Proud to be fishy…

Michael Karus, 48, has been jailed by Edinburgh Sheriff Court for three and a half years for embezzling £413,052.81from the estate of a former client. He stole Edith Hampton’s life savings, which amounted to over £400,000 whilst he was acting as executor of her estate.

Karus was hired by Ms Hampton in 1992 to draw up a will leaving her estate to Cancer Research UK. Seven years later she changed her will to leave the money to …

The judicial system is not normally known for its fleet of foot and willingness to embrace rapid change. But the High Court has led the way in a recent case by allowing service of a court order using Twitter.

Right-wing blogger and lawyer, Donal Blaney, who blogs at a site called Blaney’s Blarney was given permission by the court to serve an injunction against an unknown Twitter user who anonymously Tweeted using his name. And the order has apparently acheived …

One or two British judges have enjoyed notoriety for behaviour unbecoming but compared to the lurid details that emerged about judge Herman Thomas from Alabama, well…

He allegedly enjoyed spanking male prisoners and traded favorable treatment for sexual favors which eventually led to charges being brought for sodomy, kidnapping, extortion, sex abuse and assault. Here’s a bit of background from the Mobile Press Register (via ATL )

Authorities are investigating allegations that now-suspended Mobile County Circuit Judge Herman Thomas periodically removed …

Ok so we won’t offer any more puns on the Sun going down on Labour but there is a bit of legal-political mix that deserves attention this week. One of Labour’s crowning acheivements was completed yesterday with the formal opening of the Supremely expensive Court (estimates vary between £70-100m depending on the accountant). The President of the Supreme Court, Lord Phillips said: "This is the last step in the separation of powers in this country." And he wasn’t referring …

Lawyers probably should not be seduced into believing that there is anything equivocal about Polanski’s position. As has been widely reported, three decades ago Oscar-winning film director Roman Polanski admitted to drugging a 13-year-old girl with quaalude (the original roofie) and alcohol before proceeding to have sex with her. After being turned in, he first pled down the charge and then did a runner (to London as it happened) to avoid sentencing.

Yes, there are questions as to why authorities …

Nicholas Hewitt Birtles, the son of former minister Patricia Hewitt and Judge William Birtles, received a £250 fine for cocaine possession reports the Mirror . He was arrested in September for the offence which is particularly unedifying given the respective positions of his parents.

Meanwhile a court has been hearing that a vodka swilling, former Crown Court judge, Bruce Macmillan, was three times over the limit when he was busted for drink driving in August. He will be sentenced in …

The obnoxiously-good-looking-brand, Abercrombie and Fitch, is in trouble again over its "Look Policy". Last week the US equality watchdog filed a suit against Abercrombie on behalf of Samantha Elauf, a 19-year-old community college student from Oklahoma, who is Muslim. The suit alleges that Abercrombie "refused to hire Ms. Elauf because she wears a hijab, claiming that the wearing of the headgear was prohibited by its Look Policy," reports Time .

The American brand’s Look Policy caused it trouble earlier this …

When it comes to fees, lawyers take a lot of flack for being expensive or charging for things that astonish clients. Fetterman & Associates, a well-known Florida law firm had this message on their website, "We seek justice for people who have suffered from the negligence of others"…"If you are the victim of injuries . . . please contact us for a free consultation." So far, so nice free consultation.

When Robert Friedrich visited the firm to have a …

There seems to be rather a lot of irony floating through the legal news at the moment with top lawyers being done for offences that fall right within their remit. First Baroness Scotland and now this.

His Honour Judge Bruce Macmillan was arrested for drink-driving for the second time within just three weeks. The Liverpool Crown Court judge was stopped by police in mid-August on the M6 in Lancashire and was pulled over again in Toxteth on Thursday afternoon.

The 63-year-old …

This is one of those corporate legal scuffles with a hint of the personal about it. Mr Berlusconi one of Italy’s richest men (estimated at $6.5bn) has recently accused fellow billionaire media tycoon Mr Murdoch (estimated at $4bn) of mounting a personal attack on him via The Times over several scandals involving his private life reports the BBC . The Italian prime minister’s lawyer said he planned to sue newspapers in the UK and across Europe for libel.

Meanwhile Rupert …

The nature of defamation lawsuits often means that they involve rather more well known characters in society. Joseph Stalin is one few will not have heard of but it might be a little surprising to find someone trying to protect his good name. Stalin’s grandson, Yevgeny Dzhugashvili, is seeking 9.5 million roubles ($299,000) from the Novaya Gazeta newspaper and 500,000 roubles from the author of an article published last April claiming Stalin personally signed politburo death orders reports Reuters …

Every now and again a court somewhere makes a ruling that leaves the door wide open for some serious abuse. We’re not going to cast generalised aspersions about Spanish workers (the ruling related to a Spanish case) or suggest that your average British worker is likely to scam their employer at every opportunity but see if you can spot the flaw here.

Workers who are ill during their holidays can now claim the time back from their employers following …

Proving that litigation doesn’t always favour those with the deepest pockets, McCurry Restaurant (a curry fast-food restaurant), of Ipoh Road, Kuala Lumpur has beaten McDonalds in an intellectual property dispute reports The Times . Never minding legalities; purely from a money, power, determination point of view, we wouldn’t have bet the mortgage on McCurry beating the US fast food giant.

But McCurry held their nerve over an 8 year period to finally see Malaysia’s Federal Court reject a McDonald’s …

The criminals.

Every now and again we come across breaches of the law that make our skin crawl. For commercial lawyers, these are the sorts of things that will make you glad you steered clear of the criminal law. Imagine having to defend the likes of these two cretins:

A 39-year-old construction worker, Tatsuya Moriguchi, was arrested for throwing his own faeces at women passers-by from a motorcycle in two separate attacks in western Japan. The man turned himself in after …

Innovative use of legal doctrines – that what gets the lawyerly synapses sparking. Imagine that for the best part of a decade you brought up two children as your own only to find later that they weren’t yours but were fathered by your business associate. Apart from the emotional upheaval of such a realisation, think of all that cost. It might not be the first thing to enter the average mind but if you are a successful tycoon then …

The size of the payout has stunned the actor to such an extent it may spur him on to comedic form not seen for years. Referring to the settlement he was quoted as saying, "I got off lightly. Think what I’d have had to pay Alyce if she had contributed anything to the relationship."

The Times reports that the 69 year-old former Monty Python star has agreed to pay Alyce Faye Eichelberger Cleese, a psychotherapist, £8 million in …

or lack thereof…

From Courtoons

Michael Douglas is famed for many on-screen roles, not least his dogmatic cop role in Basic Instinct and his role as the drug-tzar father of a smacked out teen in Traffic . Both of which make the fate of his son sadly ironic. Following his arrest last month for selling drugs Reuters reports that:

Cameron Douglas, 30, a sometimes actor who appeared with his father and grandfather Kirk Douglas in "It Runs in the Family," is accused of selling tens …

California Style

From Courtoons

You either love them or you loathe them…

For the lovers, they will be pleased to know that Crocs has recently settled a number of design defect lawsuits rather than contest allegations that its uber popular and brightly coloured foam rubber clogs are unsafe for children to wear on moving escalators. On Point states that since February 2008, parents of at least 11 children allegedly injured when their clogs got caught in escalators sued Crocs for product liability, breach of …