A well-regarded longtime California practitioner who found he bit off more than he could chew when he took on the project of turning around a troubled consumer law firm will lose his law license for a year as a result. According to a stipulation he signed Friday with the state bar, Kerry Steigerwalt, who is in his seventies, sold multiple pieces of property in order to make partial refunds totaling about $1 million to some 800 clients, reports the San Diego Union-Tribune. The attorney disciplinary agreement also includes two years of probation. His Pacific Law Center was closed down in 2010. Earlier coverage: ABAJournal.com:…

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A well-regarded longtime California practitioner who found he bit off more than he could chew when he took on the project of turning around a troubled consumer law firm will lose his law license for a year as a result. According to a stipulation he signed Friday with the state bar, Kerry Steigerwalt sold multiple pieces of property in order to make partial refunds totaling about $1 million to some 800 clients, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports. The attorney disciplinary agreement also includes two years of probation. His Pacific Law Center was closed down in 2010. Earlier coverage: ABAJournal.com: "Attorney’s Failed Dream of Revitalizing…

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A Chinese immigrant jailed in Indiana for over a year on charges that she killed her viable fetus by eating rat poison in a suicide attempt while pregnant has lost her bid to have the controversial criminal case dismissed by the state supreme court. However, in letting stand a prior Indiana Court of Appeals order requiring a Marion County judge to set bond for Bei Bei Shuai, the court also effectuated her potential release, according to the Associated Press and the Indianapolis Star. Bail was set at $50,000 on Friday for the 35-year-old, who apparently remains incarcerated at this point.…

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Citing unidentified sources, the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.) is reporting that Dewey & LeBoeuf is working with a restructuring specialist hopes to be ready to make a potential bankruptcy filing by the end of next week. However, an actual filing could come some time later or conceivably not at all, according to the newspaper, since no final decisions have been made. While the law firm is clearly on the verge of winding up its operations, its representatives have been saying publicly that a bankruptcy filing is not planned. Meanwhile, a steady stream of partners continues to head to other…

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In the first day of a contempt hearing concerning evidence that wasn't produced in a federal civil case that resulted in a $67 million judgment against Toronto-Dominion Bank, the institution's new counsel, McGuireWoods, pointed the finger at its former counsel. Greenberg Traurig, the bank contended Thursday, had access to all documents related to a claim by investors in a venture promoted by now-convicted Ponzi schemer Scott Rothstein that TD Bank had aided and abetted fraud by the ex-attorney. Rothstein, who at the time was operating a prominent Fort Lauderdale, Fla., law firm as its managing partner, is now serving a…

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A longtime Kansas lawyer has been suspended from practice for one year, due in part to his concurrent representation of two spouses. One (the wife) was a suspect in a criminal arson investigation concerning the couple's home and had been videotaped purchasing accelerants on the day of the fire, according to an order (PDF) Friday by the Kansas Supreme Court. Meanwhile, attorney Brian R. Johnson also agreed to represent the husband in determining whether he should make a fire insurance claim, as an innocent spouse. Johnson admittedly did not obtain written, informed consent in advance to the potential conflict from the couple, who are referred to in the…

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A longtime Kansas lawyer has been suspended from practice for one year, due in part to his concurrent representation of two spouses. One (the wife) was a suspect in a criminal arson investigation concerning the couple's home and had been videotaped purchasing accelerants on the day of the fire, according to an order (PDF) Friday by the Kansas Supreme Court. Meanwhile, attorney Brian R. Johnson also agreed to represent the husband in determining whether he should make a fire insurance claim, as an innocent spouse. Johnson admittedly did not obtain written, informed consent in advance to the potential conflict from the couple, who are referred to in the…

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The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has relieved Justice Joan Orie Melvin of all judicial and administrative responsibilities, ordered her records secured and directed the court administrator to “ensure that the premises are vacated.” The action, announced in a press advisory, follows news today that Melvin has been charged with nine counts, including four felonies, based on accusations she used state-paid staff for campaign work, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports. An earlier story in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette had news of the impending charges. Before the court action, Melvin had announced she was voluntarily recusing herself from judicial duties, but she…

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The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has relieved Justice Joan Orie Melvin of all judicial and administrative responsibilities, ordered her records secured and directed the court administrator to “ensure that the premises are vacated.” The action, announced in a press advisory, follows news today that Melvin has been charged with nine counts, including four felonies, based on accusations she used state-paid staff for campaign work, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports. An earlier story in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette had news of the impending charges. Before the court action, Melvin had announced she was voluntarily recusing herself from judicial duties, but she…

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Developing: The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has relieved Justice Joan Orie Melvin of all judicial and administrative responsibilities, ordered her records secured and directed the court administrator to “ensure that the premises are vacated.” The action, announced in a press advisory, follows news today that Melvin has been charged with nine counts, including four felonies, based on accusations she used state-paid staff for campaign work, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports. An earlier story in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette had news of the impending charges. Before the court action, Melvin had announced she was voluntarily recusing herself from judicial duties, but she was not resigning from…

