Volunteer Lawyer Needed

June 1, 2005 11:38 AM by S.M. Oliva (Archive)

I am currently drafting a “friend of the court� brief in an antitrust-related case before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Since no member of my organization is a member of that court’s bar, however, I am in need of an attorney qualified to file the brief on our behalf. It’s a great chance to get your name on an appellate brief without having to do any actual work.

The case is called Stolt-Nielsen S.A. v. United States. The short summary is that Stolt-Nielsen received amnesty from the Justice Department in exchange for turning over evidence that the government said proved the existence of an illegal “price-fixing� conspiracy in the chemical transportation market. After getting its evidence, the DOJ tried to unilaterally nullify the amnesty agreement and indict Stolt-Nielsen. The company obtained an injunction from a district judge, and the government has appealed.

My group’s brief will argue that the underlying amnesty program—the demonic spawn of plea bargaining—is itself unconstitutional and that the government should not derive any benefit from its attempt to violate Stolt-Nielsen’s due process rights. If you are interested in signing off on this forthcoming brief, please e-mail me at smoliva@voluntarytrade.org.