Category: Lawyer

Brothers of St. Louis lawyer charged with trying to burn down University City home | Law and order

UNIVERSITY CITY — The brother of a St. Louis-area lawyer was charged Sunday with trying to burn down the lawyer’s University City home.

John C. Christmas, 49, of St. Louis, was charged with one count of first-degree attempted arson. Jerryl Christmas, a St. Louis-based lawyer, confirmed that his brother came to his house about 2 am in an attempt to burn it down.

According to charging documents and Jerryl Christmas, John Christmas sent threatening text messages to his brother that included threats to burn down his brother’s home in the 900 block of Jeanerette Drive in University City.

About 2 am Sunday, John Christmas filled a 5-gallon gas tank, scaled a ladder to the roof of his brother’s house and doused gasoline on the roof, charges and Jerryl Christmas said. Jerryl Christmas said he was awake at the time because his brother, who for years has suffered from bipolar disorder

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FBI agents have lost confidence in Christopher Wray, lawyer representing whistleblowers says: report

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Following the resignation of top FBI agent Timothy Thibault last week after he was criticized for alleged bias in the handling of the investigation into Hunter Biden’s laptop, some rank-and-file employees are calling for Director Christopher Wray to resign, according to a report.

“I’m hearing from [FBI personnel] that they feel like the director has lost control of the bureau,” Kurt Siuzdak, a lawyer who represents FBI whistleblowers, told the Washington Times. “They’re saying, ‘How does this guy survive? He’s leaving. He’s got to leave.'”

Siuzdak said agents tell him they’ve “lost confidence” in Wray. “All Wray does is go in and say we need more training and we’re doing stuff about it, or we will not tolerate it.”

Siuzdak told the New York Post he left his job as an FBI agent after almost 25 years last March because of

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Opinion | Trump lawyers could lose the benefit of attorney-client protection

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Even occasional “Law & Order” viewers know that the conversations between a criminal defendant and his lawyer are normally protected from prosecutors. However, when any lawyer becomes a co-conspirator, such attorney-client privilege evaporates because of what is known as the “crime-fraud exception.” If you’re participating in a crime rather than defending a criminal, you and your client don’t get the benefit of the attorney-client privilege.

In the case of former president Donald Trump, we may soon get a treatise on the crime-fraud exception, as the matter is poised to come up in a shockingly large number of instances.

US District Judge David O. Carter found in a case concerning the Jan. 6 committee’s subpoena of attorney John Eastman’s emails that while some materials might be protected, “the crime-fraud exception applies when (1) a ‘client consults an attorney for advice that will serve [them] in the

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Kaitlin Armstrong’s lawyer asks court to suppress murder evidence

Lawyers for the Texas yoga teacher accused of murdering a romantic rival say evidence in the case against her should be tossed because she was not read her rights when first questioned by police.

Kaitlin Armstrong was interrogated and released by Austin police on May 12, a day after her Jeep was seen at the home where professional cyclist Mariah “Mo” Wilson, 25, was found shot to death.

Armstrong then went on the lam for 43 days before being arrested in Costa Rica, where she was recovering from cosmetic surgery.

The 34-year-old murder suspect asked to leave her May interrogation five times before her request was granted by a cop who believed her arrest warrant was invalid because the document and the department’s system had differing date of birth’s for the murder suspect, authorities told Fox News.

Kaitlin Armstrong's mugshot after being found in Costa Rica.
Kaitlin Armstrong’s lawyer claims evidence against her must be thrown out because she
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Houle sentencing delayed after he complains about his lawyer

CANTON, New York (WWNY) – The Massena man who interrupted his own trial to plead guilty has now forced a delay in sentencing.

Twenty-three-year-old Blakely Houle’s sentencing on manslaughter and assault charges was delayed Monday after he complained about his defense attorney.

Houle told St. Lawrence County Court Judge Greg Story that he wanted to represent himself because his appointed lawyer was not representing him properly.

Story talked him out of representing himself and Houle agreed that a new lawyer will be appointed.

Houle told the court he would find new counsel himself in three weeks if he’s not satisfied with his newly appointed attorney.

In June Houle interrupted his trial to plead guilty to second-degree manslaughter and second-degree assault. The surprise plea came after the prosecution rested its case.

