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3. Acting US attorney once orchestrated Facebook…

Prosecutors

Acting US attorney once orchestrated Facebook posts criticizing judge presiding in his case, report says

By Debra Cassens Weiss

April 28, 2025, 11:12 am CDT

The acting U.S. attorney in Washington, D.C., formerly helped ghostwrite posts criticizing a judge presiding in a civil case in which he was the defendant, according to lawsuit documents cited by ProPublica.

U.S. attorney nominee Edward R. Martin Jr. helped his associate, Priscilla Gray, write the posts that began in 2016 after the Illinois judge “dealt Martin a major setback in the case,” according to the report by ProPublica, noted by Bloomberg Law’s Wake Up Call. Martin is filling the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia position on an acting basis.

Gray’s posts on the judge’s Facebook page called the judge a “politician” with the “lowest rating for a judge in Illinois.”

Martin had urged Gray to call the judge’s actions “unfair and rigged over and over,” according to ProPublica. He also urged Gray to privately message the judge, the article reports.

The judge was presiding in a case seeking to oust Martin from association with a grassroots group that he once headed, the Eagle Forum. The plaintiff was Anne Schlafly Cori, an Eagle Forum board member who was the daughter of the group’s founder, Phyllis Schlafly.

The truth about Martin’s involvement in the criticism “emerged as Cori’s lawyers gathered evidence for her lawsuit,” according to ProPublica.

President Donald Trump has nominated Martin, who has no prosecution experience, to remain in the U.S. attorney position. Martin did not respond to ProPublica’s requests for comment. Gray also declined to comment to the publication.

Andy Schlafly, a former Eagle Forum board member who supported Martin, told ProPublica that Gray “speaks for herself” and had every right to express her outrage. He also said no court has ever sanctioned Martin for his “First Amendment advocacy.”

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3. House committee drops information request…

Education Law

House committee drops information request about law clinics amid ‘ongoing negotiations’ with Northwestern

By Debra Cassens Weiss

April 14, 2025, 10:59 am CDT

The U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Education and Workforce has withdrawn its request for information on law clinics at the Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law, citing “ongoing negotiations” with the university and an intent to pursue “other means of inquiry.”

The committee withdrew the request Thursday during an emergency hearing in federal court in Chicago, a day after two law professors filed a lawsuit challenging the request.

A letter filed with the court April 10 said the withdrawal was based on the committee’s “ongoing negotiations with Northwestern University” related to alleged antisemitism, Law360 reports.

“We expect to pursue other means of inquiry in coming weeks as part of Congress’ oversight authority under the U.S. Constitution,” the April 10 letter adds.

The committee had initially sought information in a March 27 letter that expressed concern about antisemitism and funding of “left-wing advocacy with its institutional resources,” raising “significant concerns about the university’s role as a steward of taxpayer dollars.”

The suit alleged that the information request violated two clinical law professors’ First Amendment right to freedom of speech and association and their right to petition for redress of grievances. The suit also alleged retaliation for expression of First Amendment rights and violation of their clients’ Fifth Amendment and Sixth Amendment rights.

“Here, defendants threaten federal funding to Northwestern based on the viewpoints and associations of plaintiffs and their clients,” the suit said. “Defendants are leveraging funding to regulate speech on the basis of viewpoint and content.”

The committee’s request for information from Northwestern University was one of five information requests sent to colleges March 27, according to a press release announcing the committee’s retreat.

The suit plaintiffs are Sheila A. Bedi and Lynn Cohn, who work with programs operating within Northwestern University’s Bluhm Legal Clinic. Bedi is the director of the Community Justice and Civil Rights Clinic, while Cohn is a clinical law professor at the Center on Negotiation, Mediation, and Restorative Justice.

Jon Yates, a Northwestern University spokesman, previously said Bedi’s civil rights clinic represents clients across the political and legal spectrum, and cases chosen by the clinic don’t necessarily reflect the views of the school.

Yates also said the school is collaborating with the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law “to fight antisemitism.”

The case is Bedi v. U.S. House Committee on Education and Workforce.

