International Right to Know Day

Today is the fourth annual International Right to Know Day. Go to FOIANet to track related conferences and activities throughout the world.

Police IA probe public, court says

Police department records of an internal affairs investigation of alleged cheating on a police promotional exam are public, a Superior Court judge in Boston has ruled. The ruling reversed a decision by the state supervisor of public records, who concluded that the records were personnel files and therefore exempt from disclosure under M.G.L. c. 4, s. 7(26)(c). Superior Court Judge Mitchell J. Sikora Jr. wrote:

The Supervisor and the Department appear to argue that the present subject of alleged cheating on a promotional exam constitutes an intramural departmental matter and not a public one. The competence and integrity of a police force are intrinsically public concerns. That concern endures without regard to the identity of a complainant or inquisitor as either a member of the force or a member of the citizenry. Both groups are entitled to know that the police possess the competence and integrity to police themselves.

The decision is Leeman v. Cote, Docket No. 05-5387-A, decided Sept. 18, 2006.

DA says town violated meeting law

The Worcester, Mass., district attorney's office has ruled that a search committee for a new Westborough town counsel violated the state open meeting law when it narrowed a field of 24 applicants to just one, who was then recommended to the Board of Selectmen and hired, the MetroWest Daily News reports today. Assistant DAs Patricia C. Smith and Robert Bender sent a letter to the selectmen saying:

"It is the opinion of the District Attorney's Office that the Search Committee narrowed the field of candidates in executive session beyond what is permitted as preliminary screening. Passing over all but a single candidate in executive session is not 'preliminary screening' and is prohibited."

MetroWest Daily News reporter Sarah Menesale first reported about the closed search process on Sept. 15. (Her article quotes me as saying the search process violated the law.) At the time, the paper's editor-in-chief, Richard K. Lodge, wrote to Worcester District Attorney John J. Conte to register a formal complaint about the search process. Lodge wrote, in part:

"Our complaint stems from our belief that Open Meeting Law was violated when the search committee evaded the requirement they settle on a number of finalists, who would then be publicly identified and interviewed in an open session. The search committee went from 24 applicants in secret to a single finalist in public, thereby shutting out any public access to the process or the qualifications of a pool of finalists."

With the DA's ruling, the search committee will now be required to go back and recommend at least three candidates to the Board of Selectman to be publicly considered in an open session, Menesale reports.

Judiciary OKs OPEN Government Act

The Sunshine in Government Initiative is reporting that the Senate Judiciary Committee approved the OPEN Government Act (S. 394) this morning. The bipartisan bill sponsored by Senators John Cornyn (R-TX) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT) would bring significant reform to the federal Freedom of Information Act. The bill is backed by a broad array of media organizations. The bill would set new deadlines for FOIA responses, require agencies to create FOIA hotlines and tracking systems, create an independent neutral to help resolve FOIA disputes, makes it easier for requesters to recover attorneys' fees if litigation is necessary, and penalizes agencies for delaying responses.

Podcast: The Backdating Backlash

Since it emerged earlier this year that the backdating of stock options was widespread within the high-techology industry, the scandal has grown larger by the day. The SEC said last week that it has more than 100 active investigations into backdating practices, criminal charges have been filed against one company and the U.S. attorney in Northern California has formed a special task force devoted to the practice.

On this week's legal-affairs podcast Coast to Coast, we explore this issue in depth with our guest Steven R. Barth, partner with Foley & Lardner in Milwaukee and chair of the firm's 2006 National Directors Institute on corporate governance issues.

Listen to or download this week's program at Legal Talk Network.

Reminder: MCLE Seminar Tomorrow

As I've mentioned here before, I am on the faculty of a Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education seminar, Public Records and Open Meeting Laws, which is tomorrow, Sept. 21, 9 a.m. to noon, at the MCLE conference center, 10 Winter Place, Boston.

Chair of the seminar is Kimberly Keyes, a lawyer at Prince, Lobel, Glovsky & Tye. Other faculty members are Loretta M. Lillios, assistant Middlesex County district attorney responsible for open meeting enforcement; Susan M. Prosnitz, general counsel to the Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety; Jeffrey J. Pyle, also with Prince Lobel; and David S. Tobin, of Tobin, Sullivan, Fay & Grunebaum.

Further details can be found in the brochure.

Podcast: Vioxx trials update

With the next federal Vioxx trial set to begin today, the legal-affairs podcast Coast to Coast discusses the latest in Vioxx litigation. Our guests are two prominent lawyers representing plaintiffs in these cases, Thomas V. Girardi of Girardi Keese in Los Angeles and J. Paul Sizemore from the firm Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles in Montgomery, Ala. Two Merck defense attorneys agreed to be on the show but then withdrew before we recorded the program.

Listen to the program, download the MP3 or subscribe to the program's RSS feed, all at the Legal Talk Network.

CLE on Public Records, Open Meetings

I will be on the faculty of an upcoming Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education seminar, Public Records and Open Meeting Laws. The seminar is Thursday, Sept. 21, 9 a.m. to noon, at the MCLE conference center, 10 Winter Place, Boston.

Chair of the seminar is Kimberly Keyes, a lawyer at Prince, Lobel, Glovsky & Tye. Other faculty members are Loretta M. Lillios, assistant Middlesex County district attorney responsible for open meeting enforcement; Susan M. Prosnitz, general counsel to the Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety; Jeffrey J. Pyle, also with Prince Lobel; and David S. Tobin, of Tobin, Sullivan, Fay & Grunebaum.

Further details can be found in the brochure.

Our one-year pod-iversary!

It's our pod-iversary! The weekly legal-affairs podcast Coast to Coast, which J. Craig Williams and I co-host, turned one last week. To mark the occasion, we recorded a unique Coast to Coast anniversary show in which we turned the mikes on ourselves, along with three special guests, to discuss the lessons we've learned so far about podcasting.

Joining us for this program are two pioneers of legal podcasting: Evan Schaeffer of Evan Schaeffer's Legal Underground and the Legal Underground podcast, and Denise Howell of Bag and Baggage and multiple podcaster at the Bag and Baggage podcast, Sound Policy and the soon-to-debut This Week in Law. Also joining us is someone who is behind the scenes of every episode of Coast to Coast, Lu Ann Reeb, co-founder of the Legal Talk Network and an Emmy-winning producer with more than two decades of experience in TV news.

You can listen to or download our anniversary show here. Keep up with future shows by subscribing to our podcast feed or by subscribing via iTunes.

[Also posted at Legal Blog Watch.]