Criminal Practice

  • May 18, 2026

    Morgan & Morgan Atty Barred From Harvard Suit Over AI Error

    A Massachusetts judge on Monday said a Morgan & Morgan PA attorney may not appear before him in a suit against Harvard University over the theft of body parts donated to its medical school, saying the lawyer did not learn his lesson after signing off on briefs in another case with fake case law generated by artificial intelligence.

  • May 18, 2026

    Mangione Can Suppress Some Evidence In NY Murder Case

    A New York judge on Monday narrowed the evidence state prosecutors may use in their murder case against Luigi Mangione, ruling that a gun and silencer may be allowed into trial but not some items found during an illegal search of his backpack and certain statements to law enforcement.

  • May 15, 2026

    Atty Tied To Trump Pardon Headed For August Extortion Trial

    A New York federal judge on Friday set an August trial date for a South Carolina attorney and lobbyist on extortion charges tied to his work as a purported go-between for people with serious legal troubles seeking clemency from President Donald Trump.

  • May 15, 2026

    Ariz. Justices Clarify Prosecutorial Error Standard

    The Arizona Supreme Court on Friday unanimously ruled that when courts consider claims of prosecutorial error or misconduct, they do not need to consider the prosecutor's intent.

  • May 15, 2026

    6th Circ. OKs Immunity In Louisville, Ky., Traffic Stop Shooting

    The Sixth Circuit has ruled that a Louisville Metropolitan Police Department officer is shielded by qualified immunity from a civil rights lawsuit filed against the officer after he shot and killed an armed-robbery suspect who had driven his car into police during a traffic stop.

  • May 15, 2026

    Lindberg Wants Credit For Time Served Applied To Sentence

    A billionaire insurance magnate convicted on charges of bribery and fraud is asking a North Carolina federal judge to apply credit for time he's already spent behind bars at his upcoming sentencing hearing, where he plans to ask for concurrent sentences of four years each.

  • May 15, 2026

    High Court Ruling On Sexist Prosecution Has Broad Impact

    The U.S. Supreme Court's short opinion last year finding that an Oklahoma woman's capital trial was potentially marred by sexist and prejudicial evidence has been cited over 100 times since, and not just in cases involving gender bias. Litigants have invoked the ruling to challenge their convictions over a wide range of issues involving prosecutorial prejudice, bias and trial fairness — but courts so far have been reluctant to grant relief.

  • May 15, 2026

    IQ Tests And Innocence: Doubts Rattle Ark. Death Row Case

    Doubts about the guilt of Roderick Rankin, an Arkansas man sentenced to death for murdering three members of his ex-girlfriend’s family, have grown since a pastor said Rankin's brother Rodney confessed to the killings. His case sits at the intersection of actual innocence claims, false confessions, intellectual disability and federal habeas law. When the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case earlier this month, it left many of those questions unresolved.

  • May 15, 2026

    Calif. Murder Conviction Tossed Over Bad Jury Instructions

    A man convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to up to life in prison must have a new trial as a result of improper jury instructions that were modified by a judge to conflict with actual state laws, a California appeals court has determined.

  • May 15, 2026

    6th Circ. Upholds $10M Verdict Against Detective In Brady Suit

    The Sixth Circuit has upheld a $10 million jury verdict for a Michigan man who spent more than six years in prison before prosecutors concluded he was not guilty of murder, ruling that a Detroit detective could not use the man's vacated conviction to block his civil rights suit.

  • May 15, 2026

    NC Social Worker Wants Resentencing In Medicaid Fraud Suit

    A clinical social worker in North Carolina serving more than 11 years in prison on healthcare fraud charges is challenging her sentence in the Fourth Circuit, saying Thursday that a lower court used overly generalized findings to apply a vulnerable victim sentence enhancement.

  • May 15, 2026

    DOJ Open To Criminal Enforcement Against Pricing Software

    An official from the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division warned that algorithmic pricing software could be subject to criminal enforcement if the companies using it know their nonpublic data is going to be used to set prices for competitors.

