Blog Archives

Accused of Bias, Judge Recuses Himself from 17 Ongoing Cases

By Thomas G. Wilkinson, Jr. and Michael P. Zabel Can joint representation with independent counsel remedy a conflict of interest? In a recent criminal case in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, a federal judge denied

Posted in Prosecution & Defense

Child Abuse Reporting Laws – Penn State Scandal

By: Hayes Hunt and Brian Kint An omission, or failure to act, is a crime only where the law imposes an affirmative duty to act.  Historically, the law has been reluctant to impose such duties.  Yet in some instances, the law does

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Posted in Prosecution & Defense

Juror Misconduct & Criminal Contempt. In California, Tweet and Go to Jail

In an effort to deal with the ever increasing misuse of social media at trial, the California Legislature amended the criminal contempt definition to include juror misconduct as outlined below.  CA Assembly Bill 141.  Signed into law by Gov. Brown

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Posted in Prosecution & Defense

How Jurors Decide — Witness Credibility

By Benjamin E. Zuckerman How do jurors reach their verdicts?  It’s simple: they vote for the party whose witnesses they like best.  Early in my career, I handled a criminal defense matter.  The client had been charged with burglarizing a

Posted in Trial

Effective Video Depositions — The Director’s Chair

By Benjamin E. Zuckerman of Cozen O’Connor Nothing is more boring than watching a witness testify on videotape.  Especially after lunch.  Jurors who don’t nod off should be given prizes. We live in an age of hyper-active movies, videos and

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Posted in Litigation

Corporate Search Warrant Protocol: Email to Employees

After publishing “Search Warrant Protocol – What Every Company Should Do to Prepare”, I received a number of requests for a sample notice-of-warrant email from a company to its employees.  Here you go: Our offices are being searched by law

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Posted in Corporate Compliance

Double Jeopardy and Roger Clemens

Less than two months ago, U.S. District Court Judge Reggie Walton declared a mistrial in the Roger Clemens case after the prosecutors played an inadmissible video clip to the jury.  Judge Walton said the experienced prosecutors made a mistake that

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Posted in Prosecution & Defense

The Bad Habit of Emailing and Texting During a Conversation.

Something has changed dramatically about the way we communicate: we don’t talk to one another. We text, tweet, “like”, and comment as an alternative to speaking and listening. Why speak when we can merely type? Professionally, we email rather than go through the

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Posted in Ethics & Professional Conduct

Innocent but Guilty: “West Memphis 3” Alford Plea

On Friday, 3 men pleaded guilty to first and second-degree murder of 3 children but, minutes later, told the judge they were innocent of the same crime. This unique and rare plea agreement, called an Alford plea, enables a defendant

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Posted in Prosecution & Defense

In Brief: 10 Qs to Jeff Friedman, Manager of Civic Innovation and Participation – Philadelphia

Interview with Jeff Friedman, Manager of Civic Innovation and Participation City of Philadelphia – Mayor’s Office 1. What is “Civic Innovation and Participation” for the City of Philadelphia?  It’s what the City and its partners are doing at the intersection

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Posted in Interviews
About the Editor
Hayes Hunt concentrates his practice in the representation of individuals, corporations and executives in a wide variety of federal and state criminal law and regulatory enforcement matters as well as complex civil litigation. Hayes is a partner in the firm's Commercial Litigation Department as well as its Criminal Defense and Governmental Investigations Group.
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