By Joseph Schuman  

Behind the flash crash: At a time when financial markets are suffering renewed tumult, the U.S. government is stepping up investigations of the "flash crash" that stunned investors last year. The Securities and Exchange Commission has sent subpoenas to high-frequency trading firms to determine whether their rapid-fire, computerized strategies contributed to the sudden 700-point plummet in the Dow Jones Industrial Average on May 6, 2010, the Wall Street Journal reports. Inquiries by the SEC and Commodity Futures Trading Commission have already found that these traders' moves contributed to the flash crash. What regulators want to know now is whether specific practices - like placing huge buy or sell orders for stocks only to quickly cancel them - exacerbated the market panic, and whether that was accidental or on purpose.

Drug dispute: Pharmaceutical giants GlaxoSmithKline and Pfizer are accusing generic-drug maker Teva Pharmaceutical Industries of infringing their U.S. patent for HIV drug Epzicom, Bloomberg reports. In a suit filed in federal district court in Delaware, a Glaxo-Pfizer joint venture called ViiV Healthcare said Teva's application to the Food and Drug Administration for permission to sells generic Epzicom tablets would cause irreparable harm to its business. ViiV is seeking a permanent injunction to block Israel-based Teva's sale of the drug in the United States before the patent expires in 2016.

A re-plea deal: Sometimes a plea agreement relies on contract law rather than criminal law. That's how the U.S. Justice Department sees a deal it made with Michael Scanlon, a former partner of lobbyist Jack Abramoff, Legal Times reports. Scanlon struck a deal to testify against Abramoff in 2005, subsequently agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy charges and later received a 20-month prison sentence. Now he is asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to throw out part of his plea agreement, citing legal ramifications of last year's Supreme Court ruling in favor of ex-Enron executive Jeffrey Skilling. Justice lawyers say that's an attempt to get what he wanted from the plea deal - no additional prosecutions - while giving nothing up.

Dogs & juries: For a young witness testifying about sexual or violent abuse suffered at the hands of a parent, a therapy dog can provide tremendous comfort on the stand. But some defense attorneys argue the natural empathy of dogs can unfairly sway a jury, the New York Times reports. In one case, a judicially-approved golden retriever named Rosie recently helped a 15-year-old girl get through describing how her father raped her. Courts in Arizona and other states in recent years have also allowed trained dogs to give solace to children and other vulnerable witnesses. But in another case involving Rosie, public defender David Martin complained that the jury read the dog's affection as an endorsement of the witness's statement. "There was no way for me to cross-examine the dog," said Martin.

Hanging juries: Criminal defendants in New York City courts who choose bench trials may stand a better chance of acquittal than those who are tried by juries, the Wall Street Journal reports. When judges alone heard felony cases tried from 2006 through last year, 61 percent of the accused were convicted, according to the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services. Juries convicted 67 percent of felony defendants, yet less than one in five defendants chooses a bench trial. According to legal experts, avoiding a jury is a good strategy if the case is one that can foster emotional identification with the crime's victim, has overwhelming technical evidence or needs complicated legal instructions.

Teacher talks back: Retired San Diego teacher Maura Larkins doesn't lose her First Amendment rights just because she has made defamatory statements on her website in the past, an appeals court has ruled. Larkins had a history of criticizing Stutz Artiano Shinoff & Holtz, a law firm which often defends school district, the Voice of San Diego reports. Among other charges, Larkins wrote that the firm fosters "a culture of misrepresentation and deception." Stutz Artiano sued, and two years ago a San Diego court approved a settlement between the two parties. Though Larkins was ordered by the judge to remove defamatory statements about Stutz Artiano, she continued to post new criticism. Judge Judith Hayes eventually ordered her to stop making any statements about it "by any method or media." But an appeals court concluded that the order is "exceedingly broad."

The inmate shuffle: As part of California Gov. Jerry Brown's plan to reduce the populations of overcrowded prisons, the state plans to transfer prisoners to county lock-ups. But Los Angeles County, among others, has jails that are already at capacity and is looking for a way to pass those inmates on to other jurisdictions, the Los Angeles Times reports. County sheriff's officials recently traveled north to the San Joaquin Valley to check out potential jail alternatives. Officials believe this would be the first time California counties have moved their prisoners somewhere else.