Author: TSA Press

Since 1981, the 25th of November has been commemorated as the Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. The day was specifically chosen in remembrance of the three activists Maribal sisters who were ordered to be killed by the Dominican Republic’s ruler in 1960.  Their crime? Being female and being activists.  The 25th of November also marks the beginning of 16 days of activism against gender-based violence where different organisations and individuals around the world join hands for 16 days to spread awareness of and help put an end to gender-based violence.

Generation Equality Against Rape

This year, United Nations Women has chosen the theme “Orange the World: Generation Equality Stands Against Rape”. The theme will run for two years.  Rape is commonly described as an act of sexual intercourse with an individual without his or her consent through force or threat of force.  Throughout the world, rape is known to be a very pervasive crime yet one of the most unreported.  With grave social, mental and sometimes physical effects to the survivor, there is no doubt why UN Women has decided to focus on rape.  It is one of the most heinous crimes of our time.

One rape per hour

In its first quarter’s report, Zimstat recorded that there were 636 reported rape cases in January and about 625 in February. The numbers follow similar patterns as the months go by.  A breakdown of these figures shows that on average there were about 21.4 rape cases per day.  This translates to roughly one reported rape per hour.  The Zimbabwe Gender Commission revealed that at least twenty two (22) women are raped daily in Zimbabwe, one woman is abused every 75 minutes and an average of 646 women are being sexually-abused monthly and one in three girls is raped or sexually assaulted before they reach the age of 18. Unfortunately, this is not the full story.  These are just the reported cases.  According to a United Nations survey done worldwide, up to 90% of women do not report rape.  Overall, the United Nations claims that at least 1 in 3 women in the world has experienced sexual violence be it by an intimate partner, a stranger or a relative.  Home is not a safe space for women anymore, let us seek to change that.

According to the Criminal Law Code of Zimbabwe, forced sexual intercourse or sexual intercourse with a minor is rape.  Rape is not only a crime in domestic law in international law [the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, the Protocol on Human and People’s Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa ( Maputo Protocol), the African Charter.  Zimbabwe is a party of all the above-mentioned conventions and as such has committed itself to the protection of women, children and any other vulnerable groups against the crime of rape.

Call to End Rape

To call upon the government and not call upon men to work towards ending violence against women would be a half-hearted effort.  Women themselves play an important role in society in the way they bring up their sons, and in their community and other leadership roles.  It is the duty of all Zimbabweans, the government and all men and women to do more to ensure that violence against women is ended.  People both young and old, rich or poor are encouraged to have conversations about ending violence against women.  Influential institutions such as Churches are further called upon to encourage women to report violence and seek assistance from the various organisations in place that help women especially those who have been subjected to rape. 

As the 16 days of activism Against Gender-Based Violence begins, let us remember to all play our parts.  One rape is a rape too many.  We encourage the Zimbabwe Republic Police to be humane towards women reporting rape and create an environment where reporting does not become a second trauma.  We also call upon the Ministry of Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises to raise awareness on the rights of women through promoting the Domestic Violence Act in Zimbabwe and giving it teeth.  Rape does not just affect one woman, it effects our whole society.  Let us make the UN Women’s statement on this day a reality:  “We are generation equality and we will end rape”.

Visit Veritas Women’s Rights website:  www.veritaswomen.net

Veritas makes every effort to ensure reliable information, but cannot take legal responsibility for information supplied.

Post published in: Featured

The name partner of what Biglaw firm received the Order of the British Empire in 1974 for his studies and writings on Winston Churchill?

Hint: The firm was founded in 1951 in California.

See the answer on the next page.

It’s that time of year again where we look back, take stock of the year in law, count the bonuses rolling in and order another round. With that in mind, we’re throwing a holiday party here in New York, and you’re invited!

So, if you want to grab some drinks and food on ATL, RSVP here! This year we’ll have our party on December 10th at Houndstooth Pub on 8th Avenue at 37th Street.

Want to brag about your bonus? Share a war story? Take a break from studying for finals? Catch up with your favorite (it’s me, I know it is) ATL editor? All are welcome!

Here are the details:

When: Tuesday, December 10th
Where: 520 8th Avenue, New York, NY 10018
Time: 6pm – whenever we stop drinking

Remember to RSVP soon to guarantee your spot and we’ll see you in December.

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Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, and host of The Jabot podcast. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).

