Maryland State Bar Association Thomas D. Murphy urged a House panel this week to reject legislation that would require any unspent annual revenue of the Attorney Grievance Commission to go to the state’s general fund rather than remain with the disciplinary body.

The AGC receives its funding from an annual court-ordered assessment on attorneys that is earmarked for oversight of the legal profession, Murphy told the House Judiciary Committee. The funds are not intended for the general use of the state and thus should not go to the general fund, he added.

“We Maryland lawyers paid our money to that [AGC] fund,” said Murphy, of Murphy & Mood PC in Rockville. The money “should be spent for the purpose we wrote our checks,” he added.

Murphy testified against House Bill 765, which would require AGC’s $7.85 million surplus as of last June 30 to go to the state treasury, as well as any future annual surpluses. The commission anticipates a $9 million surplus as of next June 30.

Del. Frank M. Conaway Jr., the bill’s chief sponsor, told the committee that Maryland must find ways to “beef’ up its revenue. Transferring AGC’s unspent money to the general fund would generate “$9 million worth of the beef,” said Conaway, D-Baltimore City.

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Still wish you were on vacation? Most of your co-workers out for week? Here’s some “work” you can do to pass the time:

• The strange (and sad) story of Ravens rookie Sergio Kindle takes another wrong turn.
• Morris L. Cohen, one of the nation’s leading law librarians, dies at 83. (HT: Above the Law)
• The title says it all: “Male nurse who was a former stripper failed to make out claims that he was subjected to a sexually hostile work environment.”
• OK, “Matlock” fans, stand up for your show’s egregiously-low ranking. (HT: Volokh Conspiracy)
• It’s still better than a lump of coal, right?

What began as being too lazy to shave while on vacation last week has morphed into my first deliberate attempt at facial hair.

My goatee will be gone by the weekend, when I have to be in pictures for a family wedding, but for now it’s growing on me. (Ha!)

Whether I sport a goatee in the future will largely depend on what a future Mrs. Jacobs thinks of it. But then I read about Head and Shoulders insuring the flowing locks of Pittsburgh Steelers safety Troy Polamalu for $1 million.

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Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler might soon be getting a call from Gov. Martin O’Malley, if he hasn’t already received one, seeking a campaign donation.

The governor, in his solicitation, might raise the following points:

• Gansler is running unopposed for re-election; O’Malley is not.

• Gansler has campaign money he need not spend on himself; O’Malley does not.

• Gansler might want to run for governor in four years; O’Malley cannot if he wins re-election this fall against Republican challenger Robert Ehrlich and is term-limited out of office.

• Gansler, if he plans a gubernatorial run, thus has a rooting interest in O’Malley’s victory this fall, as it is easier to win an open seat than one occupied by an incumbent (O’Malley’s win over then-Gov. Ehrlich in 2006 being an exception).

But cheers of “Go, Martin, Go” do not win re-election fights. Money does — and Gansler has plenty to spare.

The attorney general might also want to spread the wealth. Donating to many Democrats in tight races this fall could be an investment that pays dividends for Gansler in 2014 when he might seek gubernatorial-campaign support.

Back in March, I wrote about the University of Baltimore School of Law reaching the $15 million plateau in private fundraising it needed to supplement the $92 million in state money it’s receiving for a new law school building.

Thursday, we found out how the law school reached the magic number: a $5 million donation from Peter G. Angelos. The announcement comes two years after Angelos made a $5 million matching dollar-for-dollar pledge.

UB President Robert L. Bogomolny admitted that without Angelos’ $10 million commitment, it might have taken several more years to reach the $15 million goal considering the economy.

“The fact he stepped up when he did is very positive for our project,” Bogomolny said.

But, in typical Angelos fashion, he did not want his donation publicized. Bogomolny said the donation was made in the spring, but it was only with some cajoling from the president that Angelos finally agreed to its disclosure.

“He really doesn’t want the spotlight,” Bogomolny said. But “from the standpoint of momentum for our capital campaign, it’s very important to show big gifts.”

Groundbreaking for the new John and Frances Angelos Law Center is set for the end of August, and bidding is underway for foundation and facade work.

The U.S. News & World Report law school rankings were officially released Thursday. I say “officially” because Above the Law noted the results had been leaked in a Tuesday afternoon blog post. (Apparently I wasn’t paying as close attention to the leaks as I did last year.)

Here’s what I gleaned:

• The University of Maryland School of Law is tied for 48th with law schools at American, Southern Methodist and Tulane University. UM Law was tied for 43rd last year.
• The University of Baltimore School of Law returned to third tier after a year in the fourth tier.
• UM Law is No. 2 for health care law, No. 9 for clinical training and tied for 10th for environmental law
• UM Law is No. 5 for part-time law students; UB Law is tied for 57th
• 13 percent of UM Law students are black; 6 percent of UB Law students are black
• UB Law is No. 6 on the list of public schools that give the most financial aid

The two schools also placed relatively low on this list, which I think is the one list where a lower ranking is better.

Siblings fighting over money is, unfortunately, not news. But a financial dispute between sisters in Connecticut is newsworthy for two reasons:

1. The money is from a winning Powerball ticket.
2. The sisters are in their 80s.

Theresa Sokaitis, 84, and Rose Bakaysa, 87, went to court Tuesday for the younger sister’s lawsuit seeking a part of a $500,000 jackpot the older sister won in 2005. The lawsuit is being heard after the Connecticut Supreme Court reversed another lower court’s decision to throw out the case.

