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June 9 (Reuters) - Aileen Cannon, the Florida judge initially assigned to oversee Donald Trump's classified documents case, made headlines last year when she decided in favor of the former U.S. president at a pivotal stage of the case and was later reversed on appeal. A member of the conservative Federalist Society, Cannon had relatively little experience as a lawyer when nominated by Trump and confirmed in November 2020 to the federal bench by the U.S. Senate then led by Trump's Republican Party. An indictment was unsealed on Friday charging Trump, the frontrunner for the Republican nomination for the presidency in 2024, with illegally retaining classified documents and obstructing justice. The ruling was criticized by many legal observers, including William Barr, who served as attorney general under Trump. Trump, the front-runner for the Republican nomination for the presidency in 2024, was indicted on Thursday for illegally retaining classified documents and obstructing justice.

Persons: Aileen Cannon, Donald Trump's, Cannon, Trump's, William Barr, Gibson Dunn, Rami Ayyub, Sarah N, Lynch, Luc Cohen, Jacquelyn Thomsen, Doina Chiacu, Howard Goller Organizations: Federalist Society, Trump, U.S, Senate, Trump's Republican Party, Republican, FBI, U.S . Department of Justice, University of Michigan Law School, American Bar Association, Thomson Locations: Florida, Palm Beach , Florida, Cali , Colombia, Iowa, Washington ,, Fort Pierce , Florida

☆ Missouri Governor Says Execution Will Proceed After Jurors Waver on Death Sentence
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-05 | by ( Julie Bosman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

In a clemency petition sent to Mr. Parson last month, several jurors who had voted to sentence Mr. Tisius to death said they now believe life imprisonment was appropriate. Mr. Tisius’s lawyers had also argued that another juror from the sentencing trial was unable to read, a requirement under Missouri law for jury service. Mr. Tisius’s legal appeals have been exhausted. That left the possibility that Mr. Parson would step in and halt the execution. A former sheriff, Mr. Parson was seen as unlikely to commute the sentence.

Persons: Mike Parson, Michael Tisius, Mr, Parson, Tisius, “, ” Mr, Catholic Church — Organizations: Republican, U.S, Supreme, American Bar Association, Missouri State Public Defenders, European Union, Catholic Church Locations: Missouri, Randolph County, The State

Summary Among 2022 law graduates, 10% landed government jobs while 8% went into public interestSome schools had much higher percentage of grads go into those jobs(Reuters) - When it comes to sending graduates into government and public interest jobs, no law school comes close to the City University of New York School of Law. The Albuquerque school saw just shy of 40% of its most recent class go into government and public interest jobs. Public interest jobs include public defenders, labor unions, and positions at organizations funded by the Legal Services Corp. Some law schools send significantly higher percentages of their alumni into government and public interest jobs than the national average. Read more:These law schools sent the most grads to federal clerkshipsLarge U.S. law firms love hiring from these schoolsThese law schools aced the job market in 2022Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Summary A relatively small number of law schools dominate federal clerkships(Reuters) - A quarter of Stanford Law School’s 2022 graduates landed federal clerkships—the highest percentage among all U.S. law schools, according to new data from the American Bar Association. The University of Notre Dame Law School and the University of Virginia School of Law round out the top five with 15% and nearly 13% of 2022 graduates in federal clerkships. The latest ABA data shows that just 3% of the 36,078 law graduates in 2022 are clerking for federal judges. Some federal judges hire law students for clerkships that won't begin for a year or two, allowing them to gain experience first. Read more:These law schools aced the job market in 2022Large U.S. law firms love hiring from these schoolsOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ ChatGPT, Generative AI, and LLMs for Litigators
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +23 min

What are the basics litigators should know about how generative AI and LLMs work? Generative AI is a type of AI that generates new content or data in response to a prompt, or question, by a user. LLMs are an advanced form of generative AI that are the basis for generative pre-trained transformer (GPT) platforms, such as ChatGPT. What are the primary ethical pitfalls of using generative AI and LLMs, and how can litigators avoid them? What types of procedural and substantive issues are likely to arise in litigation stemming from the use of generative AI and LLMs?

