Vanessa Kachadurian- Islamic Style Justice!

Thanks to Ali for sending this! America should adapt some of this Islamic justice
stop the lying and theft from Attorneys.

3 stooges in court - disorderly court

Now that is the kind of court we all would love!

Vanessa Kachadurian- Batman interogates the Joker over 14 million views

Over 14 million views

Batman threatens, keeps digging while in a hole.

Shame on you Batman, threatening people is not very nice. Ever think about how much your client is willing to give up in discovery? Oh that will be REAL incriminating but revealing. No wonder no one likes this weasel.

Americans for the Enforcement of Attorney Ethics, AEAE

Americans for the Enforcement
Of Attorney Ethics
Leo Stoller Executive Director
7115 W. North Ave Suite 272
Oak Park, Il 60302
312-545-4554

Welcome to the website of Americans for the Enforcement of Attorney Ethics (AEAE) since 1974. A national group devoted to the strict enforcement of attorney ethics. AEAE maintains a national list of lawyers and law firms that AEAE cannot recommend. If you have any questions regarding any lawyer and/or law firm as to whether they are on the approved list of AEAE or the non-recommended list, you should join AEAE today to avail yourself of this valuable information.
http://www.rentamark.net/aeae.html

The Need for Federal Anti-SLAPP Legislation

The Need for Federal Anti-SLAPP Legislation

Appeals court reverses itself over Armenian suit

Appeals court reverses itself over Armenian suit
Fri Dec 10, 2010 4:20 PM EST.us-news, us, lawsuit, armenian, turkish-ottoman-empire
Paul Elias, Associated Press
advertisement
SAN FRANCISCO — A federal appeals court on Friday reversed itself and now says the heirs of Armenians killed in the Turkish Ottoman Empire can seek payment from companies that sold their relatives life insurance.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco said a California law labeling the killings as a "genocide" does not conflict with U.S. foreign policy, which the court said is unsettled on the issue.

The ruling was 2-1, the same vote the same judicial panel came to last year when it struck down the California law empowering the heirs to sue companies that sold life insurance policies to Armenians killed in Ottoman-era Turkey during World War I.

Last year, the same panel concluded that the U.S. government has sided with the Turkish government and formally taken the position against labeling the killings as a genocide. Therefore, that panel concluded, California's calling the event a genocide conflicted with U.S. foreign policy, making the state law invalid.

But in a rare and stunning move on Friday, Judge Dorothy Nelson changed her mind and sided with Judge Harry Pregerson, which turned his 2009 dissenting view into law.

"We conclude that there is no express federal policy forbidding states to use the term 'Armenian Genocide,'" Pregerson wrote.

The ruling revived a lawsuit filed by heirs against three German insurers, including Munich Re AG.

"This was totally unexpected," said attorney Brian Kabateck, who represents the Armenian heirs. "It's a great victory for the Armenia people."

Kabateck and other lawyers have filed similar lawsuits against New York Life Insurance Co. and French insurer AXA, which were settled in 2005 for a combined $37.5 million.

Turkey has long denied that the loss of 1.5 million Armenian lives between 1915 and 1919 constituted genocide and instead describes the deaths as resulting from civil unrest that accompanied the collapse of the Ottoman Empire.

Judge David Thompson, who wrote the now-overturned majority opinion last year, said in dissent that former presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush defeated congressional legislation that would have recognized an Armenian genocide. Thompson said those presidential efforts show the United States has a clear foreign policy against recognizing the deaths as a genocide.

The majority opinion Friday called those efforts "informal presidential communications" and not official policy. The court said the insurance companies can file a request for a rehearing. The companies could also ask the U.S. Supreme Court to consider the case.

Attorney Neil Michael Soltman, who represented the German insurance companies, said an appeal decision hasn't been made.

Soltman said he was surprised by the decision since no new facts or legal cases were presented to the appellate panel between its first decision in August 2009 and the court's about face Friday.

"It's very rare that a panel changes its mind," Soltman said. "Everything is exactly as it was in August 2009, and all of sudden there's a new opinion. It's hard to explain."

Vanessa Kachadurian-Judge orders sanctions against activist Lawyer

Photo above of Barry Silver the King of frivilous lawsuits.



Palm Beach County judge sanctions activist lawyer for ignoring court order
By Jane Musgrave Palm Beach Post Staff Writer


Posted: 6:48 p.m. Friday, Dec. 10, 2010


Those who have watched crusading lawyer Barry Silver have often questioned his tactics.

There was the time he filed a lawsuit on behalf of a dog. There was the time he organized a horn-honking parade to interupt a children's deer hunt. There was the time, when defending a hotdog vendor's right to wear a thong, he had a bikini-clad woman deliver a subpoena to now jailed Commissioner Mary McCarty.

This time, however, a Palm Beach County judge says Silver has gone too far. Saying the Boca Raton lawyer acted in bad faith in a defamation suit he filed against Jews for Jesus, Circuit Judge Edward Fine ordered him to pay $52,828 to lawyers who defended the Christian group.

And, perhaps for the first time in his life, the former state lawmaker doesn't have a pithy quote to sum up his predicament.

In a plea to Fine this week Silver said the ruling "will devastate me, my family and my career as an attorney and as a rabbi."

On Friday, he said simply: "I don't have $50,000."

Mathew Staver, founder of the nonprofit Liberty Counsel which represents Jews for Jesus, applauded Fine's ruling.

"Barry Silver has tried to frame this lawsuit as a polemic against Christianity in general and Jews for Jesus in particular," he said in a statement. "The court has rightly imposed sanctions against this abuse of process."

The seeds for Fine's action were planted years ago.

In 2005, he ordered Silver to pay Liberty Counsel attorney fees because he had ignored orders to pare down his complaint. Last year, Fine again blasted Silver for not removing "redundant, bellicose and unnecessary" language from the suit.

In his brief, Silver said he misunderstood the court's instructions. "My error was honestly made, and the inclusion of these paragraphs was not done in bad faith," he wrote.

The lawsuit itself has a complex history. Silver filed it on 2003 on behalf of Edith Rapp. The Jewish woman was mortified when her stepson wrote a story for a Jews for Jesus newsletter that said she had accepted Jesus shortly before her husband died.

When the suit was dismissed, Silver appealed. The 4th District Court of Appeal kicked it up to the Florida Supreme Court for advice. It wanted to know whether state law allowed people to recover damages if a publication painted them in a false light. The high court found that false light was too broad. But, it said, people can claim defamation if an article "prejudices" them to a "substantial and respectable minority of the community."

The appeals court told Silver to refile his suit without "excessive editorialization."

Silver said his fight isn't over. He is asking Fine to recuse himself, claiming he is biased. If Fine refuses and doesn't reduce the sanctions, Silver said he will appeal.

He acknowledged it could be risky. If it fails, the amount could increase. He offered to make a $500 or $1,000 contribution to the county law library or to legal aid.

In his order, Fine said he wished he could do more to compensate the Liberty Counsel for the time and money it lost responding to Silver's repetitive claims.

Find this article at:
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/palm-beach-county-judge-sanctions-activist-lawyer-for-1112580.htm

Vanessa Kachadurian-Congrats to Anti-Spam Attorney Dan Balsam

Bravo to Attorney Dan Balsam. That "Spam lobbyist Attorney" is a clown and disliked by everyone for his arrogant behavior. To cyber squat and steal someone’s web site, their name, the seal of the federal court plus photo of the defendant is unethical. Why did Batman do this stupid and unlawful behavior? “I did it on a lark to tweek him” what an ass clown.

http://directmag.com/magilla/0811-balsam-kelley-dan-hate-spam/
Featured on Fox News
http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/12/27/man-makes-living-suing-spammers/?test=latestnews#content
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/vp/40862269#40862269

This one is filed under “lawyer self-promotion” or is it trying to reach rock star / lawyer status? Gotta love the self love.

http://www.kizoa.com/slideshow/d875212k3656837o1/who-is-bgk

Sophisticated Litigation Support Blog
Posted at 1:34 PM on March 18, 2010 by David Kaufer
San Francisco attorney awarded thousands in spam suit
Source: Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO — A San Francisco attorney has been awarded $7,000 in damages for e-mail spam sent to his inbox.
A San Mateo County Superior Court judge ruled last week the seven e-mails Daniel Balsam received from Redwood City-based Trancos Inc. in 2007 were misleading and violated California's 2004 anti-spam law. Trancos is an Internet advertising business.
The law prohibits sending an unsolicited commercial e-mail that misrepresents the source or subject.
Trancos's attorney, Robert Nelson, said only someone who suffers losses as a result of the e-mail message can sue under the state's anti-spam law.
He says Trancos will appeal the ruling.
Lawyers on both sides of Balsam's case said it appeared to be among the first lawsuits by a consumer under the state's anti-spam law to be tried outside small claims court.

