ABA Journal: The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office is raising objections to a proposed ethics rule in Arizona that would bar lawyers from showing bias in representing their clients.
The idea is already expressed in comments to the ethics rules, but the state bar wants a formal rule saying it is misconduct to “knowingly manifest bias or prejudice” in representing a client, Capitol Media Services reports.
AZ Central: After a sluggish few days of sales and even some legal questions, Isaias Coyoy had a steady stream of customers Monday for Independence Day fireworks at his temporary stand in central Phoenix.
“Today, it’s a little crazy,” said Coyoy, who ran a Phantom Fireworks stand at Seventh Avenue and Osborn Road. “We have had a lot of sales.”
Coyoy said he was asked by customers whether selling fireworks is legal, which it is. However, in Phoenix, and many other cities across the Valley, setting them off is not.
ABA Journal: The U.S. Supreme Court has struck down Arizona’s system of public financing for political campaigns on First Amendment grounds.
The law gave publicly financed candidates more public dollars when their privately funded opponents spent more. The court struck down the law in a 5-4 decision holding that the matching funds provision imposes a substantial burden on protected political speech of privately funded candidates and the organizations that finance their campaigns.
AZCentral: Maricopa County officials are trying to find the root causes of legal claims lodged against their agencies in hopes of reducing future legal exposures and costly payouts.
Over the last six months, the county’s risk-management department has launched a new program to work more closely with department officials to determine whether policies should be changed and whether staff should be retrained to prevent future legal claims.
Arizona hired Paul Clement to defend SB 1070 in a pending appeal to the Supreme Court. Clement has made headlines, recently, for his role in a number of highly publicized cases. Clement represented the National Football League in their appeal against the players union, and Clement resigned from his former firm after the firm refused to represent the U.S. House of Representatives in defending the Defense of Marriage Act. Clement, also, was a former solicitor general of the United States under President George W. Bush.