He admitted he recklessly caused the death of 30-year-old James Hayes of Massena by striking him with his minivan on

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As the cost to hire a lawyer climbs, some states let non-lawyers provide legal advice

More states are allowing non-lawyers to represent people in civil court matters as the gap in access to legal counsel grows wider between those who can afford attorneys and those who can’t.

Although it’s in its early stages, such advocacy is desperately needed as states struggle to ensure residents with common legal problems aren’t left behind, lawyers said.

The cost of hiring lawyers “has increased since the 1970s, and many individual litigants have been forced to forego using professional legal services and either represent themselves or ignore their legal problems,” a task force of the state Supreme Court wrote in a report on legal services in Arizona in 2019.

Utah and Arizona launched programs in recent years that allow people who have earned legal technician’s licenses to dispense advice in family law cases, while Minnesota is in a trial run. Oregon plans to start an initiative next summer, and Colorado

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Lawyer sworn in to replace district judge jailed for corruption of minors

Newport’s Magisterial District Court 41-3-04 has a new judge. Sworn in on July 18, with his grandchildren holding the Bible for his oath, Juniata Twp resident Jeffrey John Wood, 69, is ready to serve his community.

Having had nearly 40 years of legal experience, Wood brings a lot to the table. After earning a bachelor of arts in religion and political science from Juniata College and a master in education from Slippery Rock University, he earned his Juris Doctorate in 1983 from the Thomas M. Cooley Law School in Lansing, Mich., and began his career as a law clerk in the Lawrence County Court of Common Pleas.

Wood has had his own legal practice since 1984, serving private clients in Perry, Mercer and Snyder counties. He has also served as chief and senior counsel for the Department of Aging in the Governor’s Office of General Counsel.

Originally from Grove City,

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LIV Golf lawyer suggests player winnings count against contracts

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – One of the more compelling elements from Tuesday’s hearing in the US District Court Northern District of California was how attorneys for both the PGA Tour and the three players who have been suspended for playing the LIV Golf events were forced to vaguely talk about the contracts players signed with the start-up league.

The contracts were provided to the PGA Tour’s attorneys but were sealed for confidentiality reasons which meant any reference to them during Tuesday’s hearing for a temporary restraining order had to avoid specific details, like the amount of each contract and any stipulations included in the deals.

One exchange between Judge Beth Labson Freeman and Robert Waters, the lead attorney for the three players, appeared to suggest that earnings from LIV Golf events were counted against a player’s contract guarantees.

“The guaranteed number [a LIV player can earn in an event] is $160,000,

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Miami becomes the new boom town for corporate lawyers

Since US law firm Kirkland & Ellis announced it was setting up shop in Miami, private equity partner Jeremy Liss has found himself very popular with his colleagues.

The 49-year old is trading the windy city of Chicago for South Florida heat to run Kirkland’s new outpost and has been fielding calls from lawyers keen to join him ever since.

“The initial demand has been extremely strong. It’s probably even stronger demand than we had anticipated,” he said. “[Miami] is the hot place in the US . . . It’s becoming Wall Street south.”

Kirkland is one of a number of firms expanding to Miami to capitalize on a mass migration accelerated by the coronavirus pandemic. In the year to July 2021, more Americans moved to Florida than any other state — 220,890 of them, according to census data. The influx included billionaires and hedge funds unmoored from their Wall

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Ex-Khashoggi lawyer Asim Ghafoor freed in UAE after money laundering conviction | United Arab Emirates

The US citizen and civil rights attorney Asim Ghafoor, who had represented Jamal Khashoggi before the Saudi journalist was murdered, has been freed from custody in the UAE where he was convicted on money laundering charges.

Ghafoor was headed home to the US, said his lawyer, Faisal Gill, having been freed after paying a fine and with help from the US embassy in the UAE.

A court on Wednesday upheld Ghafoor’s earlier in-absentia conviction, ordering him to pay a fine but revoking a three-year jail term handed down in May. UAE officials had no immediate comment.

Ghafoor – former lawyer of Khashoggi, the dissident Saudi journalist who was murdered at Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Istanbul in 2018 – had been transiting through Dubai airport on 14 July when he was detained for the in-absentia conviction, handed down in May, for money laundering and tax evasion that followed a 2020 request

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