[JURIST] US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice [official profile] will visit Germany, Romania, and the European Union [official website] headquarters in Brussels next week in an attempt to defuse increasing pressure by the EU to respond to allegations that the CIA has been operating secret European prisons [JURIST report] to interrogate al Qaeda suspects. US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said that Rice plans to discuss the situation with EU officials "in the broader context of our common struggle against terrorism" in a war with groups of people who "respect no law." Earlier Monday, a top European Union justice official said that EU voting rights could be suspended [JURIST report] for any of the 25 bloc nations that are found to have operated secret prisons, and urged the US to punish violations. Since reports of the covert CIA prison camps broke earlier this month, the Bush administration has declined to admit or deny the allegations. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Canadian legislators voted Monday night to defeat the Liberal minority government on a no-confidence motion proposed by the three opposition parties. The 171 to 133 House of Commons [official website] vote forces Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin [official website] to visit Governor General Michaelle Jean [official profile] Tuesday to formally request that Parliament be dissolved and that an election date be set. Martin is expected to ask for an eight-week election campaign with a vote in mid-January. The no-confidence vote comes 17 months after the Liberals were elected by Canadian voters in December 2003, but Martin fell under heated attack shortly after taking office when reports surfaced that the previous Liberal party government which he had served as Finance Minister had given $100 million in contracts to advertising firms [JURIST report] with close ties to the Liberals which resulted in little or no returns. A recent poll conducted for the CBC shows that Liberals and the main opposition Conservatives [party websites] will have a tight race in the upcoming January election. The Liberals' defeat also means that several proposed bills will die, including an animal cruelty bill and an act to legalize minor amounts of marijuana. CBC has more.

[JURIST] Federal prosecutors filed a proposed jury questionnaire [PDF text] in US district court Monday requesting permission to ask questions regarding the religious beliefs of potential jurors in the case against Zacarias Moussaoui [MSNBC profile; JURIST news archive] for his involvement in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. The US government is seeking the death penalty against Moussaoui, who pleaded guilty [JURIST report] to six conspiracy charges [indictment] against him earlier this year, and prosecutors are interested in learning the views of prospective jurors on issues such as Islam and the death penalty. Additionally, prosecutors included questions regarding whether potential jurors knew anyone who died in the 9/11 attacks; whether they have ties to the Middle East; and whether they belong to organizations such as the Veterans of Foreign Wars [official website] or the American Civil Liberties Union [advocacy website]. US District Judge Leonie Brinkema will determine which questions may be asked when 500 potential jurors are summoned for jury duty on February 6 [JURIST report]. AP has more.

[JURIST] Federated Investors [corporate website] has agreed to pay $100 million [SEC press release] to settle allegations of improper trading [JURIST report]. The investment firm was accused of allowing $1.6 billion in rapid trades by the hedge fund Canary Capital Partners in exchange for a fund investment which brought extra fees to Federated and also for allowing after-hours transactions. New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer [official website] opened a probe into the mutual funds industry after receiving a tip about Canary, and the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) [official website] later began its own investigation. As part of the settlement agreement [PDF text], Federated will pay $35 million in restitution to long-term investors who were harmed by the improper trading, of which $8 million has already been paid, $45 million in penalties, and will cut fees by $20 million during the next five years. The company is also required to review policies through an independent compliance consultant and to undergo compliance evaluations at least once every three years. Federated was not required to admit or deny wrongdoing in the settlement. Bloomberg has more.

[JURIST] A three-judge panel of the US Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals Monday upheld [opinion text, PDF] a lower court decision striking down a Missouri law restricting late-term abortions. The Infant Protection Act [statute text] was passed in July 2004 and made it unlawful for any person to "cause the death of a living infant with the purpose to cause death by an overt act performed when the infant is partially born or born". The law restricted most abortions performed during and after the second trimester. The court agreed that the law posed a undue burden to a woman's constitutional right to abortion because the measure lacked an exception for procedures performed to save the health of the mother. AP has more.

