A mother found stabbed to death at a Utah vacation home last month was killed by her own teenage daughter and her friend, police said.

In a press release from the Washington County Attorney’s Office, the Washington City Police Department provided the names of two suspects identified as the alleged killers of 47-year-old Andreea Mottram. Mihaela Gabriela Sorescu, 16, who also uses the name Bella, is Mottram’s daughter. The other suspect, Abigael Paige Flanagan, 17, who also uses the name Jay, was also staying at the home at the time. Police said in probable cause affidavits for both girls that they are “unaccounted for at this time.”

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Obituaries

Federal judge who ‘despised obituaries written by funeral home hacks’ wrote his own

By Debra Cassens Weiss

April 4, 2024, 9:27 am CDT

Senior U.S. District Judge Roger Hugh Lawson Jr. wanted to make sure that his obituary didn’t include trite phrases, such as a declaration that the memory of the deceased would be “forever treasured.” Anyone who wrote that “should be shot,” according to Lawson.

Lawson “despised obituaries written by funeral home hacks,” so he wrote his own, he explained in an obituary published after his death March 29 at age 82.

Law360 has the story on Lawson, a federal judge in the Middle District of Georgia, who had many interests outside the law, including fishing, camping and “piddling around on his farm.”

Lawson’s first experience as a judge was on a Georgia superior court in a district that included his hometown of Hawkinsville, Georgia.

He had once “entertained ambitions to be translated to the Supreme Court of Georgia,” the obituary said. “In this, he was spectacularly unsuccessful, but as is often the case, the cloud of this failure had a silver lining.”

Then-President Bill Clinton appointed him to the federal bench.

“Judge Lawson later acknowledged his debt to Gov. Zell Miller for thrice declining to appoint him to the supreme court.”

Lawson’s first job was in his father’s law office.

“To say that they had a good time together would be like describing the Mormon Tabernacle Choir as a vocal group,” he wrote. “They handled anything that came through the door, except bankruptcy and tax matters. They worked hard, were unusually successful, abused tobacco, and (if they felt the occasion warranted) drank a good deal of whiskey. All in all, it was a great life.”

Lawson was “fond of quoting his father’s observation that there are only two things a man needs to know to keep women happy, but no one knows what they are.” He was married twice and had three children with his first wife.

“In 1977,” the obituary said, Lawson “discovered that Indiana was a hotbed of classy, high-octane, low-maintenance women, and on Dec. 25 of that year, he married Barbara Boots of Crawfordsville, who proved to be as advertised. She was a domestic paragon, a dedicated musician and the ideal wife. Her ebullient disposition, delight in domestic creativity and insistence on cleanliness and order resulted in a haven of tranquility, pleasure and repose for her husband and family. She brought as dowry three more small but loud and hyperactive children. Dowry notwithstanding, Judge Lawson said that as he had underwritten the expense of raising and educating all these children, they all belonged to him, and he loved them equally. In fact, he said, each was his favorite child.”

Lawson was an active member of the Hawkinsville First United Methodist Church, and he was a member of many clubs.

“He was a Mason, a Shriner, a Rotarian and a member of the Gridiron Secret Society,” the obituary said. “He enjoyed initiations.”

“Judge Lawson lived his life with few regrets,” the obituary said. “He admitted to frequent mistakes, paid for them and moved on having learned his lessons without dwelling on the tortures of hindsight. He conducted his affairs with the confidence of a Christian holding four aces.”

His last conscious thought was, “Barbara,” he wrote.

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3. Lawyer who wrote on ethics issues is suspended…

Ethics

Lawyer who wrote on ethics issues is suspended after he is accused of helping client hide assets

By Debra Cassens Weiss

March 7, 2024, 12:49 pm CST

An Iowa lawyer has received a two-year suspension for helping a client hide money from creditors and for “furtively” inserting a provision into a custody agreement.

The Iowa Supreme Court suspended 68-year-old lawyer David L. Leitner of Iowa in a Dec. 8 opinion, according to a March 4 story by the Iowa Capital Dispatch.

Leitner had argued that his ethics articles had contributed to the profession and should be taken into account by ethics regulators. The Iowa Supreme Court’s Attorney Disciplinary Board had responded that the assertion is “particularly eyebrow-raising when his misconduct involves financial fraud,” according to the Iowa Capital Dispatch.

