Lawyers

The Saratoga High School sophomore who committed suicide after allegedly being sexually assaulted lived her last days "tormented," her family's attorney said Friday. Authorities this week alleged that Audrie Pott, 15, was sexually assaulted by three teenage boys last fall, one of whom snapped a picture of the alleged attack. The photo quickly circulated among Pott's classmates. The teen wrote on her Facebook page that it was the “worst day ever,” according to her family's attorney, Robert Allard.

The attorneys for the teenagers accused of sexually assaulting Audrie Pott, the Saratoga High School sophomore who later committed suicide, is urging the public to reserve judgment and said the boys should be "regarded as innocent. " Authorities this week alleged that Pott, 15, was assaulted last fall by the three boys, one of whom snapped a picture of the alleged attack. The photo quickly circulated among Pott's classmates. The teen wrote on her Facebook page that it was the “worst day ever,” according to her family's attorney, Robert Allard.

SHANGHAI -- California Gov. Jerry Brown said he has asked his lawyers to review a new order from a panel of federal judges that would require the state to reduce its prison population by 10,000 inmates and said he planned to appeal the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court. The judges threatened this week to hold state officials, including Brown, in contempt if they fail to comply within three weeks. “I did speak with my lawyers. I said take a good look at this stuff,” Brown told reporters as he headed to a Huangpu River cruise with former NBA star turned Napa Valley winemaker Yao Ming.

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.

SHANGHAI - California Gov. Jerry Brown said Saturday that he has asked his lawyers to review a new order from a panel of federal judges requiring him to file a fresh plan for reducing the state's prison population. The judges have threatened to hold state officials, including Brown, in contempt if they fail to comply within three weeks. "I did speak with my lawyers. I said, 'Take a good look at this stuff,'" Brown told reporters as he headed for a Huangpu River cruise with Yao Ming, a former NBA star turned Napa Valley winemaker.

Should California judges be able to ask lawyers for help in lobbying Sacramento against cuts to the courts' budgets? Many judges and lawyers just assumed the answer was yes. Why wouldn't they be able to? Nobody is better acquainted with the trouble caused by court budget cuts than judges, who see firsthand the result of closing courthouses and restricting hours of access. But lawyers, especially litigators who do so much of their work in the courtroom, run a close second. Why shouldn't judges be able to ask influential attorneys at big firms (the same people who dole out a lot of political donations to political candidates)

Audrie Pott loved art, horses and skiing, and was known to sing as she made her way down the mountain. The 15-year-old played viola and piano. As a soccer player, her family said, she “had a nose for the goal.” The Saratoga High School sophomore's world changed one September night on what was supposed to be a “small little gathering” with friends. Authorities this week alleged that Pott was sexually assaulted by three teenage boys, one of whom snapped a picture of the alleged attack.

Students shared photos of a girl being sexually assaulted in the days before the girl committed suicide, a lawyer representing the family said. Robert Allard, an attorney representing the family of 15-year-old Audrie Pott, told the San Jose Mercury News that Audrie posted on her Facebook page that her life was "ruined" and that she was enduring the "worst day ever" shortly before she hanged herself last fall in Saratoga in Northern California....

WASHINGTON - President Obama, who has seen court nominees run into Republican roadblocks, may have found a winning strategy for putting a judge on the powerful U.S. appeals court here: He chose a highly regarded corporate lawyer whose resume suggests he could have been a Republican nominee. Sri Srinivasan, 46, was a law clerk for two Republican-appointed judges after graduating from Stanford University, and he worked in the George W. Bush Justice Department for five years before joining the Obama team as deputy U.S. solicitor general.