A woman who reportedly had an on-again, off-again relationship with a California attorney found dead in his home earlier this week has been arrested on suspicion of murdering him. Mark Hafen, 58, had filed an eviction case against Verginia Turner, 42, early this year when she refused to move out of his Salinas home, reports the Californian. She was given a five-day notice to vacate in July as a result of the Monterey County Superior Court case, according to the newspaper. Hafen worked as a family court attorney. An autopsy has not yet been completed, but authorities say he may…

In response to complaints about overzealous law enforcement agents at the annual Burning Man art and music festival in the Nevada dessert, a Palo Alto, Calif., attorney has formed Lawyers for Burners, a legal defense team to aid festival revelers in their brushes with the law. David Levin, aka the Burning Man Barrister, accused federal officers of destroying a peaceful counterculture celebration in the Black Rock Desert, reports the Associated Press. "It's a police state out there," Levin said of the presence of undercover agents at dances and drug-sniffing dogs that roam the camps, according to the newspaper. "There's very…

A new class of lawyer-entrepreneurs in U.S. legal services is attracting hundreds of millions of dollars from global investors, even while traditional law firms are forced to cut back. These risk-takers speak a language investors understand. Rather than profits per partner, they talk about market share and return on invested capital. They converse as easily about finance, technology and management as finer points of law. And their enterprises produce steady returns even when unemployment soars and stock markets tank. Some drive down costs by automating routine legal tasks. Others assemble dedicated teams of lawyers for in-house legal departments to draft…

Lawyers often identify with superheroes, but sometimes don’t get much validation for it. However the library at Yale Law School offers a bit of that, with the new exhibition “Superheroes in Court: Lawyers, Law and Comic Books.” Mark S. Zaid, a Washington, D.C., lawyer and comic book collector, organized the exhibition, which today got a mention in the New York Times Arts Beat blog. It features illustrations of Superman on the witness stand being accused of murder (falsely, of course) and a handcuffed Batman and Robin, facing a jury full of Jokers, literally. Zaid, a litigator who often represents government…

A San Antonio personal injury lawyer is adding traffic ticket defense, via the Internet, to his practice. Wallace Brylak Jr. set up EZTicketHelp.com, to handle traffic citations given by the San Antonio Police Department. According to KENS5.com, a local television news website, one can visit EZTicketHelp.com, enter the ticket information, and an attorney will go to court and provide a defense. According to Brylak’s website, most matters are resolved within 72 hours. Attorneys reportedly seek differed dispositions for clients, where tickets don’t show up on the individual's driving record. The firm tells prospective clients they'll benefit because there's: "No standing…

Former investment clients of Bernard Madoff are challenging the $34 million bill submitted by his bankruptcy trustee, Baker Hostetler partner Irving Picard. The August 20 statement bills for services between Feb. 1 and May 31, according to the New York Post. According to Madoff investors, who made the Manhattan Bankruptcy Court filing, they don’t have the ability to evaluate the services, because the court previously ruled that Baker Hostetler doesn’t have to file detailed billing reports. Kevin McCue, Picard’s spokesperson, declined to comment, according to the Post, but noted that the law firm is paid by Securities Investor Protection Corp.,…

The firestorm over alternative fees has produced more smoke than fire, according to a Canadian legal consultant. Writing at his blog Rants & Raves, consultant Patrick McKenna recalls his own unsuccessful attempt to interest general counsel in alternative fees while representing an AmLaw-listed, regional law firm of more than 500 lawyers. McKenna says he contacted more than 35 GCs of Fortune 500 companies to discuss how the firm could deliver savings of 25 to 40 percent, and possibly more. “I completely struck out!” he writes. “No bunts, no hits, not even a sniff of interest.” He later heard from a…

Some members of the original soul-funk band War have sued PepsiCo. for using their 1975 hit song “Why Can’t We Be Friends” in a Pepsi Max commercial without their permission. The band members say Pepsi should have negotiated with them even if the company purchased rights to the song from music publishers or other owners, according to the Associated Press and TMZ. The suit says the band "did not consent to the use of their performance" in the ad. The suit, filed Wednesday in Los Angeles, seeks $10 million in damages. A PepsiCo statement said it believes the lawsuit is…

A Maryland lawyer in a hurry to file some briefs decided to take a stand when an officer at the appeals court in Annapolis asked to see his ID. Norman Christopher Usiak refused, the Baltimore Sun reports. His resulting arrest spurred Usiak to file a $700,000 lawsuit claiming false arrest, false imprisonment and assault. Being forced to show an ID "is the antithesis of access to a free court system,” Usiak, a Frederick, Md., lawyer, told the newspaper. “I took a stand. It was offensive to me." According to a police report on the June 2007 incident, Usiak gave a…

A New York lawyer has been censured for punching a restaurant patron over noisy music. According to a New York appeals court, the dispute began when lawyer William Caits “was disturbed by noise emanating from a portable DVD player in a nearby booth” that was occupied by the patron and her father. Caits asked them to lower the volume and also complained to the manager. “After respondent voiced his dissatisfaction with the patron's adjustments and the manager's suggestion that he relocate, the verbal altercation escalated, culminating with respondent punching the victim,” the opinion says. In 2007, Caits was convicted in…