Publications covering the dropped request, in addition to Law360, include Reuters and the Daily Northwestern.

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3. Former Girardi Keese CFO ordered to pay over…

Criminal Justice

Former Girardi Keese CFO ordered to pay over $8.9M in restitution, serve prison time for embezzlement

By Debra Cassens Weiss

April 15, 2025, 11:32 am CDT

The former chief financial officer for the now-defunct law firm Girardi Keese was sentenced Friday to 121 months in federal prison for embezzling money from the firm and its clients.

Christopher Kazuo Kamon, 51, was also ordered to pay more than $8.9 million in restitution, according to a April 11 press release. He had pleaded guilty in October 2024 to two counts of wire fraud in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

U.S. District Judge Josephine L. Staton of the Central District of California said during the sentencing hearing that Kamon helped build a “web of deceit and manipulation.” Kamon had worked closely with former name partner Tom Girardi, who was convicted in August 2024 on four counts of wire fraud for or stealing $15 million from four clients over the course of a decade.

Girardi, who has been disbarred, was famous for his legal team’s portrayal in the film Erin Brockovich and for his marriage to Erika Girardi, who has appeared on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills reality TV show.

Law360, Law.com and Reuters are among the publications with coverage of Kamon’s sentence.

During the hearing, Staton described the relationship between Kamon and Girardi as “symbiotic,” according to Law.com.

According to Law.com, “Staton’s voice shook slightly as she described, in detail, the disastrous financial situations of two of Girardi’s injured clients: a family who, as a result of Girardi’s main fraud scheme, was unable to purchase a house large enough to house the equipment necessary to care for their quadriplegic child and a widowed client who—after being assured by the firm that her embezzled settlement would pay off her house—was later forced to take out a home equity loan and sell it.”

Kamon is also facing federal charges in Illinois for allegedly stealing money from relatives of air crash victims. Kamon’s lawyer, Michael Severo, told Law360 that a nearly finalized plea deal would allow Kamon to serve his sentence in the Illinois case concurrently with the California sentence.

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3. Conservative group sues ABA over Legal Opportunity…

Diversity

Conservative group sues ABA over Legal Opportunity Scholarship Fund program

By Debra Cassens Weiss

April 17, 2025, 12:36 pm CDT

A group led by a conservative activist has filed a lawsuit alleging that an ABA scholarship program engages in “blatant discrimination” in violation of federal law.

The April 12 suit filed by the American Alliance for Equal Rights, a nonprofit organization, says the scholarships are contractual in nature, and their restrictions on eligibility violate Section 1981 of the Civil Rights Act, which bans discrimination in contracting.

The ABA is represented by Jenner & Block, one of the law firms targeted in a punitive executive order by President Donald Trump, Bloomberg Law reports. Jenner & Block has filed a suit challenging the order against it.

The suit by conservative activist Edward Blum’s group targets the ABA’s Legal Opportunity Scholarship Fund, which awards $15,000 scholarships to select incoming law students. Applicants must be members of underrepresented racial or ethnic minorities, such as Black/African Americans, Native Americans, Hispanic Americans and Asian/Pacific Islanders, according to the suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

“Even if the scholarship did not flatly exclude whites on its face,” the suit says, “the scholarship discriminates against whites in application and by design.”

The suit seeks a declaration that the scholarships violate Section 1981, an injunction barring the ABA from considering race or ethnicity in the program, an order to reopen the application process using neutral criteria, and nominal damages.

Another organization that Blum created, Students for Fair Admissions, won a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in June 2023 that struck down race-conscious admissions programs in higher education.

The American Alliance for Equal Rights is represented by Lawfair and Consovoy McCarthy.

The goal of the new suit, Blum said in a statement, “is not to eliminate ABA’s scholarships but to ensure they are based on legitimate criteria, such as financial need or merit, rather than race.”

The ABA does not comment on active litigation, according to Jim Walsh, the chief communications officer and associate executive director of the ABA.

Publications covering the suit include Law.com, Law360, Reuters and Bloomberg Law.