[JURIST] Leading Monday's environmental law news, the eleventh session of the United Nations Conference of the Parties to the Climate Change Convention (COP 11) [official website, live webcast] began today with the first session of the meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (COP/MOP 1) in Montreal, Canada. The meetings will be running from November 28 to December 9 with representatives from 189 countries and hundreds of scientists, environmentalists, and industry representatives in attendance. This is the first COP since the meeting that produced the Kyoto Protocol [text], the controversial pollution limitation plan. BBC News has more.

In other environmental law news

• An order approved by English Lord Chief Justice Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers [BBC profile] will allow a case to proceed in an action brought by the families of 30 children who were born with birth defects against the Corby Borough Council [official website] of Northhamptonshire. The action claims that defects were caused when women that lived in the area during their pregnancies between 1985 and 1999 were exposed to contamination from the clean up of old industrial steel sites. They argue that the Borough Council was negligent in its management and execution of the clean up. The Independent has more.

[JURIST] Armenian electoral officials report that nearly 64 percent of registered voters in the former Soviet republic turned out Sunday to give overwhelming support to a referendum to change the country's constitution [JURIST report] and impose stricter separation of powers between judicial, executive and legislative branches, and allow citizens to obtain dual citizenship. The measures are said to have been approved by some 93% of electors. The Council of Europe nonetheless reported allegations of "serious election abuses" [COE press release; RFE report] such as fraud and the stuffing of ballot boxes, and leaders of the opposition party National Democratic Union described the referendum as a "new stage in Armenian electoral manipulation" [RFE report]. In order to pass, at least one-third of Armenia's eligible voters must approve the measure by at least 50 percent. Armenia Liberty, an advocacy group, has updated coverage.

[JURIST] The chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Court [official website; JURIST news archive] announced Monday that the Hague-based court expects its first round of trials to start as early as mid-2006. In connection with this week's meeting of states [official website] that have signed the Rome Statute [Rome Statute, PDF text] setting up the tribunal, Luis Moreno-Ocampo released a document [PDF text] outlining the court's goals for next year, and urged participating governments to demonstrate greater support for the institution by strengthening their infrastructures to ensure maximum cooperation. The court was established in 2002 to try individuals for serious international crimes, including genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. The ICC issued its first set of arrest warrants early last year for members of the notorious Ugandan Lord's Resistance Army, and at the behest of the UN Security Council has initiated investigations into charges of war crimes and genocide in Darfur [JURIST report]. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website; JURIST news archive] on Monday heard oral arguments in Will v. Hallock [Duke Law case backgrounder; merit briefs] where it will decide whether a plaintiff who sued the federal government for an alleged constitutional violation is barred from suing individual government employees for the same conduct. In the case, the Court heard the appeal of Susan Hallock, whose computer software company went out of business after her husband Richard was mistakenly targeted in a child pornography investigation. Hallock first filed suit against the government under the Federal Tort Claim Act [LectLaw summary], and later filed a claim against customs agents who seized the plaintiff's computer equipment after the first claim was dismissed. Hallock's attorney alleges that the government's seizure of computers and the subsequent "loss of the computer data and source codes was fatal" to the plaintiff's business. AP has more.

[JURIST] Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-CA) [official website] pleaded guilty Monday to charges of conspiracy to commit bribery, mail fraud, wire fraud and tax evasion and promptly resigned from office. Cunningham admitted to taking $2.4 million in bribes in a case that stemmed from an investigation into the sale of his home and became a wide-ranging probe uncovering payments in cash, yacht-club fees and antiques. The scandal is one of a few recent GOP controversies including a campaign finance case [JURIST report] involving Rep. Tom DeLay (R-TX) [official website; campaign website]; an investigation [JURIST report] into a stock sale by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist [official website]; and the CIA leak case [JURIST news archive] involving former chief of staff to Vice President Cheney, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby. AP has more.

