Legal Research

Selections from National Law Journal Daily Headlines June 20, 2008

By David Badertscher, PLL

Source: NLJ.com, June 20, 2008.

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FROM THE UPCOMING ISSUE  |  New patent appeal rules draw fire
"Patent lawyers are none too happy with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's new rules for appeals. Critics charge that the new rules impose vague sanctions standards that give the office's appeals board too much power. The new rules governing ex parte appeals before the USPTO's Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences were published on June 10 and are effective on Dec. 10. Dozens of lawyers and inventors, law firms and companies have panned the new rules for what they claim are nebulous sanctions language and a hyper-technical focus on form over substance that will raise the cost of appealing patent office decisions."

FROM THE UPCOMING ISSUE  |  Two-year JD at Northwestern
"Looking for a law degree in a hurry? Northwestern University School of Law plans to launch a two-year juris doctor program in 2009, becoming the first among top law schools to offer an accelerated course of study. Starting in May, the law school expects 40 students to begin the program, which will enable them to obtain a law degree in five semesters within two calendar years, instead of the usual three-year, six-semester program."

WEB-ONLY  |  Federal judiciary asks House to impeach Louisiana judge
"The federal judiciary's top administrative body has asked the U.S. House of Representatives to consider impeachment of U.S. District Judge G. Thomas Porteous of Louisiana, alleging that he "solicited and received" cash from lawyers in a pending case. The allegations stemming from an internal judicial investigation of Porteous go beyond what was previously disclosed in a 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals inquiry in 2007, when he was accused of perjury and false financial disclosures to conceal cash in a bankruptcy case."

WEB-ONLY  |  Lawyer for attorney accused of fraudulent foreclosure transactions criticizes $1.8M settlement
"The lawyer for a Massachusetts attorney accused of orchestrating fraudulent foreclosure rescue transactions has criticized a $1.8 million settlement the state Attorney General's office made with 10 mortgage lenders and servicers who funded or serviced the loans. Brockton attorney Alec Sohmer's lawyer, Stephen F. Gordon of Boston's Gordon Haley, denied that Sohmer's deals were fraudulent and said Sohmer 'provided a new chance to people who had blown their second, third and fourth chances and no one lost their home.' "

WEB-ONLY  |  Bush taps Commerce lawyer to head U.S. International Trade Commission
"President Bush has nominated Department of Commerce lawyer J.V. Schwan to be a commissioner of the U.S. International Trade Commission, and has designated the former vice chairman, Maryland Democrat Shara L. Aranoff, as the new chair. Schwan, if confirmed by the Senate, will serve for the remainder of a nine-year term expiring June 16, 2017. He currently serves as deputy chief of staff at the Commerce Department."

WEB-ONLY  |  Massachusetts ACLU files suit against agencies for keeping voluntary DNA samples
"The American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts filed suit on behalf of a Cape Code man against several Massachusetts officials and agencies for keeping the DNA voluntarily provided during the high-profile Christa Worthington murder investigation. The purported class action lawsuit, which defines the class as more than 100 male residents of Cape Cod, claims the officials and agencies are unlawfully keeping DNA they promised would be destroyed. 'We are not saying that the government may not collect rule-out samples, but only that there is no valid reason to retain those samples once it is clear that the sample is not linked to the crime in question,' said John Reinstein, legal director of the ACLU of Massachusetts."

WEB-ONLY  |  Virginia Supreme Court justice switches law schools, heads to Washington and Lee
"Virginia Supreme Court Justice Donald W. Lemons is leaving the faculty of the University of Richmond law school to join what he described as "a bold new dynamic in legal education that is long overdue" at the Washington and Lee University School of Law. Lemons, as Distinguished Professor of Judicial Studies, will teach a course on appellate practice in the Washington and Lee third-year program. "

OPINION:

HOUSING DISCRIMINATION  |  Landmark case at 40
"On June 17, 1968, the U.S. Supreme Court held in Jones v. Alfred H. Mayer Co. that Congress had the power to outlaw private housing discrimination. It based its decision on the 13th Amendment, which empowered Congress to "pass all laws necessary and proper for abolishing all badges and incidents of slavery in the United States." Today, its holding is worth re-examining. The court found that 42 U.S.C. 1982 clearly extended to private action, and Congress had the constitutional power to enact such a statute."

Full post as published by New York Supreme Court Criminal Term Library on June 20, 2008 (boomark / email).