The international law firm of Ince & Co. has parted ways with a parter after he found himself in legal hot water following a drunken night out with clients. Devandran Karunakaran, 40, was managing partner in the Singapore office of the firm with a practice in maritime law when he was charged with molesting three women at a bar.

According to reports, in May of last year after drinks with clients, Karunakaran went to a bar to continue drinking. There he groped three women, including the bar’s marketing director and DJ. When the manager of the bar asked him to leave, Karunakaran reportedly became irate and hurled profanities and shouted that he was a lawyer and could get the manager fired. Police were called and Karunakaran was arrested.

Last week, Karunakaran pleaded guilty to three charges of molestation. He was charged under the Protection from Harassment Act and was fined a total of S$15,000. For each of the molestation charges, he faced up to two years’ jail time, fines, caning, or any combination of the three.

As reported by Law.com, following the verdict, the firm fired Karunakaran:

A spokesperson for Ince said in a statement: “Following the Singapore Court’s decision, Devandran Karunakaran’s position at Ince has been terminated with immediate effect and he no longer works at the firm.

“We take the behavior and ethical conduct of all of the Group’s Partners and staff extremely seriously.”

It sure seems like you wouldn’t want anyone who uses this kind of poor judgment as a representative of the firm.

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Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, and host of The Jabot podcast. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).

I truly think once I got robbed, it took something out of me in the best way. All the things that really mattered to me then deeply — how many bags I had, what car I drove … I still like all that stuff, but it doesn’t matter. It could go away. For so long, people have tried to partner me with things. But this was the first thing where I thought, You know what? I want to go to law school. I want to help people. Let me work for the next ten years and build up my brands, and then one day, in ten years, just give up being Kim K. and become a lawyer. And now I’ve come to a realization about what I care about. No publicist would have ever told me to get into prison reform.

— Kim Kardashian West, in an interview with The Cut, explaining what really motivated her to want to follow in her father’s footsteps and study law. The reality TV star is currently planning to become a lawyer without going to law school and is completing the first year of a four-year apprenticeship with a law firm in San Francisco, California.

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Staci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.

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With UPenn shooting itself in the genitals with an ill-advised effort to rename itself “Carey Law School” — not to be confused with the University of Maryland’s Carey Law School — law school observers may have missed the burgeoning controversy in Canada over a donor bringing a lawsuit against his namesake school for his name not appearing in enough places.

The Peter A. Allard School of Law at the University of British Columbia finds itself embroiled in a lawsuit brought by Peter A. Allard after the attorney turned philanthropist learned that his name doesn’t appear on the diplomas of higher level law school graduates (e.g., the LL.M.s). Allard’s $30 million donation to the school — the largest of many donations he’s made to the school — included a provision that all degrees granted by the Faculty of Law include a “reasonable reference” to Allard.

The wrinkle is that the Faculty of Law doesn’t give out those degrees. While they issue JDs — which do include Allard’s name — higher level degrees are granted by the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies and therefore the school doesn’t believe the agreement with Allard covers those diplomas.

This seems like a good practical lesson in the importance of reading the fine print. Allard, however, did not see it that way and took the school to arbitration. The arbitrator ruled that the school wasn’t acting in bad faith and trying to hide the ball when it came to the departmental divide. Allard is now asking the courts to allow him to appeal the arbitrator’s decision.

The school seems to be technically correct here but can’t we all be adults here and just say, “Oh, right, you probably reasonably assumed our LAW DEGREES included all our law degrees — sorry about that, we’ll slap your name on there going forward.” For its part, the school tried to downplay the importance of the oversight by noting that “around 200 students are expected to graduate with JDs next year, with 60 to 65 students earning master’s degrees and another six completing PhDs.” But this actually proves too much — this is exactly why this isn’t a particularly big ask and they could easily just let it go, especially if the school’s hoping to maintain a relationship with the donor.

Still, suing the school is equally ridiculous. They may be unnecessarily obstinate here, but does the justice system really need to get dragged into what names end up on 60-70 diplomas?

Sometimes being right doesn’t require being vindicated.

But it goes to show you that when a bunch of lawyers get involved, even Canadians can stop being polite.

One of UBC’s biggest donors goes to court in effort to ensure his name appears on all law-school degrees

Massachusetts District Court Judge Shelley Joseph didn’t join the bench in July 2017 thinking she’d become a symbol of civil disobedience.