See also:

Activist who succeeded in ending affirmative action targets law firms’ diversity efforts

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3. Once-homeless University of Chicago law grad…

Homelessness

Once-homeless University of Chicago law grad getting treatment, hopes to return to law practice

By Debra Cassens Weiss

March 19, 2025, 12:41 pm CDT

A University of Chicago Law School graduate who lived for two years on the streets of Los Angeles has moved back home with his mother in Virginia and hopes to resume law practice.

Rob Dart moved home in January and has been taking anti-psychotic medication for more than three months, the Wall Street Journal reports. He is taking online continuing legal education classes and hopes to regain his law license.

The Wall Street Journal had chronicled efforts by Dart’s family to help him in articles published this month and in May 2024. He began hearing voices when he was 35 years old and returned to his mother’s home at that time. He received medication and therapy for two years but quit treatment in 2022 during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dart ended up homeless in Los Angeles. His sister and mother had traveled to California to try to help him, but he often rejected them.

The Wall Street Journal’s coverage spurred some people to offer help. One reader set up a tab for Dart at a coffee shop. Another connected Dart’s family with a psychiatrist affiliated with a Pasadena, California, hospital who said he would treat Dart when he was willing to accept help.

Late last year, Dart began treatment at the hospital. But during the wildfires in Los Angeles earlier this year, Dart successfully petitioned for release. Days later, he agreed to return to his mother’s home and began treatment.

Online records indicate that Dart was admitted to law practice in Illinois in 2004 and in California in 2009. He was suspended in California for failure to meet state CLE requirements in 2022 and for failure to pay fees in 2023. He also failed to show compliance with Illinois CLE requirements and was last registered there in 2022.

Dart’s last registered address with Illinois attorney regulators was at the Wilshire Law Firm in Los Angeles.

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3. Merely misleading statements aren’t illegal…

U.S. Supreme Court

Merely misleading statements aren’t illegal under false statements law, Supreme Court says

By Debra Cassens Weiss

March 24, 2025, 3:41 pm CDT

A federal law that makes it a crime to knowingly make false statements to influence the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. does not punish statements that are merely misleading, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Friday.

The high court ruled for Patrick Daley Thompson, a lawyer and a former alderman who is the grandson of former Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley and the nephew of former Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, SCOTUSblog reports. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the unanimous March 21 decision.

According to SCOTUSblog, the decision “was the most recent of a series of rulings over the past several years in which the court has pushed back against a broader reading of federal criminal laws by prosecutors.”

Other publications covering the opinion include Law360, WBEZ, the Chicago Tribune and the New York Times.

Thompson had received three loans totaling $219,000 from the Washington Federal Bank for Savings over a three-year period. The first loan of $110,000 was used to make an equity payment to his law firm. The second loan was for $20,000, and the third loan was for $89,000. The FDIC became responsible for collecting outstanding loans after the bank failed in 2017.

Thompson told the FDIC’s loan servicer and two FDIC contractors that he had borrowed $110,000. Thompson maintained that his statement was misleading but not false because he referred only to the first $110,000 loan. He later agreed to settle the debt for $219,000.

Thompson was convicted in February 2022, and the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at Chicago affirmed. The Supreme Court vacated the appellate decision.

“Given that some misleading statements are also true, it is significant that the statute uses only the word ‘false,’” Roberts wrote in the unanimous opinion. “In casual conversation, people use many overlapping words to describe shady statements: false, misleading, dishonest, deceptive, literally true and more. Only one of those words appears in the statute.”

The Supreme Court did not decide whether the conviction could be upheld because Thompson’s statement was false. The issue can be addressed on remand, Roberts said.

Thompson has already served his sentence of four months in prison, according to WBEZ. He was also convicted for filing false tax returns, but that was not an issue in the appeal.

The case is Thompson v. United States.

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An Illinois man was arrested for allegedly attacking a pregnant woman with a lit “blunt” — also known as a marijuana cigar — which he allegedly forced her to swallow in a strange midday assault that also saw him try to clean the victim’s feet for some reason, cops say.

“I need to wash your feet,” Benjamin Schroeder, 25, allegedly told the woman before forcing her to take down the scorching hot cigar, which left burns in her throat, according to the local ABC affiliate WTVO.

