Last Best News (https://montana-mint.com/lastbestnews/tag/nels-swandal/)
Though the 2017 Montana Legislative session has seen more than its share of partisan disputes, one issue has united lawmakers—reforming state law on rape and sexual assault.
The Montana Senate advanced a package of bills last week that deal with everything from the parental rights of children conceived by rape to the very definition of “consent.” (more…) Continue Reading →
The Montana Supreme Court has delayed action on a proposed change in the professional code of conduct for lawyers that has drawn hundreds of complaints from people who say the change threatens lawyers’ First Amendment rights. The proposed change comes from the American Bar Association, which adopted it in August. The change considers it professional misconduct for a lawyer to “engage in conduct that the lawyer knows or reasonably should know is harassment or discrimination on the basis of race, sex, religion, national origin, ethnicity, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status or socioeconomic status in conduct related to the practice of law.” (more…) Continue Reading →
The good news is that the Billings City Council intends to debate in a public meeting whether to appeal a District Court ruling in a pay dispute with the city’s police officers. The bad news is that the council will be taking advice from the city legal department, which should have been able to read the plain language in the police contract to begin with, and which foolishly prolonged a court fight over that language, all the while running up a higher and higher tab—which now stands at about $3 million. (more…) Continue Reading →
