White-Collar Crime
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Investigations Aren’t Run-Of-The-Mill Litigations, So Why Do We Use Basic Litigation Tools?
The right tool for the right job finally meets the legal industry.
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Bull-Riding Lawyer Indicted For Allegedly Launching Cyberattacks Against His Critics
Is this really a cyberattack?
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* A whistleblower reports that SARS reports regarding Michael Cohen’s transactions are missing from FINCEN. SARS don’t just disappear without a trace… well, the disease did, but the reports shouldn’t. [New Yorker]
* After passing an abortion law accomplishing little more than exposing the state’s taxpayers to litigation expense, Iowa is going to have to find someone else to defend it because Attorney General Tom Miller wants no part of it. [ABC]
* The FTC’s new consumer protection chief represented payday lenders, and really what’s so bad about a 110 percent interest rate anyway? [The Hill]
* Wolf of Wall Street needs to up his payments to victims. [Law360]
* Facebook is getting into the blockchain game meaning soon your vacation photos will overtake Bitcoin as the most inherently worthless thing backed by blockchain. [Legaltech News]
* An interview with a federal magistrate judge finally answers the question: what’s the penalty for Yogi Bear stealing a picnic basket? [Coverage Opinions]
* The Senate, against all odds, voted to save net neutrality yesterday. [Courthouse News Service]
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* The proposed cap on federal student loans for graduate students will make life a lot rougher for law students who will have to resort to the more expensive private market for tuition bucks. On the other hand, it could devastate the bottom-tier schools who rely on the government gravy train to bilk students into buying a degree they can’t use. So it’s not all bad news. [Law.com]
* When it comes to appointing a Special Master, the government and Michael Cohen have wildly different preferences. The government would like a retired Magistrate, someone well-versed in making tough calls in discovery disputes. Cohen’s camp would prefer a former prosecutor, which you should read as “someone who currently represents criminals and has a vested interest in defining privilege broadly.” Trump’s lawyers haven’t submitted a list of preferred candidates but we can go ahead and pencil in Jeanine Pirro, Andrew Napolitano, and Judge Judy. [New York Law Journal]
* While we’re talking about Cohen, he just dropped his libel suits against Buzzfeed and Fusion GPS over the Steele dossier. So there’s definitely a pee tape. [Politico]
* Oh, and documents suggest he owes $110K in taxes. [Law360]
* Meanwhile, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has asked state lawmakers to eliminate a state law that prevents state prosecutions of individuals who have already reached the plea or a jury is sworn in a federal case. Or, more to the point, when someone in that situation is pardoned. [NY Times]
* There are hints that the jury may acquit Tex McIver of the most serious charges related to his wife’s shooting death. As a reminder, McIver shot her in the back while she rode in the front seat of their car when his gun, which he says he had loaded and ready because he was worried about Black Lives Matter, went off when the car hit a speedbump. [Daily Report Online]
* If you notice some new changes to your Facebook privacy protections, you might think that’s a response to Zuck’s recent congressional testimony. But actually, it’s just Facebook playing shell company roulette to make sure you’re not covered by GDPR. [Reuters]
* The organizer of the Charlottesville “Very Fine People On Both Sides” rally popped into the UVA Law library yesterday. Vigilant students kept an eye on him. [Cavalier Daily]
* We’d also be remiss if we didn’t express our sadness over the loss of Judge Harry T. Stone. Harry Anderson’s portrayal of the free-wheeling but fair judge contributed to making Night Court one of the greatest, and most honest, courtroom television shows of all time. [CNN]
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* This weekend, Sheppard Mullin — and Lankler Siffert & Wohl for that matter — will be pulling for Abacus: Small Enough To Jail, the stellar documentary about the only bank prosecuted for the housing crisis that starred the lawyers who represented Abacus and its family owners. [New York Law Journal]
* In the first year of its merger, Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer earned 1 percent over its legacy firm totals. Firm chairman Richard Alexander describes the firm as “generally… pleased.” But not pleased enough to keep Kaye Scholer on its branding. [National Law Journal]
* Robert Schulman is hoping the Second Circuit can get him out of his drunken insider trading conviction. [Law360]
* Texas Wesleyan is looking for a new baseball coach after firing the last one for rejecting a Colorado recruit and telling the kid the school wouldn’t recruit from states with legal weed. [VICE News]
* Now we have sovereign cryptocurrency which kind of defeats the whole point, but whatever. [Bitcoinist]
* Your daily reminder that white supremacists are bad people. [ABA Journal]
* Speaking of white supremacists, FSU Law students have started to notice that their main academic building is a tribute to a segregationist and that maybe that’s a bad thing. [Tallahassee Democrat]
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* Donald Trump told a rally that “the time has come” for a law banning immigrants from getting welfare. Now all he needs is a time machine to go back to 1996 when this law was actually passed. [The Hill]
* If you’re hoping to score an in-house legal position, it looks like you’re in luck — corporate counsel offices expect to keep hiring as they continue to internalize more and more work. [Law.com]
* Texting while driving is now legal in Colorado. OMG. LOL. [Explosion Emoji] [Fox 31]
* Companies should continue their efforts to comply with the FCPA even though Trump called the law “absolutely crazy.” Because you should take him seriously not literally or what have you. [Corporate Counsel]
* Here’s how important a website is to your small or solo legal practice — this firm didn’t even exist and it got clients because of its web design. [Houston Chronicle]
* Charlotte School of Law has until August to prove that it’s financially viable. [News & Observer]