Legal Book » week

Calif. Legislature OKs Expedited Jury Trials

admin — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 06:41:30 +0000

A bill that provides for expedited, streamlined jury trials in California has cruised out of the state Legislature with a unanimous vote. Insurers and both the plaintiff and defense bars are enthusiastic about the system, which proponents say would not only cut litigation costs for plaintiffs, defendants and insurance carriers, but also help to ease the burden on courts.

9th Circuit’s Stay Order Underlines Standing Question in Gay Marriage Case

Master — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 03:21:12 +0000

Even as the 9th U.S.

Judge Denies Request to Enjoin Auction of Classic Cars From Prominent Lawyer’s Estate

Master — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 04:57:37 +0000

A Texas judge denied a request for a temporary injunction that would stop this week’s auction of five classic cars from the estate of prominent plaintiffs lawyer John M. O’Quinn

Bogged Down in Cranberry Case, Ocean Spray Taps Latham for Relief

admin — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 04:38:57 +0000

In a tale filled with allegations of furtive propaganda and false identities, Latham & Watkins is working to break up what it claims is a conspiracy aimed at undermining the largest cranberry manufacturer in the United States.

Baker Botts Associates Moving From Lockstep to Merit-Based System

admin — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 05:32:16 +0000

Baker Botts associates are learning this week about potential changes to their pay and bonus packages that become effective Jan. 1, 2011, says Maria Boyce, partner-in-charge of the firm’s Houston office. The firm is moving associates from lockstep promotions and pay to a merit-based system, she says

Federal Agencies Slipping on Discrimination Complaints, Says EEOC

Master — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 05:32:12 +0000

The federal government’s efficiency in handling discrimination complaints by its own workers is slipping a bit, even as more minorities are landing federal jobs, according to an annual report on the federal work force, released this week by the U.S.

Ponzi Schemer Bankruptcy Trustee Sues Florida GOP for Donations Payback

admin — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 19:18:59 +0000

Bankruptcy attorneys for the Scott Rothstein estate have filed suit against the Republican Party of Florida, seeking the repayment of $237,000 in campaign contributions from the jailed former attorney. In a suit filed this week in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Fort Lauderdale, Berger Singerman, the law firm for trustee Herbert Stettin, alleges that the Florida GOP has refused to return more than 10 different donations made by Rothstein over a four-year period.

Prosecutors Say Lies Undermine KB Home Chief’s Advice-of-Counsel Defense

Master — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 17:44:33 +0000

Former KB Home CEO Bruce Karatz could not have relied on advice about stock-options backdating from the company’s general counsel because he lied during an internal investigation into the practices, federal prosecutors argued in attempting to quash Karatz’s motion for a new trial. “Rather than establishing defendant’s good faith reliance on an attorney, the record readily establishes that defendant used [General Counsel Ben Hirst] to perpetrate a fraud,” prosecutors wrote in papers filed this week.

Prosecutors Won’t Oppose Probation for Former Special Counsel

admin — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 04:45:22 +0000

Former Special Counsel Scott Bloch faces up to six months in prison for withholding information from a House committee, but federal prosecutors said this week the government is not opposed to a sentence of probation. Bloch pleaded guilty in April to one count of criminal contempt of Congress for not disclosing the nature and extent of his instructions that a private company erase files from his government-issued computer and the computers of two other Office of Special Counsel employees.

Porn Producer Fighting Rare Obscenity Case

admin — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 04:11:56 +0000

Jury selection is under way and opening arguments are expected to begin this week in a rare adult pornography obscenity case in federal district court in Washington, D.C. Adult film producer John Stagliano and two of his companies were indicted on seven counts of distributing obscene, sexually graphic videos that Justice Department prosecutors allege have no artistic or scientific value and cut against the community standard of what is acceptable. Stagliano faces up to 32 years behind bars if convicted.

How to Make Law Firms’ Compensation Systems More Fair

Master — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 04:43:14 +0000

An extensive study released this week surveyed more than 700 female partners about pay disparities at law firms. The Project for Attorney Retention was one of two groups that undertook the study

Kagan Focuses on Her Neutrality in Day 1 of Hearings

admin — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 07:55:20 +0000

Elena Kagan sought to position herself Monday as someone who would be a neutral arbiter if confirmed as a justice on the U.S. Supreme Court, defying hopes from the political left and right that she would outline a clear judicial philosophy during her confirmation hearing. Senators will begin questioning Kagan today, but she warned them not to expect any promises about her future positions.

Managing the Kagan Confirmation Hearing

admin — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 06:10:50 +0000

Sen.

