Lawyers and Business Executives in the News™

LAPD takes blame for park melee

                                                                                                           Randy H. McMurray and Brian Dunn of Cochran, Cherry, Givens, Smith & Montgomery are maximizing their influence among 60 million viewers on TIME WARNER TV, as well on AOL Television, iTunes, and CBS on The InsiderExclusive   TV Show with Steve Murphy.

Randy and Brian both have powerful insight about how the LAPD on Tuesday blamed the May 1 MacArthur Park melee involving officers, immigration protesters and journalists on a series of fateful decisions by police commanders that escalated hostilities and resulted in a widespread breakdown in discipline and behavior by officers. The findings, contained in a long-awaited report by top police officials, come as Police Chief William J. Bratton announced that at least 26 officers participating in the incident are under internal investigation and could face discipline for using excessive force. The report is the latest effort by Bratton and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to quell widespread outcry over the incident, in which TV news footage showed officers swinging batons and firing less-than-lethal rounds at journalists as well as immigration rights protesters gathered at the park for an afternoon rally.

For additional information about this show, our guests and additional shows, please contact Steve Murphy @ 818-762-6800 x20 or steve@prlawinc.com. You can contact Mr. McMurray at 323-931-6200, or email rmcmurray@cochranfirm.com. You can Mr. Dunn reach at at 323-931-6200, or email bdunn@cochranfirm.com

LAUSD superintendent plans separate district for 44 needy schools

                                                                                                           Randy H. McMurray and Brian Dunn of Cochran, Cherry, Givens, Smith & Montgomery are maximizing their influence among 60 million viewers on TIME WARNER TV, as well on AOL Television, iTunes, and CBS on The InsiderExclusive   TV Show with Steve Murphy.

Randy and Brian both have powerful insight about how, aiming to overhaul Los Angeles Unified's lowest-performing schools, Superintendent David Brewer III unveiled a plan to essentially carve out a separate, targeted district for 44 of the neediest schools. Brewer's senior staff and local superintendents still are developing details, but the new district would be made up of middle and high schools - including several in the San Fernando Valley - and would have its own rules of governance, separate curriculum and instructional planning. Brewer hopes to roll out the district next fall and said schools in the group would be candidates for drastic reforms such as all-boys academies and neighborhood literacy centers for parents. The plan is the latest designed to create separate, smaller groups of schools out of the massive bureaucracy of the LAUSD system. "We're looking to try to reduce the size of the current local eight districts and bring these middle schools and high schools into one supervisory structure so that focused attention can be placed on these schools for improvement," said Robert Schiller, a consultant hired by Brewer to help develop the plan.

For additional information about this show, our guests and additional shows, please contact Steve Murphy @ 818-762-6800 x20 or steve@prlawinc.com. You can contact Mr. McMurray at 323-931-6200, or email rmcmurray@cochranfirm.com. You can Mr. Dunn reach at at 323-931-6200, or email bdunn@cochranfirm.com

The New Affirmative Action

                                                                                     This is the 21st century of media technology, and Gerry Spence is maximizing his influence among 60 million viewers on AOL Television, iTunes, CBS and The InsiderExclusive   TV Show with Steve Murphy.  is an impressive leader. Mr. Spence is currently investigating how, in 1996, California voters passed the California Civil Rights Initiative, also known as Proposition 209. After that, race could no longer be a factor in government hiring or public-university admissions. The number of black students at both Berkeley and U.C.L.A. plummeted, and at U.C.L.A. the declines continued throughout the next decade. The reasons weren’t entirely clear, but they seemed to include some combination of the admissions office taking Proposition 209 to heart and black students falling further behind in the academic arms race. The changes on U.C.L.A.’s campus were hard to miss. In 1997, the freshman class included 221 black students; last fall it had only 100. In the region with easily the largest black population west of the Mississippi River, the top public university had a freshman class in which barely 1 in 50 students was black.You can listen to more of Gerry Spence on ABC RADIO at www.lbishow.com For additional information about this show, our guests and additional shows, please contact Steve Murphy @ 818 762 6800 x20 or steve@prlawinc.com

