Archive for "Breaking News"
Eric Holder Announces $2.4M in Grants to Help Improve Indigent Criminal Defense Services
Sunday, February 5th, 2012Patriots Debate: The Meaning of the Constitution in a Time of Terror
Sunday, February 5th, 2012Dr. Clarisse von Wunschheim On Arbitrating Your China Disputes, Part III. Is Enforcement Overemphasized?
Sunday, February 5th, 2012Source: China Law Blog
This is part III (the last) of Dr. Clarisse von Wunschheim's three part series of guest posts on China arbitration. I asked Dr. von Wunschheim to write this series because arbitration is so important to so many China transactions and she literally wrote the book on China arbitration: Enforcement of Commercial Arbitral Awards in China.
More from Dr. Von Wunschheim:
PART 3: Relevant Criteria for Selection between Arbitration in or outside China – Are enforcement issues really so important?
In my previous posts, I set out the context of the battle between arbitration in or outside China and the arguments that the supporters of each option commonly rely upon. I further explained the reasons why I am not convinced by most these arguments, the main reason being that I believe the pros and cons invoked by the supporters of either option to be largely directed by their fear and ignorance of the other option, and are not made in due regard of the specific needs and possibilities of the case at hand.
The aim of this final post is therefore to determine what should be the relevant criteria when...
Scalia Denies Abortion Views Influenced by Religion, Calls His GPS Opinion ‘Defendant Friendly’
Sunday, February 5th, 2012Dr. Clarisse von Wunschheim On Arbitrating Your China Disputes, Part I. The Legal Context.
Saturday, February 4th, 2012Source: China Law Blog
We are always writing on the importance of China contracts having a well-crafted dispute resolution provision. My favorite line about this is the following, from the post, "Arbitration In Your China Contract. Adult Supervision Required":
With sushi restaurants, it's the yellow-fin.
With new houses, it's the windows.
With international contracts, it's the dispute resolution provision.The "it" I am talking about is the one easiest, fastest, most accurate, way to judge whether something is good or not. And the way I judge international contracts is by heading straight to the dispute resolution provision. The well crafted provision is, above all else, unambiguous. If it calls for litigation, it says where it will be and what law will apply. And it says who will pay for it and under what circumstances. If it calls for arbitration, it says where it will be, how many arbitrators will be required, how the arbitrators will be chosen, the language of the proceedings, the rules that will be...
Tommy Thompson to Critics: Get Out of My Way
Saturday, February 4th, 2012Source: Marquette University Law School Faculty Blog
It was near the end of Mike Gousha’s interview with US Senate candidate Tommy Thompson. Alluding to critics, many from the right, Gousha asked, “So when they say –and they do say — Tommy Thompson is part of the problem in Washington, not part of the solution, you say?”
“Get out of my way,” Thompson answered quickly.
If you think that at 70, the political fire inside Thompson has diminished, you should have seen him during the “On the Issues” session with Gousha, the Law School’s distinguished fellow in law and public policy at Eckstein Hall on Thursday. (In fact, you can, by clicking here for the video.)
The man elected governor of Wisconsin four times before serving four years as US Secretary of Health and Human Services was every bit the forceful, self-confident, optimistic, almost swaggering figure before about 200 people that Wisconsinites knew so well in the 1980s and 1990s.
When Gousha said other people running for the open US Senate seat wanted the job as much as Thompson did, Thompson said, “I don’t think so.”
Thompson appeared to be close to taking offense when Gousha said that, if elected, he would be only a...
19th Annual Howard B. Eisenberg Do-Gooders’ Auction—An Interview with PILS Fellow Garrett Soberalski
Saturday, February 4th, 2012Source: Marquette University Law School Faculty Blog
The 19th Annual Howard B. Eisenberg Do-Gooders’ Auction on behalf of the Law School’s Public Interest Law Society (PILS) will be held on February 10 at the Law School. Proceeds from the event go to support PILS Fellowships to enable Marquette law students to do public interest work in the summer. Garrett Soberalski, a current law student, shares his experience here as a PILS Fellow.