[JURIST] A group of Egyptian jurists known as The Judges Club said in a statement Monday that, due to over 100 irregularities reported by monitoring judges at polling stations, it did not endorse the results of the parliamentary runoff elections. The statement pointed to "aggression and acts of thuggery by supporters of the [ruling] National Democratic Party [official website, English version] against the judges while they were supervising the runoff election" and slammed the police for failing to intervene on the judges' behalf. The Judges Club claimed poll workers were threatened and ballot boxes were stolen in the violence. Also over the weekend, hundreds of supporters of the banned Muslim Brotherhood [Wikipedia backgrounder] complained of unwarranted arrests [JURIST report] during the runoff for the second round of elections, alleging that at least 270 were detained outside of polling stations in Alexandria, the Nile Delta and Qena. The third phase of the elections will commence Thursday. AP has more.

[JURIST] Afghanistan's government said Monday that it believed the US military's punishment [JURIST report] for four American soldiers who burned the bodies of two Taliban rebels [JURIST report] was "very lenient." The US military said Saturday that the soldiers, who were caught on camera, would face disciplinary action but not criminal charges because their actions were motivated by hygienic concerns. The bodies had been lying exposed on a hilltop for 24 hours in up to 90 degree weather and were quickly decomposing. The soldiers, however, were reportedly boasting about the incident and using it to taunt other Taliban rebels. Islam bans cremations, but burning bodies over hygienic concerns does not violate of the Geneva Convention on the Treatment of Prisoners of War [ICRC materials]. Afghan officials have completed a separate probe into the incident, but those findings have not yet been released. AP has more.

[JURIST] Hosam Taher Hosam, a Syrian witness who told the UN committee [UN materials] investigating the death of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri [JURIST news archive] that Syrian and Lebanese officials had a hand in the February 14 assassination said Monday that his testimony was false and that he was bribed by Hariri's son. Hosam, a barber who says he was formerly an agent for Syrian and Lebanese intelligence in Lebanon, held a news conference Monday and said that an interim report [text] by chief UN investigator Detlev Mehlis, a German prosecutor, to the UN Security Council [official website] "depended on [Hosam's] testimony by as much as 40 percent" and that Hariri's son, Saad, was convinced without proof that Damascus was behind his father's death. A spokesman for Hariri called Hosam's claims "baseless" and said that no one in the Hariri family had ever met or been in contact with Hosam. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Iraqi President Jalal Talabani [BBC profile] has dismissed as "nonsense" allegations [Observer report] by former Iraqi Prime Minister and current parliamentary candidate Iyad Allawi that human rights abuses by Iraqi Shiites [JURIST report] are as bad as they were under Saddam Hussein's regime. In an interview [recorded video; excerpted transcript] with the BBC, Talabani said that no comparison can be made between recent reports of death squads and secret torture chambers [JURIST report] cannot be compared to Hussein's Iraq, which Talabani said devolved into "concentration camps on the ground and mass graves underground." Talabani said that Iraqis now enjoy a host of democratic rights, including freedom of expression and free elections. BBC News has more.

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website] on Monday summarily reversed a federal appeals court decision that erased the conviction and death sentence of a dual US and British citizen for setting a fire in Ohio that killed a toddler almost 20 years ago. In its per curiam decision [PDF text], the Court ruled in Bradshaw v. Richey that the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit [official website] was wrong in finding that Kenneth Richey received incompetent legal assistance and that there was no proof of intent to kill the 2-year old child. Prominent figures, including Pope John Paul II [official profile] and 150 members of the British Parliament [official website], had campaigned for Richey's release after a documentary showed potential inconsistencies in the case against him. AP has more.

Also Monday, the Court granted certiorari Monday in three cases, including one where the Court will hear a patent dispute [AP report] between eBay [corporate website] and a small Virginia business. In eBay v. MercExchange, the Court will determine when a federal court should issue an injunction after finding that a patent has been infringed. The Court will also consider [SCOTUSblog report] whether managers of employee benefit plans can sue to recover benefits that plan participant received from another source and whether a company seeking civil damages for mail or wire fraud under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act [text] must prove that it relied on the fraud and was injured as a result of the reliance. Read the Court's full Order List [PDF text].

