white collar world is abuzz about DOJ’s new policy requiring companies to identify the individuals involved in wrongdoing to get cooperation credit. Joint defense agreements between companies and their executives allow the targets of a criminal investigation to work...
Professor Randall Eliason has written an excellent blog post on the resignation of Jeff Smisek, the CEO of United Airlines, and two other executives. The media reports have focused on Mr. Smisek's possible role in the Bridgegate scandal. As background, The New York...
By: Sara Kropf One of the first things I tell a potential client in a criminal case is not to delete anything from his computer. I explain that DOJ will turn deleting an email or two into an obstruction of justice charge. The client will nod and say he understands....
This is the kind of case that wakes up lawyers in a cold sweat at night. The Second Circuit recently granted a new trial to a defendant after the trial court found that he had waived his right to a new trial. The waiver came when his lawyers discovered the possibility...
The Nationals are having a rough year--despite all those World Series predictions. Are you ready for some football? I have posted before about a defamation suit against the investigative firm that looked into the Penn State sex abuse scandal. The trend continues. The...
Peter J. Henning, in the always-interesting White Collar Watch, has a great article today about what may be the Department of Justice's newest way to weasel out of the Newman decision. The defendant in an insider trading case in Atlanta was just acquitted at trial of...
By: Sara Kropf Every trial lawyer has a few tried-and-truisms to use in the courtroom. For the admissibility of evidence: That goes to weight, not admissibility. For expert witnesses: The testimony would be helpful to the jury. And for relevance: They opened the door....
Hello everyone I'm writing from Yosemite National Park--on a much-needed vacation with my family. But I realized upon checking back into social media after a week-long break that the deadline for the ABA Journal's best 100 legal blogs is coming up very soon. Someone...
Sometimes, the good guys win. The Deepwater Horizon oil spill was a tragedy. The explosion was deadly and the resulting environmental harm was devastating. The government’s response was typical: let’s find some people to prosecute. One of the unlucky targets of the...
By: Sara Kropf Deflategate is a riveting story. In this corner: a star quarterback who may have cheated in a playoff game. In the other corner: a despised NFL commissioner flexing his disciplinary muscle by upholding the QB's four-game suspension. What's turned out to...