Larry Ribstein, University of Illinois College of Law: "The Disney trial on the hiring and firing of Ovitz continued yesterday with Eisner's direct testimony. As previewed here, Eisner will have to draw a fine line between justifying hiring Ovitz, and justifying firing him so soon after, without cause. Eisner's direct testimony draws a complex picture [...]

An administrative law judge presiding over a California Public Utilities Commission investigation has concluded that Southern California Gas Company should forfeit $28.8 million in profits earned during the 2000-2001 energy crisis in California, according to a report released late Tuesday. If approved by the full commission, the finding would make Southern California Gas the first [...]

Both the EU and Iran Wednesday sought to condition a tentative agreement on Iran's suspension of uranium enrichment on further cooperation between both sides. Iran warned that it would halt its suspension if further progress was not made when it meets with European leaders in December, while the EU cautioned Iran that it could still [...]

Two senior insurance underwriters with Zurich Financial Services, the third-largest commercial insurer in the US, pleaded guilty Tuesday night to charges connected to NY Attorney General Eliot Spitzer's ongoing insurance bid-rigging investigation. Also Tuesday, Zurich reported receiving a subpoena from the SEC and Spitzer. The executives pleaded guilty to following instructions from brokers to submit [...]

Here's a run-down of law-related events, expected developments and live webcasts on JURIST's docket for Wednesday, November 17. On Capitol Hill, the US Senate will meet at 9:30 AM ET and will begin consideration of the Debt Limit Extension Bill (S 2986). Watch a live webcast (via C-SPAN)…. The US House will convene at 10 [...]

After a tense two-hour meeting Tuesday evening, Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA) appears to have won the support of some important GOP peers on the Senate Judiciary Committee, seemingly securing the committee chairmanship that will open when term limits force the resignation of Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) in January. Specter's comments cautioning President Bush against the [...]

Filling the vacancy left when Secretary of Education Rod Paige announced his resignation on Monday, President Bush will nominate domestic policy advisor and longtime confidante Margaret Spellings to fill the top post in the Department of Education, according to White House sources. Spellings was Bush's education advisor for six years in Texas, putting together programs [...]

In Tuesday's environmental law news, Greenpeace, the international environmental activist group, was allowed to speak for the first time Tuesday before the UN General Assembly. Today is the 10th anniversary of the entry into force of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and the group used the occasion to challenge a proposed [...]

A British high court hearing became the first ordinary legal case to be filmed by TV cameras in the UK Tuesday. The court heard the appeal of former council leader Jim Speechley from a misconduct conviction. Footage from the appeal is being used by the Royal Courts of Justice for evaluation purposes, but will not [...]

Dan Tokaji, Moritz College of Law, Ohio State University: "The A.P. has this story summarizing the problems that the states had in implementing provisional voting. It quotes my colleague Ned Foley as suggesting that Congress consider repealing HAVA's provisional voting requirement. My take: I agree that there were serious problems in the way the provisional [...]