Vanessa Kachadurian- Do Lawyers Lie?

Great article here by Adam Freedman
http://legallad.quickanddirtytips.com/host-article.aspx?PageName=can-lawyers-lie.aspx&PodCastTypeId=4&PageType=ARTICLE

Not DENIED as MOOT, the Mouthpiece lawyer speaks for the puppet.

Vanessa Kachadurian- Razzle Dazzle em, Lawyer Billy Flynn

Louis Bianchi, McHenry Co. State Attorney INDICTED FOR CORRUPTION

Louie, Louie, Louie what have you done? Maybe it is time to retire after all you are 67. Shame on you Louis Bianchi, you should have thought twice when you hurt a very dear friend of mine in Marengo,Illinois. What goes around comes around....warning to Attorneys that don't play by the rules.


Louis Bianchi as he appeared in his booking photo and in a 2007 interview. (Handout/FOX Chicago News file photo)
Regular Photo SizeLouis Bianchi, McHenry Co. State's Attorney Indicted for Corruption
Updated: Friday, 10 Sep 2010, 9:23 PM CDT
Published : Friday, 10 Sep 2010, 5:01 PM CDT

By JILLIAN DUCHNOWSKI, The Northwest Herald

Woodstock - McHenry County State’s Attorney Lou Bianchi and his executive assistant turned themselves in to authorities this afternoon on state corruption charges.

Bianchi, a second-term Republican, and his executive assistant Joyce Synek were released on their own recognizance. Bianchi, wearing his trademark carnation on his suit lapel, left the McHenry County Jail after being processed about 5 p.m.

________________

ADDITIONAL COVERAGE:

STORY: Complete Coverage in the Northwest Herald

________________

Retired Lake County judge Henry Tonigan announced the charges about 1:30 p.m. today almost a year after he was appointed special prosecutor and months after he convened the special grand jury in April. Tonigan declined to comment on whether the special grand jury still was meeting or whether additional indictments were pending.

Bianchi and Synek are accused of conspiring to use county personnel and equipment for Bianchi's personal political benefit, although Bianchi quickly issued a press statement restating his innocence.

A total of 19 counts of official misconduct were filed against Bianchi, along with one count of unlawful communication with a grand jury witness.

"I am stunned by this indictment because I have done nothing wrong,’ Bianchi said in the press statement. ’In private practice before and in public life now, I have always acted lawfully and with integrity. This episode represents the first time in my 42-year career that my integrity has been questioned."

Bianchi’s defense attorney, Terry Ekl, denounced the allegations as ’an example of why people distrust special prosecutors, who have a financial incentive to indict people.’

’I hope they are prepared for a war, because they are going to get it,’ Ekl said in a phone interview as his client was being processed.

Synek’s attorney, Ernie DiBenedetto, did not immediately return a call for comment this afternoon.

Synek was named as a conspirator with Bianchi and also charged with one count of obstructing justice and four counts of perjury.

The investigation was launched in September 2009 when McHenry County Judge Gordon Graham appointed Tonigan to investigate former Bianchi secretary Amy Dalby's claims that Bianchi ordered her to conduct his campaign business during her office hours.

Bianchi previously had a special prosecutor appointed to investigate Dalby, who said she took computer files from Bianchi's office to back up her claims. Dalby did not take the files to any authorities and eventually admitted to a misdemeanor charge in exchange for court supervision, but persisted in her claims that Bianchi ordered her to perform campaign work illegally.

The indictment against Bianchi alleges that from 2005 through 2010, Bianchi unlawfully used state's attorney equipment, personnel, and county funds for political purposes, specifically maintaining and updating political contribution lists, speeches, letters of thanks to supporters, political speeches and other campaign matters during public hours.

The indictment also alleges that Synek attempted to destroy evidence of such material on county computers.

Bianchi's official misconduct charges also revolve around a 2007 Festa Italiana political fundraiser where announcements, address labels, spreadsheets from contributors, and other items allegedly were maintained by employees on McHenry County computers.

The unlawful communication charge concerns Thomas Carroll, chief of Bianchi's civil division and one-time first assistant. The indictment alleges that Bianchi confronted Carroll and tried to persuade him against turning over political documents that had been subpoenaed by the grand jury.

Synek's perjury charges relate to repeated assertions to the grand jury that she did not perform political duties for Bianchi on her office computer.

Most of the charges are Class 3 felonies, which carry potential prison terms of up to five years. One conspiracy charge is a Class 4 felony, which carries a maximum prison term of three years.

The cases are set before McHenry County Judge Sharon Prather. But Ekl, Bianchi’s attorney, said he expects all local judges will recuse themselves because of their relationships with Bianchi and his office. Then, the Illinois Supreme Court would appoint a judge to the case, Ekl said

Latest BAT SIGNAL to Batman

Vanessa Kachadurian-Adoption Attorney gets 92 years

Kevie is BAAACCCCK!

Adoption fraud faces 92 years
LONG ISLAND
01 November 2010 08:26

Metro File Folder

Kevin Cohen.
A Roslyn attorney who swindled $300,000 from 13 would-be adoptive parents through lies about nonexistent babies and counterfeit documents was convicted yesterday in Nassau County Supreme Court. Kevin Cohen, 42, who headed the duplicitous Adoption Annex agency, faces up to 92 years when sentenced next month for a litany of grand larceny, fraud, and forgery charges.

“These were all good people who were hoping to adopt a child and Kevin Cohen preyed upon that,” said Brigid Vogt, a Seaford victim who watched the jury find Cohen guilty of all 37 counts.

Cohen, who represented himself during the three week jury trial, claimed to know a young, unmarried mother who wanted to put her newborn up for adoption. Offering his legal and intermediary services, he scammed the victims, some of whom traveled from other states to be closer to the alleged expectant mother and collected money from other relatives. Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice said Cohen inflicted “pain and torment ... on kind and generous couples looking to provide a child with a loving home.”

Lawyer knocked out by his client

Vanessa Kachadurian- Attorneys jobs outsourced to India

Hey BATMAN and ROBIN what are you going to do when your jobs are outsourced to India?
No more wealthy clients to fleece out of money? Batman and Robin, you are a running joke in the legal community and at the State Bar Association where "Batman" has some compliants filed. Robin and his law firm want to seperate themselves from you but money is tight and big law firms need the billable hours. Poor Robin, forced to take junk cases that no one else wants. Enjoy the trend and how your $400.00 an hour billable hours has just been outsourced.

August 4, 2010
Outsourcing to India Draws Western Lawyers
By HEATHER TIMMONS
NOIDA, India — As an assistant attorney general for New York State, Christopher Wheeler used to spend most of his time arguing in courtrooms in New York City.

Today, he works in a sprawling, unfinished planned suburb of New Delhi, where office buildings are sprouting from empty lots and dirt roads are fringed with fresh juice stalls and construction rubble. At Pangea3, a legal outsourcing firm, Mr. Wheeler manages a team of 110 Indian lawyers who do the grunt work traditionally assigned to young lawyers in the United States — at a fraction of the cost.

India’s legal outsourcing industry has grown in recent years from an experimental endeavor to a small but mainstream part of the global business of law. Cash-conscious Wall Street banks, mining giants, insurance firms and industrial conglomerates are hiring lawyers in India for document review, due diligence, contract management and more.

Now, to win new clients and take on more sophisticated work, legal outsourcing firms in India are actively recruiting experienced lawyers from the West. And American and British lawyers — who might once have turned up their noses at the idea of moving to India, or harbored an outright hostility to outsourcing legal work in principle — are re-evaluating the sector.

The number of legal outsourcing companies in India has mushroomed to more than 140 at the end of 2009, from 40 in 2005, according to Valuenotes, a consulting firm in Pune, India. Revenue at India’s legal outsourcing firms is expected to grow to $440 million this year, up 38 percent from 2008, and should surpass $1 billion by 2014, Valuenotes estimates.

“This is not a blip, this is a big historical movement,” said David B. Wilkins, director of Harvard Law School’s program on the legal profession. “There is an increasing pressure by clients to reduce costs and increase efficiency,” he added, and with companies already familiar with outsourcing tasks like information technology work to India, legal services is a natural next step.

So far, the number of Western lawyers moving to outsourcing companies could be called more of a trickle than a flood. But that may change, as more business flows out of traditional law firms and into India. Compensation for top managers at legal outsourcing firms is competitive with salaries at midsize law firms outside of major metropolitan areas of the United States, executives in the industry say. Living costs are much lower in India, and often, there is the added allure of stock in the outsourcing company.