Conservatives, Liberals Wary of Kagan on Abortion

admin — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 07:10:45 +0000

One week before Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan begins her Senate confirmation hearings, both liberal and conservative groups are criticizing her record on abortion rights. The anti-abortion group Americans United for Life recruited failed conservative Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork for a news teleconference this week to denounce her. At the same time, the liberal Center for Reproductive Rights released a report Monday casting doubt on the depth of Kagan’s support for abortion rights.

Dow Chemical Wins Verdict of More Than $60 Million in Patent Case

admin — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 17:51:40 +0000

The $61.77 million jury verdict handed up this week in favor of The Dow Chemical Co. for its claims that Nova Chemicals infringed two of its patents was just a part of the conclusion to the five-year-old case filed in 2005 in Delaware federal court. The jury found Dow proved by a preponderance of the evidence that certain Nova products infringed on the two ethylene polymer patents at issue.

Mortgage Executive Charged in $1.9 Billion Fraud Scheme

admin — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 03:48:24 +0000

Federal prosecutors are targeting tens of millions of dollars in cash and property allegedly tied to the former chairman of Taylor, Bean & Whitaker, one of the country’s largest privately held mortgage lending companies, who was indicted this week on fraud charges. Justice Department officials announced Wednesday that Lee Farkas, the former TBW chairman, has been charged in a 16-count indictment for allegedly orchestrating a $1.9 billion fraud scheme that contributed to the collapse of Colonial Bank.

Circuit Split Widens on Copyright Registration Timing

admin — Fri, 28 May 2010 08:16:32 +0000

When does a copyright get registered? Once an application is submitted to the U.S.

Former Big Firm Lawyer Suspended for 3 Years Over Fake Resume

Master — Fri, 21 May 2010 09:52:37 +0000

Illinois authorities have finally come to a conclusion: A lawyer who worked at three Am Law 100 firms will be suspended from practicing law for three years for leaving crucial information out of his law school application and for altering his transcripts to land a summer associate gig at Sidley Austin. The initial recommendation for a three-year suspension had been cut in half in January, but this week the Illinois Supreme Court jacked the suspension back up to three years.

Ex-FINRA Enforcement Chief Joins Bingham McCutchen

admin — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 22:05:26 +0000

Susan Merrill, who spent six years as head of enforcement for the New York Stock Exchange regulatory arm and the entity that succeeded it, will join Bingham McCutchen’s broker-dealer group in New York this week. Merrill stepped down last month as chief of enforcement at the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, a private corporation that regulates brokerage firms and trading markets.

Lawyer for Widows in 2006 Mine Disaster Talks About Fighting Big Coal

admin — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 17:17:13 +0000

Coal mining is a way of life in southern West Virginia, where the latest mine disaster continues to unfold. It’s a way of life that Reed Smith partner Bruce Stanley knows intimately. Although he never was a miner, his father and older brother were.

Sudden Surge Has Hungry Firms Scarfing Up IPOs

admin — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 06:21:51 +0000

As the formerly moribund public offerings market has surged back to life — if this week’s goings-on are any indication — some firms can look forward to good times on the horizon. While IPOs may not provide the most labor-intensive of assignments for firms to bulk up on their billables, they do create new public companies that can deliver regulator and M&A opportunities down the road. Which is why, as the IPO market makes a comeback, firms will be eager to advise on those looming listings.

Law Firms Protest Lehman Fee Committee’s Cuts in Legal Bills

admin — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 08:10:44 +0000

The legal fee dispute between the Lehman Brothers estate’s fee committee and key law firms working on Lehman’s bankruptcy gained momentum this week, when three firms — Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy, Jones Day and Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle — filed papers protesting the committee’s reductions of their bills. The main argument — in terms of controversy and dollars — centers on how much the firms are billing to prepare their bills.

Rep. Conyers’ Wife Can’t Afford a Lawyer for Sentencing Appeal

Master — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 21:32:58 +0000

When it comes to qualifying for a court-appointed lawyer, it doesn’t necessarily matter to whom you’re married. That’s what Monica Conyers, wife of Rep

Anapol Schwartz Partner Dispute Aired in Court Documents

admin — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 05:29:10 +0000

Arguments are due to be heard this week involving suits by and against Anapol Schwartz, which claims that former shareholder Howard J. Levin violated the shareholders agreement by not agreeing to share fees or repay advanced costs related to 22 cases he took with him after being voted out of the law firm as of Dec.

Lehman to Judge: Make the Examiner’s Report Public

admin — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 21:58:08 +0000

Lehman Brothers and its lawyers at Weil, Gotshal & Manges sent a clear message this week to the judge hearing Lehman’s bankruptcy case: Make public the full report about Lehman’s demise. In a motion filed Monday by Weil’s Harvey Miller, Lehman says it has cooperated fully with the special examiner investigating the bank’s failure and has turned over more than 20 million pages of e-mail.