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In the age of AI, litigators must read between the lines—literally.
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August 18, 2026
In the age of AI, litigators must read between the lines—literally.
By: Robert Ward
In the age of AI, litigators must read between the lines—literally. Any attorney who has litigated a case against a party proceeding pro se is familiar with the common refrain that courts liberally construe pro se filings.[1] This leniency was not enough for one Connecticut litigant. In a scheme that gives new meaning to the phrase “reading between the lines,” pro se plaintiff Matthew Elliot included hidden instructions in his filings with the goal of ensuring any AI model’s output would agree with his position. In doing so, Elliot undertook what appears to be the first confirmed prompt injection attack aimed at an American court. The Attempted Prompt Injection On July 24, 2026, pro se plaintiff Matthew Elliot filed what…
The DOJ Steps Up for Military Families
June 29, 2026
The DOJ Steps Up for Military Families
By: Lauren Scribner
The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA), 50 U.S.C. § 4025a, grants military spouses portability of their professional licenses. That means when a military spouse moves with his or her servicemember to the servicemember’s assigned duty station in a new state, the spouse’s professional license essentially moves with them.[1] In order to take advantage of this license portability benefit in the new state, the SCRA requires…
How Much is Too Much? – Second Circuit Establishes Guardrails for Sentencing Hearings
June 22, 2026
How Much is Too Much? – Second Circuit Establishes Guardrails for Sentencing Hearings
By: James Trusty
As any federal criminal practitioner can attest, judges holding a sentencing hearing are privy to an intentionally wider universe of information about the defendant than a jury would have heard about at trial. We want judges to consider all sorts of things about the offender and the offense, beyond just the facts establishing the crime – social background, employment history, criminal record, substance abuse history, mental health issues, and more. Particularly in…
ICOs Facing an Uncertain Future in China and the U.S.
September 7, 2017
ICOs Facing an Uncertain Future in China and the U.S.
By: Steven Eichorn
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 legal and monetary properties, do not have the legal status…
How Poking the Bear Gets Your Assets Kicked
August 23, 2017
How Poking the Bear Gets Your Assets Kicked
By: James Trusty
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” from Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Consequently, this particular…
Supreme Court to Decide Whether Prosecutors Can Use Pleas to Skirt Constitution
August 11, 2017
Supreme Court to Decide Whether Prosecutors Can Use Pleas to Skirt Constitution
By: Ifrah Law
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 his right to appeal his conviction—otherwise, future appeals could require…
Why Banning Criminals from the Web Doesn’t Work
July 21, 2017
Why Banning Criminals from the Web Doesn’t Work
By: Steven Eichorn
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 underlying characterizations and beliefs about websites has far-reaching consequences for…
You Can’t Run From Justice
July 19, 2017
You Can’t Run From Justice
By: Ifrah Law
Just last week, a Kentucky lawyer by the name of Eric Conn was sentenced to twelve years in prison by a federal judge for bribery and theft of government money. Though similar sentences are doled out around the country on a daily basis, this was unique because the defendant was not even in the courtroom. The notion that a judge could sentence a defendant in…
