When the Gangwon provincial government was preparing a bid to host the Special Olympics Winter Games in 2013, the Special Olympics headquarters in Washington recommended it hire Seoul-based law firm Yulchon, known for expertise in the fields of culture and sports. One of Yulchon’s advisers is former Deputy Culture Minister Oh Jee-chul.

To win the bid, Oh contacted the Special Olympics headquarters directly and used his experience and personal connections in the United States to form a close relationship with the organization. In February, Gangwon’s Pyeongchang County was chosen to host the 2013 games.

Law firms in Korea are branching into consulting, and snapping up former government officials to bring them contacts and experience. And although the law prohibits officials from joining private industry in a similar field for two years after leaving service - to keep them from lobbying their former ministry or department - there’s no restriction on joining law firms.

Although recruiting former government officials isn’t entirely new for law firms, in the past they concentrated on key officials in the fields of economics, trade or industry. Today, they’re interested in non-economic fields, and want junior-level officials who worked on individual projects and issues.

Suffolk University Law School plans to host a roundtable discussion on the effect of state budget cuts on the Massachusetts court system.

Supreme Judicial Court Chief Justice Margaret Marshall will be among the panelists Monday at the law school in Boston.

Other participants include Robert Mulligan, who's chief justice of the administrative office of the trial court; and William Leahy, chief counsel for the Committee for Public Counsel Services.

The roundtable discussion is sponsored by the Rappaport Center for Law and Public Service, the New England Legal Foundation and the Boston Bar Association.

• Drunk Driving (DUII, DUI, DWI) - including underage drinking and driving, refusing a breathalyzer test, driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, and other drug or alcohol related driving offenses
• Criminal Driving Offenses - including manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide, assault, hit & run, attempting to elude police, reckless driving and licensure issues
• Drug Crimes - including possession, delivery, and manufacturing of marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin, designer drugs and prescription drugs
• Property Crimes - including theft, embezzlement, forgery, fraud, computer crimes and burglary
• Violent Crimes - including menacing, stalking and assault
• Stalking - including criminal offenses and civil actions

The nation's largest court system is in the midst of a painful budget crisis that has shut down courtrooms and disrupted everything from divorce and custody proceedings to traffic ticket disputes.

The Los Angeles court system has already closed 17 courtrooms and another 50 will be shut down come September unless something is done to find more money. The judge who presides over the system predicts chaos and an unprecedented logjam of civil and family law cases in the worst-case scenario.

The crisis results from the financially troubled state's decision to slash $393 million from state trial courts in the budget this year. The state also decided to close all California courthouses on the third Wednesday of every month.

What has emerged is a hobbled court system that is struggling to serve the public.

Custody hearings, divorce proceedings, small-claims disputes, juvenile dependency matters and civil lawsuits have been delayed amid the courtroom shutdowns in Los Angeles. Drivers who choose to fight traffic tickets now have to wait up to nine months to get a trial started.

Complex civil lawsuits, those typically involving feuding businesses, could really feel the hit. It now takes an average of 16 months for such cases to get resolved, but court officials expect the cuts to bog down these civil matters to the point that they take an average of four years to finish.

The Ohio Supreme Court has ordered a judge removed from the trial of a man suspected of killing 11 women whose remains were found around his home.

An order signed by acting Chief Justice Paul Pfeifer on Thursday says Cuyahoga (ky-uh-HOH'-guh) County Common Pleas Judge Shirley Strickland Saffold must step down to avoid an appearance of bias or prejudice.

Attorneys for Anthony Sowell (SOH'-wehl) asked the court to remove Saffold. They claim Saffold made biased comments about him and a defense attorney in postings on a newspaper's website.

The judge has denied posting the comments. Her daughter has claimed responsibility.

Saffold is the second judge off the case. The first judge stepped down in December after a newspaper published his e-mails.

Sowell has pleaded not guilty in the Cleveland killings.

The Senate has voted 98-0 to confirm Judge Denny Chin to fill an opening on a New York-based appeals court. He will be the only Asian-American currently serving on a U.S. Court of Appeals.

Chin is a U.S. district judge in New York. He will serve on the 2nd Circuit, covering New York, Connecticut and Vermont.

There are 23 judicial nominations pending on the Senate calendar.