Lawyer 2 Lawyer

The Securities and Exchange Commission recently filed civil fraud charges against investment bank, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Attorneys and co-hosts, J. Craig Williams and Bob Ambrogi welcome Attorney Jacob S. Frenkel, from Shulman Rogers Gandal Pordy & Ecker, P.A and Attorney Palmer C. Hamilton, a member of the Government Relations Practice Group at Jones Walker, to discuss the details of this lawsuit. They take a look at the SEC’s current role, the impact of the lawsuit, financial regulation legislation and what this means for Wall Street.

As first reported in a series of New York Times articles by reporter Alan Schwartz, researchers have linked pro football careers and concussions with climbing rates of depression, dementia and even Alzheimer’s disease. Attorneys and co-hosts, J. Craig Williams and Robert Ambrogi welcome Christopher Nowinski, President and CEO of the Sports Legacy Institute and Attorney Alan S. Pierce from the Law offices of Alan S. Pierce & Associates and host of Workers’ Comp Matters, to discuss the latest in workers’ comp claims against the NFL. They focus on the long-term effects of concussions from football, the NFL’s role in helping these players, the workers’ comp issues involved and creating public awareness about this serious issue in the NFL and in other sports. For more information on this important issue, including over 100 New York Times articles by Alan Schwarz, click here.

Recently, President Obama appointed two union lawyers, Craig Becker and Mark Pearce to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) creating a labor law controversy. Some say that the addition of Becker and Pearce will restore balance, while others, like business groups, fear their influence on the board will cater to unions on big issues. Co-host and Attorney Bob Ambrogi welcomes Nancy Schiffer, Associate General Counsel with the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, (AFL-CIO) and Attorney Charles I. Cohen, senior counsel in Morgan Lewis & Bockius’ Labor and Employment Practice, to get their reaction to the recess appointments of Becker and Pearce to the NLRB.

Under a storm of controversy and additional “fixes” to healthcare reform, President Obama finally signed the highly contested health care bill into law. At least 14 States have filed suits challenging the constitutionality of the new Health Care Law. Lawyer2Lawyer host, J. Craig Williams, and guest co-host, David E. Frank welcome Lanny J. Davis, partner in the law firm of McDermott Will & Emery LLP and David B. Rivkin, Jr., partner in the Washington office of Baker Hostetler LLP, to talk about these legal challenges to the new law.

A three and a half year government investigation in Ireland, called the Murphy report, revealed a cover-up of three decades of clergy sexual abuse in the Catholic church. And, in an official pastoral letter to Irish sexual abuse victims, Pope Benedict XVI apologized to Ireland’s Catholics. Co-Host and attorney J. Craig Williams welcomes guests Attorney Helen L. McGonigle, a victim of clergy abuse and victim’s advocate and Vincent Shannon, Senior Partner of Shannons Solicitors in Dublin, Ireland. They discuss the investigations into allegations of sexual abuse at the hands of priests, the Vatican’s tepid response, legal jurisdictions versus canon law and what victims of clergy sexual abuse can do legally here and abroad.

In every city and town in America, there has been an overwhelming reaction to the political gridlock in Washington D.C. over healthcare, economic recovery, taxes, Afghanistan (almost everything). So why can’t the lawyers in Congress who specialize in negotiating solutions to problems fix Washington? Co-hosts and attorneys J. Craig Williams and Bob Ambrogi welcome Attorney Philip K. Howard, a well-known leader of legal reform in America and founder of Common Good, to examine the problem.

In the second part of Lawyer2Lawyer on the Google Books Settlement, attorneys and co-hosts J. Craig Williams and Bob Ambrogi welcome Attorney Jonathan Band and Attorney Cindy Cohn, Legal Director for the Electronic Frontier Foundation , to take a closer look at the complex Google Books Settlement. They explore the deeper legal issues like privacy, copyright and antitrust issues, who this settlement could ultimately benefit or hurt and whether consumers are better off with or without a settlement.

Access to more digital information or copyright infringement and privacy issues? Recently, Federal Judge Denny Chin postponed the controversial Google books settlement due to the voluminous amount of feedback on both sides of the settlement. Co-hosts and attorneys J. Craig Williams and Bob Ambrogi welcome Professor James Grimmelmann, Associate Professor at New York Law School and a member of its Institute for Information Law and Policy and Attorney Jonathan Band, to talk about the latest developments in the Google Books Settlement. Later in the show, Bob and Craig will be joined by Lee Ann Enquist, Vice President of West Professional Development, to discuss the new partnership between West LegalEdcenter and Legal Talk Network.

The legal and social debate over death with dignity and assisted suicide is reignited. Recently, the Death with Dignity bill surfaced in Massachusetts, where Representative Louis Kafka filed the bill on behalf of Al Lipkind of Stoughton, Massachusetts, who fought for legislation prior to his death after battling stomach cancer.Co-hosts and attorneys J. Craig Williams and Bob Ambrogi welcome Barbara Coombs Lee, President of Compassion & Choices to look at both sides of the controversial Death with Dignity Act, assisted suicide, ethical objections and current legislation here in the States and abroad.

Just recently 15-year old student Phoebe Prince from South Hadley, Massachusetts took her own life after she was being constantly "cyberbullied" by a group of students at her school. Phoebe's story is one of many that has left communities reeling, schools in the hot seat and parents enraged by the lack of protection of their children and a lack of discipline against the perpetrators. Co-hosts and attorneys J. Craig Williams and Bob Ambrogi welcome David T. Tirella, partner at the firm Eaton, Powell & Tirella and Debra Johnston, founder of Students For Safer Schools and mother of Jeffrey Johnston, a victim of cyberbullying, to discuss the latest in cyberbulling prevention, legislation against cyberbullying and what to do if your child becomes a victim.