A Harvard Law School professor is in hot water over deposition excerpts he posted to an Internet blogging site. In a July 7 order, Judge Nancy Gertner demanded that professor Charles Nesson explain why he violated previous orders prohibiting deposition recordings in a copyright infringement case from being posted on the Internet. Nesson is representing a college student accused of violating copyright laws through illegal music downloads.

A New Jersey county’s insurance company is refusing to pay a multimillion dollar verdict awarded to an accident victim because it says the county mishandled a lawsuit stemming from the accident. State National Insurance Co., the excessive-liability insurance carrier for Camden County, claims that a county attorney did not properly prepare for trial or adequately update the insurer on the case. In 2008, a jury awarded $31 million to the victim after concluding that the county failed to properly maintain the road where the accident occurred

A federal judge heatedly scolded prosecutors in the criminal trial of W. R. Grace Monday for their mishandling of the case. At a hearing, Judge Donald W. Molloy questioned the prosecutors’ judgment, ethics and tactics. Attorneys for Grace and five of its executives, accused of knowingly contaminating the small town of Libby, Mont., have argued that prosecutors withheld evidence and put on the stand a witness who may have perjured himself.

A federal jury awarded has awarded more than $300,000 to a disabled Montana man who claimed he was harassed by lawyers for a debt collection firm. According to the lawsuit, lawyers with the debt collector’s law firm violated the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and related state law by engaging in abusive, unfair and unlawful debt collection litigation. The award includes $250,000 for emotional distress and $60,000 in punitive damages.

Two attorneys convicted of defrauding clients involved in a fen-phen diet drug case must forfeit $30 million, a federal jury ruled Tuesday. A spokesman for the U.S. Attorneys Office said the money will be used to reimburse clients affected by the fraud. Attorneys William Gallion and Shirley Cunningham bilked about 440 clients out of $94.6 million, according to prosecutors.

A lawsuit filed on behalf of hundreds of kids sentenced to private detention centers should be dismissed, contends one of the judges named in the suit. Former Luzerne County Judge Mark Ciavarella argues that judicial immunity should protect him from the lawsuit despite the fact he pleaded guilty to taking kickbacks in exchange for sentences. The lawsuit claims Ciavarella and others violated the civil rights of the children through the corrupt rulings.

The parents of more than 70 youths jailed by two Pennsylvania judges filed a lawsuit Thursday accusing the judges of denying the juveniles their right to a fair and impartial trial. In the lawsuit, which seeks class-action status, plaintiffs claim that the two judges placed the youthful offenders in juvenile detention centers in return for financial gain. The two judges pleaded guilty earlier this month to charges of taking $2.6 million in kick-backs from private juvenile detention centers.

The families of several hundred youths sentenced to private detention centers filed a class-action lawsuit against two Pennsylvania judges accused of taking kickbacks for harsh sentences. In the lawsuits, the two judges and others are alleged to have engaged in corruption in sentencing juvenile offenders to private detention centers in return for more than $2 million in payoffs. The two judges have both agreed to plead guilty to criminal charges in connection with the case.

In a case that could have major implications for state judicial elections, the United States Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments next month over whether a West Virginia Supreme Court justice should have disqualified himself from a case involving a major campaign contributor. Critics charge that Justice Brent D. Benjamin’s until recent refusal to recuse himself from cases involving Massey Energy give rise to questions of prejudice or worse. However, attorney for Massey suggest that the real intent of the case is to do away with judicial elections.

Ronson is suing the lawyer she hired to stop rumors circulating about her and Lindsay Lohan and he is suing back. The blogs love it.

Martin Garbus is a seasoned attorney from New York men Ronson at a beachside cafe in Santa Monica to discuss being her matter.

Impressing prospective clients is easy for Garbus, whose resume reads like a history of the late 20th century. From the pornography trial against Lenny Bruce to the publishing of the Pentagon Papers to the fatwa against Salman Rushdie, Garbus has handled some of the biggest civil liberties cases in the last five decades. He has dodged segregationists’ bullets in Mississippi, organized migrant workers with Cesar Chavez and helped craft the Czech Republic’s Constitution.

Samantha Ronson is a professional DJ recently thrust into the gossip blogosphere for her rumored romance with actress Lindsay Lohan. Ronson, 31, was enraged by some particularly nasty stories posted online about her relationship with Lohan and wanted to sue.

Ronson agreed to hire him at the rate of $750 an hour.

That first meeting is now a distant memory and the defamation suit meant to discourage scandal-mongering blogs has turned into a costly and humiliating fiasco that has provided more gossip fodder.

For months now, Ronson and Garbus have been locked in their own ugly legal battle: She is suing him for malpractice; he is countersuing to recover his fees.

Ronson, in her malpractice suit, she alleged that Garbus, despite his renown, bungled her case with sloppy work and then abandoned her when she wouldn’t pay a bill she found excessive.

Meanwhile, Garbus lays the blame at Ronson’s feet, saying she scuttled a sensible settlement.

Now the fight between this lawyer and this celebrity — he’s appeared before the Supreme Court; she appears in Us Weekly — threatens to expose information about Lohan and Ronson that bloggers could only dream about.

Garbus’ attorneys have identified Lohan as the most critical witness in the case besides the two litigants and have requested information concerning their relationship, finances, possible drug use and alleged rehab stays. In one measure of how far his defense plans to go, they have asked for copies of every text message and e-mail between the women over the last two years.

A trial is scheduled for May in Los Angeles.

Another wrinkle: A one-car crash: Lohan’s Mercedes-Benz versus some shrubs in Beverly Hills on May 26, 2007. Police reported finding a small amount of cocaine in her car. The actress eventually entered rehab and pleaded guilty to driving under the influence.