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| {{Short description|American lawyer}} | |||
| ⚫ | '''Stephen Yagman''' (born December 19, 1944) is |
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| {{Infobox person | |||
| ⚫ | | name = Stephen Yagman | ||
| On November 22, 2010, Yagman was ], based upon federal convictions on June 22, 2007, for ], ], and money laundering.<ref name="cbj201101">''California Bar Journal'', January 2011.</ref> Yagman contended that the ] had selectively and vindictively prosecuted him, ignoring the difference between ], which is legal, and ], which is not,<ref name="cbj201101"/> because, as Idaho Special Prosecutor (1997–2001), he prosecuted homicide charges against FBI sniper ] for allegedly murdering ] at ] in 1992<ref>''Idaho v. Horiuchi'', 253 F.3d 359 (9th Cir. 2001)</ref> and because on January 19, 2002 he brought the first ] detainee case and won it on December 18, 2003.<ref>''Gherebi v. Bush and Rumsfeld'', 374 F.3d 727 (9th Cir. 2004), as amended.</ref> | |||
| | image = Yagman in 2023.jpg | |||
| | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1944|12|19}} | |||
| ⚫ | | birth_place = ] | ||
| | education = ] (]) | |||
| ] (]) | |||
| ] (]) | |||
| | known_for = Federal Civil Rights; ] | |||
| ⚫ | }} | ||
| ⚫ | '''Stephen Yagman''' (born December 19, 1944) is an American ] civil rights lawyer, who also handles criminal defense and habeas corpus matters. He has a reputation for being an exceptionally zealous advocate in cases regarding allegations of ].<ref name="autogenerated1">''National Law Journal'', pg. 1, February 28, 2011, "Yagman unbowed, but getting on with life"</ref><ref name="heraldexaminer"/><ref name="dailyjournal">''Los Angeles Daily Journal'', October 26, 1987, pg. 1.</ref> He has argued hundreds of federal civil rights cases before a jury, and has been involved in over a hundred and fifty federal appeals and certiorari petitions before the United States Supreme Court. | ||
| Yagman's federal convictions, and his disbarment, were both affirmed on appeal by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.<ref></ref><ref name="DOJ062207">, justice.gov; accessed June 6, 2015.</ref> | |||
| ==Youth, education and early career== | ==Youth, education and early career== | ||
| Stephen Yagman was born in 1944 in ] to working-class parents. His father was a |
Stephen Yagman was born in 1944 in ] to working-class parents. His father was a dental mechanic and his mother was a secretary.<ref name="dailyjournal"/> Yagman attended ].<ref name="yagnet">''Yagman, Police Misconduct and Civil Rights, Federal Jury Practice and Instructions'' (Thomson West Publishing, 2002), XLVII-LV <!--ISBN needed--></ref> After attending the ], he then graduated from ] in Brooklyn.{{citation needed|date=November 2020}} | ||
| Yagman received a B.A. in American History, with co-majors in philosophy and political science. He later earned an M.A. in philosophy from ], where his graduate advisor and mentor was Professor Sidney Hook, and his master's dissertation was on the Fifth Amendment's self-incrimination clause. He attended ], receiving a ] in 1974, where he was on the dean's list and received the Jurisprudence Award of the Guild of Catholic Lawyers.<ref>Fordham Univ. transcript, govt. exhibit 27 in U.S. v. Yagman, 06-00227-SVW (C.D. Cal.)</ref> During graduate school and law school, he taught (English, remedial reading, social studies, economics, and Spanish) in the New York City public school system in ] and ], in Title I (lower socioeconomic) schools, from 1967-74. From 1967 until their divorce in 1994, he was married to Marion R. Yagman, with whom he practiced law for many years (1978-2021). <ref name="yagmanlaw.net">; accessed April 18, 2014.</ref> | |||
| ==Legal career== | ==Legal career== | ||
| Yagman's legal career began before he graduated, as an attorney-intern with the ]. Yagman was mentored by former N.Y. City Legal Aid Society director Martin Erdmann, attorney ], house counsel to the ], and |
