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REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo
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U.S. Supreme Court justices and federal judges may no longer avoid disclosing the value of travel-related gifts they receive by classifying such free trips as “reimbursements” on their financial disclosure forms under new regulations now in effect, reports Nate Raymond.
The regulations follow revelations that conservative U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas (above) had not disclosed luxury trips paid for by a wealthy benefactor. Following media reports of the trips, Thomas filed a delayed financial disclosure report that referenced private jet travel provided by Texas businessman Harlan Crow. Thomas listed many of the expenses as “reimbursements” and not as gifts, which would require their value to be disclosed.
Thomas cited advice from the staff of the U.S. Judicial Conference’s Financial Disclosure Committee and said his disclosure was “consistent with previous filings by other filers.” His supporters previously pointed to instances in which liberal former Justices Stephen Breyer and Ruth Bader Ginsburg similarly listed as “reimbursements” trips whose value went undisclosed.
In its notice of the new regulations, the federal judiciary said the disclosure policies were updated “to reflect past statutory changes more clearly and help ensure complete reporting of gifts and reimbursements consistent with statutory requirements.”
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- The National Court Reporters Association has hired a federal lobbying firm to help it confront the emerging uses of artificial intelligence in the judicial system. Lobbying firm Farragut Partners is representing the trade group on “issues related to the use of AI in the courtroom,” according to a lobbying registration.
- A group of Chinese-born U.S. supporters of indicted businessman Guo Wengui must pay more than $327,000 in fees to a bankruptcy trustee, Luc Despins of Paul Hastings, whom they accused of being an unregistered agent for the Chinese government, a U.S. magistrate judge ruled.
- Washington, Colorado and Minnesota have joined the list of states transitioning to the overhauled bar exam, in the coming years. In total, 17 jurisdictions have said when they will move to the so-called Next Gen bar exam, but when they will start differs.
- Former 3rd Circuit judge Timothy Lewis told U.S. Senate leaders he is “deeply disturbed” by Republican-led attacks on Adeel Mangi, President Joe Biden’s nominee for the appeals court, who would become the nation’s first Muslim federal appeals court judge if confirmed. In the letter, Lewis warned Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell that rejecting Mangi would “have a toxic long-term impact on the entire federal judiciary.”
- The Supreme Court of Washington approved several new ways for attorneys to become licensed that bypass the bar exam, including a new apprenticeship program for law school graduates who would work under lawyer supervision for six months then submit a portfolio of work for evaluation. A separate option would allow law students to complete 12 credits of skills coursework and 500 hours of hands-on legal work before graduation, then submit a work portfolio to the Washington State Bar to become licensed.
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For antitrust plaintiffs firms, one of the big downsides of the practice is that you can shell out big bucks to develop a case, only to see competing firms hijack your work in their own complaints. One way to avert that prospect, writes Alison Frankel, is to move quickly for appointment as class counsel. Lots of firms file these motions, Frankel says, but one stands out. Curious? Read on!
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“Whatever the alleged conduct of Jones, Freeman, and Jackson Walker, it has nothing to do with Kirkland & Ellis.“
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—Kirkland & Ellis, which asked a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit claiming it took illegal advantage of U.S. Bankruptcy Judge David Jones’s romance with Elizabeth Freeman, a lawyer at Jackson Walker who served as its co-counsel in several bankruptcy cases. The lawsuit, filed by investor Michael Van Deelen, who revealed the relationship between Jones and Freeman last year, accuses Kirkland of benefiting from it by frequently teaming up with Jackson Walker. Kirkland is seeking sanctions against Van Deelen, as well.
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- The U.S. Supreme Court will hear a California woman’s bid to overturn her conviction for smuggling drugs across the U.S.-Mexican border. The dispute is over the scope of expert witness testimony challenging her defense that she acted unwittingly as a “blind” drug mule. A lower court rejected her bid to exclude testimony that had cast doubt on her claim she did not know that drugs were hidden in the car she was driving.
- Donald Trump faces a deadline today to file his U.S. Supreme Court brief in his bid for immunity from prosecution for trying to overturn his 2020 election loss. The justices will hear oral argument on April 25 over Trump’s claim that he is shielded from criminal liability because he was president when he took actions aimed at reversing President Joe Biden’s election victory.
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Court calendars are subject to last-minute docket changes.
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- Mike Lynch, the wealthy tech founder once hailed as Britain’s answer to Steve Jobs, will testify at his U.S. trial to defend against charges that he defrauded Hewlett-Packard in the $11 billion sale of his software company Autonomy, his attorney said in court.
- McDonald’s must face a proposed class action claiming it violated antitrust laws by prohibiting franchisees from poaching employees from other McDonald’s restaurants, after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to take up the case.
- Three right-wing groups sued the Biden administration over its approval of a wind project off the coast of Virginia, alleging it failed to consider the facility’s impacts on endangered whales. The federal lawsuit is filed by groups including the Heartland Institute and Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow, which have rejected the mainstream science showing that climate change is driven by human use of fossil fuels and have criticized the development of offshore wind energy as expensive and unreliable.
- The 2nd Circuit rejected claims by a group of Jewish professors at New York City public colleges that they should be able to opt out of representation by a union that has criticized Israel’s treatment of Palestinians. A unanimous three-judge panel said in the decision that the professors’ allegations that having an exclusive union representative violates their free-speech rights under the First Amendment were foreclosed by a 1984 U.S. Supreme Court ruling.
- The 4th Circuit sent a West Virginia city and county’s bid to revive their $2.5 billion lawsuit against top drug distributors over the opioid crisis to the state’s highest court. Huntington and Cabell County, West Virginia, had urged the court to overturn a lower court’s ruling rejecting their case, but the panel ruled that the West Virginia Supreme Court must first decide whether the distributors can be liable under the state’s law for creating a “public nuisance” by flooding the region with pills.
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