Right now, Pangea3 is “getting more résumés from United States lawyers than we know what to do with,” said Greg McPolin, managing director of the company’s litigation services group, who divides his time between India and New York.

Outsourcing remains a highly contentious issue in the West, particularly as law firms have been trimming their staffs and curtailing hiring plans. But Western lawyers who have joined outsourcing firms are unapologetic about the shift to India.

Leah Cooper left her job as managing lawyer for the giant mining company Rio Tinto in February to become director of legal outsourcing for CPA Global, a contract legal services company with offices in Europe, the United States and India. Before hiring Ms. Cooper, CPA Global added lawyers from Bank of America and Alliance & Leicester, a British bank. The company has a total of about 1,500 employees, and Ms. Cooper said she planned to hire hundreds in India in the next 12 months.

At Rio Tinto, Ms. Cooper said, she became a champion of the idea of moving work like document review to a legal outsourcing company “because it works really well.”

“It really is the future of legal services,” said Ms. Cooper, an American based in London who travels regularly to India and has spoken widely in promoting outsourcing. Still, she acknowledges hostility toward the practice. “When I was doing public speaking, people used to joke that I had better check under my car” for something planted by a junior associate angered by her views, she said.

Many legal outsourcing firms have offices around the world to interact with clients, but keep the majority of their employees in India; some also have a stable of lawyers in the Philippines. Thanks to India’s low wages and costs and a big pool of young, English-speaking lawyers, outsourcing firms charge from one-tenth to one-third what a Western law firm bills an hour.

Employees at legal outsourcing companies in India are not allowed by Indian law to give legal advice to clients in the West, no matter their qualifications. Instead, legal outsourcing companies perform a lot of the functions that a junior lawyer might do in a American law firm.

Even global law firms like Clifford Chance, which is based in London, are embracing the concept.

“I think the toothpaste is out of the tube,” said Mark Ford, director of the firm’s Knowledge Center, an office south of New Delhi with 30 Indian law school graduates who serve Clifford Chance’s global offices. Mr. Ford lived in India for six months to set up the center, and now manages it from London.

“We as an industry have shown that a lot of basic legal support work can successfully be done offshore very cost-effectively with no quality problems,” Mr. Ford said. “Why on earth would clients accept things going back?”

Many corporations agree that outsourcing legal work, in some form or another, is here to stay.

“We will continue to go to big firms for the lawyers they have who are experts in subject matter, world-class thought leaders and the best litigators and regulatory lawyers around the world — and we will pay a lot of money for those lawyers,” said Janine Dascenzo, associate general counsel at General Electric.

What G.E. does not need, though, is the “army of associates around them,” Ms. Dascenzo said. “You don’t need a $500-an-hour associate to do things like document review and basic due diligence,” she said.

Western lawyers making the leap to legal outsourcing companies come for a variety of reasons, but nearly universally, they say they stay for the opportunities to build a business and manage people.

“In many respects it is more rewarding than jobs I had in the United States,” said Mr. Wheeler, who moved to India when his Indian-born wife took a job here in 2006.

“If you’re talking about 15 employees in a windowless basement office, I’m not interested in making that my life’s calling,” he recalled thinking when he started talking to Pangea3. “But building a 500-person office, now that is a real challenge.”

Shelly Dalrymple left her job as a partner at a firm in Tulsa, Okla., in 2007 and is now based in India as the senior vice president of global litigation services at UnitedLex, a legal outsourcing company with offices in the United States, Britain, Israel and India.

When she first joined the industry, she said, growth was being driven by corporations that were pushing law firms to outsource to save money. Now, Western law firms themselves are starting to embrace the industry, she said. “We are seeing law firms who are putting a lot of thought into their future coming to us with interesting and creative ideas,” she said.

Partners in the West are asking legal outsourcing companies in India to create dedicated teams of lawyers for their firms, for example. Those teams could expand and contract depending on how much business the Western firm has. “That means a law firm with 500 members in Chicago can compete with a 2,000-member firm in New York,” Ms. Dalrymple said.

Moving to a legal outsourcing firm, especially in India, is not for everyone. About 5 percent of Western transplants cannot handle it and move back home, managers estimate.

Some find it hard to adapt to India. Other times, the job itself does not suit them — after spending years working nearly independently as a litigator, for example, it can be hard to transition to managing and inspiring a team of young foreign lawyers.

Even lawyers who stay are sometimes wistful about their previous careers. “Of course I miss litigation,” Mr. Wheeler said. But, he added, “watching people learn some of the same skills I did is gratifying.”

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: October 1, 2010

An article on Aug. 5 about the growth of India’s legal outsourcing industry misstated the number of lawyers working at CPA Global, an outsourcing company with offices in Europe, the United States and India. The company currently has a total of about 1,500 employees — not 1,500 lawyers. (The company has plans to increase its staff in India to 1,500 over the next few years, a majority of whom will be lawyers.) A reader pointed out the error in an e-mail message on Aug. 7; this correction was delayed because the reporter did not follow through on the complaint.

Vanessa Kachadurian-Attorneys in a corrupt system?

I recently started reading a new book called Our Corrupt Legal System: Why Everyone Is a Victim (Except Rich Criminals). PS, this book is almost as good as "Taking on the Kennedys."

Regular readers will understand immediately why I would be interested in a book with a title like that. But I'm happy to report that the book, by Australian journalist Evan Whitton, has much more going for it than a captivating title. It is an insightful and scathing critique of the common-law adversarial justice system, which began in Great Britain and spread to its colonies, including the United States and Canada.

To top it off, Whitton includes the best lawyer joke we've ever heard.

What is the crux of Whitton's argument? He says the British adversarial system has failed us and should be replaced with an inquisitorial model that prevails in much of Europe. Whitton provides a simple chart that shows how the two systems stack up:

Investigative Adversary

Seeks truth Yes No

Conceals evidence No Yes

In charge of evidence Judges Lawyers

Length of hearings About a day Months

Conviction rates 95 % 50 %

Innocent in prison Rare 1-5 %

The Age newspaper of Australia recently presented a profile of Whitton and examined his latest work:

Whitton has spent 30 years covering crime, corruption and courts, using a keen eye, an inquisitive mind and rare research talents to produce unique essays that shine lights into dark places. His opinions are backed by facts, and the former journalist of the year has concluded our court system is irreparably broken.

Even more startlingly, he has discovered there is something morally lower than a working hack from the press: criminal lawyers. It would appear he believes such creatures think that Integrity is a small island in the South Pacific and Scruples a board game played following after-dinner mints.

Whitton holds lawyers in even lower esteem than I do. No wonder I like this guy. And he has a prescription for what ails our sickly justice system:

He argues in his new book Our Corrupt Legal System, Where Everyone is a Victim (Except Rich Criminals) that the British adversarial system has failed and we should move to the European inquisitorial model.

He says the European system is cleaner and less open to abuse than our present process, which is unnecessarily complicated and designed not to discover but to hide the truth. He believes lawyers, judges and politicians (many of them former lawyers) are wedded to a process that is too expensive and fails too often.

He writes that the European model empowers judges to find evidence and discourages lawyers from concealing it. Trials are quicker and more just.

Whitton has a sense of humor about the whole corrupt enterprise:

''The adversary system is biased against people in business, industry, medicine and the media and in favour of criminals,'' Whitton writes. ''The bias makes business for trial lawyers and the rule of law a joke in the worst possible taste.''

Lawyers work for their clients and routinely ignore facts that do not suit their arguments, he says. ''Controlling evidence enables them to omit the damaging bits; spin out the pre-trial and trial process; procure enough pelf to retire comfortably, if they choose, to the social status of untrained, uninformed and passive judge.

''Judges, of course, do the decent thing: they try to stay awake.''

Oh, and about that lawyer joke . . .

How do you save a lawyer from drowning?

Shoot him before he hits the water.

Absent Attorney Costs Woman her Company

Absent attorney costs woman her company
By WILLIAM J. GORTA

Last Updated: 12:30 AM, October 25, 2010

Posted: 12:30 AM, October 25, 2010

Comments: 0 More Print A Queens woman who says her company was stolen from her can't recover the business -- or void a $2 million judgment -- because of a clerical error, according to court papers.

Christine Persaud is appealing a ruling in which she lost everything when her lawyer missed a court appearance and a Brooklyn judge refused to accept the attorney's excuse that he was in court on another matter.

Persaud last year was battling an arbitrator's ruling granting half of Caring Home Care, plus $2 million, to financier Abraham Klein when her then-lawyer, Eugene Levy, notified Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Arthur Shack that he had an appearance in Queens on the same day.