Yagman's legal career began before he graduated, as an attorney-intern with the ]. Yagman was mentored by former N.Y. City Legal Aid Society director Martin Erdmann, attorney ], house counsel to the ], and ] ]. After graduating law school, he was appointed by New York State Attorney General Louis J. Lefkowitz to the office of the ] as a Special Assistant Attorney General, assigned as an Assistant Special Prosecutor for Nursing Homes, in the Manhattan office of the Special State Prosecutor for Nursing Homes. | ||
| In 1986, Yagman successfully challenged a proposed nationwide suspension of federal jury trials due to budget shortfalls, in ''Armster v. U.S. Dist. Ct.'', 792 F.2d 1423 (9th Cir. 1986). In a unanimous opinion in a related proceeding, ''Armster v. U.S. Dist. Ct'', 817 F.2d 480 (9th Cir. 1987), Judge ] said, "Yagman's vigilance in the protection of his clients' constitutional rights served all citizens. His fortitude and tenacity in the service of his civil rights clients exemplifies the highest traditions of the bar." |
In 1986, Yagman successfully challenged a proposed nationwide suspension of federal jury trials due to budget shortfalls, in ''Armster v. U.S. Dist. Ct.'', 792 F.2d 1423 (9th Cir. 1986). In a unanimous opinion in a related proceeding, ''Armster v. U.S. Dist. Ct'', 817 F.2d 480 (9th Cir. 1987), Judge ] said, "Yagman's vigilance in the protection of his clients' constitutional rights served all citizens. His fortitude and tenacity in the service of his civil rights clients exemplifies the highest traditions of the bar." | ||
| In January 2002, Yagman brought the first case seeking ] relief for ] detainees, Coalition of Clergy, Lawyers & Professors v. George Walker Bush & Donald Rumsfeld, 310 F.3d 1153 (9th Cir. 2002). | |||
| In 1994, Yagman successfully represented one of the groups that opposed implementation of ].<ref>''Children Who Want an Education v. Governor Pete Wilson'', 908 F.Supp. 755 (C.D. Cal. 1995), 997 F.Supp. 1244 (C.D. Cal. 1997), 54 F.3d 599 (9th Cir. 1995), 59 F.3d 1002 (9th Cir. 1995).</ref> | |||
| On |
On December 18, 2003, Yagman won the first case in which it was declared that ] were entitled to seek habeas corpus relief in ]. ''Gherebi v. Bush & Rumsfeld'', 374 F.3d 727 (9th Cir. 2004).<ref name="heraldexaminer">'']'', “Attorney Tops Cops’ Most Wanted List”, December 19, 1988, p. 1</ref><ref name="yagnet"/> | ||
| On November 12, 1997, Yagman was sworn in by U.S. District Judge Robert M. Takasugi as Special Prosecutor for the ] to prosecute FBI sniper ] in the August 22, 1992 ] killing of Vicki Weaver. In 2001, Yagman won a decision from the ] declaring that federal law enforcement agents did not enjoy ] and could be prosecuted criminally for state law homicide. ''Idaho v. Horiuchi'', 253 F.3d 359 (9th Cir. 2001) ('']''). | |||
| ⚫ | In ''County of Los Angeles v. U.S. Dist. Ct.'' (''Forsyth v. Block''), 223 F.3d 990 (9th Cir. 2000), federal Ninth Circuit Chief ] noted that Yagman |
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| ⚫ | In ''County of Los Angeles v. U.S. Dist. Ct.'' (''Forsyth v. Block''), 223 F.3d 990 (9th Cir. 2000), federal Ninth Circuit Chief ] noted that Yagman "has a formidable reputation as a plaintiff's advocate in ] cases; defendants in such cases may find it advantageous to remove him as an opponent." Some of his most notorious cases involved the ] and the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.<ref>Jessica Garrison, "L.A. Officials Know To Expect Attorney's Call", ''L.A. Times'', March 22, 2006, p. B1</ref><ref name="bazelon">], "Putting the Mice in Charge of the Cheese: Why Federal Judges Cannot Always be Trusted to Police Themselves and What Congress Can do about It", 97 ''Kentucky Law Journal'' pp. 439, 455 & n. 103, 2008-2009.</ref> | ||