[JURIST] Four Ethiopians arrested during violent protests of the country's May elections [JURIST report] said Monday that they will begin a hunger strike to voice opposition to their detentions. Three of the detainees are Coalition for Unity and Democracy [party website] party officials, including the party's leader Hailu Shawel, and one is a human rights activist. The four claim their imprisonment is politically motivated rather than based on criminal acts and none of them has been formally charged, but Prime Minister Meles Zenawi [BBC profile] has said that they may be tried for treason. Diplomats have estimated that at least 3,000 protestors still remain in custody, while nearly 8,000 people have been released [JURIST report]. The hunger strikers said they would accept only liquids "indefinitely" to protest their imprisonment. BBC News has more.

Previously on JURIST's Paper Chase...

• EU official: Ethiopian elections resulted in human rights violations
• Election abuses lead to revote in 20 Ethiopian districts
• Ethiopia ending ban on election protests
• Ethiopia releases 2,600 election demonstrators from prison
• Western diplomats visit Ethiopian jails holding election protestors
• Ethiopian PM promises fair election investigation
• Ethiopia orders selected poll repeat due to fraud

[JURIST] Britain's Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) [official website] has asked Home Secretary Charles Clarke to approve an investigation [IPCC press release] into the way Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair [official profile] handled the July subway shooting of Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes. De Menezes was killed by police [JURIST report] when he was mistakenly thought to be a suicide bomber connected to the July 21 London bombings [JURIST report]. De Menezes' family claims Blair and Scotland Yard mislead the public by making false public statements linking him to terrorism and failed to correct the inaccurate information. After the shooting, the police said that de Menezes fled from police and Scotland Yard said his "clothing and demeanor" added to suspicions he was a suicide bomber. A separate inquiry will be made into whether the police delayed informing the de Menezes family of Jean Charles' death. IPCC expects to have its investigation into the shooting done by the end of December. BBC News has more.

Previously in JURIST's Paper Chase...

• British police watchdog promises report on subway killing
• London police chief defends handling of subway shooting investigation
• UK subway shooting victim family says top police officer tried to block inquiry
• Family of UK subway shooting victim call for public inquiry, murder charges
• Family of innocent man shot by London police considering lawsuit
• London police express regret over shooting of bomb suspect, defend use of force
• London police say shot man not bomber; Brazilian government protests

[JURIST] A top European Union justice official said Monday that EU voting rights could be suspended for any of the 25 bloc nations that are found to have operated secret CIA detention centers for US terror detainees [JURIST report]. EU Justice and Home Affairs Commissioner Franco Frattini [official website] said the EU treaty explains that principles of liberty, democracy, respect for human rights, and fundamental freedoms are the basis for the bloc's creation, and the voting suspension is justified since the treaty also calls for punishment of continued breaches of these principles. The secret detention centers would be a violation of the European Convention on Human Rights [text] and Frattini indicated that alleged flights of al Qaeda suspects from Afghanistan to European nations for questioning would also violate international aviation agreements. Frattini is waiting on the results of an investigation [COE informational memorandum text] being conducted by the Council of Europe [official website], which indicated last week that large CIA secret prisons are unlikely, but there is information pointing to the existence of a post-9/11 prison camp in Kosovo with "shocking" conditions [JURIST report]. In the meantime, the US has told the EU that it needs more time to evaluate the allegations and respond. AP has more.

[JURIST] China's [JURIST news archive] former minister of land and natural resources, Tian Fengshan [profile], was charged Monday with accepting bribes of nearly 5 million yuan, or $619,000. Tian has been in custody since 2004 when he was removed from office after the former director of a provincial environmental protection bureau, Wang Shenyi, exposed the corruption. Wang has also been charged with corruption and was sentenced in July to 15 years in prison. Another government official, Ma De, former secretary of the municipal committee of the Communist Party of China in Suihua City, was sentenced to death in July for accepting bribes [China Daily report]. China's recent boom in commercial and residential development has led to an increase in private developers bribing government officials for favorable treatment. Tian is expected to face trial in early 2006 in the Beijing Number Two Intermediate People's Court. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Senators in the Parliament of Australia [official website] tabled a report [text; additional materials] Monday recommending changes to proposed anti-terror laws [JURIST report; initial draft, PDF]. The current proposal permits suspects to be detained up to 14 days without charge and imposes controls on suspects, including electronic shackles. The report from the Senate's Legal and Constitutional Committee [official website] follows hearings on the bill and calls for the removal of the sedition section of the laws and seeks to shorten the sunset provision from 10 years to 5 years. The report also recommends that the Australian attorney general provide a twice-yearly report on preventative detention [JURIST report], that police undergo training to avoid racial profiling, and that limits be placed on the ability of the Australian Security Intelligence Organization [official website] to extend the time limit on search warrants. Attorney-General Philip Ruddock [official profile] has said he believed the sedition provisions should remain and that the sunset provisions were non-negotiable, but that he would discuss the other provisions with the Prime Minister, cabinet colleagues, and his backbench committee. AAP has more.

