Mental Gymnastics: Silenced Voices of Victims in the Sexual Assault Case by USA Gymnastics Team Physician
The high-profile prosecution of the disgraced physician who treated U.S. Olympic gymnasts ended with a stern sentence but a lingering mystery regarding victim rights. U.S. District Court Judge Janet Neff, serving in the Western District of Michigan, sentenced Larry Nassar to 60 years in prison for his possession of child pornography, as well as some…
Read MoreDid the Paradise Papers and Panama Papers Play a Role in the GOP Tax Plan?
Congress is poised to deliver on tax reform this year. As part of the package, both houses are seeking to encourage the repatriation of trillions of dollars that corporations and wealthy individuals have been stockpiling offshore. For decades, corporations and wealthy individuals have been able to avoid taxes legally by transferring assets to tax-friendly jurisdictions…
Read MoreBecause We Can: Border Patrol Agent’s Presumed Authority To Search Your Electronic Devices
This article was originally posted on FEE.org with the title “You Have a Right to Your Data at the Border” on November 18, 2017 Getting past U.S. Customs used to be an annoyance, an aggravating delay. But unless you were attempting to bring into the country something untoward (say, a delightfully stinky French cheese), you…
Read MoreThe Legal Fallout For Harvey Weinstein’s Hired Hands
*This article was first published November 9, 2017 as an Expert Analysis – Opinion piece for Law360. The revelations surrounding the Harvey Weinstein cover-up are certainly cringeworthy, but are the actions of the mogul’s hired hands actually illegal? That Weinstein allegedly exploited and victimized women is terrible (even if far too common). The fact that so many…
Read MoreCustomer Data Collection: GDPR Changes Everything.
Beginning on May 25, 2018, companies which process the personal data of European Union residents will be expected to comply with the General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR. Even companies located in the United States are subject to this regulation, and violating its terms may result in class actions and hefty fines. If your company…
Read MoreSEC Continues to Focus on ICOs
A new enforcement initiative by the Securities and Exchange Commission, part of its proclaimed efforts to address cyber-based threats and protect retail investors, indicates that the agency is including Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) under its broad blanket of protection. Recent actions by the agency in the case of REcoin give more clues to its position…
Read MoreICOs Facing an Uncertain Future in China and the U.S.
This week, in a joint statement issued by the People’s Bank of China, the securities and banking regulators, and other government agencies, the Chinese government declared that initial coin offerings (ICOs) constitute “illegal open financing behavior” and immediately froze all ICO activity. The joint statement explained that the tokens issued in ICOs do not have…
Read MoreHow Poking the Bear Gets Your Assets Kicked
For many decades, the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals was viewed as a very conservative place, where prosecutors were usually quite comfortable with the status quo, a largely “law and order” kind of venue. During the Obama presidency, the Court’s makeup changed dramatically, with a batch of younger, more liberal judges joining the “old guard”…
Read MoreSupreme Court to Decide Whether Prosecutors Can Use Pleas to Skirt Constitution
While the endless portrayal of jury trials in media might indicate otherwise, trials are actually quite rare in the U.S. criminal justice system. With 97% of federal cases ending in pleas, the Atticus Finch conception of American justice has been largely confined to books. Ordinarily, when an accused enters into a plea agreement, he waives…
Read MoreWhy Banning Criminals from the Web Doesn’t Work
A few weeks ago, the Supreme Court issued a unanimous ruling in Packingham v. North Carolina, 137 S. Ct. 1730 (U.S. 2017) invalidating a state law outlawing registered sex offenders from accessing websites which could facilitate offender-minor direct communication. While the majority opinion and concurrence seems grounded in, and specific to, sex offender restrictions, the…
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