| ⚫ | Yagman lodged complaints of ] against U.S. District Judge ] which, according to one commentator, "were at the center of the controversy over the effectiveness of the federal judicial disciplinary system and exerted a uniquely powerful influence on subsequent attempts at reform."<ref name="bazelon"/> The United States Judicial Conference cited the Yagman disciplinary case in adopting its 2008 |
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| ⚫ | Yagman lodged complaints of ] against U.S. District Judge ] which, according to one commentator, "were at the center of the controversy over the effectiveness of the federal judicial disciplinary system and exerted a uniquely powerful influence on subsequent attempts at reform."<ref name="bazelon"/> The United States Judicial Conference cited the Yagman disciplinary case in adopting its 2008 nationwide procedures for handling complaints of misconduct against federal judges. In his 2011 book, ''Lawyers on Trial'', ] Professor of Law Emeritus Richard L. Abel rated Yagman as a "highly competent, dedicated lawyer who is a champion of unpopular causes".<ref>''Lawyers on Trial'', Oxford University Press, 2011, pp. 380-83, 456, 457.</ref> | ||
| ⚫ | |||
| After an investigation by the ], the ] and the ], attempting to evade the payment of more than $100,000 in federal income taxes by concealing his assets and committing bankruptcy fraud. Evidence presented during trial alleged that Yagman filed federal income tax returns for the tax years 1994 through 1997, but paid only a small portion of the taxes that, according to his own returns, were owed to the ]. | |||
| Yagman has tried over 200 federal civil rights actions to jury verdict and has argued over 150 federal appeals and certiorari petitions to the United States Supreme Court. | |||
| As a result of the underpayment, Yagman accumulated federal income tax liabilities for those four years that, with interest and penalties, totaled more than $158,000. During the four years, Yagman also failed to pay significant amounts of federal payroll taxes owed by his law firm, which was then called Yagman & Yagman, P.C. Instead of paying these overdue federal taxes, Yagman engaged in a scheme to conceal his assets and to impede the collection efforts of the IRS. As part of the scheme, Yagman deposited hundreds of thousands of dollars into various bank and brokerage accounts in his girlfriend's name to disguise his personal assets. Yagman used the accounts to pay for personal purchases and to conduct the majority of his personal financial transactions.<ref name=DOJ062207/> | |||
| ⚫ | ==Criminal conviction== | ||
| On June 22, 2007, a federal jury convicted him of 19 felony counts, consisting of one count of attempting to evade the payment of taxes, one count of bankruptcy fraud and 17 counts of money laundering (engaging in monetary transactions in criminally-derived property).<ref name=DOJ062207/> | |||
| Yagman was convicted of one count of tax evasion, one count of bankruptcy fraud, and 17 counts of money laundering, six of which later were dismissed by the judge, on August 23, 2007. Yagman was convicted of "attempting to avoid payment of more than $100,000 in federal taxes", and he was sentenced to three years in federal prison. Yagman also failed to pay "significant amounts of federal payroll taxes" for his then-law firm, Yagman & Yagman, P.C.<ref name=":1" /> Although Yagman claimed he was singled out as retaliation, an appeals court upheld his conviction. Yagman was disbarred by the State Bar of California on December 22, 2010.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=http://www.calbarjournal.com/January2011/TopHeadlines/TH7.aspx|title=Pugnacious civil rights lawyer Stephen Yagman is summarily disbarred|website=www.calbarjournal.com|language=en-US|access-date=2018-04-29}}</ref> | |||
