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☆ A rash of proposed Florida laws use 'genocidal rhetoric' to attack trans people, legal experts say
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert | Katie Balevic | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

If passed, the bills would restrict access to gender-affirming care and classify it as child abuse. Experts told Insider the bills are posturing ahead of the 2024 presidential race. New legislation 'short circuits existing law'The proposed new bills go further to expand anti-trans legislation than others across the nation, disrupting established custody and health care precedent, legal experts told Insider. "I think that's important, just to note how brazen the language has become — it's genocidal rhetoric," Caraballo told Insider. "This is all about politics, and this is all about bolstering DeSantis is run for the presidency," Caraballo told Insider.

☆ Womb for rent: More women are working as commercial surrogates as global demand rises
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-07 | by ( Karen Gilchrist | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +9 min

Typically, commercial surrogacy is gestational surrogacy, meaning the surrogate has no biological link to the child. The growing commercial surrogacy industryDilara is one of a growing number of women turning to commercial surrogacy as a source of income amid swelling global demand for carriers. The global commercial surrogacy industry was worth an estimated $14 billion in 2022, according to market research consultancy Global Market Insights — though exact numbers are hard to verify given the private nature of many arrangements. In the first three quarters of 2022, more than 400 parental orders were made for surrogate parents in the U.K. Women's rights groups are calling for greater regulation of the commercial surrogacy industry.

Those who experience a "gray divorce" can still retire comfortably by making vital life decisions. Spousal support plays a key roleAfter you do your budgeting, you might realize that you have to live with a lot less. Whether you're the one giving spousal support or receiving it, that number will make a huge difference in your financial future. Depending on your state, spousal support may not continue past the retirement age for Social Security, Harounian added. So if you get divorced at 60, you may only receive or give spousal support for five more years.

☆ U.S. Republicans target transgender youth healthcare in legislative push
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( Daniel Trotta | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

The aggressive legislative push comes as battles over gender and sexuality increasingly are being fought in U.S. classrooms, courtrooms and political campaigns. Republicans including former President Donald Trump have embraced restricting trans rights ahead of the 2024 White House race, a push that trans advocates fear will harm transgender children. Gender-affirming care covers a variety of treatments, including puberty blockers, hormone therapy and, in exceedingly rare cases for trans people under 18, surgery. But many opponents of trans rights believe that the sex assigned at birth is immutable and distrust the prevailing opinions of medical associations with specialties in pediatrics, endocrinology and mental health. Governors in South Dakota and Utah have already signed into law gender-affirming care bans that state legislatures passed this year.

The 51-year-old Fulton County district attorney will need that kind of tenacity if she decides to bring criminal charges against Trump, who is seeking the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. Willis, a Democrat, has taken an aggressive approach in the Trump investigation, subpoenaing some of his allies including Republican U.S. "It doesn't matter if you're rich, poor, Black, white, Democrat or Republican," Willis, who is Black, told CNN last year. Trump, who in November announced another run for the presidency in 2024, has denied wrongdoing and has called Willis a "Radical Left Prosecutor." To assist with the Trump investigation, Willis retained private Atlanta lawyer John Floyd, who wrote a guide on prosecuting state racketeering charges and worked with Willis on the teacher case.

That would be the kind of tenacity Willis, 51, would need if she decides to bring criminal charges against the Republican former president. Willis, a Democrat, has taken an aggressive approach in the Trump investigation, subpoenaing some of his allies including Republican U.S. To assist with the Trump investigation, Willis retained private Atlanta lawyer John Floyd, who wrote a guide on prosecuting state racketeering charges and worked with Willis on the teacher case. Willis told a judge on Jan. 24 that a decision on whether to bring criminal charges was "imminent" after a special grand jury completed its work. Portions of the grand jury's report are expected to be publicly released on Thursday, though any recommendations on criminal charges will remain sealed for now.

☆ Family lawsuit alleges a 97-year-old grandmother 'froze to death' after being locked outside of an assisted living facility
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-28 | by ( Alia Shoaib | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A lawsuit alleges a grandmother 'froze to death' after being locked outside a Colorado assisted living facilityThe woman, 97, was seen in surveillance footage banging on a door before, it's alleged, she "froze to death." The woman's family is suing the facility for wrongful death. The grandmother was captured on surveillance footage "banging on the glass panes of the French doors located directly adjacent to the nurses' station for help," according to the wrongful death lawsuit seen by Fox News. Staub, who her family described as a "beloved mother and grandmother," was locked outside wearing "only pajamas, a robe, boots, and gloves," the lawsuit said. "Where we found deficiencies, we required the facility to quickly make changes and closely monitored the facility until it completed all corrective actions."