Klein's lawyer refused to go along with the routine request, and Shack awarded a default judgment against Persaud, 42.

"I worked so hard to build that company since 1997," she said. "They stole my business."

Klein's lawyer, Mendel Zilberberg, declined to comment. Levy did not return a call for comment.



Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/queens/absent_attorney_costs_woman_her_wW1NRBHDYYsbCucSpH5Z8M?CMP=OTC-rss&FEEDNAME=#ixzz13LjuoXvy


=

Attorneys hit with sanctions for frivolous case

Lawyers for Ron Perelman hit with sanctions for frivolous caseThe

Chairman of Revlon, Ron Perelman (who is one of the richest men in the world), recently lost a very heated and ugly probate lawsuit (or more specifically, several different lawsuits), in which he sued on behalf of his ex-wife's estate. Claudia Cohen had named Perelman as her executor shortly before she died in 2007.

So who did Perelman sue? None other that the father of his ex, Robert Cohen, who was infirm, partially paralyzed and in his eighties at the time. The Probate Lawyer Blog's article discussing the case has all the details.

We found the case, and Perelman's efforts in particular, especially troubling. And we certainly aren't the only ones.

In fact, the New Jersey judge who presided over the case recently ruled that Perelman's lawyers are to be sanctioned because some of the claims they filed were frivolous. He specifically took issue with their claims Cohen should not be permitted to change his estate plan because he had allegedly "promised" his daughter (who later died) an equal share of his estate.

The judge said that no "competent attorney" could have proceeded with the claims. In fact, Perelman was the only witness to offer testimony on the topic, and he never even said there was a "promise". Yet this lack of evidence didn't stop Perelman's lawyers from grilling Cohen during a lengthy cross-examination (during which Perelman could barely speak because of his Parkinson's disease). The judge's ruling called this "harsh and painful".

Because of this ruling, Perelman's legal team will have to reimburse Cohen a portion of the $14 million legal bill he spent defending the lawsuits. Cohen's attorney said the amount owed by Perelman's lawyers will reach into the millions.

It's very rare for a judge to order these types of sanctions based on a "frivolous" lawsuit. The American legal system has always employed the concept that each side pays their own attorney fees, except in special circumstances. A frivolous claim (such as one done in bad faith, or without a valid factual or legal basis) is one of the exceptions to the general rule, but it's not often employed, especially in a case of this magnitude.

You can read more about the Judge's ruling, and even read the actual transcript from the court hearing, from Law.com. The transcript (while quite long) is actually very interesting ... at least to probate and estate planning attorneys like us.

We have to applaud the judge's ruling in this case. He sent a message that it is not ethical to subject an infirm and elderly man to a terrible legal onslaught based on the argument that he shouldn't be allowed to leave his assets as he chose, merely because he previously expressed an intent to do otherwise.

How can their ever be certainty with wills, trusts and other estate planning documents if disgruntled family members (or even disgruntled ex-spouses of family members who died), can challenge every document simply by claiming that the person really intended to leave their money in another way?

Posted by: Andrew W. Mayoras and Danielle B. Mayoras, co-authors of Trial and Heirs: Famous Fortune Fights! and co-founders of The Center for Probate Litigation and The Center for Elder Law in metro-Detroit, Michigan, which concentrate in probate litigation, estate planning, and elder law. Andrew and Danielle are husband and wife attorneys, professional speakers and consultants across the country.

Vanessa Kachadurian-Federal Court Telephonic Conference with Judge

This was just sent to me and it is SO FUNNY!!!






http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICTrVUvYqDo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBLZodDFfjY


Watch how the judge's photo slowly changes, this is the brundt of jokes with the legal community.

Vanessa Kachadurian: Vanessa Kachadurian - Why Do Lawyers Lie: Narcissi...

Vanessa Kachadurian: Vanessa Kachadurian - Why Do Lawyers Lie: Narcissi...: "Thanks, for sending this article! Great stuff, it explains it all. So much is about their ego and not about justice. Lawyers honestly hav..."

Vanessa Kachadurian - Why Do Lawyers Lie: Narcissism

Thanks, for sending this article! Great stuff, it explains it all. So much is about their ego and not about justice. Lawyers honestly have a type of God complex, as Doctors, adoption agents, priests, politicians. When they start boasting about Awards and honors that were not earned but handed out on a regular basis by a letter writing campaign or other uncredible means look out. This is also true with those that claim to be "loved" by everyone. (Look out Sally Field) Hitler, Bernie Madoff and Ted Bundy also recieved many honors and awards.

Why Do Lawyers Lie? One Word: Narcissism
Arthur D. Burger


08-22-2008

How many of you have deliberately misstated important facts to a court? Silence. Mmm hmm.

Coincidence? I don't think so.

As a litigator myself, I can easily think of two examples when opposing counsel did just that.

When I was a very young lawyer handling my first evidentiary hearing, my client, whose alimony obligations I was trying to reduce, had a housing allowance of $4,000 per year as a government employee living abroad -- which we fully disclosed. The lawyer for my client's former wife kept bringing up the allowance, and each time he did so, somehow what came out of his mouth was $40,000, not $4,000. Each time I had to stand up and correct him. Surely, stating the wrong number once could be an honest slip, but how could one explain the repetitions?

Much later in my career, in a hotly contested lawsuit, opposing counsel repeatedly accused me in motions papers of "altering documents," without bothering to mention that the so-called "alterations" were plainly marked redactions pursuant to the rules, properly identifying in each instance the claim of privilege being invoked.

I wondered, "What are these lawyers thinking?" Even from a Machiavellian standpoint, how could they expect to gain anything from such easily rebuttable distortions?

So as a lawyer, I went to someone who I thought could explain this phenomenon. That's right -- a psychiatrist. And he was not at a loss for words.

Richard Ratner, a board-certified psychiatrist since 1973, has many lawyers as patients in his clinical work and also serves as a forensic psychiatrist in bar disciplinary cases and other types of litigation. He says a lot of "psychopathology" takes place in litigation, for a variety of reasons.

First, he notes that lawyers, generally, and litigators, in particular, tend to "have generous helpings of narcissism," which he says can be both good and bad. Narcissistic people, he states, "want to go out of their way to shine and make themselves look terrific." This is a good thing to the extent it motivates them to work hard and be prepared.

The problem, he says, comes when you put such people in the crucible of litigation, which after all is a competition with winners and losers. He says that this competition aspect creates a polarization of issues and, for narcissistic people, places their fragile egos directly onto center stage.

Ratner explains that extremely narcissistic people are so "needy for the affirmation of success," that the idea of losing is seen as unbearable. They will therefore use the psychological defenses of "rationalization" and "denial" to enable themselves to intentionally mislead -- and even lie -- if they believe that is the only way to win.

Ratner states that as a result of this rationalization and denial, they do not see themselves as having done anything wrong. Instead, they see themselves as justified , because they were acting for a "higher purpose." He explains that the power of rationalization can be enormous. It can even be seen in such horribly extreme examples as when the killing of innocent civilians by terrorists is seen as "heroic."

It is useful to understand this dynamic in our adversaries so we know what we are up against , and see the element of insecurity and desperation driving such behavior. It is also useful, however, to examine ourselves and look for similar symptoms.

None of us likes to lose, and nearly all of us, at times, get carried away in litigation by a certain "bunker mentality," through which we see our side as "good" and the other side as "bad." Ratner says that it's important to take one's own temperature during the course of a contentious case to assess whether you have maintained perspective. One good way to do this, he says, is to discuss the case with a colleague or at least to take time to calmly review the record and look at the facts.

Indeed, I recall instances where I have feverishly scrawled angry epithets in the margins of my copy of opposing counsel's briefs, filled with righteous certainty that they have misstated the record or mischaracterized a court decision -- only to review the record, or look up the cited case, and see that, at least to some degree, they had a valid point that needed a thoughtful answer.

Without taking a few moments to review the record or read the cited case, I might have been prepared to lunge out with angry misstatements of my own. Who knows? Perhaps at times I have done so.

Being aware of Ratner's observations provides a tool for us to periodically look at ourselves, which should work to our benefit by allowing us to avoid court sanctions, see the strengths of an opponent's case or simply avoid looking silly.

Our clients want us to fight hard -- and to win. But we can do that best if we keep our wits and see reality. If that requires putting our egos in check, so be it. After all, it's doctor's orders.

Arthur D. Burger is a director at Washington, D.C.'s Jackson & Campbell and is chair of the firm's professional responsibility practice group. He represents law firms and lawyers in matters related to professional ethics.

Vanessa Kachadurian-Attorneys in Texas, Sex and their Clients.

