Emory University’s law school says it is looking into allegations that law professor and Rabbi Michael Broyde used a fake identity to comment on online publications and blogs, promote his own work and join a rival rabbinical group’s listserv.

The English-language version of Haaretz, an Israeli newspaper has more on the allegations here. According to Haaretz.com, he made up the name “Rabbi Hershel Goldwasser” to “laud work he had written under his own name.”

Emory’s prepared statement read: “The allegations regarding the conduct of Professor Michael Broyde are concerning to the Law School. We are currently reviewing the matter and plan to issue a statement once our inquiry is complete.”

Broyde responded to the Daily Report today via email, “I am sorry, but I am in the no comment mode now. Maybe in a week something different.”

According to Emory’s website, Broyde teaches classes in legal methods, family law and Jewish law. He earned his law degree from New York University and was ordained by Yeshiva University.

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A disbarred Cedartown attorney pleaded guilty  Tuesday to defrauding more than 50 of his workers’ compensation clients out of settlement funds they were owed, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia announced.

Disbarred lawyer Miles Lamar Gammage, 59 – who lost his bar license last year — entered the plea to one count of mail fraud in U.S. District Court in Rome, said U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates. Gammage had been a member of the State Bar of Georgia since June 1979, the U.S. Attorney said.  He was a graduate of Cumberland Law School in Alabama, according to the State Bar.

Gammage specialized in workers’ compensation cases, often representing people who were seriously injured, Yates said. “This former attorney has now admitted his blatant and extensive misuse of his clients’ money,” she said. “By his own admission, instead of helping his clients receive the compensation that they were owed and that they needed for the treatment of their injuries, he used their settlement money for his own selfish purposes – and hurt people who were already hurting.”

Gammage’s attorney, Christopher Twyman, could not be reached for comment.

Federal prosecutors said that for four years from January 2008 to January 2012, Gammage converted more than $2.5 million of settlement funds intended for his clients to pay for his own expenses, including his law firm’s payroll and operating costs. As part of the scheme, Gammage would settle claims on behalf of clients without their authorization, fail to notify them that he had received their settlement checks, forge their names  on settlement checks and deposit the funds into bank accounts he controlled, prosecutors said.

Gammage also commingled his clients’ funds with his own funds, refused to provide his clients with a full and accurate accounting of the disposition of their settlement money, and withheld settlement funds from clients for extended periods of time, prosecutors said.

If and when clients questioned Gammage about their cases, Gammage would blame what he claimed were settlement delays on others, prosecutors said. If clients insisted that they needed the money for medical bills and prescription drugs, Gammage would dole out partial payments which he labeled as cash advances or interest-free loans, prosecutors said.

In doing so, Gammage “lulled clients into a false sense of security” and prevented them from complaining to law enforcement authorities, prosecutors said.

Gammage voluntarily surrendered his law license last year after two complaints were filed against him by the State
Bar of Georgia alleging he had lied to clients, forged their signatures on settlement checks and used the money for himself.

The Memphis Commerical Appeal reports that a lawyer discipline panel has recommended a 60-day suspension for a plaintiffs lawyer who told the judge she might “set a world record for error” in her rulings.

“The primary issue before this panel is whether, even under very difficult circumstances, an attorney can justify making rude, insulting, disrespectful and demeaning statements to the judge during open court,” said the opinion of the Tennessee Board of Professional Responsibility panel.

“We do not believe that such conduct can be justified no matter how worthy or vulnerable the attorney’s client may be, or how poorly the judge may be performing or how difficult or unethical the adversary counsel may be … Simply abusing or insulting the court to get rulings in your favor cannot ever be endorsed or justified by our rules and our system of professional conduct.”

The story quotes the lawyer, R. Sadler Bailey, as vowing to appeal the suspension recommendation and offering no remorse for his comments during a medical malpractice trial.

The story says opposing counsel John E. Hall Jr. of Atlanta’s Hall, Booth Smith, said Bailey had “a strategy to be a bully” and that he’d never seen a lawyer speak to a judge in such a manner.

The story can be found here.

Kristi Swartz, who covers the Georgia Public Service Commission for the Atlanta Journal Constitution, has a story today reporting that an associate at Troutman Sanders, the law firm for Georgia Power Co., is the son of one of the state’s utility regulators.

