The Supreme Court is guilty of a broad “failure to communicate” to the public it serves, constitutional scholar and law dean Erwin Chemerinsky said at a symposium Friday. And this failure extends beyond the Court’s stubborn resistance to allowing camera coverage of its oral arguments, he said.

Investors and the public were misled about the deteriorating condition of BankAtlantic Bancorp, the SEC has alleged in a lawsuit filed in federal court. The suit alleges that BankAtlantic and its chairman, Alan Levan, made misleading statements in public filings, and also committed accounting fraud.

Fourteen public finance, tax and municipal securities partners will leave Vinson & Elkins in the next few weeks to join Bracewell & Giuliani, and offers are out to 13 associates and counsel who work in V&E’s public finance group.

A survey issued by the National Center for State Courts warns of the public impact of recent cuts, including 42 states with substantial court budget decreases; 39 states where clerk vacancies were not filled; 34 states where court staff were laid off; and 23 states with reduced court operating hours.

So often when a scandal breaks, the first question the public asks is: Where were the lawyers? At Penn State, the answer seems to be: Not there.