Charles Toutant

December 14, 2009 | New Jersey Law Journal

Attorney General Anne Milgram is asking law enforcement agencies statewide to adopt its new model policy on domestic violence involving police officers, one that is designed to combat perceptions of unfairness or bias.

By Charles Toutant

4 minute read

April 29, 2002 | New Jersey Law Journal

Having blocked the candidacy of a Pennsylvania district court judge for a Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals` seat traditionally filled by a New Jersey resident, Sens. Robert Torricelli and Jon Corzine say they are confident the vacancy will be filled by a lawyer from their state.

By Charles Toutant

4 minute read

October 23, 2006 | New Jersey Law Journal

Business courts, long a pipe dream of commercial litigators and trade groups, have given up the ghost. Despite a decade of State Bar Association lobbying, strong judiciary opposition seems to have finally driven a stake into legislation to create courts specially adapted for commercial cases.

By Charles Toutant

6 minute read

December 21, 2006 | Corporate Counsel

Two New Jersey solos are looking at vastly different punishments for variations on the same misconduct: failing to supervise nonlawyer employees. The New Jersey Disciplinary Review Board recommended only a reprimand for Joseph Marin, whose brother, working as his office manager, impersonated him in a series of fraudulent real estate transactions. But for Maria Gonzales, who let an unlicensed law graduate appear in municipal court on her behalf, the board urged a six-month suspension.

By Charles Toutant

6 minute read

March 21, 2007 | Law.com

Ghostwriting pleadings for a pro se litigant violates a lawyer's ethical duty of candor to the court and may violate federal court rules, U.S. Magistrate Judge Tonianne Bongiovanni held in a case of first impression in New Jersey. The judge barred a lawyer from informally assisting a widow in her ERISA suit against Merck's pension program, and ordered him to enter an appearance by March 30 if he wanted to represent the litigant. The opinion offers guidance for attorneys who offer "unbundled" services.

By Charles Toutant

4 minute read

April 10, 2009 | New Jersey Law Journal

Porzio, Bromberg & Newman is following the path of other large New Jersey firms that have worked to achieve diversity by joint ventures with minority-owned firms. It has formed a strategic alliance with Newark's Love and Long, whose three lawyers are African-Americans.

By Charles Toutant

4 minute read

December 15, 2009 | New Jersey Law Journal

Convicting a homeowner of running an illegal boarding house requires a close examination of whether or not the the residents are carrying on "a family style of living," a New Jersey appeals court rules.

By Charles Toutant

4 minute read

February 09, 2004 | New Jersey Law Journal

A state appeals court has set out new rules for prosecutors seeking to obtain bank records in criminal cases, finding that subpoenaing such records without notice to the account holder violates the state constitutional right to privacy.

By Charles Toutant

3 minute read

June 11, 2010 | The Legal Intelligencer

A federal judge on Monday refused to dismiss a former Parker McCay law librarian's suit alleging the firm defamed and falsely imprisoned her by having her arrested on a charge of setting off a fire alarm last year.

By Charles Toutant

5 minute read

April 24, 2007 | New Jersey Law Journal

Popular belief, at least in medical communities, holds that juries in medical malpractice cases tend to side with plaintiffs, even in weak cases. But juries treat doctors favorably, "perhaps unfairly so," are more likely than even fellow physicians to defer to a doctor's opinions, says a report.

By Charles Toutant

5 minute read