Lelia Faulkner met and fell in love with Blane Gralheer, though their relationship turned volatile. Lelia went to watch fireworks on the 4th of July but never returned home. Detectives have yet to arrest anyone involved in her disappearance despite the fact that Blane failed a polygraph. Lelia’s parents uncovered mysterious messages between the couple, but Blane insists he played no role whatsoever in Lelia’s vanishing act. Her family continues to fight for answers.
Source: True Crime Daily
Hollywood producer David Pearce met two women, Christy Giles and Hilda Marcela Cabrales-Arzola, at a warehouse party. Christy and Hilda returned to David’s apartment, where they were drugged with fentanyl and GHB. Masked men dropped the women off at local hospitals, where Christy was pronounced deceased and Hilda stayed on life support for several days. Pearce was convicted of murder and could spend life in prison in connection with their deaths.
Source: True Crime Daily
Richard Schoeck planned a romantic Valentine’s Day with his wife Stacey at a park. When Stacey arrived, instead of exchanging gifts, she found her husband gunned down outside his car in a killing that police described as “overkill.” The investigation into his shooting death revealed many secrets that would shock Richard and Stacey’s families.
Source: True Crime Daily
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (TCN) — Two people, including the victim’s husband, have been indicted in connection with the stabbing death of a 23-year-old soldier who was found deceased inside a home in May 2024.
The Clarksville Police Department announced Saturday, Feb. 8, that a Montgomery County grand jury returned an indictment charging 35-year-old Sofia Rodas with first-degree murder and tampering with evidence, and 40-year-old Reynaldo Salinas Cruz with tampering with evidence for allegedly killing Army Pfc. Katia Duenas-Aguilar. The Clarksville Police Department worked alongside the Army Criminal Investigation Division to present the charges.
Cruz and Rodas were already in federal custody on unrelated charges, but they were transferred to the Montgomery County Jail on Feb. 7.
The investigation into Duenas-Aguilar’s death began May 18, 2024, when the Clarksville Police Department responded to an ambulance call on Tiny Town Road and found her dead. The Clarksville Leaf-Chronicle reports Duenas-Aguilar sustained 68 stab wounds, mainly on her neck. The autopsy also reportedly determined she had a blood alcohol level of 0.161 and traces of the date rape drug GHB in her system.
Duenas-Aguilar completed combat training at Fort Eisenhower in Georgia, then reported to Fort Campbell, Kentucky, in 2019. She was a member of the 101st Airborne Division’s Combat Aviation Brigade and was awarded several medals, including two Army Achievement Medals, Army Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, and the Army Service Ribbon.
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Source: True Crime Daily
In this episode of True Crime News Presents: American Hustlers: Kim and Julie set out to uncover the origin of Kaushal Niroula – a story that does start in Nepal, but not in any royal palace. Instead, they discover a poor young man with his eye on America and the drive to get there on his charm alone. Befriending an administrator from New College of California scores Kaushal the student visa he needs to make it to San Francisco and on campus. He presents himself as a man of wealth. But an interview with his former roommate reveals that Kaushal is actually sleeping on a thin mattress, passing JC penny rugs off as wall art, and barely making rent – something his natural showmanship helps him keep secret.
But New College has secrets of its own – the school is enmeshed in scandal and teetering on financial ruin. And Kaushal sees opportunity. Soon, he’s befriended the College President and used the promise of a hefty donation from his royal family to allegedly get his transcripts altered and extend his visa. It’s his first con on American soil – and when rumors of it get out, it helps put the final nail in New College’s coffin. Still, there’s one thing that doesn’t add up; at some point Kaushal did start throwing money around like a prince. The question was, where did it come from?
YouTube: Episode 3: The Dark Prince
Source: True Crime Daily
88% and 84%
Herbert Smith Freehills and A&O Shearman have both posted strong retention figures for their spring qualifying trainees, hitting 88% and 84% respectively.
HSF’s figure comprises 29 out of 33 of its final-seat trainees, with 32 applying for NQ positions and 29 offers made — all of which were accepted. Each soon-to-be associate is on a permanent contract, with no fixed-term arrangements.