☆ Bolsonaro supporters invade Brazil presidential palace, Congress, Supreme Court
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-08 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Supporters of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro take part in a protest to ask for federal intervention outside the Army headquarters in Brasilia, on November 2, 2022. Supporters of Brazil's far-right former President Jair Bolsonaro on Sunday invaded the country's Congress, presidential palace and Supreme Court, in a grim echo of the U.S. Capitol invasion two years ago by fans of former President Donald Trump. Television images showed protesters breaking into the Supreme Court and Congress, chanting slogans and smashing furniture. The Supreme Court was ransacked by the occupiers, according to social media images that showed protesters shattering the windows of the modernist building. "Violence has no place in a democracy," Douglas Koneff, the U.S. chargé d'affaires in Brasilia, wrote on Twitter.

Bolsonaro, a far-right nationalist, left Brazil for Florida on Friday after losing to leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in Brazil's most fraught vote in a generation. Bolsonaro's U.S. trip insulates him from any immediate legal jeopardy in Brazil, where he is under investigation in at least four criminal probes. Under Brazil's constitution, a sitting president can only be arrested if he is convicted by the Supreme Court. From September, Lula will be able to install his own prosecutor general, who has the power to charge Bolsonaro if his cases remain with the Supreme Court. Bolsonaro also faces 12 requests for investigation at the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) for baseless claims Brazil's electoral system is liable to fraud, as well as alleged abuses of power for granting economic benefits to win votes.

☆ Doorbell cameras are changing the legal profession by capturing crime, alibis, and cheating spouses
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-28 | by ( Laura Italiano | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Doorbell cameras are changing the legal profession as their numbers surge, lawyers say. "They know she's home, but she has a doorbell camera and never opens the door," Bracker told Insider recently. "Damn doorbell cameras!" No matter their specialty — family law, criminal law, corporate law, and beyond — lawyers know they must move quickly to secure doorbell camera footage. He also agreed that doorbell cameras make it harder for process servers to hand-deliver important legal documents.

Cassaundra Brownell, a self-described “serial entrepreneur” from Maryland, was relieved when she found the Justis Connection, a company that links potential clients with Black attorneys. Her case illuminates a point Black lawyers and advocates have been making for some time: Black clients feel that they receive heightened support and more favorable results from Black lawyers than with non-Black legal aid. And unlike Black lawyer associations like the National Conference of Black Lawyers and The National Black Lawyers, which some have relied on to find Black legal representatives in their cities, the Justis Connection specifically works on making those client-attorney connections. “And the thing about a Black attorney is that he or she would be much more relatable to Black clients,” Davidson said. But it’s probably not going to be the same.”However, even with connections being made, a significant problem still exists: There are not enough Black attorneys to address the needs of Black clients.

While the government's decision to repeal the colonial-era sodomy law was cheered as a symbolic victory for the gay community, many worry LGBT families will continue to suffer under public policies that favour heterosexual marriages and families. But influential conservative groups that strongly opposed lifting the gay sex ban make it politically uncomfortable for the ruling party to further change laws. An alliance of more than 80 Singaporean churches has decried repealing the gay sex ban as an "extremely regrettable decision" that "celebrates homosexuality". 'PUNISHING THE CHILD'LGBT families in Singapore now worry that further change will not come in time for them. The government did not respond to Reuters' questions about the rights of LGBT families and their children's residency and access to education.

☆ Analysis: Gains for Malaysia's hardline Islamist party a challenge for new PM Anwar
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-25 | by ( A. Ananthalakshmi | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

[1/4] A pillion waves a Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) flag on the eve of Malaysia's general election at Permatang Pauh, Penang, Malaysia November 18, 2022. Anwar, who is ethnic Malay and Muslim, addressed race and religion in his first news conference as prime minister, promising to uphold Islam as the official religion of the country and the rights of the ethnic Malay majority, while also safeguarding the rights of all. Race and religion are thorny issues in Malaysia, where Muslim ethnic Malays form a majority in a country with significant ethnic Chinese and ethnic Indian minorities, most of them Hindu, Buddhist or Christian. As the biggest party in parliament, PAS could push for Islamisation and more affirmative action for Malays - a long-standing policy that Anwar has opposed, analysts said. "They see PAS as a clean party and its political leaders have no integrity problems," said Mohd Izani.

☆ Alex Murdaugh's banker convicted for role in alleged scheme to steal money from clients' legal settlements
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-23 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +5 min

Former Palmetto State Bank CEO Russell Laffitte was allowed to remain free on bail as he awaits sentencing at a later date. Former Palmetto State Bank CEO Russell Laffitte exits federal court in Charleston, S.C. on Sept. 6. Laffitte loaned Murdaugh and himself money from those settlements, diverting that money from personal injury or death cases. An employee at Laffitte’s bank testified she confronted Murdaugh about missing fees from one of his cases hours before the killings. More than a third of the witnesses in Laffitte’s trial were his relatives, with most of them testifying for prosecutors.

