"My biggest problem is what to do about all the things I can't do anything about"

Ashleigh Brilliant

In today’s Law Firm Marketing, Why your mailbox is like marketing gold

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Read Migalhas LatinoAmérica in Spanish every Tuesday and Thursday. Visit the website at www.migalhas.com/latinoamerica

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• Top News

Efforts to ban Sharia law in Courts spreading

The law passed by Oklahoma voters banning judges from considering Islamic or international law in Oklahoma state courts has created a wealth of blogging and reporting. But the movement to keep the Koran out of the courts isn't limited to the Sooner state. At least seven states, including Arizona, Florida, Louisiana, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Utah, have proposed similar laws. Tennessee and Louisiana have enacted versions of the law banning use of foreign law under certain circumstances. Former U.S. speaker Newt Gingrich would like to see Congress adopt a similar for the federal courts. Supporters of sharia bans, including Frank Gaffney, president of the Center for Security Policy, say Islamic law is creeping into U.S. courts. He worries about jihadists trying to establish sharia courts to weaken democracies around the world. "I think you're seeing people coalesce around legislation of the kind that was passed in Oklahoma," Gaffney says. But Muneer Awad, the chair of the Oklahoma chapter of CAIR, the Council of American-Islamic Relations, says the Oklahoma law, if upheld, could have real-world effects on Islamic citizens. It could prohibit a judge from probating his will, written in compliance with Islamic principles, or adjudicating other domestic matters, like divorces.

With video everywhere, stark evidence is on trial

In a world that is always on camera, the centuries-old courtroom experience is becoming a lot more complicated. The advent of video-in-your pocket camcorders and cellphones, and the proliferation of surveillance cameras, mean that events that once would have gone unrecorded are preserved for posterity — and, inevitably, for trial. Legal experts say the technology shift could lead to harsher experiences for jurors, and could put pressure on judges to re-examine the balancing act that they have long used to determine what kind of evidence makes its way into court. Videos, some quite grisly, are increasingly a major feature of cases. There's no doubt it can be helpful, it's a powerful tool in determining the truth. But it also leads to greater resistance from defense lawyers, "With every new type of evidence comes a new type of evidence-suppression motion." Being subjected to such images could make jury service a brutal experience. Judges are worried that jurors' passions and sympathies will be excited, and they won't be judging cases solely on the facts and the law. The law generally places a thumb on the side of admissibility of evidence like this, requiring the opponent of admission to show a particularly good reason for exclusion. Judges must also be mindful of weakening the information for a jury. "You cannot deprive the other side the moral force of its evidence simply by stipulating to the facts." The rise of video technology will not change the principles behind the balancing act, but will force judges to grapple more directly with the technology and become innovators themselves. They may need to employ tools for editing and changing resolution and masking parts of a frame to ensure that a video presented has a laserlike focus on probative parts of the tape and exclusion of irrelevant parts of the tape. Prosecutors predict that there will be more challenges to introducing video evidence.

House approves bill preventing US trial of Guantanamo detainees

The US House of Representatives voted 212-206 Wednesday in favor of a defense spending bill that includes a provision preventing Guantanamo Bay detainees from being transferred to the US for trial. The legislation would block Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and the other accused 9/11 conspirators from being tried in a US civilian court. US Attorney General Eric Holder announced last year that Mohammed would face a civilian trial, drawing intense criticism and leading the Obama administration to reconsider the decision. The bill must still be approved by the Senate. Holder sent a letter Thursday to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell urging them not to include the provision in the spending bill. If passed, the ban would remain in place until September 30, the end of the current fiscal year.

Infrastructure Law of Brazil

The law firm Justen, Pereira, Oliveira & Talamini - Advogados Associados launched in October the book "Infrastructure Law of Brazil", published by Editora Fórum and edited by Marçal Justen Filho and Cesar A. Guimarães Pereira. It contains several articles in English about a variety of issues involving regulation, public procurement, government contracts, concessions of public services, PPPs and arbitration. It also offers bilingual versions of the most relevant Brazilian statutes. Click here and take a chance to have one copy of this excellent book.

Before you open the door to the boardroom, peek through the keyhole!

Michael Page specializes in the placement of candidates in permanent, contract, temporary and interim positions within client companies around the world. Have a look at the new section of the Migalhas website and discover the professional development opportunities with large corporations, in legal and business fields, presented by Michael Page International. Click here to peep through the hole!

• Crumbs

1 - $66,000 fine for bad jails (Click here)

2 - Labour vows to repeal foreshore law (Click here)

3 - Tourist arrested in Nelson after drink spiking (Click here)

4 - PepsiCo loses court battle over recipe (Click here)

5 - Facebook founder to give his money away (Click here)

6 - Prosecutors plan to charge striking air traffic controllers with sedition (Click here)

7 - Woman confirmed to lead top N.H. court (Click here)

8 - Health law fix to save Children's from added costs (Click here)

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YPF - huelga

Conflicto sindical en petrolera argentina YPF se extiende con toma de terminal. El problema afecta al 20% de la producción de la compañía, la más grande del país y líder del sector. El conflicto por los reclamos salariales del personal jerárquico de la petrolera, controlada por la española Repsol, se extendió con la toma de una terminal marítima de despacho de crudo.

