized the problem wasn't the complexity of the law it was the friction in the workflow.

With so many options out there, it's easy to feel overwhelmed and confused about where to begin. To help you make sense of it all, "Adventures in Legal Tech" welcomed Jess Birkin, a solo attorney who gets a heck of a lot done in her unique practice niche by leveraging AI and business planning. Goals Versus Themes It's been a decade of upheaval. For lawyers, this reality complicates setting specific goals, because they are likely to be upended by outside events.

The sexual assault lawsuit filed against eXp Realty by Anya Roberts now has one fewer defendant. Earlier this month, Roberts notified the court that she had reached a settlement with defendant Brent Gove. According to the filing, the settlement terms are confidential, but it notes that the settlement fully and finally resolves all of the plaintiff's claims against him in the lawsuit. Gove is the only defendant the settlement covers.

Farmer had provided extensive assistance to neighbour for over 15 years, but estate was not left to him

So there are actually two laws, one of them being the FACE Act, the other being a civil rights law, which says it is a crime to intentionally interfere with another person's free exercise of religion. Rarely used, these laws, but they certainly exist, and the conduct that we see here on its face seems to meet the requirements of those laws, replied Honig.

We received a file of evidence from Cheshire Constabulary in July 2025 asking us to consider further allegations against Lucy Letby, 36, relating to deaths and non-fatal collapses of babies at the Countess of Chester Hospital and Liverpool Women's Hospital. Following a thorough review of that evidence, we have decided that no criminal charges should be brought in respect of those further allegations.

It's legal to drive with a pet on your lap or unrestrained in the car simply because there's nothing in the Vehicle Code that forbids it. Driving with a pet on your lap or loose in a moving vehicle can be dangerous and the California Highway Patrol advises against it. The CHP recommends pets be secured in a pet car seat or a kennel.

The law was clear: Donald Trump's Department of Justice was required to disclose all investigative files on Jeffrey Epstein by 19 December 2025, with rare exceptions. One month after this deadline mandated by Congress's Epstein Files Transparency Act, however, Trump's justice department has not complied with this law, prompting questions about when and whether authorities will ever release investigative documents about the late sex offender.

Perhaps most glaringly, Wazzan reached his opinions without ever weighing the contributions of anyone but Musk, OpenAI alleged.

Prosecutors said Guy drove the wrong way on Interstate 195 East around 7:30 p.m. on May 24, 2022, colliding head-on with multiple vehicles and sending six people to the hospital. Four of the victims suffered serious injuries. First responders transported Guy to Rhode Island Hospital with serious injuries.

Prominent litigator Randy Mastro, who most recently served as former Mayor Eric Adams' top deputy, is returning to private practice with a partnership at global law firm Dechert. Mastro, a former aide to former Mayor Rudy Giuliani who is known for employing an aggressive style in both City Hall and the courtroom, joins the roughly 900-lawyer Dechert as co-chair of the firm's securities and complex litigation practice.

There was a meeting on disabilities in Kerry. I had organised it and I was very eager to be there

Nick Reiner, who's charged with the murder of his parents, Rob and Michele Reiner, was previously under a yearlong conservatorship in 2020, according to the New York Times. Licensed fiduciary Steven Baer, who was appointed as the conservator for Nick, said to the Times that mental illness "is an epidemic that is widely misunderstood, and this is a horrible tragedy."

Many of those developments will continue to affect SALT in 2026 as we see renewed challenges to Public Law 86-272, a federal law that prohibits states from imposing income taxes on out-of-state businesses that only solicit sales of tangible personal property in the state. There also will be developments involving digital advertising taxes, federal tax law changes, interstate disputes, and a US Supreme Court ruling involving the government's right to take property to satisfy a tax lien.

Busfield, 68, has been charged with two felony counts of criminal sexual contact of a minor and a single count of child abuse for allegedly inappropriately touching two child actors while he worked as a director and executive producer on the Fox drama "The Cleaning Lady," filmed in Albuquerque. He was held without bond pending a hearing on a motion for pretrial detention.