Where did you work as a PILS Fellow?
This past summer I worked for the Department of Housing and Urban Development Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity Milwaukee Field Office (HUD).
What kind of work did you do there?
The bulk of my time was spent assisting various Equal Opportunity Specialists in the office investigate fair housing complaints and prepare determinations regarding fair housing complaints. I also performed research for two larger matters that may still be under investigation, so I will not discuss those activities further. Overall, it was a lot of research and writing, with some field investigations from time to time.
How was the experience meaningful to you?
The experience was meaningful to me in two ways. First, I met many great people who showed me the importance of...
Arizona to Amazon: About That Sales Tax…
Saturday, February 4th, 2012Source: WSJ.com: Law Blog - WSJ.com
It’s getting to be tax time again. But filing W2s isn’t what the State of Arizona had in mind when they hit Amazon.com with a $53 million bill for uncollected sales taxes, the latest attempt from a state to get revenue from the online retailer, Dow Jones Newswires reported.
In a filing with the SEC, Amazon disclosed the bill from Arizona — which the company received in November — saying the state “is alleging that we should have collected a transaction tax that is similar to a sales tax on applicable transactions” for the period March 2006 to December 2010. Amazon said the assessment is without merit and plans to defend itself.
Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer isn’t taking a position on the matter, her spokesman told the Tucson Citizen. The decision to bill Amazon was made by the state’s Revenue Department, he said.
Nevertheless, state Sen. Al Melvin( R., Tucson) introduced a bill last week that would tax online sales of any company with a warehouse, distribution center or similar place of business in the state, Tucson Citizen reported. The bill, which has the support of the Arizona Retailers Association, is being presented as a...
Business Is Booming . . . for the EEOC, Anyway
Saturday, February 4th, 2012New Clarifications and Guidance on W-2 Reporting
Saturday, February 4th, 2012Obamacare By The Numbers
Saturday, February 4th, 2012Dr. Clarisse von Wunschheim On Arbitrating Your China Disputes, Part II. Inside Or Outside China?
Saturday, February 4th, 2012Source: China Law Blog
This is part II of Dr. Clarisse von Wunschheim's series of guest posts on China arbitration. I asked to write this series because arbitration is of such crucial importance to so many China transactions and she literally wrote the book on China arbitration: Enforcement of Commercial Arbitral Awards in China.
More from Dr. Von Wunschheim:
PART 2: Pros & Cons of Arbitration Inside and Outside China
In my previous post, I tried to establish that though the question of whether to arbitrate in or outside China may seem to be primarily relevant for so-called ‘foreign-related’ contracts, it actually concerns all kinds of China-related contracts. Today’s post aims to determine the main pros and cons of each option, as well as the current trends which they give rise to.
Referring to the arguments most often invoked by the supporters of each option, the main pros and cons can be summarized as follows:
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ARBITRATION OUTSIDE CHINA |
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PROs |
CONs |
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- Neutrality of the forum, and thereby better assurance of independence of the arbitrators and the arbitration institutions - Higher level of... The Court of Appeals Speaks in the Recall CaseSaturday, February 4th, 2012Source: Marquette University Law School Faculty Blog Today, the District IV Court of Appeals issued an opinion that reverses a ruling by the Waukesha County Circuit Court denying a motion to intervene in the case of Friends of Scott Walker v. Brennan. The practical impact of today’s Court of Appeals decision is that the committees seeking the recall of Governor Walker and other Republican officeholders will be permitted to intervene in the case of Friends of Scott Walker v. Brennan. As a result, all of the legal rulings made by Judge Davis subsequent to his denial of the motion to intervene must be vacated, so that these legal issues can be reargued with the participation of the recall committees. This means that Judge Davis’ earlier ruling, interpreting the statutory procedures for recalls under Section 9.10, is now vacated. On January 5, 2012, Judge Davis ordered the Government Accountability Board (GAB) to take affirmative steps to identify and strike any recall signatures that are fictitious, duplicative or unrecognizable. Because of this earlier ruling, the GAB went ahead and adopted new procedures, purchased new signature recognition software, and sought additional time in which to review the recall petitions. The GAB had argued unsuccessfully... New York AG Sues 3 Major Banks and MERS, Calls Mass Foreclosure Filings a Fraud on CourtSaturday, February 4th, 2012The Daily Writing Sample: Bad Bureaucrat SpeakFriday, February 3rd, 2012Source: WSJ.com: Law Blog - WSJ.com This opinion today from Judge William Fletcher on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit backhands the U.S. Forest Service for an environmental impact statement “with more than the usual amount of obfuscating bureaucratese.” By way of example, he includes in his opinion a passage of the impact statement. It is quite a slog.
