First Judicial District

The city of Philadelphia is close to changing its model of providing lawyers to criminal defendants and family-court litigants too poor to afford their own lawyers and for whom the Defender Association of Philadelphia is conflicted out of representing. Currently, individual attorneys take those appointments, but the city is contemplating having one for-profit law firm do the bulk of the work. But The Legal Intelligencer reports one of the main attorneys behind the leading bid to get the work not only has a disciplinary record but made questionable postings on social media, including sharing a posting by another page titled "American White History Month 2," whose avatar reads, "Never Apologize for Being White." The attorney told The Legal that the posting was sent to him by someone else and that he shared it from his iPhone without realizing that it originated on the "American White History Month 2" page or that it was directed at Muslims.

Five Philadelphia judges have had their financial records subpoenaed by federal prosecutors, including in connection to a convicted felon who was an active Democratic Party fundraiser and who won a lawsuit, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. Sources told the Inqy they were unsure of the focus of the investigation beyond interest in cases being possibly fixed. Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice Seamus P. McCaffery also is the subject to a federal probe, The Legal Intelligencer reported a few weeks ago: http://m.americanlawyer.com/module/alm/app/tal.do#!/article/1106224228