This marks a slight decrease of 6% from the firm’s autumn retention rate for 2024, which posted at 94% — with 30 out of 32 trainees taking up NQ positions.
David Rosen, partner and training principal at HSF, commented:
“Despite geopolitical and economic uncertainties, the market for talent remains competitive and we are excited that, once again, so many of our trainees have elected to pursue their careers with the firm. Their decisions reflect our determination to simultaneously create a nurturing and stimulating working environment, where our teams can be bold, outstanding and human in their approach to each other and our clients. It also reflects the skill and long-term potential we see in our trainees and highlights our continued desire to discover and develop high quality lawyers.”
As for A&O Shearman, the 84% figure represents the 31 of 37 trainees that have chosen to remain at the firm. Of the cohort 36 applied to remain at the Magic Circle player, with 35 receiving offers, and 31 accepting.
This marks a significant improvement from the outfit’s autumn figure which sat at only 66%. This was, however, the first retention score after the transatlantic merger, which is likely to have impacted on trainees decisions and the firm’s offering.
James Partridge, early careers partner and training principal London, commented:
“We’re delighted that so many of our trainees have chosen to build their careers at A&O Shearman. Our commitment to developing talent at the highest level ensures that our trainees are set up for success. With an unparalleled global community of colleagues, they will have the opportunity to work on market-defining, complex, and high-profile matters for the world’s leading businesses. I look forward to seeing them grow and thrive as they continue their careers with us.”
These latest retention scores comes shortly after Magic Circle firm Linklaters posted its spring retention rate of 75%.
The post HSF and A&O Shearman post strong trainee retention rates appeared first on Legal Cheek.
Source: Legal Cheek
LinkedIn post triggers strong reaction
A paralegal’s advice against working in retail or hospitality for those seeking top graduate roles in law has sparked criticism from many legal professionals on LinkedIn.
The law grad argues in a recent LinkedIn post that retail and hospitality work “doesn’t teach you the important transferable skills”, and that instead, “you need to show basic tech and emailing skills” acquired through office work.
“If you are getting angry thinking ‘well I couldn’t land that job so had to work retail’ … the answer is you should have thought about the job before you started university,” they say. For those who don’t have an office role secured, “take a gap year — secure work experience and then go into education”.
The paralegal, who we have chosen not to name, concludes with: “At the end of the day it’s much easier to take a loan out and blame your lack of employment on studies.”
The full post, screenshotted below, now appears to have been deleted.
The advice hasn’t gone down well with lawyers and graduate recruiters alike.
Law firm associate, and legal LinkedInfluencer Jen Shipley hit back saying that “As someone who hires graduates into legal roles, for me it’s a green light when I see that a candidate has retail or hospitality experience”, before recounting how beneficial her own retail experience was.
Others who have questioned the advice include several associates and partners, senior barristers and judges, legal recruiters, and a host of current and future trainees.
Samantha Hope, Shoosmiths‘ head of emerging talent, said that she “wholeheartedly” disagreed but “well done on creating a clickbait post”. She continued: “Unfortunately these types of posts, that seek out to gain comments on clear controversy, might garner engagement, but you’ll gain very little respect.”
Another simply added that, “this is up there with the absolute worst advice I have ever seen”.
The paralegal declined to comment on the post’s reaction.
The post Lawyers and recruiters reject paralegal’s advice to law grads on avoiding retail experience appeared first on Legal Cheek.
Source: Legal Cheek
The Legal Cheek team contemplate using AI for law applications — listen now
Following the news that the Bar Council have banned the use of ChatGPT, DeepSeek and similar tools in pupillage applications, we take a look at these tools and ask, how useful are they really?
This week, Legal Cheek publisher Alex Aldridge and writer Lydia Fontes discuss the Bar Council’s decision to ban AI in applications. We take a look at some of the potential reasons behind this decision, comparing it to the much more liberal attitude of solicitors firms. We also talk about our own experiments with these AI tools and discuss how useful they are for drafting applications.
You can listen to the podcast in full via the embed above, or on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
The post Will DeepSeek get you a training contract? appeared first on Legal Cheek.