Bakaysa and the sisters’ brother won the jackpot, but Sokaitis argues a written contract signed by both sisters to split their gambling winnings entitles her to a piece of the financial windfall. Bakaysa’s lawyer said the sisters had a falling-out a year before the jackpot, effectively tearing up the contract.

The saddest part of the story to me is the sisters haven’t spoken in years and shunned each other in court. Don’t they remember what the Beatles said about money?

A judge is expected to make his ruling by the end of May.

Baltimore County has been given another chance to answer a $13,000 question.

A White Marsh couple’s lawsuit seeking to recover money seized by police in a drug raid is headed back to district court to determine if the county should be afforded a new trial.

The county’s request previously had been denied, leading to a circuit court appeal heard in October.

Judge Lawrence R. Daniels, in a mid-December ruling docketed earlier this month, remanded the new trial question because the denial was issued as a chambers ruling.

“[W]ithout knowledge of the reasons for the trial court’s decision, we cannot say, with certainty, that the trial court ‘fairly’ exercised its discretion,” Daniels wrote, referring to guidelines for granting a new trial motion set out in a 1988 Court of Special Appeals case.

The case will be heard Feb. 23 in Baltimore County District Court in Catonsville, according to court records.

Police raided the home of Rogelio and Rosario Simon in February 2006 using a warrant and found 67 guns and small amounts of marijuana, methamphetamine and prescription medication in addition to the money. But only a few guns and the drugs were connected to Marlon Simon, the couple’s grown son and the one under investigation on federal drug charges.

Rogelio and Rosario Simon sued the county in November 2007, seeking to recover his guns and her money. The county claims it no longer has the firearms or the money, having turned everything over to the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. But no one from the county appeared at the January 2008 district court trial in the case, leading to a $13,063 default judgment for Rosario Simon. Vinson said during the circuit court hearing that an error in the county’s mail system led to the district court absence.

Daniels, during the October hearing, took the county to task for failing to appear in district court. In his ruling, the judge also notes the county only hinted at its legal arguments with a boilerplate, “bald assertion” in its motion for a new trial.

But Daniels ultimately decided the county could have mounted a “meritorious defense” in district court to the Simons’ lawsuit and was therefore denied a “substantial right” by the lower court’s ruling.

“[T]he most fundamental right of a party against whom suit has been brought is the right to present a meritorious defense,” Daniels wrote.

The firearm lawsuit was dismissed when MacVaugh learned the county no longer had Rogelio Simon’s antique and modern weapons, which were returned to Simon in the fall.

Caroline Farrell did not meet David Gaudin while in Mississippi earlier this month with the Maryland Law Katrina Project. But when a foreclosure attorney from the Mississippi Center for Justice shared with her Gaudin’s story, Farrell knew she needed to help a stranger.

Gaudin has terminal cancer; doctors give him less than six months to live. His illness forced him to stop working, and he subsequently fell behind on his mortgage. Wells Fargo, Gaudin’s bank, threatened to foreclose on his home. Gaudin and his foreclosure lawyer rejected the bank’s proposed loan modification late last year – three months’ forbearance followed by a large, balloon payment.

The bank now wants to move forward with foreclosure proceedings against Gaudin after rejecting his request for a loan modification because of an outstanding balance of $650 on his account.

“This is so heartbreaking,” Farrell said. “It seems so egregious that the bank can’t be flexible.”

That the sticking point was a couple hundred dollars also bothered Farrell, a 3L and president of the Katrina Project.

“I said, ‘We could raise this in an hour,’” she said.

She’ll have three hours to do it Friday night beginning at 9 p.m. at Quigley’s Half-Irish Pub near the law school. All proceeds from the $10 admission fee will go toward erasing Gaudin’s outstanding account balance. Farrell and her classmates have been spreading the word through listservs and Facebook, and Farrell is confident the event will raise more than enough money for Gaudin.

(Farrell said donations can also be made online by writing “The campaign to save David’s house” in the comments section.)

As for the beneficiary, Farrell said Gaudin cried upon learning what the Maryland students were doing for him. He’s now in regular contact with Farrell, a stranger no more.

Talk about a cold case.

A U.S. District Court judge recently ruled that the federal government will have to prove a Philadelphia jewelry dealer stole rare, gold 1933 ”double eagle” coins from the U.S. Mint – 75 years ago, according to The New York Times.

Around 500,000 of these $20 coins were minted before President Roosevelt issued an executive order that made owning large amounts of gold coins illegal as he moved the country away from the gold standard. Two coins ended up in the Smithsonian, and most of the rest were melted down, according to the Times.

Other coins did survive, however, and the only one sold at public auction went for $7.6 million. So imagine Roy Langbord’s surprise, then, when in 2003 he discovered 10 double eagles in a long-forgotten family safe deposit box. The Mint authenticated the coins five years ago but said it would be keeping them because Langbord’s grandfather stole them. Langbord and his family claim his grandfather acquired the coins legitimately before the ban was enacted.

The government has until the end of the month to prove the coins were stolen or else they will have to return them to Langbord. Observers believe it will be nearly impossible for the government to prove its theft theory.

Or, if I may put words into their mouths, the government’s chances are significantly less than a coin flip.