Source: ABA Journal Top Stories A legal system that has been decried as unfair for harshly punishing largely black defendants for crimes involving relatively small amounts of crack cocaine while other defendants routinely escape similar punishment for crimes involving larger amounts of powder cocaine is on the verge of amendment. With the passage of the… [Continue Reading]

Source: WSJ.com: Law Blog – WSJ.com This much we now know: Many provisions of Arizona’s immigration law, SB 1070, have been put on hold pending further review, the result of this opinion by Arizona federal judge Susan K. Bolton. But what happens now? Read the rest of the story…

Source: ABA Journal Top Stories Back in the day, tailgate parties were synonymous with college football games. But some law schools now host similar events for freshly minted legal eagles facing a grueling bar exam followed by a worrisome future in a difficult legal economy. In Ohio, eight of the state’s nine law schools and… [Continue Reading]

Source: WSJ.com: Law Blog – WSJ.com Congress approved a landmark change Wednesday to the mandatory sentences for cocaine possession that detractors have long alleged had racist effects. Read the rest of the story…

Source: WSJ.com: Law Blog – WSJ.com A federal judge in Phoenix put on hold the most controversial provisions of the state immigration law slated to take effect Thursday. Read the rest of the story…

Source: Profiles In Law Partner at the Boston tax law firm, DeFranceschi & Klemm, P.C. Born: Boston, Massachusetts, July 15, 1964 Areas of Practice: Tax Debt Tax Relief Tax Audit Help & Protection IRS Defense Federal Tax Controversies State Tax Controversies Tax Planning Tax Litigation Criminal Taxation Admitted: 1994, Massachusetts 1995, New Hampshire, U.S. District… [Continue Reading]

Source: Federal Employment Law Articles New interim final rules from the Departments of Treasury, Labor, and Health and Human Services will help employers navigate a series of changes under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA or the Act) that include standards on lifetime and annual benefit limits, retroactive rescissions of plan coverage, and… [Continue Reading]

Source: Law.com – Newswire The Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday reached a $23.4 million settlement with General Electric over charges the company violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. GE, along with two subsidiaries and two other companies that have since been acquired by GE, allegedly made illegal kickbacks totaling $3.6 million in the form… [Continue Reading]

Source: Law.com – Newswire When a top-level executive suddenly quits to take a job at a competing firm, the courts may block the start of the new employment if the evidence shows that such an injunction is needed to prevent a likely misappropriation of trade secrets, the 3rd Circuit has ruled. The ruling came in… [Continue Reading]

Source: Law.com – Newswire A New York appellate court has overturned a finding that a personal injury lawyer had misappropriated client funds with dishonest or fraudulent intent, citing post-9/11 trauma the attorney blamed for his conduct. The panel approved a one-year suspension for Frederick W. Salo, but dismissed a charge that he had engaged in… [Continue Reading]

Source: China Law Blog The China Law Insight blog did an excellent post a few months back on the legal perils of gift giving in China. The post is entitled, “Offering Gifts of Travel and Entertainment in China – What if the Recipient is a State Functionary,” and it nicely sets out the risks of… [Continue Reading]

Source: Marquette University Law School Faculty Blog The editorial section of last Sunday’s Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel included two articles under the heading “Foster Care’s Failure to Launch.”  Both pieces address the situation of teenagers in foster care and the difficulties they face when they “age out” of the system: in other words, they are forced to… [Continue Reading]

Source: ABA Journal Top Stories The city of New York has paid $7.15 million to three victims to settle a civil rights case concerning an unarmed African-American man who was shot to death by police in a hail of bullets outside a Queens night club in November 2006 as he celebrated in anticipation of his… [Continue Reading]