Adam Wise, 30, is a first-year associate at Troutman Sanders. His father, Stan Wise, is one of the five members of the Public Service Commission.

Troutman Sanders sees no conflict, according to the story:

“‘His father had no input in our hiring decision,’ the firm said in a statement sent to the AJC. ‘The firm also has put strict measures in place that prohibit Adam from working on Southern Co. matters.’” Southern Co. is the parent company of Georgia Power.

Stan Wise also sees no conflict:

“‘A conflict would only exist if my son worked for a utility or represented a utility before the PSC. Neither is true,’ Wise told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. ‘It would be a stretch to suggest that a conflict in the discharge of my duties is apparent because my son practices nonutility law in Washington.’”

Adam Wise is part of Troutman’s energy and industry regulation group, focusing on federal regulation of electricity and gas, according to the firm’s website. He was a summer associate in Troutman’s energy practice group in 2009 and interned with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in 2008, while in law school at Mercer University. He received his law degree in 2010, after earning an undergraduate degree from North Georgia College and State University in 2006.

Swartz’s story summarizes Troutman’s recent work for Georgia Power:

“‘Recently, Troutman has successfully helped Georgia Power negotiate a rate hike, a reduction in fuel costs and the right to build the nation’s first new nuclear reactors in 30 years. [Troutman's Kevin] Greene also has testified before the state Legislature in favor of a controversial bill to let Georgia Power collect the financing costs from those two reactors before they are built. Wise’s campaign touts that measure, which led to a separate nuclear power fee on customer bills, as a move that will save consumers money in the long run.’”

The Savannah Morning News reported that Savannah attorney Lawrence Madison was convicted of child molestation and sexual battery. Chatham County Superior Court Judge James Bass Jr. sent Madison, 53, to jail immediately to await sentencing June 28.

The jury deliberated 75 minutes before convicting Madison. The newspaper said the victim, now 21, testified that the crimes began when she was 11 and continued until she was 18.

The Augusta Chronicle reported that trial lawyer Joseph Neal Jr. has been sentenced to 100 hours of community service at a waste water treatment plant and three  years of probation in a plea bargain that reduced a felony rape charge to misdemeanors.

The plea deal followed a morning of testimony from an 18-year-old baby sitter who claimed she was sexually assaulted Dec. 16 by Neal, 43, and his now ex-wife, the Chronicle reported. The newspaper said Augusta Superior Court Judge James Blanchard called the sewage treatment plant sentence “in keeping with the conduct in this case.” The misdemeanors include furnishing alcohol to someone under 21, possession of marijuana and disorderly conduct. The disorderly conduct charge was based on text messages he sent to the victim in which he allegedly described himself as a “sex god,” and said, “You can be our babysitter and sex slave LOL.”

The website of Neal Law Office describes Neal, an Augusta native and son of a trial lawyer, as a former assistant district attorney for the Augusta Judicial Circuit from 1993 to 1996 who prosecuted 1,000 felony cases and tried 100 of them before juries. In 1996, Neal took his experience into private practice, first with his father and then, starting in 2000, with his own firm, specializing in personal injury and wrongful death.

Neal’s bar listing shows he was admitted in 1993 after graduating from Mercer University Law School.

A former staff attorney for personal injury firm Joel & Associates has been sentenced to 18 months in jail after pleading guilty to stealing $145,000 from the firm. Wayne Williams, 50, who was the managing attorney for the firm between 2004 and 2007, pleaded guilty to intercepting about 24 checks and depositing them into his personal account, according to a release from the office of Fulton County District Attorney Paul L. Howard.

A review of the firm’s books led to the discovery of the thefts, according to the DA’s office.

On Monday, Williams pleaded guilty to 21 counts of theft by taking and 19 counts of first-degree forgery; Fulton County Magistrate Judge Walter Lovett sentenced him to 20 years, with 18 months to serve and the balance on probation. He must also make restitution, surrender his law license and perform 500 hours of community service.

Williams’ attorney, Fulton County Public Defender Bert G. Roughton III, refused to discuss the case. Joel & Associates principal David C. Joel was unavailable.