• Brief News

Opening Bankruptcy Court to the States?

Should the Federal Bankruptcy Code be amended to allow states to file for relief under Chapter 9, like municipalities, counties and other subsidiary governmental entities can already do? Even if states never filed under Chapter 9, such an amendment might be a good idea. In particular, the threat of a bankruptcy filing might help states overcome holdout problems of two kinds. First, if like Argentina in the prior decade, the states find it difficult to get some minority bondholders to agree to a reasonable restructuring deal, the threat of imposing the deal via bankruptcy might be useful. Second, the same sort of threat might make negotiations with unions and other long-term creditors a bit more balanced. What's the downside? For a Constitutional purist, the notion of a state submitting itself to the jurisdiction of a federal bankruptcy court seems wrong, for reasons that I have found are often hard to articulate. If the process is voluntary — as Chapter 9 currently is — there does not seem to be a 10th Amendment problem involving the powers reserved to the states. And the Supreme Court has taken care of the 11th Amendment regarding suits against states.

Virgina Tech unlawfully failed to notify students of shooting

Officials at Virginia Tech acted unlawfully by waiting too long to notify students during the 2007 shootings, according to a report released Thursday by the US Department of Education. According to the report, Virginia Tech officials failed to comply with the Clery Act, which requires universities to disclose crime statistics and communication information about campus safety.

Haiti orders recount of election

Haiti says it will review the disputed result of its presidential election, after angry demonstrations by supporters of a losing candidate.

Jail for ex-Parmalat boss Tanzi

The former chief executive of Italian food conglomerate Parmalat is sentenced to 18 years in prison for his role in a fraud scandal.

New deal fails to quell EU food labelling row

EU ministers have agreed that food producers must clearly label nutrients including fats and sugars and show the country of origin for meat. They agreed that labelling of the energy value and the quantities of some nutrients, such as fats, carbohydrates, protein, sugars and salt, should become compulsory. But the European Parliament's chief negotiator on food labeling, Renate Sommer MEP, called it a "sloppy" deal. She predicted more tough talks, saying European consumers "will have to wait a while yet" for clearer labels.

Lula defends Wikileaks' Assange

Lula calls the arrest of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange an attack on freedom of expression. He said the internet publication of secret US cables had "exposed a diplomacy that appeared untouchable". Critics say such efforts don't square with the U.S. commitment to expanding the free flow of information online. He also criticized other governments for failing to condemn the arrest. US authorities have made it clear they they hope to prosecute Assange over the release of thousands of leaked classified diplomatic cables.

Chile's Pinera vows prison reform after deadly fire

Chilean President Sebastian Pinera has vowed to reform the country's "shameful and inhumane" prisons after a fire left at least 81 inmates dead. "Chile's prison system is not worthy of a country that treats its people in a civilised way," he said.

Ex-dictator Ceausescu is reburied

Romania's former dictator Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife are reburied - nearly five months after their bodies were exhumed to confirm their identity.

Pinochet officials tried in absentia in France

Fourteen officials who served under the military rule of General Augusto Pinochet in Chile are being tried in absentia in a French court. The charges, which include kidnapping and torture, relate to the disappearance of four French citizens soon after Gen Pinochet came to power. The 14 accused were mostly senior military officers at the time and include Manuel Contreras, the former head of the Dina secret police.

Latin America drug laws 'worsen prison overcrowding'

Drug laws in eight Latin American countries have exacerbated their prison overcrowding problems and failed to curb trafficking, a study says. The Transnational Institute and the Washington Office on Latin America say most of those convicted are not high or medium-level drug traffickers. Imprisoning minor offenders is "useless", as they are easily replaced by the bosses at the top, they warn. But for most of those locked up, they add, "prison can destroy their lives".

House approves immigration reform bill

The US House of Representatives on Wednesday approved a bill that would provide a path to permanent resident status for some high school graduates who enter the military or enroll in a college degree program. The Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act, or DREAM Act, would amend the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 to allow certain children of illegal immigrants an opportunity to achieve legal residency. The bill was previously defeated in Congress in 2007, but reintroduced in October by US Senators Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT) as part of the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2010, which includes several bills that, if passed, would greatly change US immigration law. Rights groups like the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF) have praised the vote, highlighting the need to keep young people in the country to advance ingenuity in high education and service in the military. Thomas Saenz, President and General Counsel for MALDEF, further said that the bill "vindicates longstanding national, constitutional values to embrace newcomers and to reject cross-generational punishment." The Senate was originally scheduled to vote on the bill Thursday, but the vote was canceled, which likely pushed the Senate's consideration of the bill into early next year.