Great article in the WSJ sent to me by my attorney friend in Los Angeles, CA. Why are Attorneys allowed to make the rules of conduct laws for themselves? Is this more of the Fox in the Hen house?

By Ashby Jones
Most states have adopted an ethics rule that prohibits a lawyer from engaging in a sexual relationship with a client.

Texas doesn’t have that rule. But whether it should is currently dividing the Longhorn State’s bar. Click here for the story, from the Dallas Morning-News.

According to the story, for seven years, lawyers working on behalf of the Texas Supreme Court have been drafting new rules of conduct for the state’s lawyers. The biggest sticking point throughout that time has, according to the story, been the so-called “sex with clients” rule.

A draft of the rule has been put on the table. Now, however, many lawyers are arguing against it, saying it could lead to frivolous malpractice charges.

Those who support it, however, say it protects vulnerable clients from being arm-twisted into unwanted sexual relationships.

As written, the rule states that lawyers (a) won’t condition representation on having a client engage in sexual relations, (b) won’t solicit sex as payment of fees and (c) won’t have sex with someone the lawyer is personally representing unless the sexual relationship is consensual and began before the attorney-client relationship began. It also excepts spouses.

Some lawyers, like Ginny Agnew, a practitioner in Austin, are troubled by a loophole in the rule that she says would permit an attorney to begin and continue a sexual relationship with a client so long as the client is transferred to another attorney in the same law firm. That provides no protection at all to vulnerable clients, she said.

“When you have a situation where lawyers are the ones who hold the keys to the courthouse for many people … that is a potential situation of abuse,” Agnew said.

At the same time, Rich Robins, a Houston attorney, said the the new rule would lead to a slew of lawsuits from unhappy clients.

“How can a lawyer disprove potential accusations of amorous manipulations and the like unless all prior interactions are elaborately recorded through both audio and video means?” asked Robins, in an earlier e-mail to Texas Lawyer.

Vanessa Kachadurian: Vanessa Kachadurian- Chicken Shit Attorney of the ...

Vanessa Kachadurian: Vanessa Kachadurian- Chicken Shit Attorney of the ...: "AND THE WINNER IS? UGLY REDHEADS RUN IN THIS FAMILY. HE HATES OBAMA, DECLARES HE IS A CHRISTIAN YET HANGS OUT WITH LAWYERS THAT ARE LIBERAL..."

His name is P A T S Y

Vanessa Kachadurian- Chicken Shit Attorney of the Year

AND THE WINNER IS?
UGLY REDHEADS RUN IN THIS FAMILY.
HE HATES OBAMA, DECLARES HE IS A CHRISTIAN
YET HANGS OUT WITH LAWYERS THAT ARE LIBERALS
WILL DO ANYTHING FOR A BUCK
EVEN CONSPIRE AND ASK PEOPLE TO DO ILLEGAL THINGS.
WE ARE ON TO YOU, WE KNOW YOU ARE READING EVERY WORD
THE COMMUNITY IS UNFORGIVING YOU LITTLE WORM

VanessaKachadurian-Armenia Sisters of Charity: Vanessa Kachadurian-Visit to Gyumri's Special Orph...

VanessaKachadurian-Armenia Sisters of Charity: Vanessa Kachadurian-Visit to Gyumri's Special Orph...: "Here are some photos of our recent visit of our delegations trip to Gyumri's special orphange. Please note the paint on the wall is cracki..."

Adoption Attorney back in the news

Well well, it seems our little Kevin Cohen aka Scumbag Adoption Attorney is back in the news. Poor guy probably doesn't like wearing an orange jumpsuit. Too bad, rot in hell.
Adoption ‘Scam’ Lawyer Charged With Assaulting Nassau Jail Guard
By Timothy Bolger on September 30th, 2010


The Roslyn attorney accused of running a nationwide adoption scam allegedly assaulted a Nassau County jail guard last week, prosecutors said.

Kevin Cohen was scheduled to be arraigned Thursday on charges of assault and obstructing governmental administration.

Prosecutors said he assaulted a corrections officer Friday at Nassau County jail, where he has been held since he pleaded not guilty in September 2009 to a 69-count indictment accusing him of grand larceny and other charges involving 13 couples.


advertisement Cohen is planning to represent himself at his trial, which is scheduled to begin Monday.

The guard was treated and released for his injuries at a local hospital, according to the Nassau County Sheriff’s Department.

No further details about the nature of the incident were made available.

JP Morgan Halts 50K foreclosures because of possible fraud

Leave it up to our favorite "friends" again CORRUPT ATTORNEYS to throw 50,000 people out of their homes on foreclosure. Hope those dirty parasites can live with themselves capitalizing on the misery of others.

NEW YORK (AP) -- JPMorgan Chase has temporarily stopped foreclosing on more than 50,000 homes so it can review documents that might contain errors.

JPMorgan's move Wednesday makes it the second major company to take such action this month, underscoring a growing legal problem. The issue could stall an already overloaded foreclosure process.

Still, analysts don't expect the delays to reduce the number of foreclosures over the long run.

"It will probably slow things down for a couple months while these documents are reviewed," said Rick Sharga, a senior vice president at foreclosure listing service RealtyTrac Inc. "It won't stop things."

But if the problems turn up at more of the largest mortgage companies, a foreclosure crisis that's already likely to drag on for several more years could persist even longer.

GMAC Mortgage LLC last week halted certain evictions and sales of foreclosed homes in 23 states to review those cases. The company said it found procedural errors in some foreclosure affidavits.

After GMAC's announcement, attorneys general in California and Connecticut told the company to stop foreclosures in their states until it proves it's complying with state law. The Ohio attorney general this week asked judges to review GMAC foreclosure cases. And in Florida, the state attorney general is investigating four law firms, two with ties to GMAC, for allegedly providing fraudulent documents in foreclosure cases.

The issue is also gaining attention on Capitol Hill. Last week, Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass. and two other lawmakers wrote to Fannie Mae, urging the government-controlled mortgage giant to stop working with so-called "foreclosure mill" law firms under investigation for document fraud.

"Why is Fannie Mae using lawyers that are accused of regularly engaging in fraud to kick people out of their homes?" the lawmakers wrote.

A Fannie Mae spokesman said the company is reviewing the issue.

JPMorgan acknowledged Wednesday that its employees signed some affidavits about loan documents without personally verifying the files. These affidavits verifies the accuracy of the loan information, including who owns the mortgage.

JPMorgan spokesman Kelly said the bank believes the information in the affidavits is accurate, and that the affidavits were prepared by "appropriate personnel."

The bank asked judges not to enter judgments against homeowners facing foreclosure until it completes its review of the problem. JPMorgan expects the process to take a few weeks.

The way mortgages are packaged and sold to many investors as securities can make it hard to determine who has the right to foreclose on a homeowner.

In some states, lenders can foreclose quickly on delinquent mortgage borrowers. But 20 states use a lengthy court process for foreclosures. They require documents to verify information on the mortgage, including who owns it. Florida, New York, New Jersey and Illinois are the biggest states with this process.

Christopher Immel, a Florida lawyer who represents homeowners, said people who already have lost homes could sue their lender, alleging errors in documents.

In August, a judge in Duval County, Fla., ruled that JPMorgan could not foreclose on two homeowners. The reasoning was that Fannie Mae carried the mortgage on its books and JPMorgan Chase only collected payments on the loan. JPMorgan Chase had identified itself as the owner of the loan.

More lawsuits could come soon.

In May, JPMorgan employee Beth Ann Cottrell said in a deposition that she and her staff of eight signed about 18,000 legal documents a month without reviewing every file. In a similar testimony, GMAC employee Jeffrey Stephan said he signed 10,000 documents a month without personally verifying the mortgage information.

"It's very realistic to believe that this is a standard practice in how they go about foreclosures in certain states," said Immel, whose law firm took Cottrell's and Stephan's depositions.

FOLLOW UP TO THIS ARTICLE 10/13/2010 SEEMS THERE IS A BIG INVESTIGATION INTO FRAUD PAPERWORK UPDATE*UPDATE*UPDATE*UPDATE*UPDATE*Officials in 50 states launch foreclosure probe
By ALAN ZIBEL, AP Real Estate Writer Alan Zibel, Ap Real Estate Writer
33 mins ago

.WASHINGTON – Officials in 50 states and the District of Columbia have launched a joint investigation into allegations that mortgage companies mishandled documents and broke laws in foreclosing on hundreds of thousands of homeowners.

The states' attorneys general and bank regulators will examine whether mortgage company employees made false statements or prepared documents improperly.

Alabama initially did not sign on to the investigation. It reversed course after the joint statement was released.