☆ Increasing Law Department Diversity
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Michelle Graham | Practical Law | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +17 min

Create a law department DEI committee consisting of diverse law department employees to:evaluate the law department’s DEI status; develop a plan and a budget to increase or maintain law department diversity; and monitor and promote the success of the law department’s DEI initiatives. Incentivize law department employees to refer diverse candidates for job openings by paying them a referral bonus if the law department hires those candidates. Retaining Diverse Law Department EmployeesWhile recruiting and hiring diverse employees for the law department requires continuous effort, retaining them once hired presents another challenge. Discuss initiatives the law department has taken to increase and maintain DEI in the law department, such as creating a DEI hiring committee. (For more on how law departments can improve DEI at their outside law firms, see Increasing Law Firm Diversity and Increasing Law Firm Diversity: Presentation Materials on Practical Law; for general guidance on working with outside counsel, see Working Effectively with Outside Counsel Checklist on Practical Law.)

☆ Monitoring Financial Institution Compliance
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +41 min

Compliance MonitorshipsA compliance monitor (also called an independent examiner or independent compliance consultant) is an impartial party appointed by the government to detect the root causes of the institution’s compliance failures. The purpose of a compliance monitor is not to address a particular compliance failure or punish the institution. Responded to compliance issues, in a timely manner and in a way that demonstrates that the institution takes compliance issues seriously. Compliance Department EmployeesThe monitor must evaluate the adequacy of compliance department employees, including the number of compliance employees, their experience, and their expertise. Assess the Compliance SystemsThe monitor typically engages compliance technology experts, who have specific knowledge of coding and compliance technology software, to test and evaluate the institution’s compliance systems.

Britain's National Cybersecurity Centre (NCSC), part of its GCHQ eavesdropping spy agency, said in a report published on Wednesday that the mercenary hacking market was offering products that were on par with government hacking groups. On Tuesday, Canadian internet watchdog group Citizen Lab published a report which said that NSO had been caught using newly-discovered hacking tools to break into iPhones belonging to Mexican human rights defenders in 2022. At least some in the spyware industry see regulation coming down the pipe and are taking steps to try to shape it. NSO has long touted its human rights policy despite repeated allegations that its software has been used abusively, including to spy on victims of human rights violations. NSO did not immediately return an email seeking comment on the Citizen Lab report or its communications with the American Bar Association.

☆ Ben Ferencz, last surviving Nuremberg prosecutor, dies at 103
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-08 | by ( Will Dunham | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

We mourn the death of Ben Ferencz—the last Nuremberg war crimes prosecutor. At Nuremberg, Ferencz became chief prosecutor for the United States in the trial of 22 officers who led mobile paramilitary killing squads known as Einsatzgruppen that were part of the notorious Nazi SS. The case we present is a plea of humanity to law," Ferencz added. "Genocide - the extermination of whole categories of human beings - was a foremost instrument of the Nazi doctrine," Ferencz said. After the Nuremberg trials, Ferencz worked to secure compensation for Holocaust victims and survivors.

☆ High-earning, workaholic men are cutting their work hours the most right now
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( Jason Lalljee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Men who used to work the most cut their work weeks by three hours on average since 2020. At a conference last week, Yongseok Shin, a Washington University in St. Louis professor who worked on the study, said those groups are educated young men, high-earning men, and men who previously worked the most hours. It contrasts with another important trend for young men in the workforce: even though educated, highly paid men are working fewer hours, they're still working. Having access to remote and hybrid work opportunities likely convinced men making more money that they didn't need to work so hard, Shin said. Men who previously worked 55-hour weeks are paring backIn the NBER study, Shin said, men in the "top hours decile" reduced their hours from 55 hours per week in 2019 to 52 in 2022.

☆ Nike faces shareholder proposal on human rights
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-31 | by ( Katherine Masters | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

NEW YORK, March 30 (Reuters) - Activist shareholder platform Tulipshare is calling on Nike (NKE.N) to offer more transparency on working conditions in its supply chain. In a shareholder proposal released Thursday, London-based Tulipshare requested a report from Nike on whether its policies effectively address its stated equity goals and human rights commitments. The company’s most recently available impact report from fiscal 2021 cites forced labor, supply chain transparency and labor rights as some of its essential priorities. “Nike did not engage with garment worker unions representing Nike supply chain workers about those impacts, despite the OECD Guidelines’ expectation that multinational enterprises do so and despite unions’ requests for dialogue,” the complaint states. In a fiscal 2022 statement on forced labor, Nike said it is growing its business "through long-term relationships with suppliers that are committed to our strict standards of sustainability and human rights, product excellence and compliance with local laws."

