Bail

Stephen M. McDaniel, the Mercer Law School graduate accused of killing classmate Lauren Giddings, made an appearance in court this morning. As you may recall, Giddings’s decapitated torso was found on June 30 in Macon, Georgia, and thus far, police have been unable to recover the rest of her body. Last month, we mentioned that […]

Last month, federal law enforcement officials accused an Illinois attorney from a small firm, Jason W. Smiekel, of trying to put a hit out on a former client -- who also happened to be the ex-husband of Smiekel’s fiancée. Alas, if they are in love, their love may have to wait, thanks to the latest bad news for Smiekel....

In our view, no bail is required to ensure Mr. Strauss-Kahn’s appearance. He is an honorable man. He has only one interest at this time and that is to clear his name. — William W. Taylor III, a partner at Zuckerman Spaeder, at a bail hearing for his client, former IMF head Dominique Strauss-Kahn. (The […]

If you’re like me, two of your last three Sunday night sports orgies have been ruined by the intrusion of real world events. First, Osama bin Laden lost the ultimate game of Call of Duty. Then last night Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the head of the International Monetary Fund and would-be president of France, was pulled off […]

* Judy Clarke, counsel to Jared Lee Loughner, is known as the “One-Woman Dream Team.” Here’s to hoping the prosecution doesn’t get played like Frédéric Weis. [USA Today] * There is a time when the operation of the merger becomes so odious… plaintiff’s attorneys have got to put their bodies upon the gears and upon […]

A month ago, I was surprised by Great Britain’s new Drinking Ban Order. The restriction feels like a little too much government control of our personal lives. But I guess the United States has similar authority to impose draconian restrictions on legal activity — at least if you are a celebrity with a known history […]

Women of Switzerland, lock up your daughters. Roman Polanski has been granted bail, after a court approved his bail offer of $4.5 million. (For now, he’s still in jail; his release date has not been set.) Once released, Polanski will be under house arrest. So, good parents of Switzerland, maybe there’s no need to lock […]

Quips a tipster: “Dreier gets $20 million bond — but he didn’t steal enough to pay. This guy is no Madoff.” Dreier Gets $20 Million Bond [Bloomberg] Dreier to Remain in Jail [Am Law Daily] Judge Says No to Bail Request; Dreier to Stay Behind Bars [WSJ Law Blog] Earlier: Prior ATL coverage of Marc […]

* If you don’t have hooters you can’t work there. Hooters discriminates against men by refusing to hire them, a class action argues. Get over it sissies, and grow some boobs. [Courthouse News Service] * In less pressing news…President-elect Barack Obama will issue an executive order to close Guantanamo within days of entering the White […]

More bad news for Marc Dreier, the formerly high-flying, Maxim model-dating litigator. From Bloomberg News: Marc Dreier, the jailed New York law firm founder, must remain in prison while he fights charges that he swindled hedge funds, a federal judge ruled after a prosecutor accused the lawyer of stealing $380 million. “The evidence does appear […]

* California’s Supreme Court agreed to hear the case against Prop. 8. [Reuters] * For all the associates who go crazy working late into the night in dark conference rooms dreaming of embezzling money from the firm–let this be a lesson to you. Employee Angela Marie Dees was arrested for stealing 1.67 million dollars from […]

* Resignation in Detroit text-message scandal (previously discussed here). [Detroit News] * A proud American tradition unknown in the rest of the world: bail for profit. [New York Times] * Legal luminaries at the SOTU. [WSJ Law Blog] * Trial begins in alleged microwaving of infant. [CNN] * TRO against Patriots’ Moss extended until after […]

So it looks like no bail for Stephen Yagman, the colorful and controversial civil rights lawyer who was convicted last year of tax evasion, bankruptcy fraud and money laundering. Yagman will start his three-year prison term later this month. Yagman asked to remain free on bail while appealing his conviction (to the Ninth Circuit — […]