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.]

UK libel laws explained

From The Guardian: UK Libel Laws Explained. At long last!

Sunshine Week: Now open for business

Three announcements today about this year's Sunshine Week, the national initiative to encourage open government.

First, the date is set for March 11-17.

Second, six leading journalists have signed on to serve as regional coordinators:

• New England (CT, ME, MA, NH, RI, VT): Thomas E. Heslin, managing editor for new media, The Providence (RI) Journal.
• Mid-Atlantic (DE, MD, DC, NJ, NY, PA): Tim Franklin, editor and senior vice president, The Baltimore (MD) Sun.
• South (AL, AR, FL, GA, KY, LA, MS, NC, SC, TN, VA, WV): Mark Tomasik, editor, Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers, Stuart, FL.
• Midwest (IL, IN, IA, KS, MI, MN, MO, NE, OH, WS): Tom O’Hara, managing editor, Cleveland Plain Dealer.
• West (CO, ID, MT, NM, ND, OK, SD, TX, UT, WY): Fred Zipp, managing editor, Austin (TX) American-Statesman.
• Far West (AK, AZ, CA, HI, NV, OR, WA): Maureen West, senior editor, Arizona Republic, Phoenix.
  

Third, merchandise bearing the Sunshine Week logo can now be purchased at the Cafe Press Sunshine Week store. Buy shirts, hats, mugs, bags and more, with all proceeds going to support Sunshine Week programs.

Today's announcement is here. Sunshine Week is led by the American Society of Newspaper Editors and supported by a number of media organizations.

Injunction blocks online columnist

The new owner of a small Marin County, Calif., newspaper has won a preliminary injunction blocking the paper's Pulitzer-prize-winning former publisher from writing a column for a Web site that covers news in neighboring Sonoma County, according to a report in the Marin Independent Journal.

Robert Plotkin, who bought the 4,000-circulation Point Reyes Light in November, obtained the injunction blocking Dave Mitchell from posting his column on the site of the Bodega Bay Navigator. Plotkin, a lawyer who formerly worked as a Monterey County prosecutor, claimed that Mitchell's column violated his non-competition agreement. But Mitchell says the ban is an unconstitutional violation of his free speech and that his agreement barred him only from writing for another newspaper within Marin County. The IJ report says that Plotkin and Mitchell have been feuding since a falling-out in February over a news story.

NY man arrested for broadcasting Hizbollah TV

Reuters.com is reporting:

"U.S. authorities have arrested a New York man for broadcasting Hizbollah television station al-Manar, which has been designated a terrorist entity by the U.S. Treasury Department, prosecutors said on Thursday.

"Javed Iqbal, 42, was arrested on Wednesday because his Brooklyn-based company HDTV Ltd. was providing New York-area customers with the Hizbollah-operated channel, federal prosecutors said in a statement."

First Amendment 'podcasts'

The First Amendment Center has introduced a series of podcasts covering First Amendment topics. Recordings include interviews, panel discussions and remarks by journalists, educators and others speaking about the First Amendment, a free press and freedom of information.

(Note to First Amendment Center: Without an RSS feed or subscription mechanism, these really are not "podcasts.")

Podcast: Asia as lawyers' new frontier

Is Asia the next frontier for U.S. lawyers? On this week's legal-affairs podcast Coast to Coast, my cohost J. Craig Williams and I discuss doing business in Asia with two lawyers who have first-hand experience:

• Michael Shimokaji, founder of Shimokaji @ Associates, an Irvine, Calif., IP firm that represents many clients overseas.
• Jay Ponazecki, partner in the Tokyo office of Morrison Foerster, where she handles a broad range of international business transactions.
  

Listen to or download this week's program here.

Supreme Court asked to open TSA directive

SCOTUSblog reports on a petition to the Supreme Court asking it to require the Transportation Security Agency to make public the directive it follows to screen airline passengers. Filed on behalf of plaintiff John Gilmore, the case strikes me as unique for its reliance on due process as a grounds for opening government information. Gilmore filed suit after he was asked to show ID while boarding a domestic flight. TSA refused to provide him with the directive under which it screens passengers, even though it acknowledges the directive's existence and contents. Gilmore's petition claims that it is a violation of due process to impose a legal requirement on an individual and acknowledge the source of the requirement, but withhold its disclosure.

1st Circuit vacates $1M libel verdict

The 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has vacated a $1 million award to a former Maryland assistant state's attorney who claimed he was libeled by The Boston Phoenix newspaper. In Mandel v. The Boston Phoenix, the ciruit court held that the trial court had insufficient evidence when it ruled before trial that the plaintiff was not a public figure.

"We ... vacate the judgment due to the court's premature pretrial decision on the linchpin public-official issue. Summary judgment is proper only when it is appropriately timed — and, given the lack of factual development in the summary judgment record, the timing here was inauspicious."

The 1st Circuit sent the case back to the district court for a new trial.

The case grew out of a 2003 Phoenix report on child-custody disputes involving accusations of child abuse. It included a report on a Maryland custody battle in which Mandel's former wife accused him of being a child molester. On summary judgment, the district court ruled that Mandel was not a public figure. The case went to trial and the jury awarded Mandel $950,000.

[Thanks to How Appealing for the pointer.]

Podcast wraps up Supreme Court term

The most recent installment of the legal affairs podcast Coast to Coast reviews the just-completed Supreme Court term. We have two veteran court watchers as guests: Tony Mauro, Supreme Court reporter for Legal Times and American Lawyer Media, and Rex S. Heinke, head of the national appellate and litigation strategy group of Akin Gump Straus Hauer and Feld. I have more details in my post at Legal Blog Watch.

To listen to this podcast:

• Download the MP3 file.
• Play it now in Windows Media.

Court e-filing: Podcast discusses new survey

On this week's legal-affairs podcast Coast to Coast, we discuss emerging issues in electronic filing of court documents. The program features a sneak preview of findings from the ABA's soon-to-be-released 2006 Legal Technology Survey Report presented by Laura Ikens, senior research specialist the ABA's Legal Technology Resource Center. Also joining us to discuss current trends in e-filing is Tom Mighell, senior counsel and litigation technology support coordinator at Cowles & Thompson in Dallas.

• Play it now.
• MP3 download.
• RSS feed.

An award for my Web column

I am proud to report that my "Web Watch" column in Law Technology News has won the 2006 Silver Tabbie Award for best regular column from Trade Association Business Publications International. I've posted more details at my other blog, LawSites.