|
|
|
David Boies Urges ABA Members
Press Release |
2010/08/08 08:48
|
pDavid Boies challenged America’s lawyers to “bring the rule of law to its full fruition here in this country … to fulfill the goals and lofty rhetoric of our founding fathers,” as the keynote speaker at the Opening Assembly of the 2010 ABA Annual Meeting in San Francisco. /ppThe rule of law was the assembly theme, as ABA members gathered in the Herbst Theater of the War Memorial Veterans Building, site of the signing of the charter of the United Nations in 1945. nbsp; /ppPresident Carolyn B. Lamm pointed to ABA efforts from activities of the Section of International Law to such projects as the Central European and Eurasian Law Initiative, the Rule of Law Initiative and the World Justice Project as advancing United Nations goals to spread democracy based on law around the world. /ppBoies, co-counsel with Ted Olson in winning a federal district court ruling Wednesday that overturned California’s Proposition 8, cited “numerous challenges to the rule of law in our own country,” in applying that theme at home. /ppWhen our nation was born, it consisted of “wes” and “theys,” Boies said, with the “wes” being white male property owners and the “theys” comprising everyone else.nbsp; As the national history unfolded, the circle of “wes” expanded to encompass more and more segments of society. nbsp; /pp“We have an opportunity to expand the circle of ‘wes’ until there are no more ‘theys,’” said Boies, urging lawyers to work toward ensuring that “liberty and equality and protection of individual rights is something that every citizen equally enjoys.”/ppTo achieve that goal, Boies identified four challenges confronting his audience./ppFirst, he suggested the rule of law works best when adversaries have equivalent resources, whether those resources are plentiful or sparse. nbsp; But the “time when our system tends to break down is when one party has tremendous resources and the other party does not.”nbsp; Those are the times that “threatened to undermine the protections of the rule of law… [and lawyers] need to find ways to reduce the imbalance,” he said.nbsp; He urged reducing procedural advantages that favor the “better resourced party,” and urged lawyers to not “use discovery as a war of attrition,” for example.nbsp;
nbsp; nbsp;
Second, he called for “better tools to help juries” decide important but complex cases, such as allowing jurors to ask questions and take notes on testimony. /ppHis third challenge was to “improve judges and the judicial machinery,” citing a “crisis in terms of financing the justice system in the United States.”nbsp; First year associates in his law firm are paid higher salaries than federal district court judges, and state court judges earn even less, he said.nbsp; “If we can’t afford to spend a fraction of what we are spending to expand that system to Iraq, something is wrong with our sense of priorities,” he maintained. nbsp; /ppAll lawyers must stand up for the independence of judges, resisting threats to their safety when they make unpopular decisions, said Boies, noting that there already have been threats to harm the judge whonbsp; ruled in the Proposition 8 litigation. /ppBoies’ cited predictably equal application of the law without regard to the identity of the parties as the final challenge to the rule of law, saying that when rights depend on who is asserting them, “the rule of law is undermined.”/p |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Law firm launches regulation update service
Law Firm News |
2010/08/06 23:21
|
| pLaw firm CMS Cameron McKenna has launched a free online service to help financial services firms keep pace with regulatory developments./ppRegZone is accessed without password registration and is divided according to topic and sector./ppCharts and diagrams give an overview of regulatory change, while articles and reports give more in-depth analysis./ppThe service also covers publications and speeches from over 30 regulatory organisations, include an enforcement library of decisions by the FSA and the Financial Services and Markets Tribunal./ppIt also offers a timeline to track key dates for regulatory developments, with relevant implementation dates, announcements and consultation periods which are colour coded according to whether proposals are international, European or in the UK./p |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Murder conviction of mom reversed in California
Court Press News |
2010/08/03 08:58
|
pAn appeals court panel has reversed the murder conviction of a mother accused of driving her teenage son and his friends to a Southern California park where a 13-year-old rival gang member was stabbed to death./ppThe 2nd District Court of Appeal panel ruled 2-1 on Monday that jurors in the case of 33-year-old Eva Daley were given an impermissibly ambiguous jury instruction during the 2008 trial./ppAssociate Justice Laurie D. Zelon wrote that case records don't show the jury based its verdict on a legally valid theory, so the conviction should be reversed./ppDaley had been convicted of second-degree murder for the 2007 death of Jose Cano./ppProsecutors argued that Daley wanted revenge because Cano allegedly stabbed her son six months earlier.
/p |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Groups seek judge's removal from drilling case
Court Press News |
2010/08/03 04:57
|
pSeveral environmental groups have asked a federal appeals court to disqualify a judge from a lawsuit over the Obama administration's initial six-month moratorium on deep-water oil drilling./ppU.S. District Judge Martin Feldman overturned the temporary drilling ban in June and refused last month to withdraw from the case./ppIn a court filing Thursday, environmental groups supporting the moratorium asked the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to remove Feldman from the case because of his investments in several oil and gas companies. Feldman says he learned he owned Exxon Mobil stock a day before he ruled and sold it several hours before he issued the decision./ppLast month, a 5th Circuit panel rejected the government's bid to restore its six-month ban on issuing new permits for deep-water drilling and suspension of 33 existing drilling projects in the Gulf of Mexico.
/p |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Calif. high court upholds affirmative action ban
Headline Legal News |
2010/08/03 01:57
|
pCalifornia's high court on Monday upheld the state's 14-year-old law barring preferential treatment of women and minorities in public school admissions, government hiring and contracting./ppIn a 6-1 ruling, the state Supreme Court rejected arguments from the city of San Francisco and Attorney General Jerry Brown that the law, known as Proposition 209, violates federal equality protections./ppOpponents of the ban say it creates barriers for minorities and women that don't exist for other groups, such as veterans seeking preference./ppThe ruling written by Justice Kathryn Werdegar came in response to lawsuits filed by white contractors challenging San Francisco's affirmative action program, which was suspended in 2003./ppAs the court recognized, Proposition 209 is a civil rights measure that protects everyone, regardless of background, said Sharon Browne, a lawyer for the Pacific Legal Foundation, which represented the contractors. Under Proposition 209, no one can be victimized by unfair government policies that discriminate or grant preferences based on sex or skin color./ppIf San Francisco wants to resurrect the program, the Supreme Court said it must show compelling evidence the city purposefully or intentionally discriminated against minority and women contractors and that such a law was the only way to fix the problem.
/p |
|
|
|
|
|
Legal News RSS Feed
