On the cover: Lawyers who sue the police say they take only a fraction of the cases that come their way — and the pursuit of justice is just one of many factors in their decision.

The owners of The French Press Cafe in Towson will hold your phone while you are in Maryland District Court for just a small fee.

In Breaking News, a D.C. firm wants Whiteford, Taylor & Preston LLP to return legal fees; the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals finds that a career criminal is not eligible for a sentence reduction under the recent crack-cocaine sentencing amendments; and an insurer is not required to defend an attorney who didn’t give notice of a potential malpractice claim.

Read about what a jury awarded a construction worker who was forced out of his job in Verdicts & Settlements.

Susan Giller, a private investigator with three law licenses, discusses litigation lessons in My First.

 The Editorial Advisory Board writes about two local, recent victories for the First Amendment.

In The Big Picture, Jack Gohn comments on interrogation techniques and the Obama administration’s passage of an important FOIA test.

Stay up-to-date with Legal Briefs and the Law Digest, which includes cases from the Maryland Court of Appeals, Maryland Court of Special Appeals, U.S. Supreme Court, U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals and U.S. District Court, Maryland.

Everyone’s feeling the recession, including Peter Angelos.

Press Box points out that Forbes left the Orioles owner and personal injury-law mogul off its World’s Billionaires list last month and its Baseball’s Billionaires list last week. The magazine put Angelos’ net worth at around $1.2 billion last September but now estimates that he has since lost at least 30 percent of his net worth, “despite the Orioles’ value staying flat at $250 million this year.”

No word yet from Angelos’ satirical Twitter alter ego, @Peter_Angelos, on how the drop in net worth is affecting his lifestyle.

Happy Monday!

• Page Croyder observes “serious traffic court” in Baltimore City for a day. The former prosecutor-turned-gadfly is not impressed at the sentences imposed.
• The Washington Post writes about how the new death penalty restrictions could affect defendants already charged with murder. The story also raises the possibility of the governor using the new evidence requirements to commute the sentences of people already on death row.
• Benjamin Polakoff reviews construction contracts in the Baltimore-D.C. area.
• Over the weekend, The Sun had this compelling account of the Carl Lackl murder-for-hire plot. My one nit-picky criticism: why is murder mastermind Patrick Byers’ mother “hooked on heroin, an addict like her six siblings,” while victim Lackl was “struggling with a heroin addiction”? Do you see the difference in language? I think it’s a little heavy-handed and unnecessary, given how good the writer is elsewhere in the story at portraying her subjects.
• The balance of power in big law firms has shifted back to management, writes the National Law Journal.