| Yagman served 29 months in federal prison and then worked as a paralegal and UCLA Law School lecturer for 11 years before, at age 76, passing the California bar exam again and winning decisions from both the California State Bar Court and the California Supreme Court (unanimous) that reinstated his license to practice law, in 2021.<ref name=":1" /> He also was reinstated to the Bar of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California by its chief judge, in 2021. He currently practices federal civil rights law and prosecutes cases for homeless clients, as well as for victims of police brutality, jail and prison abuses, and racial profiling.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last= |date=2021-10-08 |title=A fraud conviction ended his battles for civil rights. 14 years later, Stephen Yagman is back |url=https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-10-08/off-the-grid-for-14-years-the-attorney-who-set-the-standard-for-civil-rights-law-is-back |access-date=2023-11-15 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}</ref> | |||
| Yagman, now 79, has resumed taking cases against police and the government. As class counsel, Yagman represents all of the homeless people in the City of Los Angeles, the County of Los Angeles, the City of Santa Barbara, and the County of Santa Barbara, in five different putative class actions.<ref name=":0" /> | |||
| ==UCLA== | |||
| In 2007, after Yagman's convictions, he was invited to co-teach and taught courses at UCLA Law School on law, morality, and social justice and on police brutality, with professor Frances Olsen.<ref name="dailynews.com">, dailynews.com; accessed June 23, 2015.</ref> | |||
| ==Writings== | ==Writings== | ||
| Yagman has written two national legal practice books, ''Section 1983 Federal Jury Practice and Instructions'' (West Publishing, 1998, ISBN |
Yagman has written two national legal practice books, ''Section 1983 Federal Jury Practice and Instructions'' (West Publishing, 1998, {{ISBN|0-314-22826-8}}), and ''Police Misconduct and Civil Rights, Federal Jury Practice and Instructions'' (Thomson Reuters West, 2002, {{ISBN|0-314-10293-0}}), a play, ''Guantanamo, Act IV'' (Beyond Baroque, 2004), and hundreds of newspaper columns.{{citation needed|date=November 2020}} | ||
| ==Sources== | ==Sources== | ||
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| ==References== | ==References== | ||
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| | ALTERNATIVE NAMES = | |||
| | SHORT DESCRIPTION = American disbarred lawyer | |||
| | DATE OF BIRTH = December 19, 1944 | |||
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| | DATE OF DEATH = | |||
| | PLACE OF DEATH = | |||
| ⚫ | }} | ||
| {{DEFAULTSORT:Yagman, Stephen}} | {{DEFAULTSORT:Yagman, Stephen}} | ||
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Latest revision as of 12:17, 5 July 2024
American lawyer
| Stephen Yagman | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | (1944-12-19) December 19, 1944 (age 80) Brooklyn, New York |
| Education | Long Island University (BA) Fordham University School of Law (JD) |
| Known for | Federal Civil Rights; Constitutional Law |
Stephen Yagman (born December 19, 1944) is an American federal civil rights lawyer, who also handles criminal defense and habeas corpus matters. He has a reputation for being an exceptionally zealous advocate in cases regarding allegations of police brutality. He has argued hundreds of federal civil rights cases before a jury, and has been involved in over a hundred and fifty federal appeals and certiorari petitions before the United States Supreme Court.
Youth, education and early career
Stephen Yagman was born in 1944 in the Brighton Beach section of Brooklyn, New York to working-class parents. His father was a dental mechanic and his mother was a secretary. Yagman attended Abraham Lincoln High School. After attending the State University of New York at Buffalo, he then graduated from Long Island University in Brooklyn.