☆ Gold rush: Lawyers are flocking to Arizona to take advantage of new rules resulting in a flood of outside investments in law firms
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-19 | by ( Jack Newsham | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

In 2021, Arizona changed its rules to let non-lawyers co-own law firms, many of which are highly profitable: They collectively made an estimated $320 billion in the US last year. Today, 47 states — all but Arizona, Utah, and Washington — ban anyone but lawyers from owning law firms. Some of the firms Arizona has approved have said they plan to advertise nationwide, and refer cases to other law firms that will actually do the work. Pre-settlement funding, which is one of the riskier kinds of loan for plaintiffs' law firms, often has interest rates of 12 to 20 percent, Ziser said. The UK has allowed outside investment in law firms since 2007 without major scandal, he said, but it also takes a loser-pays approach to lawsuits that can cut down on frivolous claims.

Instead, data and child welfare experts suggest the changes may have done the opposite. State child welfare officials say more vigilance in documenting severe cases of abuse likely contributed to the increase. Child welfare experts say these findings cast doubt on the effectiveness of the primary tool that states rely on to protect children: mandatory child abuse reporting. These policies, the bedrock of America’s child welfare system, were first implemented more than half a century ago in response to growing national awareness of child maltreatment. “We are continuing to tell mandated reporters, ‘Report, report, report,’ and nobody can handle it,” Berger said in an interview.

☆ Protests grip Iran as rights group says 19 children killed
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-09 | by ( Parisa Hafezi | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

"At least 185 people, including at least 19 children, have been killed in the nationwide protests across Iran. The highest number of killings occurred in Sistan and Baluchistan province with half the recorded number," the Norway-based Iran Human Rights said on Saturday. They have accused armed dissidents amongst others of violence that has reportedly left at least 20 members of the security forces dead. A police motorcycle burns during a protest over the death of Mahsa Amini, a woman who died after being arrested by the Islamic republic's "morality police", in Tehran, Iran September 19, 2022. A video shared by Twitter account Mamlekate, which has more than 150,000 followers, showed security forces chasing dozens of school girls in the city of Bandar Abbas.

☆ Cuba approves same-sex marriage in unusual referendum
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-26 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

The code would allow surrogate pregnancies, broader rights for grandparents in regard to grandchildren, protection of the elderly and measures against gender violence. President Miguel Díaz-Canel, who has promoted the law acknowledged questions about the measure as he voted on Sunday. The measure had been approved by Cuba’s Parliament, the National Assembly, after years of debate about such reforms. But there is a strong strain of social conservatism in Cuba and several religious leaders have expressed concern or opposition to the law., worrying it could weaken nuclear families. That has meant a greater opening not only the once-dominant Roman Catholic Church, but also to Afro-Cuban religions, protestants and Muslims.

☆ Cyprus LGBT+ pride marchers seek equal family rights
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterNICOSIA, Sept 25 (Reuters) - Hundreds of activists turned streets of the Cypriot capital into a sea of rainbows on Sunday on a pride march in a push for equal rights irrespective of sexual orientation. Marriage of same-sex couples is not permitted in Cyprus, while same-sex civil partnerships with a limted set of rights are legal. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterActivists say a lack of a family law framework for same-sex couples deprives them from the right to adopt children, or give equal parental rights to a couple in a same-sex civil partnership. Other concerns included legal gender change recognition on state documents, which has been pending since 2015. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting By Michele Kambas; Editing by Toby ChopraOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ The UAE will now be able to enforce UK court rulings, changing Dubai's 'safe haven' status
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-22 | by ( Natasha Turak | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

The change applies to all court rulings for non-criminal civil, financial and marital cases and is already in affect. It represents a significant step-up in cooperation between the UAE and the U.K., longtime partners in trade, diplomacy and defense. This was due to what the UAE described as a lack of "reciprocity," as the U.K. generally did not enforce UAE court rulings. The new ruling announced Wednesday will, in principle, make it no longer possible for those sentenced in civil cases in the U.K. to flee to the UAE and avoid paying debts. Some legal experts predict a surge in cases by creditors pursuing debt repayments from people who have left the U.K. for the UAE.

☆ What’s Next in Murdaugh Trial: State to Rest Case, Defense Plans to Critique Investigation
▼ + stars: | 2021-06-07 | by ( Valerie Bauerlein | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

WALTERBORO, S.C.—After presenting more than 50 witnesses and 500 pieces of evidence over roughly four weeks, state prosecutors are expected to rest their case as soon as late Thursday in the double-murder trial of disbarred lawyer Alex Murdaugh. Lead prosecutor Creighton Waters has endeavored to paint a picture of Mr. Murdaugh as a desperate man who the state says killed his wife, Maggie Murdaugh, and son Paul to generate sympathy and avoid detection of a long-running financial fraud. An administrator at the Murdaugh family law firm testified that a few hours before the killings on June 7, 2021, she had confronted Mr. Murdaugh about a $792,000 missing fee.

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