Seyfarth Shaw and partner Richard Alfred have won a malpractice case brought against them by former client PCG Trading, which claimed the defendants didn’t do enough to protect it from court judgments in employment cases filed against Converge Inc. after PCG bought Converge’s assets.

Seven people and two companies have been charged with running one of the largest online piracy rings in the world, the Justice Department has announced. Officials said alleged members of the conspiracy, which operated Megaupload.com, generated more than $175 million in revenue and cost copyright holders $500 million. On Thursday, authorities in New Zealand arrested four of the defendants, including the alleged founder of Megaupload, Kim Dotcom.See related story: DOJ, Universal Music Websites Targeted After Piracy Arrests

A federal judge in Manhattan has issued a default judgment against the Islamic Republic of Iran, its top officials and various political and military subdivisions in finding that the defendants provided direct and material support to al-Qaida in connection with the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has decided a plaintiff’s federal claims are not precluded when the plaintiff puts the defendants in a state action on notice that the federal claims are being split off and the defense never objects.

A D.C. federal judge has issued a final judgment of nearly $1.2 billion in compensatory and punitive damages against the government of Iran for its role in the 1983 bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, writing that the defendants “must be punished to the fullest extent legally possible.”