Lawyer

A recently confirmed case of meningitis in Los Angeles County and a spate of others striking gay men in New York City have officials in West Hollywood warning residents to take precautions. "We don't want to panic people," said West Hollywood City Councilman John Duran, who serves a community with a heavy gay and lesbian population. "But we learned 30 years ago the consequences of delay in the response to AIDS. We are sounding the alarm that sexually active gay men need to be aware that we have a strain of meningitis that is deadly on our hands.

Ray Boucher walked out of a downtown Los Angeles courthouse six years ago the envy of the legal field. As the lead attorney in the landmark $660-million sexual-abuse settlement with the Catholic archdiocese, he had won long-denied justice for hundreds of victims and made himself and other attorneys very rich. Flanked by grateful clients, he faced a crush of cameras with the confidence of a man who had achieved a new level of professional acclaim and personal wealth. These days Boucher returns frequently to that same courthouse.

When Lindsay Lohan showed up for court on Thursday, the crowd was not as large as it has been for the actress - anticipating perhaps a resolution, rather than the sort of dramatic turn that's made her five-year legal saga as compelling as any TV reality show. The 25-year-old Lohan has been in and out of jail and rehab so many times, her story line seemed to arc toward failure. She blew off therapy and community service, ticked off counselors and judges. You never knew what to expect from her in the courtroom - a tearful plea, a pout, a fingernail painted with a vulgar taunt.

George Zimmerman reportedly has an experienced criminal defense attorney in his corner now. The Neighborhood Watch volunteer who says he shot an unarmed teenager, Trayvon Martin, in self-defense Feb. 26 had been represented by a solo practitioner, Craig Sonner, who had never defended anyone accused of homicide. But late Tuesday, veteran criminal defense attorney Craig Uhrig told Orlando television station WOFL that he was joining the case. Uhrig often works with Sonner, the Orlando Sentinel reported.  Zimmerman, 28, has not been charged, but the case is under investigation by state and federal authorities.

Although his arguments in support of the healthcare law in the Supreme Court are over, and the nine justices will cast their initial votes in secret Friday, the public grilling of Solicitor Gen. Donald Verrilli Jr. doesn't look like it will end anytime soon. Verrilli, an accomplished lawyer who this week became known for his frequent pauses, awkward noises and lengthy water breaks during his defense of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, has been widely criticized for what some deemed a sub-par performance in the nation's highest court.

Defense lawyer Elvin Gentry was walking into the El Paso County courthouse this year as an assistant district attorney was walking out. The prosecutor stopped Gentry to chat about the news that outgoing Gov. Bill Ritter had just commuted the life sentence of one of Colorado Springs' most notorious killers, a woman named Jennifer Reali. "Did you have a hand in that?" the prosecutor asked. Gentry, a fixture in state legal circles since 1970, said he did indeed. The other lawyer was incredulous: "Must be nice to have a lawyer stick with you for 20 years.

NEW YORK -- The man accused of killing 6-year-old Etan Patz 33 years ago Friday has suffered from hallucinations, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, his attorney said in the first court hearing since the man confessed to the killing. Pedro Hernandez, 51, sat silently, wearing an orange jumpsuit, his hands in cuffs behind his back. He did not appear in the Manhattan courtroom but appeared Friday night from New York's Bellevue Hospital via a video linkup to the courtroom. His lawyer, Harvey Fishbein, said Hernandez has "a long psychiatric history," and he asked the judge to approve a mental health examination for the defendant.

One of Herman Cain's accusers wants to be heard. Her lawyer told the Washington Post on Tuesday that she is ready to tell her side of the ongoing saga involving allegations of sexual harassment while Cain was head of the National Restaurant Assn. in the late 1990s. But, the lawyer, Joel Bennett, said the woman remains bound by the confidentiality agreement she signed as part of a settlement of her claim with the association. “It is just frustrating that Herman Cain is going around bad-mouthing the two complainants, and my client is blocked by a confidentiality agreement,” Bennett told the Post.

Dharun Ravi, charged with using a webcam to spy on his gay roommate during a sexual encounter in their Rutgers dorm room, is a man without hate, his lawyer argued Tuesday. Defense attorney Steven Altman presented the defense summation of the trial that has become a national symbol of the type of extreme bullying that gay-rights advocates say homosexuals sometimes face. The prosecution is scheduled to summarize its arguments later in the day, and the case could go to jury deliberation by Wednesday.

Was it a conspiracy that went all the way to the top of ABC? Or was it the case of an exaggerating actress out for revenge? Nicollette Sheridan's wrongful-termination suit against the creator of "Desperate Housewives" and a studio wound toward a conclusion Wednesday as jurors heard closing arguments offering vastly different interpretations of the case. As the tall, blond actress and Marc Cherry, the balding, bespectacled writer who invented the world of Wisteria Lane, looked on from opposite sides of the courtroom, their attorneys debated for hours over what led to the 2008 death of Sheridan's character.