The Tausk Law Firm

10/13/2026

A jury panel is considered "busted" when you cannot find enough potential jurors who can fairly adjudicate the case without their own prejudices and biases interfering. It is not uncommon in criminal cases but extremely rare in civil cases. Yesterday and today I busted two civil jury panels. It was a very strange experience.

09/12/2026

The optics look bad, as they say…..

U.S. Magistrate Judge Kathleen Kay of the Western District of Louisiana and William Monk, representing the plaintiff, had a years-long close friendship before the case was referred to her.

"At best, this disclosure was incomplete," wrote Fifth Circuit Judge James Graves Jr., joined by Judge Carl Stewart.

In dissent, Judge Andrew Oldham wrote that the Port of Lake Charles' lawyers made a "Hail Mary pass" to undo the judgment.

Latham & Watkins partner Greg Garre argued at the Fifth Circuit for plaintiff IFG Port Holdings, while Adams & Reese counsel Michael H. Rubin argued for the Port of Lake Charles.

From reporter Avalon Zoppo: 🔗 https://www.law.com/nationallawjournal/2026/09/09/windfall-verdict-wiped-5th-circuit-undoes-124m-award-over-judge-lawyer-friendship/

09/10/2026

One of these days I want to write a letter like the response made by the Cleveland Stadium general counsel.

A legal letter of note

09/10/2026

A Houston immigration attorney has been accused of mail fraud. Very sad if true but please remember that all defendants are innocent until proven guilty.

09/02/2026

Tiger Woods is forbidden from driving for 5 years. Interesting question - as self-driving cars become more prevalent, if the car is driving, is this against the judicial restriction? Technology pushes the law in all different directions and these questions will become more common.

08/29/2026

Very sad. But not uncommon in the age of AI

08/26/2026

IMPORTANT! For those getting emails from my business email address - [email protected] about a "strategic opportunity" - I have been hacked. My IT person is working on it now. Please do not open the attachment and delete from your system. Sorry for the inconvenience.

08/21/2026

I don't take many asylum cases. At the present moment, the denial rate for asylum cases is around 80%. Seven years ago I took an asylum case for a Russian who was the victim of Putin's thuggish FSB (hell, the real Thugee were choir boys compared to the FSB). When I took it, I knew it was a strong case but with the current administration, even strong cases are a shot in the dark. We went to the interview last week which was the longest asylum interview I have ever been to in my life - 5.5 hours. The officer was kind and asked very pointed questions. His questions were so specific that sometimes the online interpreter, the interpreter I brought with me and myself had to interpret some of his answers. My client never waivered in his statements and every answer was on point. Today I learned he was granted asylum. I am happy beyond words. A return to Russia would have been a death sentence for the man and his family. Sometimes the Universe throws the dice in your favor.

08/19/2026

If you are going to sell coke, best to do it on a cash-only basis.

Cops were tipped off that the student was selling co***ne on campus when an informant told them that “a male, using the nickname ‘T-Rob’ is selling large amounts of co***ne from the Delta Upsilon F…

08/13/2026

Very sad when an attorney turns to the Dark Side.

Texas attorney allegedly demanded s*x in exchange for legal help - then never delivered