  • May 15, 2026

    New Jersey AG Traces Her Path To Public Service

    New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport talked shop at the State Bar Association's annual meeting, dishing on what it was like to get the call to be the state's top law enforcement officer, how her time as general counsel for a public utility informs her new role and what it's like to be both friend and foe to the federal government. The Cape May County native also revealed her favorite diner.

  • May 15, 2026

    Va. Resentencing Law Provides Relief To Cannabis Offenders

    The governor of Virginia signed a bill Friday enacting resentencing legislation that will allow people who are serving sentences for marijuana-related convictions to seek reductions for conduct that, since 2021, wasn't a chargeable offense in the state, her office said.

  • May 15, 2026

    Balancing The Scales: Justices To Revisit Sentencing Rules

    The U.S. Supreme Court will take a closer look at a circuit split over the deference that should be allotted to U.S. Sentencing Commission commentary, and a man convicted in the killing of an infant has been released after 27 years served over evidence that points to pneumonia as the likely cause of death.

  • May 15, 2026

    Judge Splits From Texas High Court In Jail-Courtroom Case

    A judge on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has dissented from his colleagues' decision not to accept a petition from a man who said the decision to hold his murder trial inside a county jail violated state law.

  • May 15, 2026

    Mistrial In Weinstein Case As NY Jury Splits 9-3 To Acquit

    A Manhattan judge declared a mistrial Friday on a rape charge against Harvey Weinstein following a deadlock where most jurors voted to acquit the once-powerful Hollywood producer, ending a three-week trial that leaned heavily on the credibility of a single accuser and put questions of consent at the center of the case.

  • May 14, 2026

    Adani Group Chair, Nephew Ink $18M Deal To Exit SEC Case

    Indian billionaire businessman Gautam Adani and his nephew, Sagar Adani, agreed Thursday to pay a combined $18 million to resolve the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's suit accusing them of committing securities fraud in connection with a $750 million bond offering.

  • May 14, 2026

    Texas High Court Reverses DWI Evidence Suppression

    The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on Thursday reversed an appellate court's decision to suppress evidence from a DWI investigation, saying the lower court "made the foundational mistake of conflating independent grounds for seeking relief from a judgment with independent grounds for supporting a judgment."

  • May 14, 2026

    Supreme Court Clears Way For Execution Of Texas Man

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday lifted the Fifth Circuit's stay of execution for a man who sought to challenge the constitutionality of his death sentence on grounds that he was intellectually disabled, granting an emergency petition filed by Texas, which went on to execute the man later Thursday.

  • May 14, 2026

    Conn. Mayor Given Gag Order For Talking To Press About Trial

    A Connecticut mayor placed the integrity of a wrongful conviction trial "at grave risk" by speaking to the media, a judge said in issuing a gag order this week, also noting that the jury will be instructed on the importance of ignoring news stories.

  • May 14, 2026

    8th Circ. Orders New Fraud Trial Over Witness Credibility

    The Eighth Circuit has ordered a retrial for a Nigerian man convicted of laundering money through an unsuspecting North Dakota law firm because he was not allowed to include evidence that could discredit a key government witness.

  • May 14, 2026

    Fla. AG Blasts State Atty Over Lenient Felony Punishments

    Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier this week criticized State Attorney Monique Worrell over her application of a Sunshine State law that allows "youthful offenders" to receive less severe punishments, calling her use a "policy of excessive leniency."

  • May 14, 2026

    Skakel Civil Rights Trial Delayed At Conn. Town's Request

    A Connecticut state judge has delayed trials in two combined civil rights lawsuits by Michael Skakel, a Kennedy family cousin, over a Greenwich police investigation that ended with his since-reversed conviction for the high-profile 1975 murder of Martha Moxley.

  • May 14, 2026

    Tourism Co. Floats Jail For Balloon Biz Owner Who Owes $2M

    A Chinese tourism company has asked a Massachusetts federal court to jail the owner of a hot air balloon business who still owes it more than $2 million from a 2022 judgment, alleging he has continued to flout a prior contempt and sanctions order.

Expert Analysis

  • Series

    Mindfulness Meditation Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Mindful meditation enables me to drop the ego, and in helping me to keep sight of what’s important, permits me to learn from the other side and become a reliable counselor, says Roy Wyman at Bass Berry.