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Developing: The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has relieved Justice Joan Orie Melvin of all judicial and administrative responsibilities, ordered her records secured and directed the court administrator to “ensure that the premises are vacated.” The action, announced in a press advisory, follows news today that Orie has been charged with nine counts, including four felonies, based on accusations she used state-paid staff for campaign work, report the Pittsburgh Tribune. An earlier story in the the Pittsburgh Post Gazette had news of the impending charges. Before the court action, Melvin had announced she was voluntarily recusing herself from judicial duties, but she was not resigning…

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Developing: The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has relieved Justice Joan Orie Melvin of all judicial and administrative responsibilities, ordered her records secured and directed the court administrator to “ensure that the premises are vacated.” The action, announced in a press advisory, follows news today that Orie has been charged with nine counts, including four felonies, based on accusations she used state-paid staff for campaign work, report the Pittsburgh Tribune. An earlier story in the the Pittsburgh Post Gazette had news of the impending charges. Before the court action, Melvin had announced she was voluntarily recusing herself from judicial duties, but she…

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The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has relieved Justice Joan Orie Melvin of all judicial and administrative responsibilities, ordered her records secured and directed the court administrator to “ensure that the premises are vacated.” The action, announced in a press advisory, follows news today that Melvin has been charged with nine counts, including four felonies, based on accusations she used state-paid staff for campaign work, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports. An earlier story in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette had news of the impending charges. Before the court action, Melvin had announced she was voluntarily recusing herself from judicial duties, but she was not resigning from the…

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Developing: The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has relieved Justice Joan Orie Melvin of all judicial and administrative responsibilities, ordered her records secured and directed the court administrator to “ensure that the premises are vacated.” The action, announced in a press advisory, follows news today that Melvin has been charged with nine counts, including four felonies, based on accusations she used state-paid staff for campaign work, the Pittsburgh Tribune reports. An earlier story in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette had news of the impending charges. Before the court action, Melvin had announced she was voluntarily recusing herself from judicial duties, but she was not resigning from…

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Steve Wolfson was a busy defense attorney before he was appointed in January to serve as district attorney for Clark County, Nev. That has presented a problem for his new colleagues, who have been dealing with efforts to disqualify the entire DA's office from prosecuting at least seven cases due to Wolfson's claimed prior involvement as legal counsel for the defendant, reports the Las Vegas Review-Journal. In March, the DA sent an internal memo listing 83 former cases from which he was to be walled off by others in his office, the article recounts. Not on the list, however, were two that have been in the…

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Policies buried in college student handbooks are being cited by universities asserting that they are due a cut of the profits from inventions conceived on campus. Harvard wasn’t one of them, Stanford law fellow Brian Love writes in the Boston Globe. Facebook was invented by Mark Zuckerberg and his friends working in a Harvard dorm on a Harvard computer network, says Love, who is moving to Santa Clara law school as an assistant professor this fall. Harvard “could have asserted a stronger claim to the company than the Winklevoss twins and Paul Ceglia combined,” he writes. Love suggests Harvard made…

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The Other Big IPO Today, Facebook makes its historic market debut. But many lawyer-bloggers are talking about a different initial public offering: Last Friday, Web-based legal services provider LegalZoom filed for an IPO of up to $120 million to expand its services in the United States and around the world. Can LegalZoom documents truly compete on quality with a lawyer-for-hire? The answer to that question doesn't matter as much as what clients perceive. Lawyers "will assert that consumers and small business are exposing themselves to liability by using LegalZoom's limited services which will bring regret later," DirectLaw Inc. founder Richard…

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A robbery prank known as “Urban Skittles” could result in felony charges, according to a Kansas district attorney. According to a press release cited by KWCH.com, the prank originated in England and works this way: “The ‘game’ is played by an individual or group of youths that run into a random business and yell for everyone to get down on the floor as if they are going to perpetrate an armed robbery. The ‘players’ then count the number of individuals who ‘hit the deck,’ hence the name, Urban Skittles.” The release by the Sedgwick County District Attorney warns that pranksters…

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The fathers of Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman gave Sanford, Fla., police their opinions about the person who was crying for help in 911 tapes of the Feb. 26 confrontation that ended with the shooting death of 17-year-old Martin, according to documents released by the special prosecutor in the case. Neither said the voice was that of 17-year-old Martin, the New York Times reports. Zimmerman’s father said he thought the voice belonged to his son. Martin’s mother, however, has said it was her son who was screaming on the tapes. An analysis by an FBI lab was not able to…

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Justice Stephen G. Breyer has been victimized by criminals for two months in a row. In the latest incident, Breyer’s Washington, D.C., home was burglarized, according to the Washington Post blog the Reliable Source. The burglar made off with a pair of $500 silver candlesticks and a silver set valued at $2,500, the story says. A housekeeper reported the crime when she arrived at the house on May 4. In February, a machete-wielding robber interrupted a bridge game at Breyer’s home on the Caribbean island of Nevis, stealing about $1,000 from the justice, his wife and two others. A suspect…

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