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Court dismisses part of NM whistleblower case
Top Legal News |
2011/08/18 16:31
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Attorney General Gary King and a state agency can take charge of legal efforts to recover money for New Mexico for some investment deals allegedly influenced by political considerations, a state court ruled Wednesday.
District Judge Stephen Pfeffer also dismissed portions of a whistleblower's lawsuit involving allegations of a pay-to-play scheme in investment deals by the State Investment Council, which oversees permanent funds worth more than $15 billion. The judge's ruling allows the council and the attorney general to handle those legal claims.
The lawsuit by Frank Foy, a former chief investment officer of the state's educational pension fund, will continue on other allegations, including that the state lost money on bad investments by the Educational Retirement Board and some by the council and that politics influenced some of the pension's fund investments.
The Investment Council filed a lawsuit in May claiming that its former top manager and a financial advisory firm improperly steered New Mexico investments to political supporters of former Democratic Gov. Bill Richardson. More than a dozen other defendants were named, including third-party placement agents who earned millions of dollars in fees on investment deals.
Former State Investment Officer Gary Bland has said the allegations are "absurd" and he was not involved in any wrongdoing. |
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Calif Supreme Court says threats must be serious
Top Legal News |
2011/08/15 16:31
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The California Supreme Court says state laws against threatening a crime victim or witness are valid only if a reasonable listener believes the threats are serious.
The San Francisco Chronicle says last week's unanimous decision means a Riverside County judge must re-examine the conviction of a man who told his jailed wife he would blow away the head of a man who accused them of stealing $250,000.
Eddie Lowery was convicted of threatening a crime victim and he was sentenced to a year in jail.
In its ruling Thursday, the court ruled a threat is not protected by freedom of speech if a reasonable listener concludes the speaker was serious and wasn't merely joking. |
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Ex-Harvard student due in court in 2009 shooting
Top Legal News |
2011/08/15 16:30
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A former Harvard student accused of hiding the gun used in a fatal shooting inside a university dormitory is due in court.
Brittany Smith is one of four people who were charged in connection with the shooting of 21-year-old Justin Cosby of Cambridge.
Smith's former boyfriend, Jabrai (juh-BRY') Jordan Copney, of New York City, was convicted of murder in Cosby's death and is serving a life sentence.
During Copney's trial, prosecutors said Cosby, a local drug dealer, was shot during an attempted robbery by Copney and two other New York City men in May 2009.
Smith is accused of giving the men her Harvard electronic keycard to enter the building, hiding the gun used in the shooting and helping the men flee. |
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Law school graduates sue alma mater over job stats
Top Legal News |
2011/08/12 17:39
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Four graduates of Thomas M. Cooley Law School have sued their alma mater, claiming the school misrepresented its post-graduation employment statistics to attract students.
The Lansing State Journal and the Detroit Free Press report the lawsuit was filed Wednesday. The suit in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan by New York law firm Kurzon Strauss seeks class-action status and $250 million in damages.
James Thelen, Cooley's associate dean for legal affairs and general counsel, says the school stands by its post-graduation employment and salary statistics. He says any claims that students or graduates have been misled or legally harmed are "baseless."
The Lansing-based school earlier sued the law firm, claiming it was defaming the school in online ads seeking potential plaintiffs who attended Cooley. |
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Law school graduates sue alma mater over job stats
Top Legal News |
2011/08/12 17:39
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Four graduates of Thomas M. Cooley Law School have sued their alma mater, claiming the school misrepresented its post-graduation employment statistics to attract students.
The Lansing State Journal and the Detroit Free Press report the lawsuit was filed Wednesday. The suit in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan by New York law firm Kurzon Strauss seeks class-action status and $250 million in damages.
James Thelen, Cooley's associate dean for legal affairs and general counsel, says the school stands by its post-graduation employment and salary statistics. He says any claims that students or graduates have been misled or legally harmed are "baseless."
The Lansing-based school earlier sued the law firm, claiming it was defaming the school in online ads seeking potential plaintiffs who attended Cooley. |
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Legal questions raised on NY's gas-drilling rules
Top Legal News |
2011/07/12 16:23
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While an energy industry economist says New York's proposal to place large areas off-limits to gas drilling is overly restrictive, an environmental lawyer says the proposed watershed protections don't go far enough.
The Department of Environmental Conservation posted its 700-plus-page blueprint for hydraulic fracturing in the lucrative Marcellus Shale region on its website on Friday, allowing industry and environmental groups to start dissecting the proposed plan to allow gas drilling in an area where it's been on hold since 2008.
More than 3,300 gas wells have been drilled since 2005 across the border in Pennsylvania, bringing new jobs and economic benefits as well as environmental problems such as accidental chemical spills, gas-tainted well water and river pollution. New York state regulators have upheld permitting for three years while they conduct an environmental review and draft new regulations.
The proposed New York rules include a section describing several gas-drilling operation accidents in Pennsylvania and outlining New York's measures designed to mitigate such incidents.
"Our biggest concern is the restrictions that have been added," said John Felmy, chief economist for the American Petroleum Institute. "In particular, the New York City and Syracuse watersheds, and taking state lands off the table. Those are big areas."
Felmy said natural gas development in New York's economically depressed Southern Tier would bring billions of dollars in economic activity, thousands of jobs, and new tax revenues. But a coalition of 47 health and environmental groups has called for a statewide ban on hydraulic fracturing for natural gas, saying it poses unacceptable risks. |
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Law school enrollment in Missouri lags as legal jobs dry up
Top Legal News |
2011/07/01 07:17
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Missouri law schools expect fewer students in the fall after several years of significant enrollment growth both regionally and nationally.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported this week that the University of Missouri's flagship campus in Columbia has received 17 percent fewer applications this year. Applications at Washington University dropped 13.3 percent, while St. Louis University is seeing a nearly 20 percent decline.
A national group that tracks law school enrollment says that applications are down more than 10 percent overall compared to this time last year.
The economic downturn means that law school graduates can no longer count on landing lucrative jobs straight out of college. The declining interest comes one year after many schools reported record enrollment.
"The stories about the legal market have certainly dampened some people's enthusiasm," said Paul Pless, assistant dean for admissions and financial aid at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign College of Law. Applications at Illinois are down nearly 8 percent so far this year.
Melissa Hamilton, 35, is a recent University of Missouri law school graduate still looking for a job. She's applied for a few government positions but is waiting until she passes the bar exam before making a stronger push. She's also looking into jobs where she could also use her master's degree in social work. |
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