District of Connecticut Law Clerks Society
a society for current and recent law clerks for the united states district court for the district of connecticut
About the DCLC
Do you have an announcement?
One of the purposes of the DCLC is to keep our members informed and to network with each other. If you have an announcement, including job openings, please contact us at the email addresses below and we will put up a posting for you.
Archives
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Recent Posts
- Judge Underhill Asked to Determine if Cheerleading is a Sport
- Garber Seeking Attorney General Position
- Behind the Rise and Fall of Philadelphia’s Prison Population
- 4th Annual Investigating Computer Crimes in the 21st Century
- Judge Chatigny Nominated To Seat On U.S. 2nd Circuit Court Of Appeals
- Court Asked to Reverse Ruling on State’s Campaign Program
- Campaign Finance Legislation Under Scrutiny
- Practices of Connecticut State’s Attorney’s Office Under Review
- Lawsuit Granted Class Action Status
- Extensive Reshaping Possible In Federal Judiciary In Connecticut
Categories
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November 17, 2006
Acting Chief Justice Opposes New Amendment
Senior Associate Justice David M. Borden indicated on Thursday that he opposes a proposed amendment to the Connecticut State Constitution that would allow for legislative oversight as to the judicial branch's rules and procedures. Justice Borden stressed the fact that the judiciary was working on its own to improve issues of openness. Justice Borden is currently the acting Chief Justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court. For the complete AP story, see this article.
November 15, 2006
Judge Underhill Seeks Law Clerk
Judge Stefan R. Underhill (Bridgeport, Conn.) is seeking applicants for a two-year clerkship (2007-09). Applications will be accepted through December 10, 2006, and interviews will be scheduled December 1-15, 2006. Please apply online here.
November 13, 2006
Is $1500 Per Hour An Excessive Fee?
An expensive ($100 million) divorce and an alleged agreed-upon "bonus" have the State investigating whether a Greenwich attorney charged an excessive $1,500 per hour fee. Last year, a federal jury awarded the client $371,000, after he sued the Greenwich attorney. A hearing before a grievance committee is expected to continue in January. The client also has a lawsuit pending against his former wife's attorney, for the bonus that attorney received. For a more detailed account of these events, see the article in the CT Law Tribune on Law.com or see the article on NBC30.com.
November 10, 2006
Law Clerk Wins Election Over Judge He Served!
A bit of humorous law clerk (though obviously not federal) trivia:
In Minnesota, a law clerk decided to run against the judge he was serving, and actually squeaked out a win in the election. The race was the only contested judicial race in that district. The law clerk, who had served the judge for more than four years before the challenge, received 50.5 percent of the vote to 49.3 percent for the judge.
The law clerk has never practiced law, but has served as a law clerk to at least two judges. The defeated judge had been on the bench for 26 years.
This Associated Press story can be found on the website for the LaCrosse Tribune.
November 9, 2006
CT Woman Sentenced for Tax Fraud
The Honorable Alfred V. Covello made the news today with respect to his sentencing of a Connecticut woman for tax fraud. Judge Covello sentenced the chief operating officer of a Rocky Hill employment agency, Kathryn Clark Melanson, 48, of Old Saybrook, after she pleaded guilty to filing a false claim with the IRS, which resulted in her receiving $92,425 in tax refunds she was not entitled to from 1999 to 2001. For a more detailed version of the story, see this article from the Hartford Courant.
November 3, 2006
Federal Judges: Overworked and Underpaid
An interesting commentary by John Dean entitled "Underpaid And Overworked: The National Disgrace of Undercompensating Federal Judges, While Allowing Their Workload to Balloon" was posted today at Findlaw. The article touches upon such topics as: 1) underpayment forcing Judges back to private practice; 2) the ever increasing caseload that our Federal Bench must deal with; and 3) the issue of tying Judicial salaries to Congressional salaries. This last issue has been one that the Federal Judges Association has tirelessly worked to rectify. For the complete story, see this article from Findlaw.
November 2, 2006
Connecticut Appellate Court Hears Argument on Justice Sullivan Matter
For two hours on November 1, 2006, seven members of the Connecticut Appellate Court, acting as the Connecticut Supreme Court, heard argument on the dispute involving former Justice William Sullivan and the Connecticut General Assembly. Attorney General Richard Blumenthal argued on behalf of the General Assembly. Attorney Edward Sheehy represented the interests of Justice Sullivan, while Attorney Steven Ecker spoke on behalf of the Judicial Branch. For a more detailed account of the argument, see this article from the Connecticut Post.
November 1, 2006
Topix.net Web Feed Removed
We have removed the web feed from Topix.net. If you are not familiar with RSS technology, it powers news feeds such as the ones found in our right column. We do not create or control them. We noticed today that the Topix.net feed used titles that were inappropriate and did not reflect the actual content of the articles. As such, we have removed that entire feed. If anyone knows of any 2nd Circuit RSS feeds, or other topical feeds, that are trustworthy, please let us know. Thanks!
Appellate Court to Sit as Supreme Court in the Matter of Justice William Sullivan
On Wednesday, November 1, 2006, seven Connecticut Appellate Court Judges were scheduled to assume the role of the Connecticut Supreme Court in the matter of William J. Sullivan, et al. v. Andrew McDonald, et al. The entire Connecticut Supreme Court has recused itself from hearing this matter due to conflicts of interest. Legal scholars claim that never before in Connecticut, or perhaps even the country, has a similar instance occurred. For a detailed account of this case, see this article from the Connecticut Post.
Third Forbes Trial Results in Conviction
In a case presided over by our own District Judge Alan H. Nevas, Walter Forbes, the former chairman of Cendant Corp., was convicted at a third criminal trial for his involvement in an accounting fraud that caused Cendant's market value to drop $14 billion in one day in 1998.
The first two trials resulted in hung juries before Judge Alvin W. Thompson in Hartford, and the matter was thereafter reassigned to Judge Nevas in Bridgeport. Jurors in Bridgeport convicted Forbes, 63, of conspiracy and two counts of false reporting. He was acquitted of securities fraud.
Judge Nevas set sentencing for Jan. 17, 2007, and raised Forbes's bail to $1.2 million from $1 million. For a more detailed account of the case, see the article on Bloomberg.com.
Judge Fitzsimmons Seeks Law Clerk '07 - '09
The Honorable Holly B. Fitzsimmons, U.S.M.J., is seeking a law clerk to serve in her Chambers (in Bridgeport) from Fall 2007 - 2009. She is accepting applications now. If you know anyone who may be interested, please tell that person to send a cover letter, resume, law school transcript, recommendations, and a writing sample to Judge Fitzsimmons' Chambers, the contact information for which can be found here.
New DCLC Site Goes Live!
The DCLC got a face lift!
Fellow DCLC members, we hope you enjoy the new site, find it useful, use it, and check in every so often. There is good reason to do so because the web feeds and other features are updated daily, and we will include updated blogs/alerts as appropriate. It also has Google's search engine, and handy links. So, feel free to make it your home page!
If you're willing, please enter your email address in the "Updates" box in the right column, so that we can notify you of important announcements, etc. Please also feel free to send a link to our page to any and all current and former clerks, so that they can self-register as well.
Special thanks to a good friend, Peter Olson, Esq., who, though not a former clerk, was kind enough to design the site for us!
Last, we would appreciate your comments. So let us know what you think!
Hope all is well.
Jerry & Brian
Advisory Committee: Alyssa Esposito, Law Clerk to Judge Fitzsimmons; Krishna Patel, Assistant United States Attorney
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