Guantanamo detainees tell of abuses

                                                                                    This is the 21st century of media technology, and Gerry Spence is maximizing his influence among 60 million viewers on AOL Television, iTunes, CBS and The InsiderExclusive   TV Show with Steve Murphy.  is an impressive leader. Mr. Spence is currently investigating how hostility and tension between inmates and their keepers at the Guantanamo Bay prison are evident in transcripts obtained by The Associated Press. Amid the tensions, the transcripts also show a few relaxed encounters between detainees and their guards and interrogators. The military has said Guantanamo is relatively calm compared to last year. But a report released by the detention center last month shows mass disturbances are up sharply over 2006 and forced removal of prisoners from cells and assaults with bodily fluids are on pace to match or exceed last year's total. The transcripts, obtained by the AP on Friday, illustrate the friction. A Yemeni detainee, Mohammed Ali Em al-Zarnuki, warned his panel of three U.S. military officers that inmates would attempt suicide unless guards stop interrupting prayers, moving detainees during prayer time and whistling and creating other distractions. You can listen to more of Gerry Spence on "The Law Business Insider," at www.lbishow.com For additional information about this show, our guests and additional shows, please contact Steve Murphy @ 818 762 6800 x20 or steve@prlawinc.com

Judge strikes down part of Patriot Act

                                                                                    This is the 21st century of media technology, and Thomas Girardi of Girardi & Keese is maximizing his influence among 60 million viewers on AOL Television, iTunes, CBS and The InsiderExclusive   TV Show with Steve Murphy. See him now on AOL Television, iTunes and CBS by clicking here.

Mr. Girardi  is also a distinguished guest on the "Insider Exclusive's" "Southern California's Premier Law Firms Series" TV Show. He has strong opinions about how a federal judge struck down a key part of the USA Patriot Act on Thursday in a ruling that defended the need for judicial oversight of laws and bashed Congress for passing a law that makes possible "far-reaching invasions of liberty." U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero immediately stayed the effect of his ruling, allowing the government time to appeal. Justice Department spokesman Dean Boyd said: "We are reviewing the decision and considering our options at this time." The ruling handed the American Civil Liberties Union a major victory in its challenge of the post-Sept. 11 law that gave broader investigative powers to law enforcement. The ACLU had challenged the law on behalf of an Internet service provider, complaining that the law allowed the FBI to demand records without the kind of court supervision required for other government searches. You can reach Mr. Girardi directly at 213-977-0211, or email tgirardi@girardikeese.com

YAHOO SAYS: "JUST FOLLOWING ORDERS, SIR!"

                                                                                                                        The InsiderExclusive   TV Show with Steve Murphy is currently investigating how Yahoo Inc. said Monday that its Chinese subsidiary had no choice but to follow local laws when it handed over private information about political dissidents that led to their imprisonment. In April, a lawsuit was filed in federal court in California on behalf of Chinese dissident Wang Xiaoning and his wife Yu Ling, alleging that Yahoo gave private information about Mr. Wang to Chinese authorities that led to his detention. Jailed Chinese Journalist Shi Tao was added as a plaintiff in May. Yahoo argued Monday that Messrs. Wang and Shi should have realized they were putting themselves in harm's way. "They assumed the risk of harm when they chose to use Yahoo China email and group list services to engage in activity they knew violated Chinese law," Yahoo said in the filing. Morton Sklar, an attorney representing the Chinese dissidents in California, didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

For additional information about this show, our guests and additional shows, please contact Steve Murphy @ 818 762 6800 x20 or steve@prlawinc.com.

