Charles Toutant

September 25, 2006 | New Jersey Law Journal

With branch offices in Princeton and New York, Reed Smith really doesn't need one in Newark, so the firm has decided to economize by shutting it down next year. The closure is in sync with the 1,100-lawyer Pittsburgh-based firm's plan to eliminate redundant offices as it expands internationally.

By Charles Toutant

3 minute read

July 20, 2010 | New Jersey Law Journal

Expert testimony about whether a murder confession was coerced is not warranted in a case where the proposed testimony is within the understanding of most jurors, the state Supreme Court rules.

By Charles Toutant

5 minute read

April 28, 2010 | New Jersey Law Journal

Two years after the state Supreme Court gave its imprimatur to use of the Alcotest in drunken driving cases, a research report is casting doubt on its accuracy and reliability, especially since its manufacturer refuses to allow independent testing of the device.

By Charles Toutant

4 minute read

December 06, 2004 | New Jersey Law Journal

When the Disciplinary Review Board was created in 1978, some lawyers disliked the idea that three of its nine seats were reserved for lay members. No one but another lawyer could appreciate the intricacies and pressures of practice, and nonlawyers would tend toward unnecessary harshness, the argument ran. It turns out the objectors had a point. The voting patterns of lawyers and lay people on the board suggest big differences in how the two groups view those who appear before them.

By Charles Toutant

7 minute read

February 04, 2008 | The Legal Intelligencer

A federal magistrate judge's ruling last year that "ghostwriting" pleadings for a pro se litigant violate a lawyer's ethical duty of candor to the court has caused an uproar loud enough to get a New Jersey Supreme Court ethics committee's attention.

By Charles Toutant

5 minute read

August 05, 2002 | New Jersey Law Journal

It`s becoming a common practice for companies or institutions under investigation - especially in the post-Enron era - to hire their own, internal sleuths. The purpose is to create an objective record of what happened to help the corporation plan a remedial course of action. William Maderer typifies the in-house shamus: a former assistant U.S. attorney who specializes in white-collar criminal defense and employment law.

By Charles Toutant

6 minute read

August 18, 2003 | New Jersey Law Journal

The state Supreme Court is being asked to decide an issue that mirrors the increased use of noncompete agreements: whether dismissal for failure to sign such a pact is grounds for a whistleblower complaint. That question is one of the key issues on the list of 33 appeals added by the court between April 1 and July 31.

By Charles Toutant

7 minute read

August 11, 2009 | New Jersey Law Journal

Mercer County's presiding Criminal Part judge has been charged violating ethics rules by ordering the release of a relative who appeared before him as a criminal defendant.

By Charles Toutant

3 minute read

March 24, 2010 | New Jersey Law Journal

A hospital and its doctors sued for malpractice can't summon expert testimony from members of a medical group that includes the plaintiff's treating physician, a New Jersey appeals court says in a case of first impression.

By Charles Toutant

4 minute read

November 03, 2006 | The Legal Intelligencer

Sills Cummis Epstein & Gross set up shop in Princeton, N.J., this week, tapping into the area's potential for pharmaceutical and medical-device clients and for recruitment of new talent - especially laterals disaffected with their current firms.

By Charles Toutant ALM

4 minute read