But whether she knew it or not, that changed in April 2018 when she decided not to let an ICE agent arrest a defendant on an immigration warrant who stood before her facing low-level drug charges.

Jose Medina-Perez had already been deported twice and had allegedly illegally reentered the country when he was picked up for drug possession and ordered to appear in the district courthouse in the tony Boston suburb of Newton.  When he came to court, he and his lawyer learned that an ICE agent was there to arrest him.  The judge ordered that the ICE agent wait outside while Medina-Perez’s case was heard.

Following a bench conference among the defense attorney, prosecutor, and judge (part of which was recorded and part of which was not), Medina-Perez was permitted to leave through a backdoor, downstairs exit instead of the front door.  (The prosecutor seemed to be in agreement with this arrangement as there was an issue whether Medina-Perez was the correct person being sought.) The backdoor exit was opened by a court officer from Judge Joseph’s courtroom.

Medina-Perez subsequently jumped a fence and for a short time avoided apprehension. The ICE agent, after having waited outside for several hours, went home empty-handed and angry.

Since ICE has ratcheted up its enforcement efforts under the Trump administration, there have been stand-offs in state courts around the country between local and federal authorities regarding what role, if any, the state should have in facilitating ICE arrests.  Many cities in so-called sanctuary locations (like Newton) do not permit ICE agents to arrest immigrants inside the courthouse because they feel it discourages non-U.S. citizens from showing up in court for their cases.   They also believe such enforcement disturbs the normal functioning of the court.  Absent a valid judge-ordered arrest warrant (as opposed to one merely order by ICE), officials in those court houses will not help ICE.

Judge Joseph’s apparent assistance in the escape of Perez-Medina so enraged the ICE agent that it was reported to higher-ups and maybe even POTUS himself.  In a largely unprecedented move by federal authorities, a decision was made to indict Judge Joseph and the court officer who let Perez-Media out the back.  Both now stand charged with federal counts of obstruction of justice and conspiracy. The last time a sitting judge in Massachusetts was indicted by federal prosecutors while on the bench was in 1787 when a judge defended a farmer’s rebellion against state tax laws.

Joseph was put on administrative leave and lost her $184,000 yearly salary.  So much for the presumption of innocence.

Every attorney feels both personal and professional humiliation when caught up in a controversy that brings national media attention.  It’s embarrassing to be reprimanded in court by a judge, but imagine a judge being reprimanded and then formally charged by federal prosecutors in a story that garners national media attention.

For Joseph, this is nothing short of catastrophic.  In news articles she appears drawn and teary-eyed.

State authorities like Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey defended Joseph and the need for state courts to remain autonomous and free from federal interference. Retired Massachusetts Judge Carol Ball called the indictment politically motivated.

However, conservative opponents like right-wing radio host Howie Carr called Joseph “a lawless, privileged moonbat judge” who is “hoping for an O.J. Simpson-like jury nullification from 12 Democrats afflicted with Trump Derangement Syndrome.”

He’s speaking of a future trial and as of now it appears that’s what Joseph is interested in doing.  According to reports, she recently turned down a plea offer that would not involve jail time.

While DOJ officials insist the case has nothing to do with politics and all to do with a judge’s obligations to carry out the law, it’s inevitable the trial will be political, with pro-immigrant rights activists lining up on one side and pro-Trump supporters on the other.

For my part, I’m rooting for the judge. Having been on the bench less than one year, she may not have realized the quagmire she was stepping into when she permitted Medina-Perez to exit out the back.  My guess is she truly believed what she did was right and fair — a consideration for all judges. I don’t think it was ever her intention to thwart federal legal process, but in her quest to do the “right thing,” she may have inadvertently done that.

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Toni Messina has tried over 100 cases and has been practicing criminal law and immigration since 1990. You can follow her on Twitter: @tonitamess.

Fidelity Investments’ evolution from mutual fund giant donating money to white nationalists to cryptocurrency player with correspondingly less money to donate to white nationalists took another step forward last week. The New York State Department of Financial Services, presumably in between howls of laughter, awarded Fido a crypto license. Obviously, fake money immediately took another nosedive, with bitcoin falling to its lowest level in six months as the Chinese once again took a large needle to the bubble and others recognized the Fidelity news as the contraindicator it is, once again putting John McAfee’s penis in mortal danger.