The NHL could claim a partial victory after a U.S. bankruptcy judge rejected bids by the league and Canadian billionaire Jim Balsillie to purchase the Phoenix Coyotes.
Judge Redfield T. Baum rejected outright Balsillie’s offer to purchase the team and move it to Hamilton, Ontario, which the NHL had vehemently opposed. The judge upheld the league’s right to decide who owns its teams and where they play.
(Boston.com) A Connecticut lawyer has filed hundreds of ethics complaints across the country, setting the stage for a possible major change in how legal services are marketed over the Internet.
Zenas Zelotes, a Norwich resident and bankruptcy lawyer, said he has filed more than 550 complaints in 47 states, claiming improper referrals are being made through Internet sites run by Total Attorneys Inc. of Chicago. Referrals obtained through sites such as totaldivorce.com and totaldui.com breach rules against for-profit lawyer referral services, Zelotes claims.
Kevin Chern, president of Total Attorneys says this is a cooperative advertising arrangement permitted Kevin Chernunder the rules,and attorneys are paying him for the cost of licensing the website and marketing costs.
This is a "natural extension of marketing models that are ubiquitous across the Internet," Chern said.
Hawaii Rules
(Business Wire) The first to rule on the complaint, Hawaii’s Office of Disciplinary Counsel completed a full inquiry and determined that there is no basis upon which to take any action in the case. Hawaii also stated in its letter that the complaint raised serious First Amendment free commercial speech and other legal issues.
“The ruling in Hawaii affirms our belief that the advertising model used by Total Attorneys is within the bounds of ethical and professional conduct,” said Chern. “In Connecticut, as in most states, the Rules of Professional Conduct do not expressly address modern technology. That said, the Hawaii finding demonstrates that reasonable attorney regulators can certainly apply antiquated Rules to contemporary technology in a way that fulfills their mission to protect consumers and that retains the spirit of those Rules.”
Deborah Sheasby, Center for Arizona Policy legal counsel, addresses two lawsuits seeking to block enforcement of Arizona's new abortion laws. Planned Parenthood filed their lawsuit in Maricopa County Superior Court and Center for Reproductive Rights filed in U.S. District Court, Phoenix.
CAP supports the new laws that take effect Sept. 30th. The laws provide restrictions and waiting periods on abortions in Arizona.
"Women, like anyone else considering any other medical procedure, deserve information about the abortion procedure, its risks and alternatives, as well as an in-person consultation with a doctor," said CAP President Cathi Herrod. "The Abortion Consent Act being challenged empowers women and girls to make informed choices about their healthcare. If the abortion industry led by Planned Parenthood and the Center for Reproductive Rights really cared about women's rights, they'd welcome this law to allow women to make fully informed choices instead of challenging it in court."
Scott Drake talks with CAP legal counsel Deborah Sheasby.
(NY Times) This fall, law students are competing for half as many openings at big firms as they were last year in what is shaping up to be the most wrenching job search season in over 50 years.
For students now, the promise of the big law firm career — and its paychecks — is slipping through their fingers, forcing them to look at lesser firms in smaller markets as well as opportunities in government or with public interest groups, law school faculty and students say.
The frenzy has even pushed the nation’s top firms, a tradition-bound coterie, into discussing how to reform the recruitment process with an earnestness that would have been unthinkable just years ago.
Dr. Hamilton's first book,The Scalpel and the Soul: Encounters with Surgery, the Supernatural, and the Healing Power of Hope, was awarded the Nautilus Silver Award. He now joins the ranks of Deepak Chopra, M.D., Barbara Kingsolver, Thich Nnat Hanh, Jean Houston, PhD., Eckhart Tolle, and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. All are Nautilus Award winners.
"This award is a gift, not a reward. It reminds me the world is like that: beautiful things are given to us without our having done anything to deserve them," commented Dr. Hamilton in his blog posting on the award.
The Nautilus Book Awards were conceived to recognize and reward world-changing books. As a Silver Award Winner, The Scalpel and the Soul will pass to the highest level of judging for the Nautilus Awards, the Gold Award level.
Dr. Allan Hamilton, a Harvard trained brain surgeon, shares inspirational stories and advice that empower well being in both patients and healthcare professionals alike.
"When a health crisis strikes, we confront great dangers and dark fears. Yet illness can offer opportunities to tap into unseen powers beyond the physical world. When we reach out, the world of the spirit becomes ours." -- Allan Hamilton, MD
Thursday, October 8, 2009 at 2:13PM 
The NHL could claim a partial victory after a U.S. bankruptcy judge rejected bids by the league and Canadian billionaire Jim Balsillie to purchase the Phoenix Coyotes.