  • AI Litigation Tools Can Enhance Case Assessment, Strategy

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    Civil litigators can use artificial intelligence tools to strengthen case assessment and aid in early strategy development, as long as they address the risks and ethical considerations that accompany these uses, say attorneys at Barnes & Thornburg.

  • Attys Beware: Generative AI Can Also Hallucinate Metadata

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    In addition to the well-known problem of AI-generated hallucinations in legal documents, AI tools can also hallucinate metadata — threatening the integrity of discovery, the reliability of evidence and the ability to definitively identify the provenance of electronic documents, say attorneys at Law & Forensics.

  • When Atty Ethics Violations Give Rise To Causes Of Action

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    Though the Model Rules of Professional Conduct make clear that a violation of the rules does not automatically create a cause of action, attorneys should beware of a few scenarios in which they could face lawsuits for ethical lapses, says Brian Faughnan at Faughnan Law.

  • How Gov't May Use FARA To Target 'Domestic Terrorism'

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    After the Trump administration’s recent memo directing law enforcement to use the Foreign Agents Registration Act to prosecute domestic terrorism, nonprofit organizations receiving funding from foreign sources must assess their registration obligations under the statute, say attorneys at Pillsbury.

  • 10 Quick Tips To Elevate Your Evidence Presentation At Trial

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    A strong piece of evidence, whether in the form of testimony or exhibit, is wasted if not presented effectively, so attorneys must prepare with precision to help fact-finders both retain the information and internalize its significance, says Allison Rocker at Baker McKenzie.

  • Series

    Practicing Stoicism Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Practicing Stoicism, by applying reason to ignore my emotions and govern my decisions, has enabled me to approach challenging situations in a structured way, ultimately providing advice singularly devoted to a client's interest, says John Baranello at Moses & Singer.

  • Series

    The Biz Court Digest: Texas, One Year In

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    A year after the Texas Business Court's first decision, it's clear that Texas didn't just copy Delaware and instead built something uniquely its own, combining specialization with constitutional accountability and creating a model that looks forward without losing touch with the state's democratic and statutory roots, says Chris Bankler at Jackson Walker.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Educating Your Community

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    Nearly two decades prosecuting scammers and elder fraud taught me that proactively educating the public about the risks they face and the rights they possess is essential to building trust within our communities, empowering otherwise vulnerable citizens and preventing wrongdoers from gaining a foothold, says Roger Handberg at GrayRobinson.

  • 5 Crisis Lawyering Skills For An Age Of Uncertainty

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    As attorneys increasingly face unprecedented and pervasive situations — from prosecutions of law enforcement officials to executive orders targeting law firms — they must develop several essential competencies of effective crisis lawyering, says Ray Brescia at Albany Law School.

  • Opinion

    It's Time For The Judiciary To Fix Its Cybersecurity Problem

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    After recent reports that hackers have once again infiltrated federal courts’ electronic case management systems, the judiciary should strengthen its cybersecurity practices in line with executive branch standards, outlining clear roles and responsibilities for execution, says Ilona Cohen at HackerOne.

  • Identifying The Sources And Impacts Of Juror Contamination

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    Jury contamination can be pervasive, so it is important that trial teams be able to spot its sources and take specific mitigation steps, says consultant Clint Townson.

  • Key NY State Grand Jury Rules Can Shape Defense Strategy

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    As illustrated by recent cases, New York state's grand jury rules are more favorable than their federal counterparts, offering a genuine opportunity in some cases for a white collar criminal defendant to defeat or meaningfully reduce charges that a prosecutor seeks to bring, says Ethan Greenberg at Anderson Kill.

  • Series

    Writing Novels Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Writing my debut novel taught me to appreciate the value of critique and to never give up, no matter how long or tedious the journey, providing me with valuable skills that I now emphasize in my practice, says Daniel Buzzetta at BakerHostetler.

  • SDNY OpenAI Order Clarifies Preservation Standards For AI

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    The Southern District of New York’s recent order in the OpenAI copyright infringement litigation, denying discovery of The New York Times' artificial intelligence technology use, clarifies that traditional preservation benchmarks apply to AI content, relieving organizations from using a “keep everything” approach, says Philip Favro at Favro Law.

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