Source: Legal Cheek
Trainees salaries also up
US outfit Willkie Farr & Gallagher has boosted pay for its newly qualified lawyers in London, increasing to a bumper £175,000.
This marks a 6% raise from the previous figure of £165,000, and places the firm joint fourth across the UK for NQ pay.
Further down the ladder trainees have also received a financial boost. First year trainee pay has been increased from £55,000 to £60,000, with second year pay rising by the same amount from £60,000 to £65,000. This brings the firm in line with the other US firm London offices.
The Legal Cheek Firms Most List 2025 shows that the firm takes on around six trainees each year, with its latest retention rate sitting at 80%.
This is the third year in a row that Willkie has raised lawyer pay, increasing from £145,000 at the beginning of 2023. The total pay increase since then stands at 20%.
The news comes after earlier this month fellow US player Debevoise & Plimpton raised its City NQ salaries to £173.1k, with trainee pay remaining on £55,000 and £60,000.
These recent uplifts follow a bumper 2024 for junior lawyer salaries. Across the year the average NQ pay rose by 7.5%, with some increasing by as much as 20%. The top payers remain Gibson Dunn and Paul Weiss, offering an eye-watering £180,000 (excluding bonuses).
The post Willkie bumps London newly qualified lawyer pay to £175,000 appeared first on Legal Cheek.
Source: Legal Cheek
By Ovat Abeng
The people of Urum community in Awka North Local Government area of Anambra State have expressed worry over the activities of some land grabbers who parade themselves within the area.
According to them,there is the need for the state government to profile them in other to ensure that they don’t continue to mislead unsuspecting public by selling illegal lands to them.
The President General of Urum Development Union, Honorable Sir Felix Godwin and other leaders of the community made the observation, on Sunday while speaking to Journalists on the increasing rate of land racketeering in the name of Estate developers in the area.
Sir Godwin said the Community being mindful of the act,have set up a land committee to ensure that all lands bought in Urum are sold by the genuine owners.
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The PG said the town will not fold its hands and watch some unscrupulous persons who feel that they are rich enough to destroy the relative peace in Urum by going out of their ways to buy communal lands that are not for sell.
He raised an alarm over a case at hand, where a certain Developer , popularly known as Nwaguatahihia evaded the community and hijacked plots of land at Ochiokwa layout in Urum and is advertising to the public to buy from him a property that is not for sell.
“Urum Community confronted him on the 15th of January, 2025 and he apologized and moved his equipments out of the Land on the 17th Day of January 2025.
However, we are surprised to see on the social media like Facebook, instagram etc where he is advertising the same land for sale in the name of Nwaguataghigha Heaven EState hence the need for this disclaimer.
The PG stated categorically that anyone that buys land from the said developer does so at his or her own risk as nobody in the community sold the property to the Nwaguatahihia who is already swindling unsuspecting members of the public of their hard earned money.
The PG said “the public should take note, the Community is not aware of any proposed Residential Layout for Nwaguatahihia heaven estate at Urum in Awka North Local Government Area, please be ware. “
The Chairman of Urum Land Committee, Brother Aron Okafor said the activities of speculators and grabbers were trying to put the community in bad light as lands are sold and resold by some agents who have no shame or integrity.
He said as a result, the Committee has been doing its best to ensure that genuine land buyers are not deceived hence the notice for members of the public wishing to acquire property in Urum Community to go through the proper channel created to avoid falling into the wrong hands.
Bro. Okafor said once a developer shows interest to buy land in Urum, the Committee has the sole responsibility to verify who owns it so that the name of the town will not be dragged to the mud by some people who are out to make quick money even when land does not belong to them.
Also Speaking , the Vice Chairman Urum Land Committee, and chairman Igwe in Council Urum Nze Jude Ndibe Cofirmed that the said land belong to Urum community and there was a resolution that it should not be sold.
According to the leadership of Urum,the Ochiokwa land is only available to the indigenes of the community for strictly farming activities until further notice.
They warned Nwaguatahihia and another person parading as estate developer to steer clear of the land.