A judge in the US District Court for the Central District of California Monday sentenced Steven Schulman and David Bershad, two former partners of the law firm now known as Milberg LLP , to six months in prison each for their role in a scheme to pay lead plaintiffs illegally in class-action lawsuits brought by [...]

Lakhdar Boumediene, et al. v. George W. Bush, et al., US District Court for the District of Columbia, October 27, 2008 . Read the full text of the order . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

The US presidential campaigns of both Senator Barack Obama and Senator John McCain are recruiting large numbers of lawyers to monitor and protect voters' rights in the upcoming national election, according to a New York Times report . The Obama camp initiated its Voter Protection Program targeting lawyers and law students at the start of [...]

A judge for the US District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri on Monday preliminarily enjoined parts of a new state law requiring registered sex offenders to avoid most Halloween activities, suggesting that parts of the law as written are too broad and vague. The law, which was passed in June, requires that on [...]

JURIST Guest Columnist Douglas NeJaime of UCLA School of Law says that despite what some of its proponents are claiming or implying in the run-up to November 4, California Proposition 8 does not involve children or curriculum – it simply involves the fundamental right of lesbians and gay men to marry… Will the failure of [...]

A jury for the US District Court for the District of Columbia on Monday convicted Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK) on seven counts of making false statements relating to an alleged corruption scheme and for falsifying his Financial Disclosure Forms. Stevens had been charged with accepting approximately $250,000 in gifts over an eight-year period from the [...]

Judge Richard Leon of the US District Court for the District of Columbia on Monday ruled that in order to be validly held as an "enemy combatants," Guantanamo Bay detainees must have directly supported hostilities against the US or its allies. Leon made the ruling as a preliminary step in considering habeas corpus petitions filed [...]

Officials from Nigeria and from US pharmaceutical company Pfizer said Monday that they hope to reach a settlement agreement by the end of next month over allegedly illegal clinical trials conducted in Nigeria by the drug company in 1996. The national government and the state of Kano filed separate lawsuits in 2007 accusing Pfizer of [...]

Mexican Assistant Attorney General Marisela Morales Ibanez, head of Mexico's Assistant Prosecutors Office Specializing in Organized Crime (SIEDO) , said Monday a branch of a Mexican drug cartel had infiltrated her office. Following SIEDO's 'Operation Cleaning,' Miguel Colorado Gonzales, Fernado Rivera Hernadez, Jorge Alberto Zavala, Antonio Mejia Robles, and at least one other federal investigator [...]

Head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Mohamed ElBaradei said Monday in his annual report to UN member states that he wants North Korea to return to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty after a five-year absence, during which it tested a nuclear device. His statement comes less than two weeks after North Korea allowed IAEA [...]