☆ Joe Tacopina risks being disqualified as Trump's defense lawyer because Stormy Daniels considered hiring him 5 years ago, experts say
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Jacob Shamsian | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Depending on what Daniels told Tacopina, he could be disqualified in the case, experts say. Tacopina didn't end up taking on Daniels as a client. And the communications from Daniels didn't create a conflict of representation, according to Tacopina. Even if Tacopina didn't take on Daniels as a client, lawyers still have obligations to prospective clients, legal experts say. That appears to be the position of Daniels' attorney.

☆ US Justice Dept warns of steeper penalties for firms that fall foul of messaging policies
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-03 | by ( Chris Prentice | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

MIAMI, March 3 (Reuters) - Companies may face steeper penalties for misconduct if they lack policies around employees' use of personal cell phones and messaging apps, a top U.S. Justice Department official said on Friday. The agency will evaluate how companies have crafted policies around the use of such platforms and how they have directed employees on those policies. Use of such platforms, including ephemeral messaging apps, can complicate government investigations into wrongdoing if companies do not retain the records. That is an issue that prosecutors will address as they investigate wrongdoing, Polite told Reuters in an interview. "They will be required to report back to us on an annual basis about both the design and implementation of those policies," Polite said.

☆ Justice Department Seeks to Spread the Pain of Corporate Fines to Executives at Fault
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( Dylan Tokar | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +3 min

The Justice Department is looking to hit lawbreaking corporate executives where it hurts: their paychecks. “Our goal is simple: to shift the burden of corporate wrongdoing away from shareholders, who frequently play no role in misconduct, onto those directly responsible,” Ms. Monaco said. PREVIEWThe use of executive compensation in the fight against corporate crime was first floated by Ms. Monaco in a speech last year. Companies that seek to recoup pay from such employees will be able to deduct it from their own criminal penalties, Ms. Monaco said. Further details about the new policy will be released on Friday, Ms. Monaco said.

☆ Justice Department Policy Seeks to Spread the Pain of Corporate Fines
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( Dylan Tokar | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +3 min

☆ Justice Department Hiring Dozens of New Prosecutors to Enforce Russian Sanctions
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( Dylan Tokar | Ian Talley | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +5 min

The new prosecutors will work with corporations to investigate sanctions and export control evasion, and also bring criminal charges against companies when they commit violations, he said. Some of the additional prosecutors are new hires, while some are being reallocated from different sections, according to officials. The U.A.E.’s enforcement of sanctions differs between the emirates, officials say, as the separate governments treat the sanctions with varying degrees of compliance. For their part, Justice Department officials have pointed to a growing nexus between their work on corporate crime and national security. In addition to hiring more prosecutors, Mr. Olsen said the counterintelligence section would also hire a lawyer to advise on investigations involving corporations.

☆ Americans arrested for allegedly sending aviation technology to Russia
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( Karen Freifeld | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

March 2 (Reuters) - Two Americans were arrested in Kansas City on Thursday for an alleged scheme to send aviation-related technology to Russia in violation of U.S. export controls. The defendants are charged with conspiracy, exporting controlled goods without a license, falsifying and failing to file export information, and smuggling goods contrary to U.S. law. The U.S. imposed additional restrictions on avionics after Russia invaded Ukraine last year, along with controls on other goods targeting Russia's defense, aerospace and maritime sectors. The controls were later expanded to include Russia’s oil refining, industrial and commercial sectors, and luxury goods. Reporting by Karen Freifeld; Editing by Leslie Adler and Marguerita ChoyOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ DOJ launches new effort to target corporate sanctions evasion
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( Hannah Rabinowitz | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco announced a new effort by the Justice Department on Thursday to target corporate sanctions evasion and other financial crimes that implicate national security. “To address the increasing intersection of corporate crime and national security, the Department is today announcing significant restructuring and resource commitments within the National Security Division,” Monaco at the American Bar Association National Institute on White Collar Crime Thursday. “Companies are on the front lines of today’s geopolitical and national security challenges,” she said. “Increasingly, corporate criminal investigations carry profound national security implications.”As part of that effort, Monaco said, the Justice Department’s National Security Division will hire more than 25 new prosecutors to investigate “sanctions evasion, export control violations, and similar economic crimes.” Monaco said. The Justice Department has brought several sanctions violations cases in the past year.

