The Denver Post reports on why jurors only awarded Ward Churchill $1.00 in damages for his wrongful termination by the University of Colorado: One juror insisted on it, and the other five, fearful of a hung jury, went along. The others thought he should get his legal fees in addition to $110,000, a year's salary. According to one of the jurors who would have awarded Churchill money,

"She [the lone juror] was like, she couldn't even stand to give him a dollar. We saw where she was coming from. She felt that he ruined his own reputation and that when you put something out there, even though it is protected speech, there are consequences."

With the lone holdout refusing to come around and the possibility of a hung jury looming, the others eventually agreed to the notion of a symbolic award of $1.00.

Churchill still stands to make some money if the Judge doesn't give him his job back: [More...]

Jury finds Ward Churchill was only fired for his 9/11 essay. Damages: $1.00. CU will have to pay Churchill's attorney's fees. Still to be determined at separate hearing (not by the jury): Whether Churchill gets his job back or whether he gets lump-sum settlement instead.

Churchill attorney David Lane didn't ask the jury for money, but "to do justice." He says this is a vindication for the First Amendment and academic freedom and was never about money. But, as I said earlier, he will get attorney fees.

Great tweeting of the verdict (More twitter coverage here.) The local television coverage was dismal.[More....]

Jurors doing research on their iPhones and live-reporting their trials on Twitter are causing big headaches to the judicial system. After 8 weeks of trial in a federal drug trial in Florida, the Judge declared a mistrial.

Last week, a juror in a big federal drug trial in Florida admitted to the judge that he had been doing research on the case on the Internet, directly violating the judge’s instructions and centuries of legal rules. But when the judge questioned the rest of the jury, he got an even bigger shock. Eight other jurors had been doing the same thing.

Sadly, "... the defense lawyer, Peter Raben, ... was told by the jury that he was on the verge of winning the case."

Why is a twittering juror any different? [More...]

Former Vice President Walter Mondale has an op-ed in the Washington Post decrying the erosion of Gideon v. Wainwright, the landmark Supreme Court decision of 45 years ago promising counsel to indigent defendants in criminal cases.

A report published by the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law School last fall, "Eligible for Justice," found that if Gideon were to face criminal charges in Florida today, he might well be denied a public defender.

From Florida to Minnesota to New Hampshire and Virginia, the right is in jeopardy because eligiblility requirements are too stringent. Mondale also calls for the right to counsel to be extended to indigent civil litigants in some instances...such as when faced with losing their home.

More on Gideon here.

Ex-tenured University of Colorado professor Ward Churchill finally gets his day in court. His lawsuit against the University begins today in Denver District Court.

Churchill was hired by the university in 1978 and in 1991 became a full-time professor with tenure in the ethnic-studies department. He eventually became chairman. Churchill, who has published several books and articles, has received writing and university awards for his teaching.

Then someone came across an essay he had written mentioning 9/11. "He says the essay was taken out of context." [More...]

You remember those 14 Senators who agreed:

Future Nominations. Signatories will exercise their responsibilities under the Advice and Consent Clause of the United States Constitution in good faith. Nominees should be filibustered only under extraordinary circumstances, and each signatory must use his or her own discretion and judgment in determining whether such circumstances exist.

(Emphasis supplied.) Among the Senators who agreed to this were John McCain, Lindsey Graham, Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe. The other day, these 4 Republican Senators reneged on this agreement. They signed this letter to President Obama:

When we first caught up with the news about Ohio criminal defense attorney Frank Pignatelli who became an informant for the feds against some of his own clients to avoid indictment on drug and money laundering charges for allegedly having acted in concert with them, he was practicing law in Denver, including representing defendants in federal drug cases.

A few weeks ago, the Colorado Supreme Court filed a petition to suspend his Colorado license to practice law because he allegedly lied on his bar admission application, stating he had never been under investigation.

The Colorado Supreme Court has now revoked Pignatelli's license -- our local alt weekly Westword has all the colorful details. [More...]

The NYTimes reports that "[Robert] Morgenthau Won't Seek Re-election."

Morganthau is a legendary figure in New York legal circles. From Wikipedia:

Morgenthau graduated from Yale Law School in 1948 and joined the New York law firm of Patterson, Belknap & Webb, becoming a partner in 1954. In 1961, after twelve years of practicing corporate law, Morgenthau accepted an appointment from President John F. Kennedy as United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York. . . .

Morgenthau was elected to the office of District Attorney of New York County [in 1974.] This was a special election caused by the death of Frank S. Hogan who had served as D.A. for over thirty years.He was elected to a full term in 1977 and has been reelected seven times. He has not been opposed in a general election since 1985.

It will be the end of an era.

Last week I wrote about Ohio criminal defense lawyer Frank Pignatelli, who according to news reports in Ohio, was about to get indicted in a drug case and got himself off the hook by ratting out his clients, which resulted in Ohio obtaining 30 convictions. One former client got 15 years.

I was not happy to learn Pignatelli moved to Colorado, obtained a law license and was representing defendants in federal drug cases.

Apparently, either was the Colorado disciplinary counsel. They have issued a press release advising that they have taken action against Pignatelli to suspend his license in Colorado because of allegedly fraudulent statements in his application. Fox31 Denver has the report. [More...]

As if there weren't enough lawyers in the country already:

A new law school opening next fall in Southern California is offering a big incentive to top students who might be thinking twice about the cost of a legal education during the recession: free tuition for three years.

Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the new law school at UC - Irvine, is trying to give the school instant top-tier status by offering full scholarships to the 60 best and brightest applicants. Only the inaugural class will get a free pass, so go for it, TalkLeft readers. This is your chance to get the law degree you've always wanted, for free. (Our many readers whose law degrees were purchased the old fashioned way -- with borrowed money supplemented by menial jobs -- have permission to wince.)

The legal documents that start a lawsuit usually must be served in person upon the defendant to assure that the defendant has notice of the suit. Some jurisdictions permit service by mail if the recipient acknowledges service, with personal service required as an alternative if no acknowledgment of the mailing is obtained. When a defendant can't be located, service is sometimes allowed by publication in a newspaper or by affixing the document to the defendant's front door.

Australia has added an interesting wrinkle (a glimpse of the future, perhaps?) by permitting service via Facebook.

In what may be a world first, lawyers from Canberra law firm Meyer Vandenberg persuaded a judge in the Australian Capital Territory's Supreme Court to allow them to serve the [mortgage default] documents over the internet after repeatedly failing to serve the papers in person. Lawyer Mark McCormack came up with the Facebook plan after it became clear that the couple did not want to be found.

What's next? Service via TalkLeft comments?

Some criminal law blogging - sort of. via Newsweek:

President-elect Obama has decided to tap Eric Holder as his attorney general, putting the veteran Washington lawyer in place to become the first African-American to head the Justice Department, according to two legal sources close to the presidential transition.

Criminal law buffs fire away.