Williams was prosecuted by Chief Senior District Attorney Bradley R. Malkin of the DA’s White Collar Crime Unit. He was assisted by DA investigator Natalie Brunner and Atlanta Police Det. Joseph Siwemuke.

The state Judicial Qualifications Commission has filed ethics charges against a Superior Court judge in Brunswick, accusing her of “willful misconduct in office” that includes jailing defendants indefinitely and lying to the JQC about the practice.

In a 31-page notice (view that here) that includes 12 counts of ethics violations, the JQC also accused Amanda F. Williams, chief judge of the Brunswick Judicial Circuit, of improperly allowing members of her family to litigate cases in front of her, allowing her social and political relationships influence her judicial conduct, and improperly endorsing a local candidate for district attorney.

The charges also accuse Williams of issuing ex-parte orders on substantive legal matters without the knowledge or input of all parties involved in the disputes, holding hearings in chambers without a court reporter present, improperly jailing people who appeared before her, demonstrating an open bias against defendants, and using “rude, abusive and insulting language” in court.

Leah Ward Sears, former chief justice of the Supreme Court of Georgia, and former Georgia attorney general Michael J. Bowers will prosecute Williams before the JQC on the ethics charges. Sears, who stepped down from the high court in 2009, is an attorney at the Atlanta offices of Chicago firm Schiff Hardin. Bowers, who has handled other prosecutions for the JQC,  is a partner at the Atlanta offices of Balch & Bingham. The JQC filed charges against Williams late Wednesday at the Supreme Court.

Williams, became the Brunswick Circuit’s first female Superior Court judge when she was elected to the post in 1990.  She earned her law degree at John Marshall School of Law in Atlanta in 1977,  and was elected to her sixth term in 2010.

Williams was the subject last spring of a lengthy and controversial report by “This American Life”, a weekly public radio show hosted by Chicago reporter Ira Glass. The March 25 broadcast, “Very Tough Love” — during which Glass described Williams as “a judge many people truly fear” –  led to calls across the nation for Williams’ impeachment. According to the judge, the broadcast also generated death threats against her.

The Daily Report will update this story later today.

The State Bar of Georgia’s Board of Governors approved an amendment to conflict-of-interest rules pertaining to public defenders that will allow intracircuit representation of multiple defendants as long as there are no determined conflicts.

“After a lively debate, the proposal to adopt an amendment adding Rule 1.10 (d) passed 58-26,” Bar President Kenneth L. Shigley said today. The Board of Governors met Saturday in Jekyll Island.

The amendment states that public defenders are not automatically barred from representing co-defendants in a criminal case unless there is a conflict as determined by existing Rules 1.7, 1.8 or 1.9.

The amendment passed the bar’s Disciplinary Rules and Procedures Committee in September and the Executive Committee earlier this month. It now will go to the state Supreme Court for final approval.

A DeKalb County judge was wrong to disqualify Alston & Bird from defending former DeKalb County Schools Superintendent Crawford Lewis against racketeering charges, a panel of the state Court of Appeals has ruled.

DeKalb Superior Court Judge Cynthia J. Becker booted Alston off the case last fall based on prosecutors’ plans to call a witness employed by an Alston client on unrelated matters, Parsons Commercial Technology Group. But Friday’s opinion written by Judge Keith R. Blackwell and joined by Judges Anne Elizabeth Barnes and A. Harris Adams said Becker had abused her discretion.

“The record reveals merely that Alston & Bird has a relationship with Parsons,” wrote Blackwell. “The remainder of the case for disqualification consists of one conjecture piled upon another.”

“While the State may be able to present facts that would authorize the trial court to disqualify [Alston partner Michael L. Brown] and Alston & Bird,” Blackwell continued, “it has not done so yet, and the record now before us does not warrant disqualification.”

Lewis, former school district chief operating officer Patricia Reid and two others are charged with corruption in a case that involves the school district’s construction program. Lewis was indicted for illegally steering contracts to certain vendors, accepting bribes in the form of tens of thousands of dollars in tickets to major sporting events and stealing taxpayer funds by using his office credit card for personal purchases. The defendants have denied the charges.

The appeals court’s decision is here.