The National Law Journal's L.A. Legal Pad

Hell's Angel jacket gets potential juror booted from San Diego court

A Hell's Angel got booted from San Diego Superior Court because of his clothes, CBS 8 reported.

When Timothy Timms showed up for jury duty last week, court security asked him to remove his motorcycle club jacket or leave.

Officials apologized for the court security, telling CBS 8 that security mistook an order banning Hell's Angels clothing from the courtroom in a single case involving the group to be a broader rule affecting the entire courthouse.

Timms told CBS 8 he wasn't sure if he was going to take legal action.

DA makes $1.1 settlement with three of the nation's biggest insurance firms

A $1.1 million settlement with three of the nation's largest insurance firms accused of paying an insurance broker hundreds of thousands of dollars to send people their way, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported.

“These large insurance companies were lining the pockets of a San Diego insurance broker [at Universal Life Resources] in exchange for sending business their way,” said San Diego District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis said in a press release. “The kickbacks and hidden fees were secretly being passed along to the consumer, who was the loser in this scheme.”

MetLife, Prudential and Unum didn't admit liability in the case, prosecuted jointly by district attorneys in San Diego, Los Angeles and Alameda. MetLife will pay $500,000. Prudential will pay $350,000. Unum will pay $250,000.

Man sentenced to six years in prison for posing as JAG lawyer

A man was sentenced to six years in state prison for stealing the identify of a U.S. Army lawyer and illegally practicing law in Southern California, the Associated Press reported.

Rigoberto Vazquez also must pay $35,900 in restitution for assuming the identity of Judge Advocate General Maj. Robert Vasquez from 2005 to 2006, representing clients in courts in Los Angeles, Downey, Pomona, Torrance and Santa Ana.

Vasquez is charged with four counts of grand theft over legal fees charged to clients as well as one count each of identity theft, residential burglary and false impersonation.

Los Angeles District Attorney's Office -- Press Release

State Bar raids Montebello company for alleged legal services without law license

The State Bar of California and the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office shut down a Montebello company accused of providing immigration legal services without a law license.

The raid of RZ Services took place on Monday and the company's owner Romina Aida Zadorian was arrested and charged with 46 counts of grand theft, four of forgery and one of identity theft, according to a state bar press release.

A petition by the State Bar alleges that Zadorian is not a licensed California attorney or a duly bonded immigration consultant, yet she provided a variety of immigration related legal services.

The raid took place after the State Bar got an interim order under a January 2006 law (Business and Professions Code Section 6126.3) which allows a judge to grant the bar jurisdiction of a law practice if its being illegally run and other will be harmed if it continues to run.

Carona corruption trial delay until August

The corruption trial of former Orange County Sheriff Michael Carona was pushed back by two months to Aug. 26, the Orange County Register reported.

U.S. District Court Judge Andrew Guilford ruled last week that granting the continuance was necessary to ensure the defense had enough time to prepare. Prosecutors didn't oppose the defense request, reported the O.C. Register.

Pre-trial hearings were also set for tomorrow, May 19 and Aug. 18.

Sources say Milberg is in settlement talks

Milberg is in settlement talks with federal prosecutors in its illegal kickback case, Reuters reported, citing unnamed sources.

Prosecutors allege that Milberg, formerly known as Milberg Weiss, and seven of its partners obtained $250 million in attorney fees by paying illegal kickbacks to name plaintiffs over the past 25 years.

UCLA Law launches $100M endowment for scholarships, faculty, clinical programs

The University of California—Los Angeles School of Law has launched a $100 million endowment campaign to support scholarships, faculty and clinical programs related to public policy.

Announced April 29 by UCLA School of Law Dean Michael Schill, the campaign is the official start to a fundraising effort that already has resulted in substantial gifts to the school, including a $6 million donation from Michael and Joanne Masin to provide scholarships to 12 top performers after their first year of law school.

Relying on private donations has become increasingly important for the school because of declining support from the State of California, which as dwindled to about 37% of the law school's resources.

The campaign will support the development of clinics and programs that focus on business law and policy, law and philosophy, racial studies, intellectual property and more.

UCLA School of Law was founded in 1949 and is a relatively young institution compared with its competitors. With about 970 students, tuition is $25,457 for residents and $36,381 for nonresidents, according to the American Bar Association-Law School Admission Council Official Guide to ABA-Approved law schools.

The campaign is scheduled to close in December 2012.

-- Leigh Jones

Jerry Brown announces plan to search DNA database for potential relatives of criminals

California Attorney General Jerry Brown announced a plan to track down more violent criminals by searching its DNA for potential relatives of violent criminals.

Police in Britain reported a 10 to 14 percent success rate using these partial DNA matches, United Press International reported.

California would be a leader in such searches, as most states don't vigorously pursue partial DNA matches, the Los Angeles Times reported.

“California will help local law enforcement catch violent criminals by providing, under special circumstances, the identity of a person in the DNA database who is the close relative of a suspect,” Brown told the California District Attorneys Association at their annual DNA/Cold Case Summit, according to a press release.

Civil liberties groups like the ACLU raise privacy concerns and are questioning the legality of the new policy, including the plan to open the database to include people arrested without being convicted.

Brown says that there are multiple conditions that show care before releasing a relative's identity, including a meetings between police and prosecutors that find it vital and all other leads exhausted.

The some legal scholars and the FBI officials that oversee the national database network are also concerned that courts will rule it an unreasonable search, the Times reported.

U.S. Supreme Court OKs state voter ID law - won't affect CA but could affect election

The U.S. Supreme Court upheld Indiana's law requiring voter's to bring government issued photo ID card, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

The ruling could have some effect on the 2008 presidential election in states with strict voter ID laws that includes Indiana, Arizona, Georgia and Florida, the Chronicle reported.

However, California won't likely be affected, 10 News reported. (WATCH) While similar voter ID bills are regularly proposed by Republican state legislators who claim it would stop election fraud, Democrats have rejected the bill, claiming many poor, disabled and elderly people would be deterred from voting.

Read more on the decision here

Colorado paralegal charged for alleged bankruptcy services fraud in L.A.

A Colorado-based paralegal Emmanuel Assaf was charged for allegedly advertising and providing legal services that without a licensed attorney's supervision, charging more than $200, the Associated Press reported.

Assaf faces is charged with conspiracy, financial elder abuse, grand theft, false advertising and misleading advertising as a paralegal, as well as two counts of unauthorized practice of law - carrying a maximum sentence of 4.5 years and over $15,000 in fines, if convicted.

"Some non-attorneys perform a legitimate service...Unfortunately, however, we frequently learn about consumers in need of debt relief who turn to a non-attorney bankruptcy petition preparer who
improperly provides legal advice that causes the consumers irreparable harm," said Peter Anderson, a U.S. Trustee to the Central District of California, in a press release from the City Attorney's Office.