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My Brother’s Keeper
FEATURED
February 20, 2025
My Brother’s Keeper
By: Abbey Block
Am I my brother’s keeper? Or more specifically, can lawyers be sued for their clients’ bad behavior? A newly proposed bill out of Washington state says yes. The bill, HB 1891, provides the following legal framework, under which an attorney can be sued for injuries caused by his or her client who is released from detention pending trial: Any person injured by an individual who was previously arrested for a violent offense, and subsequently released from custody before trial for such offense as a result of the advocacy of their criminal defense counsel, has a cause of action against such criminal defense counsel if: (a) The individual caused the injury after being released from custody; and (b) the criminal defense…
DOJ Memo Sneaks In Seismic Changes
January 31, 2025
DOJ Memo Sneaks In Seismic Changes
By: James Trusty
Amidst the tidal wave of Executive Orders, presidential appointments, and policy announcements, it is easy to treat last week’s Interim Policy Memo from the Acting Deputy Attorney General[1] as just another ripple of nominal change that occurs when democrats replace republicans or republicans replace democrats. And, indeed, although there are portions of it that reflect the recurring philosophical tug-of-war over the tough on crime approach…
Virtual Reality Creating Jury Reality
January 7, 2025
Virtual Reality Creating Jury Reality
By: James Trusty
A Florida Judge may have unwittingly ushered in a new age of criminal justice, where slickly made virtual reality (“VR”) presentations turn judges and jurors into witnesses, and VR headsets provide subjective “testimony” in a powerful and difficult to challenge manner. Broward County Judge Andrew Siegel agreed to don a virtual reality headset in a preliminary proceeding[1] where the defendant was accused of aggravated assault….
Speed Bump or Dead End? The 2018 Retrial Prospects for Sen. Menendez
January 8, 2018
Speed Bump or Dead End? The 2018 Retrial Prospects for Sen. Menendez
By: James Trusty
This holiday season was undoubtedly festive for Senator Bob Menendez, whose corruption trial ended with a deadlocked jury in mid-November. The Department of Justice (DOJ) has yet to announce whether it will elect to re-try the New Jersey senator, but here are some of the factors they will, and will not, consider in making that decision: The Split In many jury deadlock situations, the judge,…
The Territorial Tax System Under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act
January 5, 2018
The Territorial Tax System Under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act
By: Jeffrey Hamlin
Last year, the Senate and House approved the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act along partisan lines; on December 21st, President Trump signed the bill into law. Nearly 1100 pages long, the Act makes a number of sweeping changes to the U.S. tax code. Among other things, the bill reduces individual income tax rates, nearly doubles the standard deduction, eliminates the personal exemption, and caps deductions…
Marijuana May Be Headed for a Showdown Out West
January 4, 2018
Marijuana May Be Headed for a Showdown Out West
By: Steven Eichorn
Today, Attorney General Jeff Sessions issued a one-page memo to all U.S. Attorneys that announced a sharp reversal on the DOJ’s approach to marijuana prosecutions. Under the Obama administration, the DOJ issued a memorandum in 2013 (the “Cole memo”) that basically provided a safe harbor to the marijuana industry in states that legalized recreational marijuana. The Cole memo allowed the recreational marijuana industry to thrive…
Mental Gymnastics: Silenced Voices of Victims in the Sexual Assault Case by USA Gymnastics Team Physician
December 11, 2017
Mental Gymnastics: Silenced Voices of Victims in the Sexual Assault Case by USA Gymnastics Team Physician
By: James Trusty
The high-profile prosecution of the disgraced physician who treated U.S. Olympic gymnasts ended with a stern sentence but a lingering mystery regarding victim rights. U.S. District Court Judge Janet Neff, serving in the Western District of Michigan, sentenced Larry Nassar to 60 years in prison for his possession of child pornography, as well as some related charges. Nassar had been the team physician for USA…
Did the Paradise Papers and Panama Papers Play a Role in the GOP Tax Plan?
December 5, 2017
Did the Paradise Papers and Panama Papers Play a Role in the GOP Tax Plan?
By: Jeffrey Hamlin
Congress is poised to deliver on tax reform this year. As part of the package, both houses are seeking to encourage the repatriation of trillions of dollars that corporations and wealthy individuals have been stockpiling offshore. For decades, corporations and wealthy individuals have been able to avoid taxes legally by transferring assets to tax-friendly jurisdictions like Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, and Panama. Only when the…