The disciplinary board allegations against Leitner were deemed to be admitted because he did not respond to the initial complaint.

The hidden money case involved Leitner’s representation of an Iowa seed dealer who was convicted of bankruptcy fraud in 2007 for hiding assets. Leitner allegedly created a company for the seed dealer in 2013. Leitner made himself the managing member of the company, allowing the seed dealer to send part of his income to the company while hiding it from the government, which was owed about $71,000.

Although Leitner made himself the contact for the seed dealer’s corporation, neither he nor his client converted funds from anyone, the state supreme court acknowledged.

“Moreover, the record does not show that the federal government or any other creditor was actually trying to collect [the seed dealer’s] receivables,” the state supreme court said. “And so the record does not show that the federal government or any other creditor was actually deceived or otherwise hampered in its efforts to collect. At most, the record shows that [the client] and Leitner hoped to deceive any creditors who might
try to collect.”

Leitner was also accused in a second disciplinary count of “furtively” adding a stipulation to a custody agreement. An opposing lawyer had crafted a PDF of the agreement based on terms adopted in a mediation and had sent it to Leitner. Unbeknownst to the opposing lawyer, Leitner added a provision giving his client a “first right of refusal” to care for his minor child whenever his ex-wife couldn’t do so, according to the allegations.

Leitner’s client signed the modified agreement, and it was returned to the opposing counsel. The modified agreement was then filed with the district court.

Other counts in the disciplinary complaint alleged that Leitner violated rules regarding conflicts of interest, contact with represented parties and client trust accounts.

The Iowa Supreme Court cited two aggravating factors. Although Leitner acknowledged trust account issues, he had not taken responsibility “for his worst behavior,” the state supreme court said. He had also made misleading statements about reaching an agreement on a suspension.

In mitigation, Leitner had no disciplinary history. Leitner had also provided pro bono and reduced-fee representation and had accepted appointments for indigent criminal defendants.

A lawyer for Leitner, David L. Brown, did not immediately respond to an ABA Journal email requesting comment. The phone number for Leitner’s law office was not taking messages.

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3. Law prof who wrote about ‘the law school…

Law Professors

Law prof who wrote about ‘the law school scam’ settles discrimination suit for $160K

By Debra Cassens Weiss

February 21, 2024, 8:19 am CST

A University of Colorado Law School professor who blogged at Inside the Law School Scam has settled his June 2023 lawsuit alleging pay discrimination and retaliation.

The law school will pay $160,000, with $60,000 going to law professor Paul Campos and $100,000 to his attorney, Law.com reports.

He will also report to a person other than Lolita Buckner Innis, the law school’s dean.

The Denver Post and Above the Law also have coverage.

Campos had alleged pay discrimination based on his Latino ethnicity and retaliation for raising concerns about pay and unfair treatment.

When he filed the suit, Campos told the ABA Journal that he has had “a bullseye” on his back for comments that he made criticizing the law school’s financing. He said the law school spends twice as much as it generates in revenue. Additionally, in 2014, the Atlantic published a feature that he wrote, “The Law School Scam,” which focused on for-profit schools.

The university said in a statement it had been in negotiations with Campos to resolve the dispute since before the suit was filed. Campos dismissed claims against Innis and Philip DiStefano, the university’s chancellor, the university told publications covering the settlement.

“We do not typically speak to personnel matters, but given that the university denies any wrongdoing, we will not have a change in leadership,” university spokesperson Nicole Mueksch told the Denver Post.

Campos had alleged violations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Section 1981 of the Civil Rights Act of 1966.

Campos blogged about the settlement in three posts at the Lawyers, Guns & Money blog here, here and here.

“Too often, the details of this kind of story are never told because of a nondisclosure agreement, which is something I wasn’t willing to consider,” he wrote.

Campos said Innis had refused to review the recommendation of a peer review committee that gave him a bad annual review, “even though I had had an excellent year in terms of all conventional metrics of evaluation.” He alleges that the faculty peer review committee used “an arbitrary and standardless process” to evaluate faculty members.

The dean then engaged in “a series of egregious retaliatory acts after my lawyer sent the university a letter putting it on notice that we were considering filing a lawsuit,” he alleges.

Campos said he was kicked off an important committee and removed from teaching a class.

Campos told the Denver Post that he was “extremely happy” with the settlement.

“I got substantial compensation, and more important than that, I had [Innis] removed as my supervisor permanently,” he said.