All posts tagged: Lawyer

Lisa Cook lawyer questions Trump committee as president slams Fed gov

Lisa Cook lawyer questions Trump committee as president slams Fed gov

Published by Sam Flores

Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook and attorney Abbe Lowell leave the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, Jan. 21, 2026. Kevin Dietsch | Getty Images An attorney for Lisa Cook voiced strong doubts that President Donald Trump’s committee investigating mortgage fraud allegations against the Federal Reserve governor would be fair and objective. The lawyer, Abbe Lowell, said the committee is plagued by issues that undermine the appearance of the Fed’s independence, including “demonstrably biased members” and “unspecified additional allegations” against Cook. Those and other issues “would have to be addressed before a hearing could occur” in the probe, Lowell wrote in a letter sent Tuesday to Will Scharf, Trump’s aide and counsel. No such hearing could take place until at least December, weeks later than the initially scheduled date, Lowell insisted. The letter came three days after Trump slammed Cook as “dishonest” and griped that she was an “automatic no vote” — apparently referring to her opposition to cutting interest rates, which the president strongly desires. Cook last voted to cut rates in December 2025, siding …

‘Empty Nest Divorces’ Are A Thing – A Lawyer Explains Why They Happen

‘Empty Nest Divorces’ Are A Thing – A Lawyer Explains Why They Happen

Published by Sam Flores

January is a popular time for lawyers to see divorce enquiries spike – with the first working Monday of the new year often dubbed ‘Divorce Day’. But there’s another annual spike that happens right after summer, often coinciding with the start of the university year. According to family lawyers at Irwin Mitchell, enquiries for divorce rose during September and early October this year, following the same pattern seen last autumn. Discussing this rise in empty nest divorces, Clare Wiseman, national head of family law at Irwin Mitchell, said: ”The pattern we are seeing in early autumn is becoming increasingly pronounced.” Zahra Pabani, a partner at the law firm, estimates there’s been a 30% increase in enquiries of this nature in the past three years, which is “particularly noticeable among women”. “Often, women have been holding everything together while raising children, and once the children leave home, they begin to reassess what they want from the next stage of life,” she said. Why is there a rise in September-October divorces? When a child leaves home properly …

Spanish Lawyer Gonzalez Durantez Launches Centrist Party for November Election

Spanish Lawyer Gonzalez Durantez Launches Centrist Party for November Election

Published by Sam Flores

MADRID, Oct 10 (Reuters) – Lawyer Miriam Gonzalez Durantez launched a ⁠new ⁠Spanish political party on Saturday ⁠to run in an early general election on November 29, promising ​to rise above a growing ideological divide, recover democratic values and depoliticise institutions. Gonzalez Durantez, who is ‌married to former British Deputy Prime ‌Minister Nick Clegg and specialises in international and EU trade law, said the party, called ⁠Democracy21, will ⁠run in the election in Madrid and Barcelona. The party enters a ​volatile political landscape after Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez called the snap election on Monday following parliament’s rejection of measures to address a mounting housing crisis. Opinion polls point to the conservative People’s Party (PP) ​and far-right Vox likely winning a combined parliamentary majority.  Referring to the left-right political divide ⁠in ⁠Spain exemplified by the deep ⁠rivalry between ​the Socialists and the PP, she criticised “two rigid blocs with nothing to foster consensus”.  Gonzalez Durantez called ​on Spaniards to “set aside ⁠our ideological differences, to stand united, and to work together to safeguard democracy and modernise the country.” The …

US execution survivor critically ill, on ventilator: Lawyer

US execution survivor critically ill, on ventilator: Lawyer

Published by Sam Flores

WASHINGTON: The woman who survived a botched execution attempt in a US prison was still hospitalised in critical condition and on a ventilator, her lawyer said Sunday (Oct 4) as he called for her death sentence to be commuted to life in prison. Tennessee’s prison chief resigned Saturday after convicted murderer Christa Pike, 50, survived two lethal injections of pentobarbital, a drug that suppresses nervous system activity. The case gained national attention and raised questions about capital punishment in the United States and the methods used to carry it out.  “She’s still in the hospital on a ventilator, critically ill,” Pike’s attorney Stephen Ferrell said on CNN. “We don’t really know the prognosis yet, and may not know for several days.” Ferrell, who has been unable to see his client, said doctors were still trying to rid her body of the drug while she remains under guard at the hospital. He urged Governor Bill Lee to show leniency. “I think, at the very least, the governor should commute Ms Pike’s death sentence to a life …

Tennessee inmate still alive after being administered two lethal injections, her lawyer says

Tennessee inmate still alive after being administered two lethal injections, her lawyer says