ALSO ON JURIST   Op-ed: Rights at Risk: My Dissent from the Australian Anti-terror Bill [Jon Stanhope, ACT Chief Minister]

[JURIST] Aung San Suu Kyi [BBC profile; official website], the detained pro-democracy leader of Myanmar [official website] - formerly Burma - has had her house arrest extended for an unconfirmed time period by the country’s military government, according to a Monday statement from the National League for Democracy (NLD) [advocacy website], her political party. Her detention without trial for 10 of the last 16 years has been accomplished under a broad anti-subversion law [text], which provides for one-year extensions of detentions. Suu Kyi was first held by the military after she was taken into custody in May 30, 2003 after she was attacked by a pro-junta mob during a political tour. Last year, the Supreme Court of Myanmar dismissed lawsuits filed by the NLD [JURIST report] demanding Suu Kyi's release. Myanmar's military government is currently detaining over 1,100 political prisoners [JURIST report]. AP has local coverage.

Over 100 Ugandan lawyers went on strike Monday to show displeasure with the Ugandan Attorney General and his involvement in possible military attempts to influence the trial of opposition leader Kizza Besigye [BBC profile]. The Ugandan Law Society [profession website] staged the protest that paralyzed the country's High Court after men in black shirts with sub-machine guns surrounded the court building in Kampala last week after a bail hearing to take Besigye into military custody. Besigye was later charged for alleged military crimes [JURIST report] as well and the Ugandan Constitutional Court will rule on whether Ugandan law allows both state and military prosecutions against a single individual at the same time. BBC News has more. Uganda's Daily Monitor has local coverage.

Previously in JURIST's Paper Chase...

• Uganda opposition leader brought before military court on terror charges
• Ugandan rebels appear in military court; US urges fair trial
• Uganda opposition leader charged with treason, rape

[JURIST] Senegal's foreign minister said Sunday that former Chad dictator Hissene Habre [Human Rights Watch backgrounder], wanted in Belgium for alleged human rights abuses committed during his 1982-90 rule of the north-central African nation, will have his fate decided by the 53-member African Union [official website]. Habre is in legal limbo [JURIST report] after a Senegalese appeals court Friday said it was "not competent" to decide on his extradition from Senegal, where he has been living since he was ousted from power. The extradition decision will be made during a Union conference scheduled for January 23 in Khartoum, Sudan. Habre and his regime have been accused of some 200,000 cases of torture and 40,000 political killings. Belgium issued an international arrest warrant [JURIST report] for Habre earlier this fall under universal jurisdiction laws [Amnesty backgrounder; Princeton Principles, PDF] that allow for prosecutions for crimes against humanity regardless of where the crimes were committed. Human Rights Watch has said that Belgian courts offer "the only real possibility for Hissene Habre to answer the charges against him in the context of a fair trial." Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Leading Monday's international brief, Kenyan Vice-President Moody Awori has announced that the Kenyan government is outlawing all rallies by the Orange Movement, the anti-constitution coalition that handed Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki [official profile] a solid defeat [JURIST report] in last week's referendum [JURIST report]. Awori said that the ban reflected the government's position that the referendum was simply a vote on the proposed constitution, not a reflection of the populace's approval of the government. As well as inappropriate, Awori said the call for mass demonstrations by Orange leaders was a threat to national security and thus all demonstrations were outlawed. Awori also said that the government was rejecting calls for the dismissal of Parliament and the holding of snap elections. JURIST's Paper Chase has continuing coverage of Kenya [JURIST news archive]. Kenya's East African Standard has local coverage.

