Environmental groups can move forward with claims that President Donald Trump's plan to fund the US-Mexico border wall runs afoul of the budget approved by Congress in 2019, Judge Trevor McFadden of the US District Court for the District of Columbia has held. McFadden dismissed challenges to the funding plan's constitutionality and Trump's national emergency declaration for the border, ruling that such "policy decisions are for the political, not judicial, branches to resolve."
The California Supreme Court will not consider Huntington Beach's appeal of a lower court decision that the city must comply with the California Values Act, which restricts state and local law-enforcement agencies' cooperation in federal immigration enforcement. Huntington Beach had argued that its charter city status allows it to be exempt from the state law.
Tax attorneys are facing additional technological hurdles, such as an inability to e-file petitions, during the pandemic-related shutdown of the US Tax Court building. The court's closing "accentuates the problems caused by the Tax Court's decision not to make its documents public except through a portal that becomes unavailable when it closes," said T. Keith Fogg, director of Harvard Law School's Federal Tax Clinic.
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More than half of employees in the legal sector admit to breaking company policy or knowing of it having been broken, putting clients' data at risk, finds a survey commissioned by Egress Software Technologies, a cybersecurity firm. The time pressures of practicing law and pleasing clients can lead to "bad data hygiene practices," says Alexander Urbelis of Blackstone Law Group.
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Building a law firm's brand platform requires establishing vision, values and a mission statement, writes Mark Homer of GNGF. Homer provides questionnaires for attorneys to assess how to define their firm's brand and how to streamline marketing toward an ideal client or market.
Oakland County, Mich., Circuit Court Judge Leo Bowman ordered two people to be jailed after they arrived late for court appearances in March, leading to objections from the defendants' lawyers amid the coronavirus pandemic. Lawyers said one of the defendants was a 61-year-old man who was vomiting into a wastebasket in court, while the other defendant was a young mother who was 20 minutes tardy because her bus ran late.
Lawsuits accuse various cruise lines of not taking appropriate care to ensure the coronavirus wasn't transmitted to passengers. But the Death on the High Seas Act and a law passed nearly two centuries ago might offer little chance the suits will be successful, experts say.
US District Judge William Conley has declined to postpone Wisconsin's presidential primary, which is scheduled for Tuesday, although he held that the absentee ballot deadline should be pushed to April 13. Conley recognized the potential for low voter turnout because of the coronavirus pandemic, but wrote that the court's role is only to "help avoid the impingement on citizens' rights to exercise their voting franchise as protected by" the Constitution and federal law.
Small law firms in need of financial assistance because of COVID-19 have several resources to rely on. The Small Business Administration's Economic Injury Disaster Loan program provides working capital loans of up to $2 million to help overcome the temporary loss of revenue, and advances of up to $10,000 are available. Also, private banks are making loans available under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, including non-recourse "paycheck protection loans." Go online for the D.C. Bar's guide to these and other resources.
Disputes under the Freedom of Information Act are among the most prolific areas of litigation in Washington, D.C. FOIA litigation touches upon the core principles of good and open governance and affects every government agency. In this April 8 program sponsored by the D.C. Bar Litigation Community, an esteemed panel of practitioners from inside and outside the government will explore recent developments relating to FOIA litigation. The program is only being offered as a webinar.
