A British man accused of hacking into American military computers has failed in his latest bid to avoid extradition to the U.S., his lawyer said Friday.

Gary McKinnon is charged with breaking into dozens of computers belonging to NASA, the U.S. Defense Department and several branches of the U.S. military soon after the Sept. 11 attacks. U.S. prosecutors have spent seven years seeking his extradition.

The 43-year-old claims he was searching for evidence of alien life, although prosecutors say he left a message on an Army computer criticizing U.S. foreign policy.

The High Court decision denies McKinnon the possibility of taking his case to the country's new Supreme Court — the latest in a series of blows to his campaign to remain in Britain.

Lord Justice Stanley Burnton said that extradition was "a lawful and proportionate response" to McKinnon's alleged crimes and that the legal issues raised by the case were not important enough to be considered by the nation's highest court.

Craig Johnson, the visionary Silicon Valley lawyer who founded Venture Law Group and more recently Virtual Law Partners, died Saturday after suffering a stroke. He was 62 and had just returned from a European honeymoon with his wife and law partner Roseann Rotandaro. The two had married on Aug. 15.

Johnson was perhaps the quintessential Silicon Valley startup lawyer. He had an unbridled enthusiasm for new ideas. Just like his entrepreneurial clients, he pushed the boundaries of traditional business models in law practice. And he was always onto the next big thing.

"He was constantly innovating, constantly thinking of new ideas and new systems dealing with startup law," said Larry Sonsini, chairman of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. "Every time I saw him he was working on something new -- it was very much an 'on the back of the napkin' type of thing."

Johnson inspired a loyal following of lawyers and clients at Wilson Sonsini, where he started his career in 1975. But when he set out to found Venture Law Group in 1993, there was great skepticism that a law firm focused only on corporate startup work would succeed. The firm exploded with the tech boom, growing rapidly to more than 100 lawyers, and raking in millions with its investments in clients like Yahoo and Hotmail.

"Craig was a pioneer in Silicon Valley, and his vision helped drive the growth of the technology industry," said Jerry Yang, co-founder and former CEO of Yahoo, in an e-mail.

Venture Law Group stumbled when the bubble burst and was acquired by Heller Ehrman in 2003. After a few years outside the practice of law as a venture capitalist, Johnson again had a new idea: a virtual law firm on a grand scale. Last year, he launched Virtual Law Partners. His idea again met with skepticism, but in just a year, the firm has grown to 40 lawyers. And it has been hailed as the law firm of the future.

"He may have been a lawyer, but he was an entrepreneur at heart," said John Dean, a close friend and venture capitalist at Startup Capital Ventures.

Dean was one of the first people to find Johnson after he suffered a stroke last Tuesday morning at the office they share in Palo Alto, Calif. He was rushed to Stanford University Hospital, and was surrounded by his family until his death on Saturday.

As news spread Monday, Johnson's former colleagues reached out to each other over e-mail and in the hallways of law firms, like Cooley Godward Kronish and Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe where many Venture Law Group lawyers now work.

"He was kind to everyone and he knew everybody's name and knew their families and their history and he really went out of his way," said Don Keller, a former VLG lawyer now at Orrick. "Everyone that knew him felt they had a special friend in Craig."

Gunderson Dettmer Stough Villeneuve Franklin & Hachigian LLP, a law firm that specializes in representing venture capital and start up companies, will move its New England headquarters from Boston to Waltham, Mass.

The firm leased 31,140 square feet in the Reservoir Woods office park located at 850 Winter St. in Waltham. It will move from its current location at 610 Lincoln St. in January, according to Colliers Meredith & Grew, which represented the firm in the lease negotiation. CB Richard Ellis/New England represented the landlord, Davis Marcus Partners. The lease’s financial details were not disclosed.

The 180,000-square-foot building at 850 Winter St. was built in 2008 and is LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified, per the U.S. Green Building Commission.

A Florida appeals court has chastised a judge for granting extensions in a foreclosure case for compassionate reasons.

The Third District Court of Appeal ruled last week that Circuit Judge Valerie Manno Schurr could not grant extensions solely on grounds of benevolence or compassion.

Schurr had given a Miami couple an extra month to sell their house. The judge said in court she understands times are bad and that she hates to see anyone lose a home.

The appeals judges ruled that the law doesn't allow compassion or benevolence alone to be used as the basis for such a decision. The court said the continuance was an abuse of judicial discretion and the one-month delay should not have been granted.

The house was sold at auction last week for $1.3 million.

The former chief of staff for Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons has opened a Reno office for a national law firm.

Josh Hicks will work for Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck. The firm's work includes lobbying federal, state and local governments. It is expanding its government relations group.

Hicks left his post as Gibbons' chief of staff this summer. He had also served earlier as the governor's legal counsel.

Hicks will focus on public policy, administrative law, Nevada tax law and election law.

The firm made the announcement on Monday.

A federal judge says a New York businessman accused of orchestrating a $413 million Ponzi scheme has violated conditions of his release on bail.

But U.S. District Court Judge Denis Hurley allowed Nicholas Cosmo to remain free pending a Friday hearing on whether to revoke his $1.25 million bail package.

Hurley agreed with prosecutors following a two-day hearing that Cosmo violated bail conditions by using a computer, and asking his girlfriend to download some of his business e-mails.

The former head of Long Island-based Agape (uh-GAH'-pay) World and Agape Merchant Advance in New York City has pleaded not guilty to charges he fleeced some 6,000 people.

He was released in July provided he remain under house arrest at his parent's Wantagh (WAHN'-tah) home, which includes monitoring by a private security firm.

A Maryland man calmly described to detectives how he methodically drowned his three young children by holding them underwater in a hotel bathtub for 10 minutes each — a confession that was recorded by police and played in court Wednesday.

Mark A. Castillo, 43, of Rockville faces trial on three counts of first-degree murder in the March 2008 deaths of his children: 6-year-old Anthony, 4-year-old Austin and 2-year-old Athena. His attorneys contend that he is not criminally responsible for the slayings — Maryland's version of an insanity plea.

Castillo's attorneys are trying to prevent his two statements to police from being admitted as evidence at trial. Prosecutors played a tape of the first of those statements for the judge Wednesday to verify its authenticity. The jury has not yet been chosen.

Asked by homicide Detective Raymond Yost why he killed his children, Castillo let out a long sigh before describing a custody battle with his former wife.

"We've been going through an extremely hard divorce. ... My wife had denied my visitation," Castillo said. "I felt like I didn't want them to be in this world anymore."

Castillo described how he took his children to the Maryland Science Center in Baltimore and then checked into a Marriott hotel downtown.