Yagman received a B.A. in American History, with co-majors in philosophy and political science. He later earned an M.A. in philosophy from New York University, where his graduate advisor and mentor was Professor Sidney Hook, and his master's dissertation was on the Fifth Amendment's self-incrimination clause. He attended Fordham University School of Law, receiving a J.D. in 1974, where he was on the dean's list and received the Jurisprudence Award of the Guild of Catholic Lawyers. During graduate school and law school, he taught (English, remedial reading, social studies, economics, and Spanish) in the New York City public school system in Harlem and Bedford Stuyvesant, in Title I (lower socioeconomic) schools, from 1967-74. From 1967 until their divorce in 1994, he was married to Marion R. Yagman, with whom he practiced law for many years (1978-2021).
Legal career
Yagman's legal career began before he graduated, as an attorney-intern with the New York City Legal Aid Society. Yagman was mentored by former N.Y. City Legal Aid Society director Martin Erdmann, attorney Charles Garry, house counsel to the Black Panther Party, and U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark. After graduating law school, he was appointed by New York State Attorney General Louis J. Lefkowitz to the office of the New York State Attorney General as a Special Assistant Attorney General, assigned as an Assistant Special Prosecutor for Nursing Homes, in the Manhattan office of the Special State Prosecutor for Nursing Homes.
In 1986, Yagman successfully challenged a proposed nationwide suspension of federal jury trials due to budget shortfalls, in Armster v. U.S. Dist. Ct., 792 F.2d 1423 (9th Cir. 1986). In a unanimous opinion in a related proceeding, Armster v. U.S. Dist. Ct, 817 F.2d 480 (9th Cir. 1987), Judge Stephen R. Reinhardt said, "Yagman's vigilance in the protection of his clients' constitutional rights served all citizens. His fortitude and tenacity in the service of his civil rights clients exemplifies the highest traditions of the bar."
In January 2002, Yagman brought the first case seeking habeas corpus relief for Guantanamo Bay detainees, Coalition of Clergy, Lawyers & Professors v. George Walker Bush & Donald Rumsfeld, 310 F.3d 1153 (9th Cir. 2002).
On December 18, 2003, Yagman won the first case in which it was declared that Guantanamo detainees were entitled to seek habeas corpus relief in United States courts. Gherebi v. Bush & Rumsfeld, 374 F.3d 727 (9th Cir. 2004).
On November 12, 1997, Yagman was sworn in by U.S. District Judge Robert M. Takasugi as Special Prosecutor for the State of Idaho to prosecute FBI sniper Lon T. Horiuchi in the August 22, 1992 Ruby Ridge killing of Vicki Weaver. In 2001, Yagman won a decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit declaring that federal law enforcement agents did not enjoy sovereign immunity and could be prosecuted criminally for state law homicide. Idaho v. Horiuchi, 253 F.3d 359 (9th Cir. 2001) (en banc).
In County of Los Angeles v. U.S. Dist. Ct. (Forsyth v. Block), 223 F.3d 990 (9th Cir. 2000), federal Ninth Circuit Chief Judge Alex Kozinski noted that Yagman "has a formidable reputation as a plaintiff's advocate in police misconduct cases; defendants in such cases may find it advantageous to remove him as an opponent." Some of his most notorious cases involved the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.
Yagman lodged complaints of judicial misconduct against U.S. District Judge Manuel Lawrence Real which, according to one commentator, "were at the center of the controversy over the effectiveness of the federal judicial disciplinary system and exerted a uniquely powerful influence on subsequent attempts at reform." The United States Judicial Conference cited the Yagman disciplinary case in adopting its 2008 nationwide procedures for handling complaints of misconduct against federal judges. In his 2011 book, Lawyers on Trial, UCLA School of Law Professor of Law Emeritus Richard L. Abel rated Yagman as a "highly competent, dedicated lawyer who is a champion of unpopular causes".
Yagman has tried over 200 federal civil rights actions to jury verdict and has argued over 150 federal appeals and certiorari petitions to the United States Supreme Court.
