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In the age of AI, litigators must read between the lines—literally.
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August 18, 2026
In the age of AI, litigators must read between the lines—literally.
By: Robert Ward
In the age of AI, litigators must read between the lines—literally. Any attorney who has litigated a case against a party proceeding pro se is familiar with the common refrain that courts liberally construe pro se filings.[1] This leniency was not enough for one Connecticut litigant. In a scheme that gives new meaning to the phrase “reading between the lines,” pro se plaintiff Matthew Elliot included hidden instructions in his filings with the goal of ensuring any AI model’s output would agree with his position. In doing so, Elliot undertook what appears to be the first confirmed prompt injection attack aimed at an American court. The Attempted Prompt Injection On July 24, 2026, pro se plaintiff Matthew Elliot filed what…
The DOJ Steps Up for Military Families
June 29, 2026
The DOJ Steps Up for Military Families
By: Lauren Scribner
The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA), 50 U.S.C. § 4025a, grants military spouses portability of their professional licenses. That means when a military spouse moves with his or her servicemember to the servicemember’s assigned duty station in a new state, the spouse’s professional license essentially moves with them.[1] In order to take advantage of this license portability benefit in the new state, the SCRA requires…
How Much is Too Much? – Second Circuit Establishes Guardrails for Sentencing Hearings
June 22, 2026
How Much is Too Much? – Second Circuit Establishes Guardrails for Sentencing Hearings
By: James Trusty
As any federal criminal practitioner can attest, judges holding a sentencing hearing are privy to an intentionally wider universe of information about the defendant than a jury would have heard about at trial. We want judges to consider all sorts of things about the offender and the offense, beyond just the facts establishing the crime – social background, employment history, criminal record, substance abuse history, mental health issues, and more. Particularly in…
The Struggle to Revive ‘Honest Services’
November 16, 2010
The Struggle to Revive ‘Honest Services’
By: Ifrah Law
On November 16, 2010, the Los Angeles-based Daily Journal published an article by Jeffrey Hamlin, an associate at Ifrah PLLC, on a recent U.S. District Court ruling. The following is the full text of the article. Earlier this year, the U.S. Supreme Court, in the much-watched case of former Enron executive Jeffrey Skilling, limited the federal “honest services” statute to traditional or “paradigmatic” bribery and…
Did Drug Company Lawyer Make False Statements to FDA?
November 10, 2010
Did Drug Company Lawyer Make False Statements to FDA?
By: Ifrah Law
When regulatory agencies ask major corporations to hand over documents to them as part of an ongoing investigation, there’s normally a pretty clear understanding of how things work: if the agency doesn’t receive the full set of documents it is asking for, it negotiates with the company, or ratchets up the urgency of the request, or goes to court to enforce a subpoena. What it…
Settlement Indicates Widespread Abuse of SBA Preference Programs
November 5, 2010
Settlement Indicates Widespread Abuse of SBA Preference Programs
By: Ifrah Law
Last month, the U.S. Department of Justice settled a case with a Maryland company that shows, yet again, how common it is for companies to abuse the preference programs that the Small Business Administration runs. In this case, it was the SBA’s Historically Underutilized Business Zone (HUBZone) program that was the target. Beltsville, Md.-based CSI Engineering and CSI Design Build – along with their president,…
GTSI Settlement Could Mark Crackdown on Contracting Abuses
November 3, 2010
GTSI Settlement Could Mark Crackdown on Contracting Abuses
By: Ifrah Law
The U.S. Small Business Administration has announced a tough settlement with GTSI Corp., one of the nation’s largest government contractors. GTSI, which had been accused of improperly obtaining contracts that are meant for small businesses, avoided a one-year suspension from new work for the federal government. But two of its top executives are stepping down, three others are suspended, and the company has agreed to…
In Federal Sentencing, Age Begins to Matter
October 29, 2010
In Federal Sentencing, Age Begins to Matter
By: Ifrah Law
On November 1, 2010, a new amendment to the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines will go into effect that will allow a judge to consider a defendant’s age far more often than before in handing down a sentence in federal court. We think this change will have a major impact on sentencing in white-collar criminal cases. Defendants in financial crimes tend to be older, so even a…
