Anyone who has ridden the subway in New York or Paris or any number of other international cities is likely familiar with the street musicians who can easily charm a crowd or brighten up an otherwise weary commute with impromptu serenades.

Not so in Atlanta, where MARTA police arrested a traveling violinist after his impromptu concert inside the Five Points station downtown.

The MARTA violinist spent five days in jail.  It’s a good thing that world class violinist Joshua Bell opted for the Washington D.C. Metro instead of MARTA when he decided in 2007 to play incognito for tips.

In Washington, Bell was just ignored.

Attorneys, professors and students will gather at the University of Georgia Law School March 2 for the Eighth Annual Working in the Public Interest Law Conference.

An announcement on the UGA website says the event will address gun control, homelessness, affirmative action and alternative courts.

The daylong event starts at 9 a.m. in the law school’s Harold Hirsch Hall. It will highlight “dynamic, creative ways to combat social injustice through the vehicle of the law,” says conference organizer and third-year law student Cari Hipp, in a news release.

The conference concludes with a keynote address by Aimee Maxwell, executive director of the Georgia Innocence Project, 6 p.m. at the Melting Point in downtown Athens.

Registration is $10 for the public and free for university faculty, staff and students. CLE credit is available.

Register at http://ugawipi.wordpress.com before Feb. 28.

News release:
http://law.uga.edu/wipi/

Schedule:
http://www.law.uga.edu/news/16358

The lawyer behind Athens-based band R.E.M., Bertis Downs IV, will speak about the music industry and public education at the University of Georgia on Feb. 18.

Downs, a 1981 UGA School of Law graduate and retired adjunct professor, will share his perspective on an era of rapid change in the music business, according to the university.

Part of Downs’ talk will examine how musicians can make a living from their art.

“What’s the playbook now?” Downs said, according to a UGA press release. “It’s a lot trickier than it used to be.”

Downs represented R.E.M. during the band’s 30-year run, which ended in 2011. An Athens resident since 1978,

Downs continues to advise the band on its ongoing business interests.

In recent years, he has advocated for public education as government funding for schools has decreased.

“Public schools do a lot better than they get credit for, even though they are constantly denigrated, underfunded and barraged with mandates to do more with less,” Downs said.

Downs’ talk, titled “Don’t get me started—On Athens, music lessons and, of course, good schools for all kids,” will be held at the University of Georgia Chapel.

He will be joined by Nicholas Allen, a UGA English professor and director of the Jane and Harry Willson Center for Humanities and Arts.

What if you made partner, and no one slapped you on the back? No one congratulated you? Your mother had nothing to brag about?

What if you made partner, and no one told the Daily Report?

Don’t let that happen. If you recently made partner, make sure you are counted in the Daily Report’s annual new partners special coverage. Take our online survey and, if you’re up for it, tell us how to reach you for your close-up.

Looking for a puppy to give to someone special for Christmas? It’s not too late.

Atlanta’s first-ever Super Pet Adoption day–offering more than 200 dogs, puppies, cats and kittens from local shelters and rescue groups–is this Saturday, Dec. 22.

Ashley Freedman, a lawyer with the Social Security Administration and an animal lover, has organized the event, which will be from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. at the North Atlanta Trade Center, located at 1700 Jeurgens Court in Norcross.

Many people seek a last-minute pet for Christmas, said Freedman, a longtime volunteer with pet rescue groups and Fulton County Animal Services.

The Atlanta Humane Society, where many turn, runs out of puppies in the weeks before the holiday, she said, and time is running short to adopt a rescue pet from a foster parent.

That prompted her to organize the Super Pet Adoption day.

“It’s one-stop shopping,” Freedman said, adding that people can bring their pets with them to make sure they will get along with prospective adoptees.

All pets available for adoption will be spayed, neutered and current on vaccines.

Visitors can also have pet photos taken with Santa Paws and get their faces painted. Pet-related vendors and low-cost pet micro-chipping and rabies vaccines will be on offer. All dogs adopted get a certificate for a free self-service grooming session at Kirkwood and Smyrna Bark & Lounge, one of the sponsors.

Atlanta Animals Alive, the nonprofit Freedman formed for the event, will collect donations of pet toys, treats, towels and blankets for shelter animals.

“I’m hoping it becomes an annual event for the holidays,” Freedman said.

For a list of participating shelters and recue agencies or to get involved, check www.AtlantaAnimalsAlive.org.

Freedman can be contacted at ashley@atlantaanimalsalive.org.

The Atlanta Young Jewish Attorneys Network is having a post-Hanukkah party on Dec. 20.

