Month: April 2022
Judge moves congressional, State Senate primaries to August | WSKGWSKG
VESTAL, NY (WSKG) — The Steuben County judge overseeing the redrawing of New York’s congressional and State Senate maps has ordered that primary elections for those races to be held in August.
The decision came two days after the state’s highest court ordered the lower court to create new maps for congressional and State Senate districts, ruling that the old lines were improperly approved by the Democratic-controlled Legislature and drawn with partisan intent.
The court left State Assembly districts intact.
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N.Y. judge holds Trump in contempt for failing to produce documents in attorney general probe–NBC NEWS
The judge didn’t address in his oral ruling whether or not the $10,000-a-day fine was retroactive to the date Trump was supposed to have turned over the documents — March 31 — or if the clock would start running on Monday.
He was expected to issue a written ruling by Tuesday.
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Lawyers should be able to practice law in any state, says group urging ABA model rule change–ABA JOURNAL
The Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers sent a letter to ABA President Reginald Turner on Monday that proposes a change to Model Rule 5.5 of the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct, which can be adopted by states as their own. Model Rule 5.5 governs unauthorized practice of law and multijurisdictional practice.
“Our proposal advocates that a lawyer admitted in any United States jurisdiction should be able to practice law and represent willing clients without regard to the geographic location of the lawyer or the client, without regard to the forum where the services are to be provided, and without regard to which jurisdiction’s rules apply at a given moment in time,” said the letter, written by Brian Faughnan, president of the Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers.
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NY State, Landlords Compile Manual on Converting Buildings to Zero Emissions – Commercial Observer
A public-private partnership is throwing the book at climate change, but a treatise for reducing carbon emissions had to be written first.
New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, Empire State Realty Trust, the Durst Organization, Vornado Realty Trust and Hudson Square Properties produced a free online guidebook for making buildings compliant with Local Law 97, using the Empire State Building’s efforts to go greener as an example.
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Appellate ruling rejects Albany diocese’s efforts to keep pedophile priests’ records secret–TimesUnion
ALBANY — The Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany’s effort to keep secret the psychological treatment records of suspected pedophile priests was rejected Thursday by a state appellate court in a ruling that could affect thousands of Child Victims Act cases in New York.
The appellate panel also upheld state Supreme Court Justice L. Michael Mackey’s decision ordering the diocese to turn over the personnel records of at least 48 priests whom the church determined had been credibly accused of child sexual abuse over a period stretching from 1946 to 1999.
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Read more about this major interpretation of the NYS Child Victims Act…
A judicial trainwreck. – by Robert B. Hubbell
Rivera, Apparently a Holdout to Vaccine Mandate, Participates Remotely in NY High Court Arguments | New York Law Journal
Litigation Reporter
Trump Judge Finds That CDC Lacks Power To…Control Disease Spread
Attorneys plan statewide court protest after Hochul short-changes them – Mid Hudson News
POUGHKEEPSIE – Attorneys throughout the state have organized a three-day protest after Governor Hochul removed modest rate increases for attorneys that participate in the “assigned counsel” program for people who cannot afford an attorney. The attorneys will not be accepting new clients from any courts on April 18th, 19th, and 20th.
Governor Hochul removed the raises for 18-b attorneys from the state budget. The Senate and the Assembly had approved raising the rates in criminal cases from $75 an hour to $150 an hour for people charged with felonies and $120.00 an hour for misdemeanor cases. The family court rate was slated to go from $75 an hour to $150 an hour. The current rate structure has been in place for more than a decade without any increases.
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