2014 In Review: Thanks To All For Another Fun Year!
Posted: January 2, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a commentThe WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2014 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 28,000 times in 2014. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 10 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.
Click here to see the complete report.
Buffkin To Take Bronin’s Spot As Governor’s Legal Counsel
Posted: December 29, 2014 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a commentGovernor Malloy announced today that Karen Buffkin, currently deputy secretary of the Office of Policy and Management, will become his new legal counsel, assuming the position that Luke Bronin has held for the past two years.
I’ve had the opportunity to work with Karen while she has been at OPM and, before that, when she was legal counsel for the Comptroller (then Nancy Wyman). She is sharp as a tack and knows, through years of experience, how law and politics work in the Nutmeg state. She’ll be a source of sound, wise counsel for the governor.
Let me also take this opportunity to wish Luke the best of luck at Hinkley Allen (and beyond). Our professional paths crossed on several occasions and he never failed to impress. The governor was very fortunate to have him as his legal counsel. And if rumors of his political aspirations are true, the residents of the City of Hartford would be equally fortunate to have him as their mayor.
Talking About Prior Restraints On “The Wheelhouse”
Posted: December 4, 2014 Filed under: General Law | Tags: first amendment, john danosky, prior restraint, the wheelhouse, wnpr Leave a commentWNPR’s John Dankosky invited me to join him yesterday for a segment of his weekly political roundtable, The Wheelhouse, with Colin McEnroe and other guests. The subject: a Superior Court judge’s issuance of an injunction against the Connecticut Law Tribune to bar it from publishing a story about a child protection case in Juvenile Court. (Disclosure: I represent the Law Trib in the case.)
Click here to listen to the show. (My segment starts at 19:48 into the program.)
Thanks for having me on The Wheelhouse for two consecutive weeks John!
There’s A New Legal Blog In Town. . . .
Posted: December 4, 2014 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a commentFellow appellate advocate Dan Krisch has just joined the legal blogosphere with his new blog, Holding Court. Dan describes his new blog this way:
Life moves so quickly nowadays that we often fail to observe and analyze what is important. Most of all, we fail to think, to reason, to question and to discuss as the world whirls by us. This blog is my contribution to remedying that lack — my thoughts on (mostly) legal issues and trends … with the occasional seasoning of references to music, art and pop culture as the spirit moves me.
Dan’s most recent post, “Transparency, Privacy and Prior Restraint,” concerns a small case with which I have some familiarity, one involving a Superior Court judge’s recent decision to grant an injunction–a “prior restraint”–against the Connecticut Law Tribune publishing a story about a child protection matter.
Dan loves the law, knows the law and loves to write about the law. I look forward to more posts. Welcome to the blogosphere Dan!
Yes, I Am Ari Klau’s Father, Ctd.
Posted: November 30, 2014 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a commentMy apologies for another divergence from the usual subject of this blog to give another shout out to my son, Ari Klau, a senior at William Hall High School in West Hartford, CT, who placed third yesterday in the 2014 Foot Locker Northeast Regionals at Van Cortland Park in New York!!! Ari completed the 5000m course in 15:36. His third place finish (out of 158 runners) earned him a trip to San Diego in two weeks, where the top 40 high school cross country runners from around the country will compete in the Foot Locker National Cross Country Championships.
Discussing The Ferguson Grand Jury, Sen. Maynard And More On The Wheelhouse
Posted: November 30, 2014 Filed under: General Law | Tags: adam lanza, andrew maynard, Donald Williams, ferguson, grand jury, michael brown Leave a commentLast Wednesday was a pre-Thanksgiving treat: WNPR’s John Dankosky invited me to join him, Colin McEnroe and several other guests on his regular Wednesday morning show, The Wheelhouse. We discussed the Ferguson grand jury decision, retiring Senate President Don William’s new gig at the CEA, the Office of the Child Advocate’s report on Adam Lanza, and oh so much more. I had a great time John and Colin. Thanks for inviting me on the show!
CT-N taped the show. If you like to watch people sit in a radio studio and talk to each other, click here.
Senator Maynard And The Oath
Posted: November 21, 2014 Filed under: General Law 2 CommentsQuestions abound about what will happen if State Senator Andrew Maynard, who suffered serious injuries during a fall last August but was nonetheless reelected earlier this month, cannot take the oath of office when the General Assembly convenes in January. This post explores some of the legal issues surrounding those questions. The post is by no means definitive. It is the beginning of my legal exploration of the issue, not the end. I welcome comments.
Appellate Court To Hear Jane Doe Case
Posted: November 18, 2014 Filed under: Appellate Law | Tags: dcf, jane doe Leave a commentThe Connecticut Appellate Court will hear oral arguments this Thursday morning in the case of In re: Angel R., otherwise known as the Jane Doe case. Jane is a transgender youth in the custody of the Department of Children and Families, whose temporary transfer to the York Correctional Institution For Women in Niantic earlier this year provoked strong reactions from many individuals and civil rights groups. The appeal focuses on the constitutionality of a rarely invoked statute that authorizes a Superior Court judge, under certain circumstances, to transfer a youth in DCF custody to a correctional facility. Two of the briefs in the case are available at this link.
NTSB Rules That Drones Are “Aircraft”
Posted: November 18, 2014 Filed under: General Law | Tags: drones, faa, ntsb 1 CommentFlying a drone over the University of Virginia for the purpose of taking commercial photographs of the university may cost the drone operator $10,000 for violating the Federal Aviation Administration’s prohibition against flying “aircraft” in a reckless or careless manner. (Allegedly the drone operator scared the bejesus out of someone by flying the drone “directly towards an individual standing on a . . . sidewalk causing the individual to take immediate evasive maneuvers so as to avoid being struck by [the] aircraft”; “through a . . . tunnel containing moving vehicles”; “under a crane”; “below tree top level over a tree lined walkway”; “under an elevated pedestrian walkway”; and “within approximately 100 feet of an active heliport.”)
Rep. Cafero And The Judicial Selection Commission
Posted: November 15, 2014 Filed under: General Law 1 CommentAttorney and Hartford Courant columnist Kevin Rennie reports on his blog, Daily Ructions, that outgoing House Minority Leader Lawrence Cafero will soon appear before the Judicial Selection Commission (JSC), which is required by law to evaluate any person seeking appointment as a Superior Court judge. Only persons receiving the JSC’s stamp of approval may be nominated to the bench. Rennie questions whether Cafero is fit for approval as a judge. The members of the JSC will have to decide that issue for themselves based on the relevant criteria (see below).
Appealingly Brief! 