A former WolfBlock partner is refusing to return distributions paid before the law firm dissolved in March 2009, citing alleged collusion with a competing law firm. The wind-down committee for WolfBlock is seeking $1.6 million in distributions from 49 former partners, only one of whom has paid up, the Legal Intelligencer reports. Robert Crowe, former head of WolfBlock's Boston office, is one of the lawyers refusing to pay. In an interview with the Intelligencer, he said the firm “foolishly” decided to pursue the income partners. He explained his objections in an arbitration filing obtained by the Intelligencer. The document claims…

Counterterrorism adviser John Brennan wasn’t enthusiastic when King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia suggested a way to keep track of Guantanamo detainees who are released to foreign countries where terrorist groups operate. The king suggested implanting the detainees with tracking chips, similar to chips used in horses and falcons, the New York Times reports. Brennan turned down the idea. “Horses don’t have good lawyers,” the White House aide responded. The Times found the exchange in secret State Department cables obtained by Wikileaks. The documents show U.S. efforts to find countries willing to take the detainees. “In a global bazaar of sorts,…

The European Union has begun an antitrust probe of Google’s treatment of competing services in its online search results. The European Commission will investigate whether Google gave preferential treatment to its own services and unfavorable treatment to competitors that offer services such as online price comparisons of retail goods, the New York Times reports. The investigation is more far-reaching than scrutiny of the company in the United States, the Times says. “Authorities there have been examining Google’s acquisitions and actions for indications that its market power may be anti-competitive, but have so far not brought any formal proceedings,” according to…

A constitutional book author who argued international bankers are promoting a one-world government is inspiring some Tea Party candidates, thanks to a Fox News television personality. The late author, W. Cleon Skousen, is “the constitutional guru of the Tea Party movement,” according to a New York Times magazine column by George Washington University law professor Jeffrey Rosen. Skousen’s book, The 5,000-Year Leap, became a big seller and Tea party favorite after its rediscovery by Glenn Beck, the Fox News host. Skousen viewed the Constitution as divinely inspired and espoused limited government as a Christian ideal, Rosen writes. Skousen’s ideas appear…

A company that offers an online law degree is reportedly seeking office space to open a brick-and-mortar law school in Washington, D.C. Kaplan is looking for a building near the Washington Nationals' baseball stadium, anonymous real-estate sources tell the Washington Post. The newspaper’s corporate owner also owns Kaplan, which operates the online Concord Law School. Kaplan hopes to open the law school in 2013, sources said.

A federal judge in Oklahoma today issued a permanent injunction putting a hold on a new ban on the use of Shariah law in the state's courts, until it can be determined whether the voter-approved state constitutional amendment that implements the ban violates the U.S. Constitution in multiple ways. "While the public has an interest in the will of the voters being carried out," wrote U.S. District Judge Judge Vicki Miles-LaGrange, "the court finds that the public has a more profound and long-term interest in upholding an individual's constitutional rights," reports CNN. The New York Times (reg. req.) and Wall…

After a dump of some 250,000 U.S. State Department cables by WikiLeaks, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton today called the incident an "attack" and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder promised a criminal investigation of those responsible for the release of the classified documents. But the expected incoming chair of a congressional national security committee went even further, saying that the WikiLeaks probe should be prosecuted against the website under terrorism law and that an espionage statute should be applied to the site and its founder, Julian Assange, NPR's It's All Politics blog reports. U.S. Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., who is…

Now serving six months after making headlines in her South Dakota community for allegedly leading police on a high-speed, booze-fueled chase and taking at least $20,000 from a client trust account, a former Sioux Falls lawyer says she is seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. After admitting her criminal conduct and facing up to her addiction and depression issues, Mary Ann Giebink says she is feeling much better about her life and seeing a positive side to her time in jail in Minnehaha County, according to the Argus Leader. "I was dying inside. This is like freedom,"…

A lawyer who is selling a package of self-help documents for accused illegal downloaders is fighting a sanctions request by the law firm that has sued thousands of the defendants. Lawyer Graham Syfert tells TorrentFreak that the Virginia-based law firm Dunlap, Grubb, & Weaver is seeking $5,000 in sanctions against him for the extra work caused by the self-help forms. He charges $19.95 for the forms, which include a motion to quash subpoenas that seek to identify the alleged infringers and a motion to dismiss. Dunlap Grubb, which operates as the U.S. Copyright Group in its pursuit of illegal downloaders,…