Democrats reject Obama tax deal

House Democrats reject a deal Obama struck with the Republican opposition to cut taxes and extend unemployment benefits. Obama said that he is confident that "the framework is going to look like the one that he put forward." He says that "nobody – Democrat or Republican – wants to see people's paychecks smaller on Jan. 1 because Congress didn't act."

Bailed-out AIB to pay € 40m in bonuses

Allied Irish Bank will spend almost 40m euros ($ 53m) on bonuses for its executives this month, despite being on the brink of another bail out from the Irish government. According to the Irish Independent, about 2,400 staff will receive cheques for a deferred 2008 bonus on 17 December. Those who are contractually entitled to the payment will pocket an average of €16,700 ($ 22,000) each. The bonuses were withheld in 2008 as part of the Irish government's bank guarantee scheme.

Day trading still alive, outsourced to China

Trading firms based in the United States and Canada are recruiting inexpensive workers in China and teaching them to engage in speculative trading.

World 'is becoming more corrupt'

The world is a more corrupt place now than it was three years ago, a poll suggests. Some 56% of people interviewed by Transparency International said their country had become more corrupt. In Afghanistan, Nigeria, Iraq and India more than 50% of people said they had paid a bribe in the past year - many of them paying off the police. Meanwhile, a BBC poll suggests that corruption is the world's most talked about problem.

S Korea and Taiwan firms fined by EU for price cartel

South Korean and Taiwanese firms fined by the European Union for running a price cartel on TV screens are considering appeals against the fine. The EU fined one South Korean and four Taiwanese electronics companies more than $850m. The European competition watchdog said the companies had colluded to fix prices on LCD screens for televisions and computers between 2001 and 2006. It said this had a direct impact on European consumers.

Officials worry about some Latino converts to Islam

Counterterrorism officials are trying to understand why Latino converts to Islam have been connected to terrorism cases in this country with increasing frequency. In the most recent case, a 21-year-old man was charged Wednesday with plotting to blow up a military recruitment center.

Federal judge dismisses challenge to California affirmative action ban

A judge for the US District Court for the Northern District of California on Wednesday dismissed a challenge to California's affirmative action ban in public university admissions. The ban, approved by voters in 1996 as Proposition 209, prohibits discrimination or preferential treatment to any individual on the basis of race, sex, national origin and ethnicity in the areas of public education, public employment and public contracting.

Bank of America reaches $137 million settlement with SEC

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced Tuesday that it had reached a $137 million settlement agreement with Bank of America (BOA) over fraud charges for using anti-competitive bidding processes with 20 state municipalities. BOA has agreed to pay $36 million, including interest, to the parties harmed by the scheme, as well as $101 million in penalties to federal and state authorities. The order against BOA alleges that the company put at risk the tax-exempt status of the municipal securities by establishing fraudulent fair market values using "improper bidding practices" between 1998 and 2002. The settlement payments will include investigation fees for attorneys general in all 20 affected states. BOA emphasized that other companies are also under investigation and that it was the only company so far to self-report its fraudulent behavior to the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice.

Senate votes to remove federal judge from bench

The US Senate voted unanimously Wednesday to convict federal judge Thomas Porteous on four articles of impeachment and remove him from the bench. Porteous was accused of accepting bribes from lawyers while a judge in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, making false statements in his bankruptcy declaration and lying to Congress during his confirmation. Porteous's lawyer Jonathan Turley had argued that Porteous had shown poor judgment but that his actions were entirely legal. Porteous becomes just the eighth federal judge to be impeached and convicted by Congress.

Europe rights court finds Scotland in violation of media rights

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled Tuesday that Scotland has violated the media's right to report on trials and challenge court orders. The ECHR found the UK and Scotland in violations of articles 10 and 13 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which provide for the right to free expression and the right to an effective remedy, respectively. Alan Mackay, a now-retired reporter for BBC Scotland, sought to report on police and prosecutorial misconduct during a 2004 drug case. The judge barred Mackay and BBC Scotland from reporting on the incident during the trial, citing section 4(2) of the Contempt of Court Act 1981, and refused to allow appeal on the issue.

Federal judge dismisses New Jersey health care suit

A judge for the US District Court for the District of New Jersey on Wednesday granted a motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought by a physician organization challenging the constitutionality of the recently enacted health care reform law. Nonprofit New Jersey Physicians, Inc. filed the complaint in March, arguing that the new federal health care law goes beyond the enumerated powers allowed in the US Constitution by penalizing individuals who choose not to buy health insurance and preventing doctors from receiving payments directly from patients. The group also stressed that it supports many of the health insurance coverage provisions in the new law and only opposes parts of the law they believe hurt the health care industry, such as reimbursement methods. However, Judge Susan Wigenton ruled that the law does not cause the alleged harms and does not violate the Constitution. The New Jersey Physicians group intends to appeal the case to the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.

• Daily Press Review