The prosecutions of attorney Robert Simels and his former associate Arienne Irving, both of whom were convicted in August of conspiring to threaten witnesses, came to very different conclusions on Friday. A New York federal judge sentenced Simels to 14 years in federal prison and a $225,000 fine. As for Irving, 3 1/2 hours before the sentencing, the judge granted her Rule 29 motion, throwing out the jury’s verdict and dismissing her case.

By limiting the consequences of inadvertent production, Rule 502 of the Federal Rules of Evidence aimed to reduce the burden of conducting expensive preproduction privilege reviews. While the rule provided greater protection against waiver, it failed to deliver large cost savings.

In determining Debevoise & Plimpton should not be removed as counsel in a case where several of its lawyers may be called as witnesses, an appellate court has issued a “new formulation” of the rule requiring attorneys’ disqualification for a conflict of interest. The 2nd Circuit ruled that a firm “can be disqualified by imputation only if the movant proves by clear and convincing evidence” that the witness will give testimony prejudicial to the client and that the “integrity of the judicial system” will suffer as a result.

A new rule proposed by San Francisco Superior Court would remind potential jurors not to blog, Tweet or conduct Internet research about cases. The need for the rule became clear to the court during a jury selection in a criminal trial, when an entire panel of 600 jurors had to be excused.