Published by Sam Flores

Pike does not dispute her role in the grisly killing. But details about her upbringing, marked by years of sexual and physical abuse and neglect, were not shared with the jury that sentenced her to death. Her lawyers believe that if such evidence of abuse were presented at a trial now, a death sentence would not be guaranteed. They had asked the Supreme Court to halt Pike’s execution, saying she suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder stemming from being molested and raped beginning when she was a toddler. Being held down and strapped to a gurney, they wrote, is likely to create “severe mental suffering and superadded psychological terror under Tennessee’s lethal injection protocol.” The state has not denied that Pike has suffered from abuse. But in a response filed Monday, the attorney general’s office said a judge already concluded last month that it was “speculative whether Pike would suffer” greater mental harm from how the lethal injection protocol is carried out. The Supreme Court appeared to be Pike’s remaining chance for a reprieve after Lee …

Lawyer says prosecutors haven’t offered details of teen’s alleged ties to San Diego mosque shooters

Lawyer says prosecutors haven’t offered details of teen’s alleged ties to San Diego mosque shooters

Published by Sam Flores

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) — The attorney for a North Carolina girl accused of helping two teens who carried out a deadly attack on a San Diego mosque says prosecutors haven’t provided enough information to allow him to defend his client. Sarah Santiago, 17, is charged as an adult with three counts of murder by aiding and abetting and one count of conspiracy. Prosecutors say she helped California teens Cain Clark and Caleb Vazquez, who shot and killed three people at the Islamic Center of San Diego on May 18 before killing themselves. Prosecutors in North Carolina allege Santiago agreed in advance to record and distribute a livestream of the attack made by the shooters and to disseminate their white-supremacist writings. She is also accused of buying a patch bearing a white-supremacist symbol and sending it to one of the gunmen to wear during the attack. But prosecutors have yet to provide information about how or on what dates Santiago allegedly communicated with the shooters, or give details about the alleged agreement to record and disseminate …

Former lawyer who pulled gun on ex-wife in Ohio restaurant is convicted of attempted murder

Former lawyer who pulled gun on ex-wife in Ohio restaurant is convicted of attempted murder

Published by Sam Flores

A former attorney was convicted of attempted murder after officials in Ohio said he tried to carry out the “public execution” of his ex-wife in a Toledo restaurant last year. Matthew Exton, 43, tried to shoot her, but the gun’s safety was on, and a waiter tackled him before he could try again, the Lucas County Prosecutor’s Office said in a news release Friday. Exton was also convicted of two counts of felonious assault, with sentencing enhancements linked to all three charges, the prosecutor’s office said. Exton was acquitted of one count of assault. He is scheduled to be sentenced later this month. Prosecutors say Matthew Exton tried to shoot his ex-wife on April 11, 2025, at Sabira restaurant in downtown Toledo.Lucas County Prosecutor’s Office During a trial that ended last week, Exton testified that he’d worked as a prosecutor in Michigan and was licensed to practice law in Ohio. He’d handled divorce, family and bankruptcy cases, he said, but he became homeless after he split up with his wife. The couple divorced in 2024, …

Lawyer for Fed’s Cook, Targeted by Trump, Says There Are No Grounds for Dismissal

Lawyer for Fed’s Cook, Targeted by Trump, Says There Are No Grounds for Dismissal

Published by Sam Flores

Aug 26 (Reuters) – Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook’s lawyer on Wednesday offered a detailed rebuttal to the accusations of ⁠mortgage ⁠fraud that U.S. President Donald Trump asserts provide cause to fire ⁠her, saying they rely “on untried and unproven allegations of criminal wrongdoing.” “Governor Cook has never committed mortgage fraud or any intentional wrongdoing, and there is no ​legally cognizable cause for removing her from the Federal Reserve Board,” Cook’s attorney Abbe David Lowell said in a letter to the White House. Trump has been trying to sack Cook for more than a year in an unprecedented effort widely ‌seen as part of a broader assault on the U.S. ‌central bank’s independence. It’s the first time a U.S. president has attempted to remove a central banker since the institution’s founding more than a century ago. If he succeeded in removing Cook, Trump, who has long pushed for ⁠lower interest rates, would be ⁠able to install a replacement sympathetic to his view.   Mortgage fraud allegations against Cook, the first Black woman to serve as a ​Fed …

Trump lawyer to liberal think tank: Retract National Guard report that defames president

Trump lawyer to liberal think tank: Retract National Guard report that defames president

Published by Sam Flores

President Trump has demanded a liberal think tank retract a critical report on his National Guard deployments by Friday evening, threatening to file a $5 billion defamation suit if it doesn’t. In a nine-page letter sent Monday by Trump’s personal attorney, which was reviewed by The Hill, he claimed the Center for American Progress (CAP) “manufactured”… Source link

ICC slams US decision to sanction the court’s president and a senior prosecution lawyer

ICC slams US decision to sanction the court’s president and a senior prosecution lawyer

Published by Sam Flores

The International Criminal Court on Wednesday slammed the latest US sanctions targeting senior ICC staff, including its president, as a “flagrant attack” on the global tribunal’s independence and vowed to continue seeking justice for atrocities around the world. The State Department announced Tuesday that it had hit ICC president Tomoko Akane, a Japanese national, and ICC senior trial lawyer Abdoulaye Seye, who is from Senegal, with sanctions that freeze any assets they have in US jurisdictions or come into contact with the U.S. financial system. Source link