Ethics Proposals Would Require Law Firms to Report Lawyers’ Judicial Campaign ContributionsFriday, February 3rd, 2012Anonymous Hackers Say They Stole Email from Haditha Sgt.‘s Defense Team for ‘People’s Trial’Friday, February 3rd, 2012In Face of Resistence, Carlyle Backs Away From Edgy Shareholder ProvisionFriday, February 3rd, 2012 Source: WSJ.com: Law Blog - WSJ.com
The nail that sticks up gets hammered down. That old truism ran through our mind today when we read the latest news about private-equity firm Carlyle Group LP. The firm, currently preparing for an initial public offering, has, according to Bloomberg, ditched an idea for which it had taken a fair amount of heat in recent days. The novel idea: require future stockholders to use arbitration rather than the courts to settle any sort of gripe against the firm. The backlash against the idea was immediate, largely from shareholder’s rights groups and firms that make livings suing companies for stock fraud. Politicians also voiced opposition. “The SEC should reject this effort to circumvent shareholder rights because it will be an extraordinary and enduring precedent,” U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal told Bloomberg. “It will open the door to arbitration clauses in all IPOs, and thereby eviscerate shareholder rights.” Not everyone panned the idea. Susan Beck, writing over at the American Lawyer magazine, described her relative ambivalence to the idea:
It’s 2012 And The NLRB Is Off To A Fast – And Controversial – StartFriday, February 3rd, 2012Transportation Companies Must Plan for and Implement Changes for 2013 to Comply with New Hours of Service RulesFriday, February 3rd, 2012Interviewing The Pawn Stars WayFriday, February 3rd, 2012Lawyers Still Have a Lot to Learn About Technology, Ethics 20/20 Witnesses SayFriday, February 3rd, 2012Full 2nd Circuit OKs Hefty Sanction for 2 Lawyers re ‘Cynical Delusion and Fantasy’ 9/11 CaseThursday, February 2nd, 2012Investor Sues Greenberg Traurig, Says Law Firm Helped Lender Client Defraud InvestorsThursday, February 2nd, 2012Clooney Lands Role of a Lifetime: Playing David Boies in ’8?Thursday, February 2nd, 2012Source: WSJ.com: Law Blog - WSJ.com
The Proposition 8 trial has already been done on Broadway. Now it’s headed to Tinseltown with a fresh cast, including George Clooney as David Boies (Boies, Schiller & Flexner) and Martin Sheen as Ted Olson (Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher). The two will read selections from the 2010 trial over California’s voter-mandated gay marriage ban — at the direction of Rob Reiner, Law Blog Retroactive Director of the Year for 1984 (This is Spinal Tap) — in a play by Dustin Lance Black. Spoiler: Boies and Olson win. U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker in San Francisco declared Prop 8 unconstitutional in 2010. The case is now before in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Check out the flyer for the details and additional cast. Read the rest of the...New York State Bar Revisits Nonlawyer OwnershipThursday, February 2nd, 2012Source: WSJ.com: Law Blog - WSJ.com The head of the New York State Bar Association says the organization will study whether nonlawyers should be allowed to own a stake in law firms. President Vincent E. Doyle III, speaking at an American Bar Association conference in New Orleans, said the idea “is worthy of serious consideration,” according to prepared remarks. But he said NYSBA “remains opposed to nonlawyer ownership of law firms.” The issue had been settled since a little more than a decade ago, when “Big 5” accounting firms were trying to acquire law firms in the U.S., as they’d done in Europe. An ABA commission, siding with the accounting firms, recommended a change to the model rules to allow for nonlawyer ownership in law firms. The New York State Bar Association, along with several other state bar associations, rejected the proposal, arguing that it could compromise core values of the profession such as loyalty, independence and confidentiality. When the issue came before the American Bar Association voting body, in 2000, it was defeated. The ABA is now considering a more limited proposal: Nonlawyers could own stakes in