A plaintiffs attorney in a failed lawsuit has been sanctioned $6,400 for conducting wasteful depositions. The judge noted in his ruling that the attorney had been warned of possible sanctions in the face of his “demand for more and more, wider and wider, and hope-springs-eternal discovery.”

Many past and current players at the SEC — including Chairwoman Mary Schapiro, former agency GC David Becker and former ethics officer William Lenox — have reportedly retained private counsel in the face of ongoing investigations by the SEC’s inspector general.

A college baseball pitcher hit in the face by a line drive during batting practice assumed the risk of injury and cannot sue his school, a New York appeals court has ruled, saying it was “irrelevant” that a protection screen was not used to shield the pitcher.

Ambitious plans for three new law schools in New York — two public and one private — have stalled in the face of an ailing economy, state government budget woes and doubts about whether there are enough legal jobs to support the new schools in addition to the 15 existing ones.

Four men were convicted Monday of conspiring in 2009 to bomb two New York synagogues and fire missiles at military cargo planes in Newburgh, N.Y. Eight days into deliberations, the jury emerged to confirm that prosecutors had beaten back an aggressive entrapment defense based on an FBI sting and won the convictions of James Cromitie, David Williams, Onta Williams and Laguerre Payen. All four face life in prison when they are sentenced on March 24 by Southern District of New York Judge Colleen McMahon.