Attorneys general have taken the lead in responding to a nationwide scandal that's called into question the accuracy and legitimacy of documents that lenders relied on to evict people from the homes. Employees of four large lenders have acknowledged in depositions that they signed off on foreclosure documents without reading them.

The allegations raise the possibility that foreclosure proceedings nationwide could be subject to legal challenge. Some foreclosures could be overturned. More than 2.5 million homes have been lost to foreclosure since the recession started in December 2007, according to RealtyTrac Inc.

The state officials said they intend to use their investigation to fix the problems that surfaced in the mortgage industry.

"This is not simply about a glitch in paperwork," said Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller, who is leading the probe. "It's also about some companies violating the law and many people losing their homes."

Ally Financial Inc.'s GMAC Mortgage Unit, Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase & Co. already have halted some questionable foreclosures. Other banks, including Citigroup Inc. and Wells Fargo & Co. have not stopped processing foreclosures, saying they did nothing wrong.

In a joint statement, the officials said they would review evidence that legal documents were signed by mortgage company employees who "did not have personal knowledge of the facts asserted in the documents. They also said that many of those documents appear to have been signed without a notary public witnessing that signature — a violation of most state laws.

"What we have seen are not mere technicalities," said Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray. "This is about the private property rights of homeowners facing foreclosure and the integrity of our court system, which cannot enter judgments based on fraudulent evidence

Adoption Attorney duped 16 couples with empty promises

Alleged Adoption Ponzi Scam Broke the Hearts of Couples Desperate to Adopt
The $60K Adoption Heartbreak: Babies Who Didn't Exist
By ALICE GOMSTYN
ABC NEWS Business Unit
Oct. 5, 2009—


Deborah Josephs cried all the way to central Pennsylvania. It was a long, difficult drive from Port Washington, N.Y., where her husband, Milton, had been hospitalized with a serious skin infection.

She didn't want to leave him, Josephs said, but she was also excited about where she was going.

"I left him there because I thought I would be picking up a baby," she said. "I didn't want to miss an opportunity of a lifetime for our family."

"Now," she said, "I feel like an idiot."

The Josephs are one of at least 16 couples who say they were duped into paying thousands of dollars into an alleged adoption scam run by Roslyn, N.Y., lawyer Kevin Cohen, the founder of the Adoption Annex, a now-defunct, nonprofit adoption services organization.

Prosecutors allege that Cohen, 41, who was arrested late last month, presented himself as a legal expert on adoption proceedings and collected between $20,000 and $40,000 from couples who believed the money would cover medical expenses for pregnant women who planned to give their children up for adoption. The Josephs say they handed over $60,000.

Those would-be adopted children, the Nassau County District Attorney's office said, didn't exist.

"This is among the most morally disgusting thefts I have ever witnessed as a prosecutor," Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice said in a recent statement. "He preyed on the emotions and the hopes of couples at their most vulnerable time."

Last month Cohen pleaded not guilty to felony charges of larceny and scheme to defraud. Cohen's lawyer, Matin Emouna, said he couldn't discuss any of the allegations against him until the district attorney's investigation is complete. Emouna said that Cohen had successfully arranged adoptions in the past, though he didn't know exactly how many.

Rice's office has compared the alleged adoption scam to a Ponzi scheme -- a pyramid scam in which early investors are paid from funds provided by new investors. In the adoption case, the district attorney's office spokesman Eric Phillips said Cohen had provided partial or complete refunds to some couples whose adoptions fell through using money provided by Cohen's newer clients.

But most of the couples, Phillips said, believed that Cohen would ultimately deliver.

They "held out hope that they were going to get a baby," he said.

The Josephs were among them.


Paying for Two Babies, Hoping to Get One
Milton Josephs, 41, an elementary school teacher, and Deborah Josephs, 44, a human resources consultant, met Cohen in March 2009, Deborah Josephs said.

By then, the couple, who have a 6-year-old daughter, had spent more than two years trying to adopt a child. They placed advertisements in local newspapers across the country, looking for pregnant women who would allow the Josephs to adopt their children.

Some women responded to the Josephs' ads but would later change their minds, she said, choosing to give their babies to other couples or not to give them up at all.

"I would try to connect with these women, try to convince them we are the best couple in the world," Josephs said. "It never panned out."

In March, Cohen gave them new hope, Josephs said. He told the couple that he knew not one but two pregnant women who wanted to put their babies up for adoption, Josephs said.

Deborah Josephs said they agreed to pay the expenses for both women and Cohen's fee -- a total of $60,000 -- even though they only planned to adopt one child. She said that Cohen told them that if both women ultimately followed through on the adoptions, one child could go to another couple who couldn't afford to pay the birth mother's medical expenses.

Under the arrangement, Deborah Josephs said, if only one of the birth mothers agreed to an adoption, the Josephs would get her child.

"If we could fund that second birth mother, we were guaranteed one baby," Josephs said. "It was a kind of insurance."

One of the women, Josephs said she was told, was a teenage college student living in State College, Pa.; the other was a young woman in Lincoln, Neb. Josephs said Cohen provided them with medical records for the women, although he kept their last names confidential and said they couldn't contact the women directly.

"He felt it was better this way," Josephs said.


Cohen: 'A Good Actor'?
The Josephs grew confident in Cohen, Deborah Josephs said, in part because of his background. He told them that he was adopted from Ireland.

"It made us think he completely understood what it was all about," she said.

It also helped, she said, that the Josephs and the Cohens had a friend in common: Cohen went to high school with the husband of one of Deborah Josephs' friends.

By the summer, Deborah Josephs and Cohen were meeting regularly, she said. Over coffee, he would tell her his plans to raise money for adopted children with special needs, Josephs said.

"He, to me, seemed really philanthropic," she said. "He was always very thankful to me for my time, for chatting with him."

"He seemed like a really nice person," Josephs said. "He was a good actor, I guess."

But by the middle of the summer, things began to go awry. Cohen had originally told the Josephs that both women were due in early August, Deborah Josephs said. But in July, Cohen told them the due dates for both had been pushed back several days. In early August, Cohen told them the dates were pushed back again, to August 20, Josephs said.

Eventually, Josephs said he told them that both women would have to have labor induced Sept. 2 and Sept. 3, Josephs said.

"We definitely got suspicious then, but not suspicious enough," Josephs said.

The couple decided to split their efforts, with Deborah Josephs traveling to Pennsylvania to be there for one child's birth and Milton Josephs traveling to Nebraska for the birth of the other.

Milton Josephs' travel plans were canceled when he was hospitalized, but the couple decided that Deborah should still head to Pennsylvania.

"This was our day," she said. "This was it."

"I thought it would be one of the happiest moments of my life."

It wasn't.

The next day, Josephs said, after she'd arrived at State College, Cohen called her and told her not to come to the hospital.

Cohen told her there were complications with the delivery and that the baby's health was uncertain, she said. He told Josephs to return home and wait, she said.

Josephs said she was devastated. She worried about the baby and the birth mother. When she drove back to Port Washington, where her husband was recovering from his infection, she felt empty, she said.

Josephs said news from Cohen in the days to come didn't make her feel much better. The woman in Nebraska, he allegedly told them, had left the hospital without signing adoption consent forms. The Pennsylvania woman, Josephs said she was told, was too medicated following a Caesarian section to sign the forms.

'We Wanted to Believe'
By Labor Day weekend, Josephs said, she and her husband had had enough.

"We stepped out of our emotions for five seconds, enough to critically look at what was going on," she said. "We wanted to believe there were two babies -- we wanted so badly to believe everything he was saying, [but] when we started to think about the information he was giving us ... it led us in a different direction."

The direction they ultimately took was to a private investigator, who advised them to go to the Nassau District Attorney's Office.

Cohen was arrested Sept. 25 on charges of larceny and fraud in connection with the alleged adoption scheme. Law enforcement also said at the time that Cohen already had other criminal charges pending against him in connection to an alleged attempt to illegally transfer property to his name. Emouna, Cohen's lawyer, said his client had pleaded not guilty to those charges but could not comment further because that case, he said, was also still under investigation.

Meanwhile, the district attorney's office said it has heard from 15 other would-be adoptive couples from four different states -- New York, Texas, Georgia and Ohio -- with claims against Cohen.

Cohen's next court date is Tuesday. If convicted, he could face 15 years in prison.

Josephs said that she and her husband are sharing their story to encourage other would-be adoptive couples to be sure they do their homework and check references before they agree to an adoption arrangement.

"They really should know who they're working with," Deborah Josephs said.

The Josephs would still like to adopt a child someday, though Deborah Josephs said she's not quite ready to start the adoptive process all over again.

"We haven't gotten past this yet," she said.