☆ Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse demands more transparency on gifts, food, lodging and entertainment that federal judges and Supreme Court justices receive
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( Oma Seddiq | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse sent a letter to an agency demanding more information on ethics rules for federal judges. Unlike lower federal judges, Supreme Court justices are not bound by a code of conduct. In a new letter obtained by Insider, Whitehouse demanded answers on how the justices and all other federal judges disclose hospitality they receive, including gifts, food, lodging and entertainment. The letter is a follow-up to a lengthy back-and-forth in recent years between Whitehouse and the agency on the judges' ethics rules. The American Bar Association also urged the Supreme Court this month to adopt ethics rules similar to those followed by all other federal judges.

Bill Gates, the cofounder of Microsoft, is thought to have a net worth of about $106 billion. Gates' own father was a high-powered attorney who became a name partner at the law firm K&L Gates. He's cultivated his brand of philanthropy with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, his endeavor with Melinda French Gates, now his ex-wife. (Brock Adams, who went on to become the transportation secretary in the Carter administration, is said to have introduced Gates' parents.) Bill Gates' mother, Mary Gates, came from a line of successful bankers and sat on the boards of important financial and social institutions including the nonprofit United Way.

☆ George Santos's elaborate lies has seen the Congressman compared with a 19th-century huckster. History bears that out.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-20 | by ( Allegra Rosenberg | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +15 min

My obsession is summed up pretty well by a tweet from @blagojevism: "George Santos is essentially a 19th-century character. Media depicting these characters found inspiration from real life: in a time before digital records and facial recognition, opportunity was everywhere. George Santos's brand of full-throated scammery is particularly American, something that belongs to this country as much as Abraham Lincoln and apple pie. The phrase "and if you believe that, I've got a bridge to sell you" comes from his legendary real-life method. But Santos, so far, has avoided jail time, giving him at least one leg up over the Yellow Kid.

☆ ABA Passes Resolution Opposing Suspicious-Transaction Reporting Rule for Lawyers
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( Dylan Tokar | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +5 min

The association also is considering changes to its professional conduct rules around the vetting of clients. The ABA’s rules for professional conduct are typically used as a basis for the rules enforced by state courts, which serve as primary regulators of the legal trade. Under current rules, lawyers have an ethical obligation to keep confidential all information relating to the representation of their clients. Requiring lawyers to report suspicious transactions by their clients also could undermine attorney-client privilege, the group argued in their resolution. Those committees are expected to file a resolution at the annual meeting of the ABA’s policy arm later this year.

☆ Legal Association Deals Setback to LSAT-Optional Law School Admissions
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( Erin Mulvaney | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The test-optional policy was on track to go into effect for students applying for admission to law schools in 2026. The American Bar Association’s policy-making body on Monday rejected a proposal to make the LSAT and other standardized tests optional for law school admissions, casting a cloud over a change that has prompted debate about diversity in the legal profession. The test-optional policy appeared to clear a major hurdle in November when an ABA panel that accredits law schools approved it. It was on track to go into effect for students applying for admission to law schools in 2026. But the ABA’s House of Delegates voted down the policy Monday and sent it back to the accrediting body for further consideration.

☆ Controversial noncompetes now face a possible ban. But one group never had to worry about them: attorneys
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( Aaron Mcdade | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The FTC estimates that about 30 million workers are bound by noncompete agreements across the US. However, an American Bar Association rule has long protected lawyers from being forced to sign the agreements. The American Bar Association's Model Rules of Professional Conduct protects lawyers from being forced to sign noncompetes. The ABA's rule contrasts with a similar rule from the American Medical Association that discourages medical professionals from signing noncompetes, but does not ban them. Earlier this month, recruiters told Insider that doing away with noncompete agreements could lead to another wave of employees leaving for better opportunities, or to start their own businesses.

☆ As egg prices climb, advocacy groups and politicians call on FTC to investigate possible price gouging scheme: 'Somebody needs to pay attention'
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( Aaron Mcdade | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Advocacy group Farm Action and others have asked the FTC to investigate price gouging, pointing to record profits. Egg companies and some experts say a new strain of avian flu, packaging, and transport costs justify the price. While egg companies claim an outbreak of avian flu, combined with inflated transportation and packaging costs, justify record-high prices, others are calling foul. "Somebody needs to pay attention, and we didn't really see anyone asking why," Joe Van Wye, Farm Action's director of policy and outreach, told Insider. The FTC declined to comment on the letters, and Cal-Maine Foods and Sen. Reed did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment.

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