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3. Parade shooter signed his trial waiver ‘Donald…

Criminal Justice

Parade shooter signed his trial waiver ‘Donald Trump;’ will it make a difference?

By Debra Cassens Weiss

March 6, 2025, 12:25 pm CST

An Illinois man accused of killing seven people and wounding 48 others at a 2022 Fourth of July parade in suburban Chicago pleaded guilty to all charges Monday, but he did not sign his name to a trial waiver.

Robert Crimo III of Illinois signed his name as “Donald Trump,” but that shouldn’t affect his oral guilty plea, legal experts told the Chicago Sun-Times.

“He can sign Mickey Mouse or Donald Trump,” Richard Kling, a professor at the Chicago-Kent College of Law at the Illinois Institute of Technology, told the newspaper. The important thing, Kling said, is the transcript of Crimo’s oral guilty plea showing that a judge “asked the magic questions, and he gave the magic answers.”

Defense lawyer Adam Sheppard agreed with that assessment but said the Trump signature could raise questions about Crimo’s ability to understand he was waiving trial.

“The fact that he used the president’s name may raise an eyebrow in terms of fitness,” Sheppard told the Chicago Sun-Times.

During the plea hearing, prosecutors summarized key evidence against Crimo in the 2022 shooting in Highland Park, Illinois, according to previous coverage by the Lake County News-Sun via the Chicago Tribune. He was spotted dropping a semiautomatic rifle covered in cloth after the shooting, DNA linked him to the crime, and he had confessed on videotape.

Still ongoing are civil lawsuits filed by victims and their families. Defendants include Crimo’s father, who sponsored his son’s Firearm Owner’s Identification card, and the Illinois State Police, which approved the application. Other defendants include Smith & Wesson and the companies that sold the weapon.

See also:

After deadly shootings, ABA House pushes for tighter gun controls

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3. Former Duane Morris partner arrested on outstanding…

Criminal Justice

Former Duane Morris partner arrested on outstanding warrant related to Michigan assault case

By Debra Cassens Weiss

March 10, 2025, 3:16 pm CDT

Updated: A former Duane Morris partner was arrested on an outstanding Michigan warrant at his condo in Chicago’s South Loop on Friday, the same building where his wife’s body was found in a stairwell in October 2024.

Adam Beckerink, 46, was ordered extradited to Michigan at a court hearing Monday, the Chicago Tribune reports.

The warrant was based on charges of domestic abuse and assaulting police officers arising from incidents at the home in Berrien County, Michigan, where Beckerink’s wife, 36-year-old Caitlin Tracey, lived before her death, WGN-TV reports.

Initial media reports said the warrant was issued after Beckerink did not show up for a pretrial hearing in the Michigan case in October 2024. He also missed his trial that was set to happen days later, the reports said.

But Chicago police said the warrant was for alleged violation of pretrial conditions in the Michigan case, without providing further information, the Chicago Sun-Times reports.

Beckerink has not been charged in Tracey’s death. But in the extradition hearing Monday, Cook County Assistant State’s Attorney Danny Hanichak referred to Beckerink as a suspect, according to the Chicago Tribune.

Beckerink’s lawyer, Jonathan Brayman, said Monday and at a court hearing Saturday the warrant was not valid, according to the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Sun-Times.

Brayman said Monday that his client had attended all his hearings and had not violated any conditions of pretrial release, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

Beckerink “is the absolute opposite of a fugitive from justice,” Brayman said on Monday, pointing out that Beckerink was arrested at home.

Beckerink was ousted from Duane Morris after the law firm became aware of domestic violence allegations against him made in court proceedings, including allegations made by his wife when she obtained an order of protection against Beckerink in 2023.

See also:

Duane Morris partner ousted after wife found dead in stairwell and her parents allege domestic violence

Judge denies bid by former Duane Morris partner to stop his wife’s funeral

Updated March 11 at 8:02 a.m. to add lawyer Jonathan Brayman’s assertion that former Duane Morris partner Adam Beckerink had attended all court hearings in Michigan.

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