ARMENIAN PROVERB:

The Bitch dog that barks and growls, bites off its paws as their past communication incriminates them.
The more the Bitch dog barks, the LESS puppies will be available and the closer the Bitch Dog will forever be in the dog house.

Think about it.

Vanessa Kachadurian: Vanessa Kachadurian-Lawyer Sex Texting and preyed ...

Vanessa Kachadurian: Vanessa Kachadurian-Lawyer Sex Texting and preyed ...: "Making crime victims double victims should not be tolerated By Natalie J. Ostgaard Crookston Daily Times Posted Sep 17, 2010 @ 01:17 P..."

Vanessa Kachadurian-Lawyer Sex Texting and preyed on crime victim he was sworn to protect.

Making crime victims double victims should not be tolerated

By Natalie J. Ostgaard
Crookston Daily Times
Posted Sep 17, 2010 @ 01:17 PM
Crookston — According to 100 people surveyed for Family Feud, lawyers rank right up there with politicians as the top unethical and corrupt professions. While the scientific value of Family Feud polls is certainly questionable, more often than not, they tend to reflect the public’s thoughts. That said, this does not mean that all or even most lawyers are unethical and corrupt, just that people perceive them to be, more so than other professions.

Calumet County, Wis. District Attorney Kenneth Kratz isn’t helping to disprove this perception, instead proving himself to be one of the supreme dirtbags among his peers. In a blatant conflict of interest, this guy preyed on a crime victim half his age, whose ex-boyfriend he happened to be prosecuting for nearly choking her to death, by “sexting” her 30 provocative and suggestive text messages that started right after he first interviewed her regarding the case. An Associated Press story details a few of the messages, which, from the standpoint here, leave nothing to the imagination. It is quite obvious that Kratz is explicitly attempting to initiate an affair (he was married at the time) with the woman.

This was sexual harassment and intimidation at its finest. The woman did nothing to bring on the unwanted attention and when she let him know she was not interested, the prosecutor tried to cut down her self-esteem. She said felt pressured to have a relationship with him or he'd drop the charges against her abuser, as one message alluded to.

Now a double victim, she did the right thing by promptly filing a complaint with the police. Kratz then removed himself from the case, citing an undisclosed conflict of interest, so the state took it on and won a conviction.

You'd think this would have allowed the victim to sleep better at night, yet she still feels victimized. That's because Kratz has not had to face the music for what he's done, nearly a year later. The police referred the woman's complaint to the state Division of Criminal Investigation, which she said declined to charge him because they didn't think, criminally, he did anything wrong.

Kratz claimed his resignation from the Wisconsin Crime Victims' Rights Board, an agency he (ironically) helped create that can reprimand judges, prosecutors and police officers who mistreat crime victims, is a self-imposed sanction. He also claimed the Office of Lawyer Regulation found no violation of rules governing attorney misconduct, although there's no proof of this.

The allegations against Kratz only became public when the AP got wind of them and confronted him with the messages. He said he "was embarrassed at this lapse of judgment." He refuses to step down from his post.

This was much more than a lapse of judgment. While the conduct may, according to Wisconsin law, be barely legal, no one can deny that it was pure stupidity, pompousness and recklessness on Kratz's part. Does Calumet County really want this borderline criminal prosecuting its criminal cases? What's going to happen next time he pulls a similar stunt?

Kratz is not up for re-election until 2012. His behavior needs to be investigated further before then and perhaps more sanctions brought upon him, possibly ousting him from office. The guy sounds a little too unstable.

Copyright 2010 Crookston Times. Some rights reserved

Vanessa Kachadurian: Vanessa Kachadurian-Edward Amalyan Who are you?

Vanessa Kachadurian: Vanessa Kachadurian-Edward Amalyan Who are you?: "This article was sent to me from a friend in Armenia. This could be a case of 2 people having the same name but this has a group of people ..."

Vanessa Kachadurian-Edward Amalyan Who are you?

This article was sent to me from a friend in Armenia. This could be a case of 2 people having the same name but this has a group of people in Armenia's Ministry cabinet questioning "Who is Edward Amalyan"
Is this the same Edward Amalyan that claims to be an "attorney" and works as a contractor in Armenia for Adoption Agencies gathering referrals (adoptable children)

Ritzio Entertainment Group, belonging to Oleg Boiko, intends to develop local stores under the brand Relish in the Moscow suburbs and in the regions where slot halls have closed, informed Larissa Shishkin, the press secretary of the holding, earlier. The first shops have already opened in the Moscow region and some in other regions, and in the near future the chain may announce new projects. Also in St. Petersburg Oleg Briskly has managed to agree with discounter Dixi on opening mini markets of the retail shops of VMart in the place of former gambling halls. Jackpot, controlled by German Goglichidze, is moving in a similar direction, and at the end of last year signed an agreement of intentions with X5 Retail Group to open Perekryostok supermarkets in its premises. In total within the limits of the program it may open 100 to 200 supermarkets. The fourth largest gambling company — Zolotoi Arbuz — owned by Edward Amalyan and Dmitry Yakushev (also manage a chain of clubs by the same name, and also the Fan-fan chain) from the end of last year has developed a chain of florists called Iris and Tyulpanoff in place of its slot halls. It is possible that in the long term the remaining gambling halls of the company will be reoriented under this retail format.

Vanessa Kachadurian: Why do Lawyers have the highest rate of Depression...

Vanessa Kachadurian: Why do Lawyers have the highest rate of Depression...: "Vanessa Kachadurian on corrupt and sick lawyers- This explains it! DEPRESSION STATISTICS IN GENERAL & IN LAWYERS Fast Facts About Depr..."

VanessaKachadurian-Armenia Sisters of Charity: Vanessa Kachadurian-Touring Hospitals in Armenia a...

VanessaKachadurian-Armenia Sisters of Charity: Vanessa Kachadurian-Touring Hospitals in Armenia a...: "Ah'man Hokiss, this little moog was born the day before we arrived in the hospital at Shushi (Artsakh) There was also a baby abandoned ..."

Vanessa Kachadurian: Vanessa Kachadurian-Tulsa Lawyer accused of bilkin...

Vanessa Kachadurian: Vanessa Kachadurian-Tulsa Lawyer accused of bilkin...: "Tulsa lawyer accused of bilking widow of $1 million-plus The woman has filed a lawsuit against the attorney. Defendant in lawsuit Jasen C..."

Vanessa Kachadurian-Tulsa Lawyer accused of bilking widow of $1 million plus

Tulsa lawyer accused of bilking widow of $1 million-plus
The woman has filed a lawsuit against the attorney.

Defendant in lawsuit
Jasen Corns: The suit, filed in Tulsa County District Court by Elizabeth Lorene Stambaugh, alleges that Corns persuaded her to pay off his home's nearly $154,000 mortgage and to pay $579,000 for a second home for him. Stambaugh alleges that Corns "wrongfully induced" her to make disbursements out of her trust. Also, her trust was revised to leave Corns 40 percent of its net value upon her death, a change he requested, the suit alleges.
By GAVIN OFF World Data Editor
Published: 9/11/2010 2:24 AM
Last Modified: 9/11/2010 5:53 AM

A Tulsa attorney is accused in a lawsuit of taking more than $1 million in gifts and money from an 88-year-old Tulsa widow he was representing.

The suit, filed Wednesday in Tulsa County District Court by Elizabeth Lorene Stambaugh, alleges that attorney Jasen Corns persuaded Stambaugh to pay off his home's nearly $154,000 mortgage and to pay $579,000 for a second home for him.

Stambaugh alleges in the lawsuit that Corns "wrongfully induced" her to make disbursements out of her trust.

Also, Stambaugh's trust was revised to leave Corns 40 percent of its net value upon her death, a change requested by Corns, the suit alleges.

The suit names Corns and his law firm, Jenks Law.

Corns said he was not involved in the revisions to the trust and was told that he has been removed as a trust beneficiary.

"During his representation of Stambaugh, Corns prevailed on Stambaugh to make various gifts and loans out of her personal funds and the corpus of the Trust, resulting in at least $1,466,233 being distributed out of the Trust and her personal funds to him, his creditors and members of his immediate family," the lawsuit alleges.

Stambaugh's attorney declined to comment.

Corns said he began representing Stambaugh in 2005. He said the money he received from her was for his time working, amounting to 15 to 20 hours a week at a rate of $200 an hour for five years.

Corns said he ended the relationship with Stambaugh in August after she threatened to hurt his family.

"She promised, in recorded messages, to make sure, in her exact words, that my 'reputation was gone,' " Corns said via e-mail. "That is what her frivolous lawsuit is about."

He added: "As for any specific allegations, I deny all of them, other than the fact that she compensated me for my time for more than five years."