Concerns Raised on Wider Spying Under New Law

Gerry Spence is an impressive leader. Along with the InsiderExclusive   TV Show, hosted by Steve Murphy, Mr. Spence is currently investigating how broad new surveillance powers approved by Congress this month could allow the Bush administration to conduct spy operations that go well beyond wiretapping to include — without court approval — certain types of physical searches on American soil and the collection of Americans’ business records, Democratic Congressional officials and other experts said. Several legal experts said that by redefining the meaning of “electronic surveillance,” the new law narrows the types of communications covered in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, known as FISA, by indirectly giving the government the power to use intelligence collection methods far beyond wiretapping that previously required court approval if conducted inside the United States. These new powers include the collection of business records, physical searches and so-called “trap and trace” operations, analyzing specific calling patterns. You can listen to more of Gerry Spence on "The Law Business Insider," at www.lbishow.com

For additional information about this show, our guests and additional shows, please contact Steve Murphy @ 818 762 6800 x20 or steve@prlawinc.com

Bill Jefferson's Constitution

Alan Dershowitz is a man of tremendous principle and justice. The InsiderExclusive   TV Show with Steve Murphy shares these beliefs and is currently investigating how the D.C. Circuit found that the Justice Department's raid on William Jefferson's Capitol Hill office violated the Constitution's Speech or Debate Clause. The decision stopped short of requiring the FBI to return all the documents seized in the raid, as Mr. Jefferson had sought. But it did recognize that the executive branch could not "compel disclosure" of privileged legislative-branch materials, even when backed by a search warrant from the judicial branch of government. The Speech or Debate Clause includes a "non-disclosure privilege," the court said, which is intended to protect the confidentiality of legislative deliberations. At the time this dispute surfaced, there was much conservative shouting that Congress is not "above the law." Well, sure, and Mr. Jefferson isn't an easy case to defend. Investigators had already found $90,000 in cash in his non-interest-paying home freezer, and he has since been indicted on bribery charges even without the evidence in his office (which has been under seal since the raid). But there are ways that Justice could have protected both legislative privilege and the cause of justice under the law -- such as by negotiating terms of the office search with the House counsel and leadership.

For additional information about this show, our guests and additional shows, please contact Steve Murphy @ 818 762 6800 x20 or steve@prlawinc.com.

Don't Mourn Brown v. Board of Education

Howard Miller of Girardi & Keese is an exceptionally talented litigator and intellectual property specialist. He was also just selected for and interviewed on the "Insider Exclusive's" "Southern California's Premier Law Firms " TV Show. His concern for individual liberty, civil rights and justice deserves special praise within the context of newly published opinions about Brown v. Board of Education. For if 50% of Hispanic and 50% of black students never graduate high school, 53 years after the historic Brown decision, was Thurgood Marshall focused on the wrong problem of racial segregation, rather than the issue of the quality of education? It was an idealistic Supreme Court that in 1954 approved of Brown as a race-conscious policy needed to repair the damage of school segregation and protect every child’s 14th-Amendment right to equal treatment under law. But today a high court with a conservative majority concludes that any policy based on race — no matter how well intentioned — is a violation of every child’s 14th-Amendment right to be treated as an individual without regard to race. We’ve come full circle. Dealing with racism and the bitter fruit of slavery and “separate but equal” legal segregation was at the heart of the court’s brave decision 53 years ago. With Brown officially relegated to the past, the challenge for brave leaders now is to deliver on the promise of a good education for every child. You can reach Mr. Miller directly at 213-977-0211, or email hmiller@girardikeese.com

L.A. sees turning point in homeless patient dumping

Thomas Girardi of Girardi & Keese is a legal legend, a voice for the voiceless and all those who seek justice. Having recently been named one of The Los Angeles Area's Best Lawyer's, Mr. Girardi also has a keen interest in how for years, few people took seriously reports that Los Angeles hospitals were taking sick, confused and homeless patients by ambulance to the city's notorious "Skid Row" and leaving them there. On Tuesday, Los Angeles city officials and a major hospital group announced a deal they hoped marks the beginning of the end to the dumping of vulnerable people in an area thought to have the highest concentration of homeless in the country. Kaiser Foundation Hospitals, the nation's largest non-profit health-care provider, agreed to find shelter places for all homeless patients it discharges in Los Angeles. You can reach Mr. Girardi directly at 213-977-0211, or email tgirardi@girardikeese.com