Legal Research

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COURT PANEL WANTS 30-DAY BAN ON SOLICITING ACCIDENT VICTIMS
"Ambulance chasers take heed: The wheels are in motion in New Jersey for putting a 30-day ban on offering legal services to accident victims or their survivors, no matter how slight the injury. The proposed change to Rule of Professional Conduct 7.3(a)(4) would expand a prohibition, adopted in 1997, on contacting victims of a mass disaster. The new rule, released for public comment on Tuesday, would apply to any 'an event causing personal injury or death' ? anything from a fatal car accident to a slip-and-fall. There would, however, be an exception allowing lawyers to contact a person with whom they have had 'a family, close personal, or prior professional relationship.' "

COPS' COMMUNITY-CARETAKER ROLE ALLOWS WARRANTLESS HOME ENTRY
"Police were authorized to enter a home and question its occupant without a warrant for the purpose of protecting the safety of a minor, even though they were in the course of investigating a crime unrelated to the child, the New Jersey Supreme Court held on Monday. The decision, in State v. Bogan, A-7-08, is the first in New Jersey to apply the 'community caretaker' doctrine ? which allows police to search and seize weapons for protective purposes ? to the warrantless entry of a home. The Court said police acted properly when they entered an apartment while investigating an alleged sexual assault, questioned a young boy who answered the door to make sure he was safe and encountered the defendant lying in bed."

DISBARMENT SOUGHT FOR LAW FIRM PARTNER WHO SECRETED $50,000 PAYMENT
"A special master has recommended disbarment for David Gross ? who for 20 years was Budd Larner's managing partner ? for pocketing $50,000 from a client instead of depositing the money into the firm's account. Gross knowingly violated a partnership agreement requiring that 'all gains from the work of the partnership shall be the assets of the partnership,' Special Master David Cramp said in an opinion forwarded to the Disciplinary Review Board. Though Gross insisted the money was a gift from a satisfied client, Cramp was persuaded by testimony from Gross's former secretary at the Short Hills firm that he instructed her to delete from the firm's computer system a letter he sent to the client about the payment."

INTERNET GAMBLING BAN APPEARS LIKELY TO WITHSTAND THIRD CIRCUIT CHALLENGE
"A trio of federal appeals judges appeared unlikely on Tuesday to strike the law down a federal law that bans all Internet gambling transactions that would be illegal in the gambler's state. Instead, the Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel seemed inclined to uphold the 2006 Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act and to reject arguments from two lawyers for a gambling trade association who complained that its wording is so vague it cannot be understood. The act makes it a crime for gambling businesses to 'knowingly accept' any funds 'in connection with the participation of another person in unlawful Internet gambling.' "

EMPLOYERS WARNED AGAINST GIVING GLOWING REVIEWS ON LINKED-IN
"Management-side lawyers are warning employers about the hidden dangers of LinkedIn, the popular business networking site that posts recommendations for job candidates. Attorneys are advising employers to be wary of giving glowing remarks about employees on the site because the employers risk having the recommendations used against them in a discrimination or harassment suit. Plaintiffs' lawyers, they fear, are scouring these sites, looking for evidence to dispute firings, as most LinkedIn recommendations are positive. So if a supervisor claims that an employee was let go due to performance problems but gave a rave review about him or her on LinkedIn ? that, the lawyers stress, won't look so good."