law firms, but lawyers would still have to maintain a controlling financial interest and voting rights in the firm, and nonlawyers couldn’t have... Washington State Senate Passes Same-Sex Marriage BillThursday, February 2nd, 2012Source: WSJ.com: Law Blog - WSJ.com Last week, we told you about the advancement of a bill in New Jersey that would allow same-sex marriage. Governor Chris Christie’s response was a veto threat and a suggestion that the issue be put to a referendum. Now, three thousand miles away, the Washington state Senate has passed a bill legalizing same-sex marriage, and Gov. Chris Gregoire is encouraging the state House of Representatives to pass it so she can sign it into law, AP reports. Washington would be the seventh state to allow gay and lesbian couples to get married, if the House approves the measure, as expected. The Senate passed the bill 28-21, with four Republicans crossing party lines and voting for it, and three Democrats voting against it. An amendment calling for a referendum clause in the bill was rejected, but opponents have said they will file a challenge to the legislation. Once the bill is signed into law by the governor, opponents will have to present more than 120,000 signatures by June 6 to force a referendum. Gov. Gregoire discussed Gov. Christie’s suggestion that the issue of same-sex marriage be decided by referendum by saying she is “urging every one of... A Moving Target: The California DLSE Modifies Again Its FAQs on California’s New Wage Notice Required for Hourly EmployeesThursday, February 2nd, 2012The Many Faces of AdoptionThursday, February 2nd, 2012Source: Marquette University Law School Faculty Blog Recent news reports describe a new twist in adoption practice. According to the reports John Goodman, a wealthy Florida man, has adopted his 42 year old girlfriend, apparently in an attempt to protect some of his assets against possible losses in a wrongful death action filed against him. Goodman is alleged to have been drunk at the time he ran a stop sign, resulting in an accident that killed another man. Prior to the adoption of his girlfriend, Goodman had set up a trust for his two minor children, which the girlfriend may now share in as an adopted child, and news reports say that, under Florida law, the parents of the deceased man could not claim wrongful death damages from that trust. When most people hear the word “adoption,” they picture what I often call the “Little Orphan Annie” model. You will recall in the Broadway play “Annie,” and before that in the “Little Orphan Annie” comic strip, Annie was only an infant when she was abandoned on the orphanage steps by her poor parents. After many adventures, Annie was adopted by Daddy Warbucks, a kind man with the emotional and economic resources... A Comparison of an Article 32 Investigation with a Federal Grand Jury (And Why the Former Prevails)Thursday, February 2nd, 2012Source: Marquette University Law School Faculty Blog My recent military law class helped me to understand the judicial system employed by our armed forces. Many similarities exist between the judicial system in the armed forces and the Article III courts, but differences stand out as well. One such difference is that between an Article 32 investigation and its civilian counterpart, a federal grand jury. An Article 32 investigation provides more rights and opportunities for the accused than a federal grand jury. With that in mind, and an eye on overarching judicial policy, I concluded that the Article 32 investigation is better. The comparison of the two judicial systems stems from the fact that both are designed to avoid trials on baseless charges. Beyond the similarity of this broad rationale for each process, however, little is in common between the two. An Article 32 investigation results in a non-binding recommendation, is limited to the charges on the charge sheet, and provides that the accused and counsel may be present. Conversely, a grand jury session’s indictment is final, allows any charges to be found, and neither the accused nor his or her counsel is allowed at the session.
First, in an Article 32 investigation, an assigned...
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