Legal Research

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OBAMA HIGH COURT PICK STAYS ON 'REAL WORLD' MESSAGE
"Within minutes of President Barack Obama's announcement on Tuesday that he will nominate Second Circuit Judge Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court, conservative groups vowed opposition or tough scrutiny, calling her a liberal whose votes will be even further left than the man she would replace, David Souter. But Sotomayor, defying criticism that empathy will color her judgment, pledged 'never to forget the real world consequences of my decisions.' She said her own 'experiences, personal and professional, have helped me appreciate the variety of perspectives that present themselves in every case that I hear.' "

DRUNKEN IDLING IS NO OFFENSE, SAYS N.J. APPEALS COURT
"Being drunk behind the wheel of a car, even with the engine running and the parking brake off, can't carry a DWI conviction without proof of intention to drive, a New Jersey appeals court held on Tuesday. In State v. Putz, DDS No. 05-2-3929, the Appellate Division said the trial court ignored credible evidence that the defendant, who was found asleep in his idling pick-up truck after midnight, had no intent to move the vehicle. Though unpublished, the ruling is notable for its departure from the New Jersey courts' usual strict tendency to uphold drunken driving convictions based on observational evidence of any form of operation of a vehicle."

N.J. LAWYER DISCIPLINE UP 20 PERCENT IN 2008
"Lawyer disciplinary actions climbed by more than 20 percent in 2008, with nearly half that increase attributable to the mass discipline of lawyers at a defunct Cherry Hill firm, Tomar, Simonoff, Adourian, O'Brien, Kaplan, Jacoby & Graziano, for splitting fees with laymen. The Tomar case highlighted the 2008 Report of the Attorney Disciplinary System, released this month. It recounts that last year, 187 lawyers were disciplined in New Jersey, 20.6 percent more than the 155 disciplined in 2007. But while the number of cases in which final discipline was imposed went up, the number of new cases went down, continuing a five-year trend."

N.J. COURT TO EXPLORE EXTENSION OF PUBLIC-INTEREST FEE RULE
"The N.J. Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether Coleman v. Fiore Brothers, a 1989 ruling that damages must be resolved first and fees later in settlements of Consumer Fraud Act cases brought by public-interest counsel, should extend to suits under other fee-shifting statutes, namely the Law Against Discrimination and the Conscientious Employee Protection Act. Legal Services of New Jersey argues that if Coleman is limited to consumer fraud cases, public-interest counsel and their clients 'will be forced into simultaneous negotiation of merits and fees, and the conflict will impair settlement.' "

A COURT RULES SUSPECTS CAN BE INTERROGATED WITHOUT LAWYER
"The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday overturned a long-standing doctrine that stops police from initiating questions unless a defendant's lawyer is present, a move that will make it easier for prosecutors to interrogate suspects. Justice Antonin Scalia led a 5-4 majority, saying the 1986 decision, Michigan v. Jackson, "was poorly reasoned, has created no significant reliance interests and ... is ultimately unworkable." Tuesday's ruling comes in the case of Jesse Jay Montejo, a homicide suspect who was appointed a public defender but never indicated that he accepted the lawyer's help, then cooperated with investigators and incriminated himself".