Judges confronted with allegations of racial or ethnic bias among jurors are allowed to investigate the claims, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals ruled yesterday. The opinion created a new exception to case law historically barring judges from questioning...
A federal prosecutor, magistrate judge and administrative law judge are being considered by the White House for a vacancy on the District of Columbia Superior Court. The District of Columbia Judicial Nomination Commission, a local body that vets applicants for...
Two lawyers who spent most of their careers on opposite sides of a courtroom testified today before a U.S. Senate committee in the hopes of serving together on the District of Columbia Superior Court bench. Washington solo practitioner Michael O'Keefe,...
Updated at 12:33 p.m. A committee of prosecutors, defense lawyers and law enforcement officials are calling on the District of Columbia Council to reform laws surrounding post-arrest procedures, identifying "confusion" among the public and within the criminal justice system. A...
Solicitor General Donald Verrilli Jr. on Friday offered some words of advice for the graduating class of the University of the District of Columbia David A. Clarke School of Law. “First, expect some adversity to come your way, you are...
In an unusual scene, District of Columbia Attorney General Irvin Nathan took the stand this morning in Washington federal court to testify about his office's handling of a longstanding wrongful arrest case. During occasionally contentious exchanges, Nathan fielded questions about...
A man convicted of second-degree murder in a 2005 shooting will get a new trial after the District of Columbia Court of Appeals ruled today that the trial judge gave an "impermissibly coercive" instruction to the jury. After a jury....
Replacing precedent dating back to 1892, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals ruled today that contracts entered into with mentally incapacitated individuals will no longer be considered automatically void. Under the new standard, those contracts will be voidable, as...
In 2012, the median time for the District of Columbia Court of Appeals to resolve cases was 352 days. It was the first time in a decade that number dropped below the one-year line, and as Chief Judge Eric Washington...
A new report details ongoing problems with how the District of Columbia school system reimburses lawyers who successfully represent the families of students with special needs. In light of recent policy changes by school officials, however, it wasn't clear how...
The District of Columbia is home to what's widely considered the gold-standard of local public defender offices, but a panel of right-to-counsel advocates today challenged the courts and the criminal justice community not to grow complacent. "D.C. is a place...
The Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia today opened a newly expanded legal services center in Southwest Washington, with financial help from Kirkland & Ellis. The firm has pledged $125,000 a year for at least five years toward...
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit reversed the certification of a class in a sprawling lawsuit against the District of Columbia over the provision of special education services, a setback for the plaintiffs more than a year...
Magistrate and administrative law judges dominated the pool of Washington lawyers who applied to fill an upcoming vacancy on the District of Columbia Superior Court. Of the 21 applicants hoping to fill Judge A. Franklin Burgess Jr.'s seat after he...
The District of Columbia Court of Appeals yesterday affirmed the dismissal of legal malpractice claims against Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr and denounced the "contumacious behavior" of the lawyer who brought the case. Wilmer represented the lawyer, James Pietrangelo...
The District of Columbia Court of Appeals reversed a court order today barring protesters from demonstrating at Goldman Sachs' Washington office and at the home of a Goldman manager, although not on the First Amendment grounds the protesters argued. In...
The Sri #Srinivasan confirmation hearing kicks off at 2:33, or so, as the Senate Judiciary Committee considers him for a seat on the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Instead of Sen. Patrick Leahy, the hearing i...
Given the high percentage of District of Columbia residents living below the poverty line, Chief Judge Merrick Garland of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit today stressed the importance of law firm pro bono work. Garland praised...
DNA analysis can make or break a criminal case in a way that most other evidence can't. The District of Columbia Court of Appeals ruled today that under the Sixth Amendment's Confrontation Clause, a defendant had a right to confront...
To accommodate expected furloughs in federal law enforcement and defender services agencies, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia will stop scheduling most criminal matters on alternating Fridays from April 26 through September 30, court officials said. Unlike...