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Judicial Vacancies Slow the Wheels of Justice
Topics |
2010/07/12 10:06
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| pAs the Senate prepares to vote on whether Elena Kagan should fill the vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court, there remain a substantial number of other vacancies in the nation’s lower federal courts that urgently need filling. /ppCurrently, there are about 100 vacancies in the lower federal courts. The American Bar Association says the lack of judges is affecting the efficiency and fairness of the justice system. /ppABA President Carolyn B. Lamm said, “Our courts are already terribly strained at the federal level because of the caseload and the workload, and when you’re a hundred justices down…that’s a big gap.nbsp; We have speedy trial rules that require them to put criminal cases first.nbsp; As a result, all of the civil proceedings are put off and there is a real gap in terms of a significant delay as a result of the vacancies. It is edging toward a crisis not to have a full bench.” /ppEven if all the vacancies were filled, said Lamm, a significant number of new judgeships would still be necessary to handle caseload growth.nbsp; In fact, the Judicial Conference of the United States is recommending 67 new permanent and temporary judgeships.nbsp; /ppBeyond the existing 100 vacancies, more than 20 additional judges have announced that they will retire in the next several months. Since the start of the 111th Congress, President Obama has made 78 nominations to fill the empty seats, and the Senate has confirmed 36 of the nominees. nbsp; /ppLamm noted that most nominees have moved through the Senate with little dissent and little delay. /ppWhen they finally are scheduled for a vote by the Senate, Lamm commented, “None of them have in fact engendered huge debate on the floor of the Senate….nbsp; No one has seen a pattern of inappropriate people being nominated; it is simply very slow and it really needs a full bipartisan effort to move these nominations. And quite frankly, it is becoming urgent,” said Lamm. /p |
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Chicago's tough new gun ordinance goes into effect
Headline News |
2010/07/12 10:05
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| pA new gun ordinance in Chicago that officials say is the strictest of its kind in the country went into effect on Monday./ppThe ordinance was pushed through quickly by Mayor Richard Daley and the City Council after the U.S. Supreme Court last month made the city's 28-year-old handgun ban unenforceable. The high court ruled that Americans have the right to have guns in their homes for protection./ppThe ordinance permits residents to have only one working gun at a time in their homes and prohibits them from stepping outside, even onto their porches or in their garages, with a handgun./ppFollowing the lead of Washington, D.C., which enacted a strict ordinance after the Supreme Court struck down its gun ban two years ago, Chicago also requires prospective gun owners to take a class and receive firearms training./ppChicago's ordinance also bans gun shops from setting up shop in the city and bars anyone convicted of a violent crime, domestic violence or two or more convictions for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs from owning a handgun./ppAlso starting Monday is a 90-day grace period in which residents who owned handguns illegally during the ban can register them without penalty./ppChicago's ordinance was widely criticized by gun rights advocates, who have said the city is simply trying to make it as difficult as it can for people to own guns and putting up unconstitutional roadblocks in their way. They promised lawsuits and last week, even before the ordinance went into effect, at least two lawsuits were filed challenging the constitutionality of the ordinance./p |
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Treasury: 4.5M hires qualify for new tax break
Headline News |
2010/07/12 10:05
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| pBusinesses have added 4.5 million workers under a new program that provides tax breaks for hiring unemployed workers, the Treasury Department said Monday./ppIt is unclear, however, how many of those workers would have been added without the tax break./ppPresident Barack Obama signed a law in March that exempts businesses hiring people who have been unemployed for at least 60 days from paying the 6.2 percent Social Security payroll tax through December. Employers get an additional $1,000 credit if new workers stay on the job a full year./ppTreasury released a report Monday estimating that from February to May, businesses added 4.5 million workers who qualify for the tax breaks. Those businesses are projected to save $8.5 billion in taxes./p |
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Immigration to rich countries fell during crisis
Legal Focuses |
2010/07/10 10:05
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| pImmigration to rich countries dropped during the global economic crisis, reversing five years of annual increases as the demand for labor fell, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said Monday./ppA report showed that 4.4 million people migrated to the OECD's 31 member countries — the world's most developed economies — in 2008. That is a drop of about 6 percent from the year before./ppThe fall reverses five years of annual increases of 11 percent, the OECD said in its International Migration Outlook 2010./ppNational data suggest that international migration fell again in 2009./ppUnemployment among male immigrants has risen more than among native counterparts because many immigrants worked in industries badly hit by the crisis, such as construction, hotels and restaurants, the OECD said. Still, few are returning home, it said./ppIn some countries, employment of female immigrants has risen as women take jobs to make up for lost income of their unemployed spouses, it said./p |
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Law firm merger activity picks up
Law Firm News |
2010/07/05 09:52
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| pLaw firm merger activity picked up after a sluggish first quarter in part due to a renewed increase in transatlantic marriages between large domestic firms and those headquartered in England. /ppAmong the 10 mergers reported last quarter by legal consultancy Hildebrandt Baker Robbins -- one more than during that time frame last year -- was the union of Washington stalwart Hogan amp; Hartson and London-based Lovells to form Hogan Lovells, which the report characterized as the second-largest since Hildebrandt began tracking quarterly merger activity. /ppA second cross-border marriage of equals, between Chicago-based Sonnenschein Nath amp; Rosenthal and London's Denton Wilde Sapte, was announced last quarter but is not included in that figure because the merger will not be completed until later in the year. /ppIndustry analysts say that after a period of caution, U.S. firms are once again looking for markets in which to expand -- and the obvious one for some is London, where many firms specialize in the kind of corporate transaction work that has long been the bread and butter of New York. /p |
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Ore. trial court to reconsider $100M tobacco case
Law Firm News |
2010/06/28 08:59
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| pThe Oregon Supreme Court has ruled that Philip Morris does not have to pay $100 million in punitive damages to the family of a smoker who sued the tobacco giant over its low-tar cigarettes./ppThe case, however, is going to another jury to decide just how much the death of Michelle Schwarz from lung cancer in 1999 will cost Philip Morris — and legal experts say it could easily be another big award./ppA Multnomah County jury in Portland originally awarded the Schwarz family $150 million in March 2002 before the trial judge reduced it to $100 million./ppOn Thursday, the Oregon Supreme Court vacated the $100 million award and sent the case back to the trial court to reconsider the punitive damages after ruling the judge failed to properly instruct the jury./ppThe court said the judge should have told the jury it could not punish Philip Morris directly for harm caused to others besides Schwarz./ppBut the court also supported the trial judge, who had rejected jury instructions the tobacco company had requested./p |
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