Specific allegations include that Stambaugh paid the mortgage of his former home and bought Corns a new one.

According to the suit, Stambaugh tried to get a mortgage from Corns for his former house to secure the nearly $154,000 payment she gave him. But Corns never signed or filed the mortgage or executed a promissory note, the lawsuit states.

"During their relationship, Corns and Jenks Law procured other substantial amounts of money from Stambaugh by the use of actual fraud, and/or other means which were against equity and good conscience toward an elderly person who placed trust and confidence in him," the suit states.

"She has never loaned me any money or bought me a house," Corns said. "I purchased my own home with income I earned, and all records reflect that."

Tulsa County property records show that Corns bought a house in the 5300 block of 94th Court in 2002. In 2004, he took out a $151,200 mortgage and paid it off in 2006. Last year, he sold the house for $171,000 and bought a property in the 4300 block of 118th Street for $579,000, the records show.

"Instead of paying back the aforesaid loan, however, Corns falsely represented to Stambaugh that the house had not sold, and that its new occupants were merely renters," the lawsuit states.

Stambaugh is seeking a judgment of more than $10,000, punitive damages and a constructive trust over the 118th Street property.

The lawsuit also alleges claims of actual and constructive fraud, breach of contract, "money had and received" and professional malpractice.



Gavin Off 732-8106
gavin.off@tulsaworld.com

Read more from this Tulsa World article at http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=16&articleid=20100911_11_A15_CUTLIN6416

Vanessa Kachadurian-Lawyers that play in Rock Bands

Seems there are a lot of lawyers attracted to drugs, sex and rock n roll. Many moonlight and play in bands - maybe to forget the pain they inflict on others or because they have delusions of grandeur. Most that moonlight in rock bands are losers and tend to be short in height and feel miserable about themselves. They look down on others as if they are better than them and associate with questionable people.
Lawyers Rock to the Beat of Their Own Drummer

Lemonhead-turned-lawyer jams at attorney-owned coffeehouse as both reprise musical past

Janet L. Conley
Fulton County Daily Report
June 16, 2008

If you dropped by Kavarna, a hip coffeehouse and music venue in Decatur, Ga., this past Saturday night, you probably saw two lawyers who love music taking center stage, each in his own way.

Behind the soundboard you saw Wystan Getz, a Decatur criminal defense attorney who owns Kavarna and serves as its sound engineer a couple of nights a week; at the mic you saw John Strohm, who once played drums and guitar with indie rock bands Blake Babies and the Lemonheads and who's now an entertainment lawyer in Birmingham, Ala.

Both Getz and Strohm, who met recently via MySpace, have found a way to mix their first love -- music -- with their day jobs in law.

For Getz, law practice isn't just a way to keep his hand in the restaurant business. It's a way to do what he believes in. And it's clear from the moment you walk into his law office that he's comfortable expressing his views. On his waiting room coffee table, you'll see a copy of High Times, where he advertises his practice, next to the Fulton County Daily Report and the music magazine Paste.

The former Rockdale County assistant public defender who self-identifies on his Web site as "marijuana defender" divides his time between his practice, which focuses on criminal defense work including DUIs and drug cases, and stop-in-for-a-latte-and-stay-for-the-show Kavarna.

JAVA JOINT

Kavarna got its start when Getz purchased an existing business in February 2007 and grew it from a morning java joint into a day-to-night coffee-and-wine bar offering sandwiches, small plates and, three nights a week, live music.

His wife, Jill Wasserman, a King & Spalding attorney, helps him with music-licensing issues that arise, and his own legal and entrepreneurial skills help him spot not just dram shop liability and employment law issues, they also help him handle organization, multitasking and -- believe it or not -- customer service.

"Being an attorney is, essentially, providing personal services to people, and that's what this business is, too," he said. "We're providing personal services -- although in the form of refreshments and entertainment rather than solving crises. In a lot of ways, it's the same."

He has an ex-Aurora Coffee manager running Kavarna, but acknowledged that the food-and-drinks business is taking up more and more of his time these days -- about 60 percent compared with the 40 percent he spends practicing law.

Getz, who plays the guitar, keyboard, oboe and English horn but hasn't performed publicly in some time because of a tremor that makes playing difficult, said one of his motivations for launching Kavarna was to stay close to his musical roots.

"I think that for me, that's some of the interest in this business," he said. "And it doesn't matter that my fingering technique is not that good anymore."

Instead, he handles sound engineering for the musicians he books. And he books musicians he likes -- including Strohm, who now practices at Johnston Barton Proctor & Rose in Birmingham, but who spent the 1990s rocking out with some of the country's most popular indie bands at the time. Strohm co-founded Blake Babies with Juliana Hatfield, now a noted solo artist; his then-girlfriend, Freda Boner, was the drummer. He later played drums and guitar and toured with the pop-punk band the Lemonheads and its lead singer, Evan Dando, performing on two of the group's albums, "Creator" (1988) and "Lovey" (1990).

LISTENED AS STUDENT

Getz, who's from Nashville, said he liked Strohm's music for years and began listening to it while a student at Williams College in Massachusetts. Strohm, for part of that time, was a student at Berklee College of Music in Boston and was an integral part of the Boston music scene Getz enjoyed.

The two never met during their New England days, but Getz said he knew Strohm had become a lawyer and sent him a message via his MySpace page recently to see if he'd play at Kavarna.

Strohm said yes.

In an interview from his office in Birmingham, Strohm said he rarely plays in public these days, doing what he calls "proper shows" only a few times a year.

The demands of a law practice and a young family -- he's an associate at Johnston Barton and the father of a 5-year-old and a 7-month-old -- keep him close to home most nights.

But he still keeps both hands in the music business. In 2007, he released a solo album called "Everyday Life" on the Superphonic Records label; music business contacts he made as a performer, he said, are what help him get clients now.

"The reason I'm able to attract clients is because I have this depth of experience on the artist side," he said. "All my work comes through word of mouth. It's very nichey. I have friends and contacts in the industry who talk me up."

'DAY JOB WENT AWAY'

But his role in that industry underwent a dramatic change in 1997. That's when the Lemonheads broke up. "What was essentially my day job went away," he said.

Strohm followed the woman who'd become his wife back to her hometown in Birmingham, where she'd landed a job in banking. He began looking for work, too, but there wasn't much available for a guy with experience as a touring musician and studio sound engineer.

"It was really a cold shot of reality, because I realized I just wasn't equipped to make a living unless I was traveling. I had an enormous amount of arcane knowledge and skills that were not useful in the job market," he says.

So, in his 20s, he went back to college and got a history degree with a music minor from the University of Alabama-Birmingham, then went on to graduate magna cum laude from Cumberland School of Law in 2004.

An Atlanta entertainment lawyer -- sole practitioner David Prasse, who'd represented Strohm when he was performing -- encouraged him to get into the legal side of the music business.

"That really meant a lot," Strohm said.

Prasse, who counts Mastodon -- named best metal band by Rolling Stone magazine in April -- and bluegrass band Act of Congress among his clients, said he'd done some record deals with Strohm and noticed that the musician "had an eye for the players in the industry who were good to work with and who to stay away from."

Also, he added, "I thought John Strohm had the intelligence and personality and experience to be a music attorney who could really help a lot of people."

Strohm started out practicing law at Bradley Arant in Birmingham, then moved to Johnston Barton where he represents a variety of indie rock bands, including Montreal, which rocker Kevin Barnes founded in Athens, Ga., in the 1990s.

Strohm said he had moments in law school where he thought, "Where am I? What am I doing? Have I completely screwed this up?"

But now he has no plans -- or desire -- to return to full-time performing. In his last few years as a rocker, he said, he felt a lot of anxiety because he really wanted a family but knew a music career wouldn't provide the stability they'd need. Real music careers are stressful, he said.

"I wanted to be involved with music but not sweat bullets like that," he said.

STABILITY

Law practice offers that involvement without the instability. "If one of my solo albums freakishly took off and did really well, that would cause a lot of problems for me," he added, pointing out that it is hard to take a family on tour. "My kids are used to seeing me every day ... they hate it when I leave town."

"Would I give up my practice at age 41? I doubt it."

Getz, too, says he doesn't plan to ditch his criminal defense practice and become a full-time restaurateur.

Getz -- whose most memorable cases include helping The Innocence Project use DNA evidence to exonerate Clarence Harrison in 2004 for an erroneous rape conviction and representing William J. Kollie, an armed robber who was slapped with seven consecutive life sentences, the longest in Georgia history -- said Kavarna helps him keep perspective on the stress his law practice creates, and vice versa.

"It's nice to have a little bit of diversity going on," he said.