Criminal conviction
Yagman was convicted of one count of tax evasion, one count of bankruptcy fraud, and 17 counts of money laundering, six of which later were dismissed by the judge, on August 23, 2007. Yagman was convicted of "attempting to avoid payment of more than $100,000 in federal taxes", and he was sentenced to three years in federal prison. Yagman also failed to pay "significant amounts of federal payroll taxes" for his then-law firm, Yagman & Yagman, P.C. Although Yagman claimed he was singled out as retaliation, an appeals court upheld his conviction. Yagman was disbarred by the State Bar of California on December 22, 2010.
Yagman served 29 months in federal prison and then worked as a paralegal and UCLA Law School lecturer for 11 years before, at age 76, passing the California bar exam again and winning decisions from both the California State Bar Court and the California Supreme Court (unanimous) that reinstated his license to practice law, in 2021. He also was reinstated to the Bar of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California by its chief judge, in 2021. He currently practices federal civil rights law and prosecutes cases for homeless clients, as well as for victims of police brutality, jail and prison abuses, and racial profiling.
Yagman, now 79, has resumed taking cases against police and the government. As class counsel, Yagman represents all of the homeless people in the City of Los Angeles, the County of Los Angeles, the City of Santa Barbara, and the County of Santa Barbara, in five different putative class actions.
UCLA
In 2007, after Yagman's convictions, he was invited to co-teach and taught courses at UCLA Law School on law, morality, and social justice and on police brutality, with professor Frances Olsen.
Writings
Yagman has written two national legal practice books, Section 1983 Federal Jury Practice and Instructions (West Publishing, 1998, ISBN 0-314-22826-8), and Police Misconduct and Civil Rights, Federal Jury Practice and Instructions (Thomson Reuters West, 2002, ISBN 0-314-10293-0), a play, Guantanamo, Act IV (Beyond Baroque, 2004), and hundreds of newspaper columns.
Sources
- Los Angeles Reader, “L.A.P.D. Death Squad”, April 10, 1992, cover
- Los Angeles New Times, “Cop Cruncher”, October 2, 1997, cover
- Los Angeles Times Magazine, “One Angry Man”, June 28, 1998, cover
- California LawBusiness, “Sympathy for the Devil”, November 6, 2000, cover
- Jerome Herbert Skolnick and James J. Fyfe, Above the Law, Police and the Excessive Use of Force (Free Press, 1993), pp. 17–18, 146-64, 203.
References
- National Law Journal, pg. 1, February 28, 2011, "Yagman unbowed, but getting on with life"
- ^ Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, “Attorney Tops Cops’ Most Wanted List”, December 19, 1988, p. 1
- ^ Los Angeles Daily Journal, October 26, 1987, pg. 1.
- ^ Yagman, Police Misconduct and Civil Rights, Federal Jury Practice and Instructions (Thomson West Publishing, 2002), XLVII-LV
- Fordham Univ. transcript, govt. exhibit 27 in U.S. v. Yagman, 06-00227-SVW (C.D. Cal.)
- Yagman official site; accessed April 18, 2014.
- Jessica Garrison, "L.A. Officials Know To Expect Attorney's Call", L.A. Times, March 22, 2006, p. B1
- ^ Lara Bazelon, "Putting the Mice in Charge of the Cheese: Why Federal Judges Cannot Always be Trusted to Police Themselves and What Congress Can do about It", 97 Kentucky Law Journal pp. 439, 455 & n. 103, 2008-2009.
- Lawyers on Trial, Oxford University Press, 2011, pp. 380-83, 456, 457.
- ^ "Pugnacious civil rights lawyer Stephen Yagman is summarily disbarred". www.calbarjournal.com. Retrieved 2018-04-29.
- ^ "A fraud conviction ended his battles for civil rights. 14 years later, Stephen Yagman is back". Los Angeles Times. 2021-10-08. Retrieved 2023-11-15.
- Yagman invited to teach an undergrad course on morality at UCLA, dailynews.com; accessed June 23, 2015.