In other international legal news ...

• The South African extradition hearing for Ibrahim Abubaker Tantoush, a Libyan with alleged links to the al Qaeda terrorist organization, was taken off the court docket Monday after the Central Prosecuting Authority confirmed that South African President Thabo Mbeki [official profile] had not given his consent for the hearing. Mbeki's consent is required under South African law since South Africa and Libya, where Tantoush is wanted on criminal charges, do not share an extradition agreement. Tantoush's lawyer is arguing that his client cannot be removed from South Africa until his application for political asylum is decided. The UN Convention on the Status of Refugees [text] allows governments to deny asylum to otherwise worthy individuals if they are reasonably believed to have committed a serious crime prior to applying for refugee status. Tantoush was picked up on charges of using a fake passport and then detained when the Interpol warrant against him was discovered. JURIST's Paper Chase has continuing coverage of South Africa [JURIST news archive]. South Africa's News 24 has local coverage.
  
  
• Police officials in Nepal conducted a raid on Radio Sagarmatha [media website], the first independently-owned community radio station in Nepal, for allegedly "airing programmes that encourage terrorists and terrorism against Section 15 (d) and (i) of the National Broadcasting Act- 2049 BS and the licence provided to the radio station." The letter from the Ministry of Information and Communication [official website] left at the radio station accused personnel of attempting to air an interview of Maoist leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal concerning the recent political understandings reached between the Maoists and the Seven-part Alliance. All radio stations in Nepal were also simultaneously banned from carrying the BBC Nepali Service. JURIST's Paper Chase has continuing coverage of Nepal [JURIST news archive]. Kantipur Online has local coverage.

[JURIST] Viveca Novak, a TIME magazine reporter who covered the leak of covert CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity, has been asked to testify by Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald [official website] in the leak investigation [JURIST news archive] which is now going before a second grand jury [JURIST report]. Novak has been asked to testify under oath about conversations she has had since May 2004 with Robert Luskin, attorney for Karl Rove, the White House's deputy chief of staff. Novak will be the second TIME reporter to testify after Matthew Cooper testified [JURIST report] about his conversations with Rove in July 2003. Plame's cover was blown after her husband and former diplomat Joseph Wilson publicly denounced the Bush administration for manipulating intelligence to justify the invasion of Iraq. Viveca Novak is not related to columnist Robert Novak, the columnist who first revealed Plame's identity publicly. Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, the first official indicted after a two-year grand jury investigation, has pleaded not guilty [JURIST report] to charges [PDF indictment; JURIST report] of perjury and obstructing justice and has resigned from the administration. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The trial of Saddam Hussein [JURIST news archive] resumed Monday, but was quickly adjourned until December 5 to allow two of Hussein's co-defendants, including former Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan, to find replacements for members of the defense team killed [JURIST report] since the last trial session on October 19 [JURIST report]. Defense lawyers had threatened to boycott the proceedings over security concerns, but lawyer Khamees al-Ubaidi said Sunday that an agreement has been reached with US and Iraqi authorities to tighten security. Hussein and his seven co-defendants have been charged [JURIST report] with the murder of more than 140 Shiite Muslims, torture, forced expulsions and illegal detentions, alleged to have taken place after an assassination attempt against Hussein in 1982. Before proceedings were adjourned Monday, videotaped testimony of a former intelligence officer who investigated the assassination attempt was played in court. Waddah al-Sheikh became the first witness to testify last month when he offered recorded testimony [AP transcript] from his hospital bed before later dying from cancer [JURIST report]. Two new members of Hussein's defense team [JURIST report], former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark and former Qatari Justice Minister Najib al-Nueimi, were present at Monday's session, although neither have been officially recognized by the Iraqi High Criminal Court (formerly the Iraqi Special Tribunal [official website]) as legal counsel since Khalil al-Dulaimi, Hussein's chief lawyer, did not request official permission for foreign attorneys to attend the trial. Although Iraqi law allows foreign lawyers to act as advisers, it requires that to argue cases in court, lawyers must be members of the local bar association. AP has more.