Meet Gary Peel. Gary was once an attorney of note in the Madison County, Illinois area. In fact, he once had a case in front of the United States Supreme Court that dealt with attorney advertising and “specialist” claims. Though he didn’t argue the case, he was the censured attorney, and the heavily-fractured plurality decision is quite the interesting read, especially if lawyer advertising restrictions intrigue you.

He is currently in prison. He’ll be in prison for a while, unless his many appeals produce fortuitous results for the now-disgraced attorney.

What led to his downfall? An extra-marital affair and some decades-old non-child child pornography.

Parnell Gulley's defense to crack-dealing charges were intoxication and ignorance of what was in the clear plastic baggie that he exchanged for $200. More surprising than the notion that someone would actually try that defense was the outcome: it almost worked.

Unfortunately for Gulley, after the first jury deadlocked, the second jury convicted him of the sole count of knowingly and intelligently distributing crack cocaine.

The first rule of legal research is: always cite check.

If you don’t, Judge Richard Posner will compare you to a really ugly bird.

Tiberius Mays is a former inmate of the Illinois state prison at Statesville. While a resident at the facility, he enjoyed many first-class amenities, including protracted group strip searches. When he complained, and filed suit, the inmates were allegedly subjected to an even more protracted strip search, with dirty gloves, in front of other prisoners, while the guards mocked the inmates’ bodies and genitalia.

Predictably, he sued under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, arguing, amongst other things, cruel and unusual punishment.

Got all that?

Javier Munoz pled guilty in 2007 to possession and distribution of cocaine charges. As part of his pretrial release terms, he agreed to show up to court as needed. After entering his guilty plea pursuant to a plea agreement, but before actual sentencing, he fled to Mexico.

Five years later, U.S. Marshalls tracked him down, extradited him, and he faced sentencing. This time, however, the government wasn't feeling nearly as generous and recommended a higher sentence than the plea bargain provided for. The probation officer's presentence report added upward adjustments for additional drugs, obstruction of justice, and possession of a dangerous weapon. It also deleted credits for acceptance of responsibility.

Every practicing attorney will eventually have a fee dispute with a client. Call it the Murphy's Law of client relations. When such a dispute arises, how should one respond?

Do you: (a) Make reasonable attempts to obtain payment from the client? (b) File an allegedly frivolous attorney's lien for more twice what you say that you are owed? or (c) Set fire to the client's car and tell his children that they are dressed funny?

We'd go with the third option. Barry Gomberg, however, reportedly chose the second route. The man with "Over 33 Years Of Success" was retained to represent a client during mediation of a whistle-blower dispute. That agreement provided for a non-refundable retainer of $2,500, plus a ten percent contingency fee on all "monies and items of value that we secure for you ..."

White-collar criminals present a unique sentencing challenge. Unlike most thieves, the criminals behind securities fraud and embezzlement are unlikely to become repeat offenders. After all, is a CEO going to be rehired by another company after an Enron-esque scandal?

Then again, whereas a mugger might rob one person, a crooked CEO can, with one conspiracy, harm hundreds of victims. Two cases decided today illustrate the difficulties inherent in white-collar sentencing:

Martin Luther King Jr. defined a genuine leader as "not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus."

The United States Sentencing Commission (USSC) addresses the subject of leadership and organizational roles in USSG §3B1.1 by stating:

"in distinguishing a leadership and organizational role from one of mere management or supervision . . . the court should consider" factors that "include [and thus are not necessarily exhausted by] the exercise of decision making authority, the nature of participation in the commission of the offense, the recruitment of accomplices, the claimed right to a larger share of the fruits of the crime, the degree of participation in planning or organizing the offense, the nature and scope of the illegal activity, and the degree of control and authority exercised over others."

If the latter definition makes you nauseated, you aren't alone.

This case in four words: loose lips claim clips.

John Bloch III was prohibited by law from owning firearms for two very good reasons: he was a felon, and he was previously convicted of felony domestic violence (that's § 922(g)(1) and § 922(g)(9). When the police responded to reports of shots fired at his girlfriend's apartment, the wise move would've been silence.

But then there was booze.

"Otto Cuban Jew muther f***er bastard get our message your family is not safe we will get you good Jew is a dead Jew say hi to your hore wife death to the jews heil hitler [swastika]."

Let's be clear about what we are dealing with here. What the threat lacked in spelling, it made up for in terror. It wasn't the first threat Otto May had received, either. For years, beginning in 2002 and ending in 2005, he endured harassment, with statements such as "Otto Cuban Jew fag die," scrawled on his toolbox, left on notes, or graffitied on the elevator wall. His cars were vandalized multiple times, his bike tire punctured, and at one point, a dead bird was dressed up in a toilet paper KKK outfit, with a pointy hat, and placed in a vise at his workstation.

Obviously, something had to be done. What did his Chrysler, his employer, do?

Terri Basden worked as a dispatcher for a company that transported workers from one train to another train. It doesn't sound terribly exciting, but heck, it's a paycheck.

In January 2008, she fell after having a dizzy spell at home. She was treated at an emergency room, where the news got worse: the treating physician detected signs of multiple sclerosis. She also missed work.

She missed work again on the following dates, with a physician's note provided after each absence: