A Manhattan federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit challenging a New York rule banning law firms from selling ownership stakes to non-lawyers.

The suit was filed by the personal injury firm Jacoby & Meyers.

The firm said the rule violated its First Amendment freedom-of-association rights.

It claimed that the rule preventing non-lawyers from owning stakes in law firms hindered its ability to raise capital to cover technology and expansion costs. It also said it hurt its ability to provide legal services to working class clients.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the judge found that Jacoby & Meyers' ability to raise money from non-lawyers would still be restricted by other New York laws even if he struck down the rule.

The Livingston Parish Council is hiring private lawyers to defend the parish against a $52 million lawsuit filed by an Alabama company that spearheaded clean-up efforts after Hurricane Gustav struck in 2008.

The Advocate reports the council retained the McGlinchey, Stafford PLLC law firm to begin a preliminary review of the case.

After Gustav struck in September 2008, IED Inc. was placed in charge of clearing storm debris from Livingston Parish roads and waterways.

The council expected the Federal Emergency Management Agency to cover the costs. But after FEMA refused to pay about $52 million billed for the work, IED filed a lawsuit against the parish.

www.theadvocate.com

Paul Clement used to argue for the federal government's power until he started arguing against it.

But he's no flip-flopping political candidate; he's a lawyer. Changes like this are part of his job.

Clement is playing a key role in three politically charged Supreme Court cases in which Republican-led states object to Obama administration policies or federal laws on health care, immigration and redrawing political boundaries.

In the biggest of those, the 45-year-old law school acquaintance of President Barack Obama will be trying to sink Obama's health care overhaul.

Not that long ago, Clement would regularly stand before the justices and defend even the most aggressive uses of federal power, making his case without written notes and parrying questions with an easy banter.

He argued for the Bush administration's policy on detaining suspected terrorists, a federal law outlawing a medical procedure called "partial-birth abortion" by opponents, the McCain-Feingold law aimed at limiting the influence of money in politics and a federal ban on the use of marijuana for medical purposes.

A federal appeals court on Thursday blocked two more sections of Alabama's tough new law targeting illegal immigration pending the outcome of lawsuits that seek to overturn the law entirely.

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued an order temporarily halting a section that says courts can't enforce contracts involving illegal immigrants and another that makes it a felony for an illegal immigrant to do business with the state.

The law adopted last year was challenged by both the federal government and a coalition of activist groups. A three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit heard arguments last week but said it won't rule on the overall case until the U.S. Supreme Court decides a federal challenge to a similar law in Arizona. The appeals court is also weighing Georgia's law.

Lawyers in the Alabama case had asked the court to at least temporarily stop the two sections and others, claiming they were causing harm to people in the state.

"We are very pleased that the Eleventh Circuit understood the harms these provisions were causing in Alabama, and saw fit to enjoin them," said the Southern Poverty Law Center's Sam Brooke, who argued before the panel last week. "This is a great day for the residents of our state."

Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange said he strongly disagrees with the court's decision.

A former top lawyer for the city of Detroit who lost her job for describing a local court as "ghetto" has lost an appeal over her dismissal.

A federal appeals court says Friday that Kathleen Leavey's comments in 2009 were not protected under the First Amendment because they were made as part of her job.

Leavey, who is white, has said she used the word "ghetto" in a conversation with a court employee to describe Detroit's 36th District Court as inefficient and poor in serving the public. The chief judge, who is black, heard about the comment and contacted city hall. The angry call to a deputy mayor led to Leavey's departure.

The appeals court says the Constitution does not shield certain expressions made during official duties.

The Oklahoma Supreme Court on Tuesday tossed a $10 million jury verdict against Tyson Foods Inc., granting the company's request for a new trial based on allegations of juror misconduct and a mistake on interpreting the law.

Springdale, Ark.-based Tyson Foods claimed on appeal that some prospective jurors in the trial in McCurtain County, Okla., didn't answer questions fully or truthfully on juror questionnaires and the trial judge didn't allow oral questions on items covered in the forms filled out by the panelists.

The high court also agreed with Tyson that the growers weren't covered by the Oklahoma Consumer Protection Act. Growers had argued that since Tyson provided them with feed and chicks, that gave them standing as consumers.

Tyson has a large operation in the region, with more than 180 poultry producers in southwest Arkansas and southeast Oklahoma that raise broilers for Tyson's plant in Broken Bow, Okla. That plant and its related operations, including a feed mill, employ more than 1,700 people.

In 2008, 54 growers, with Rusty Armstrong as lead plaintiff, sued Tyson, claiming that farmers who didn't want to modernize their equipment were given inferior feed and chicks. They claimed that Tyson had favored growers who got better feed and livestock.