Immigration to rich countries dropped during the global economic crisis, reversing five years of annual increases as the demand for labor fell, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said Monday.

A report showed that 4.4 million people migrated to the OECD's 31 member countries — the world's most developed economies — in 2008. That is a drop of about 6 percent from the year before.

The fall reverses five years of annual increases of 11 percent, the OECD said in its International Migration Outlook 2010.

National data suggest that international migration fell again in 2009.

Unemployment among male immigrants has risen more than among native counterparts because many immigrants worked in industries badly hit by the crisis, such as construction, hotels and restaurants, the OECD said. Still, few are returning home, it said.

In some countries, employment of female immigrants has risen as women take jobs to make up for lost income of their unemployed spouses, it said.

A Southern California law firm that has won more than $17 million from construction defect court settlements in the Sacramento area is being sued by former clients for legal malpractice.

Eleven local parties allege Lee Jackson, a partner in the Santa Monica office of Milstein, Adelman & Kreger LLP, misled them and settled a construction defect lawsuit against U.S. Home Corp. for less than 10 percent of the estimated cost of repairs.

The lawsuit, filed June 18 in Sacramento County Superior Court, alleges negligence, breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty and fraud on the part of the Milstein firm. The suit demands damages of $1.5 million plus interest, punitive damages, fees and court costs.

“These people don’t feel they got adequate representation,” said Eugene Haydu, a Sacramento attorney who represents the plaintiffs. “We (attorneys) have a special duty to homeowners. Most of this is brand new to them and they can be taken advantage of — that’s what I think is most egregious."

A filmmaker who went to Nicaragua to make a documentary said Thursday he became an undercover operative for a Texas law firm that was suing Dole Foods on behalf of purported banana plantation workers who claim they were left sterile by pesticide exposure.

Jason Glaser testified about his transformation into a secret sleuth, saying he told none of the people he interviewed in Latin America about his dual role.

He was called to the witness stand by attorney Steve Condie, who represents six men claiming they were left sterile by pesticide exposure while working on Dole banana plantations from 1970 to 1980.

Dole investigators uncovered evidence that some Nicaraguans suing the company had lied, saying they were sterile when they had fathered children and vowing they worked on banana farms when they did not.

The first trial on the issue ended in 2007 with jurors awarding $2.3 million to Condie's clients. Dole is seeking to overturn the verdict. A second similar case was dismissed after testimony about fraud.

The U.S. Department of Justice's civil rights division will investigate a white Oakland police officer accused of killing an unarmed black man on a crowded train platform, a case reminiscent of the racially charged 1992 police beating of Rodney King.

The federal government said it will step in after officer Johannes Mehserle was convicted Thursday of a lesser involuntary manslaughter charge, touching off angry protests that damaged stores and netted dozens of arrests.

The justice department's civil rights division will conduct the review along with the U.S. Attorney's Office in San Francisco and the FBI, said spokesman Alejandro Miyar, who declined further comment. The investigation will determine whether the case warrants federal prosecution

Federal officials planned to begin their review at the conclusion of the state's case against Mehserle, who still faces sentencing. The next hearing was set for Aug. 6.

The Los Angeles jury's verdict raised concerns of a repeat of the rioting that followed the shooting on New Year's Day in 2009 on an Oakland train platform. The trial was moved to Los Angeles following the riots.

Retirees and other residents from all over the country were among those who donated nearly $500,000 to help Arizona defend its immigration enforcement law, with most chipping in $100 or less, according to an analysis of documents obtained Thursday by The Associated Press.

The donations, 88 percent of which came through the Arizona defense fund's website, surged this week after the federal government sued Tuesday to challenge the law. A document from Gov. Jan Brewer's office showed that 7,008 of the 9,057 online contributions submitted by Thursday morning were made in the days following the government's filing.

Website contributions came from all 50 states, plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, including nearly 2,000 from Arizona. Donations ranged from $5 to $2,000, with the vast majority between $10 and $100.

The AP examined about a quarter of the fund's total contributions, and found only two that came from businesses.

The willingness of thousands of individual Americans to contribute to the Arizona fund illustrates broad concern and frustration over border security and illegal immigration. The state's legislation has since renewed calls for broader immigration changes.

The Arizona law includes a requirement that police enforcing another law generally must investigate the immigration status of people if there is "reasonable suspicion" to believe the people are in the United States illegally.

American Bar Association witnesses will be lead-off witnesses today as the Senate Judiciary Committee resumes its confirmation hearing for Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan.  

Kim Askew, chair of the ABA Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary, and William J. Kayatta Jr., a committee member from Maine, are scheduled to testify at 4 p.m. ET about how and why the ABA reached its evaluation that Kagan is “well qualified” to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States, giving her the highest possible rating the committee can give.

Written copies of their testimony will be posted on the ABA website by 4 p.m. ET at http://www.abanet.org/scfedjud/statements.html 

The hearing is being televised, and the Senate Judiciary Committee is webcasting the testimony from its site, http://judiciary.senate.gov/hearings/hearing.cfm?id=4679

Also, below is a host of ABA produced materials to support your coverage. The ABA Standing Committee works independently of the association and has been evaluating nominees since the Eisenhower Administration. These materials provide a look behind the scenes at what it takes to issue an ABA SCOTUS rating. 

All digital resources below are available for embedding, linking use, social network sharing and website/blog reproduction purposes in part or in their entirety.

Based on the excellence she has displayed during a long career, if not her evasiveness during her hearings, she is well qualified for the court.