AYJAN is a social and networking group for Jewish lawyers who are under 40. (If you turned 40 in 2012, you are still eligible.) It was founded earlier this year to promote relationships among Jewish lawyers by Jody Brown and Eric Fisher at Taylor English Duma, Jeffrey Fisher at Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton and Raanon Gal at Ford & Harrison.

The party will be at RiRa, located in Midtown at 1080 Peachtree Street, at 6:30 p.m. The organizers have reserved a private room with complimentary drinks and appetizers.

The Law Offices of Benjamin Y. Gerber and Discovery Litigation Services are sponsoring the mixer.

Contact Eric Fisher at efisher@taylorenglish.com if you are planning to attend. AYJAN has a LinkedIn page with more information about the group.

LINK:
http://www.linkedin.com/groups/AYJAN-4257314/about?trk=anet_ug_grppro

A Fayetteville lawyer was surprised he was arrested and not just given a citation by police who observed him urinating outside early Sunday morning, the lawyer told the local newspaper, The Citizen.

“I was a cop for 20 years and I don’t think I ever took someone to jail on that charge unless there was a companion charge with it,” said David Studdard, whom the paper said is the husband of county Superior Court Clerk Sheila Studdard.

The full story from The Citizen is here.

Andrea Sneiderman will have the opportunity next week to ask a judge for permission to visit the grave of her husband, whom she is charged with murdering.

DeKalb County Superior Court Judge Gregory Adams on Friday scheduled a hearing for Nov. 16 to address Sneiderman’s request for bond modification. The conditions of Sneiderman’s $500,000 bond require her to remain under house arrest at her parents’ residence in Johns Creek, leaving only for meetings with lawyers, medical appointments and major religious services.

Sneiderman’s attorneys filed a motion Oct. 26 seeking permission to observe Yahrtzeit, a Jewish day of remembrance for deceased family members held on the anniversaries of their deaths.
Rusty Sneiderman was killed Nov. 18, 2010, by Hemy Neuman, who was Andrea Sneiderman’s boss at GE Energy. Neuman was found guilty but mentally ill in March and sentenced to life in prison.

An indictment brought against Andrea Sneiderman in August accused her of having an affair with Neuman and conspiring with him to kill her husband. Charges against Sneiderman include malice murder, attempted murder, racketeering and insurance fraud after she collected $2 million from Rusty Sneiderman’s life insurance policies. Through her attorneys, Sneiderman has vehemently denied the charges.

Adams already granted a previous request by Sneiderman to alter her bond.

In September, Adams allowed Sneiderman to leave her parents’ house to attend services for religious events including Yom Kippur, Sukkot and the first night light of Chanukah. Prosecutors said at the time they didn’t have any position on that request for bond modification.

A gag order in the case prohibits lawyers in the case from commenting.

The case is State v. Sneiderman, No. 12CR4394.

UPDATE, Nov. 1, 2012: The students are now home.

From the AP:

JONESBORO, Ga. (AP) — Members of a high school mock trial team have been trying to get back to Georgia after being stranded in New York City during Hurricane Sandy.

The Clayton News Daily reports that the Jonesboro High School team placed fourth in an international competition in New York City this weekend.  They were stranded in a Brooklyn hotel on Tuesday.

One of the judges, Clayton County State Court Solicitor General Tasha Mosley, said Tuesday the students were trying to make arrangements to get out of town on a charter bus or a train.

Mosley said the team has been safe and warm on the 12th floor of their hotel. She said her biggest concern is price gouging. She said she spent $55 on 21 bottles of water.

Duane Morris is going purple today as part of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation’s annual Spirit Day.

The firm’s website has added purple to its blue and olive color scheme as part of the GLAAD initiative to show support for LGBT youth and signify against bullying.

Duane Morris is the only law firm listed on GLAAD’s website as a Spirit Day participant, but plenty of other companies, including Coca-Cola, Delta, Wells-Fargo and AT&T, are also going purple for the day. So are several big sports leagues: MLB, NBA, WNBA, NHL and NASCAR.

All three major TV networks are participating and this year Fox News has joined CNN, MSNBC and HLN as a supporter of Spirit Day. Anchors on the networks are wearing purple in support of LGBT youth.

In another local angle, Honey Boo Boo’s uncle, Lee Thompson, made a short video for GLAAD’s website recounting his experience growing up gay and getting bullied in a small Georgia town. Wearing purple in solidarity for Spirit Day, he said, is a way of letting people know that “It is OK to be who you are. Don’t let nobody change that.”