Posts on ‘October 22nd, 2008’

Arguments before the full 11th Circuit spanned the centuries as judges heard a case involving viaticals, investment products in which terminally ill patients sell their life insurance policy proceeds to investors who essentially bet the patients will die soon. The issue has split federal appeals courts and could land before the U.S. Supreme Court. At issue: whether a prosecutor seeking to convict under an 1872 mail fraud statute must prove the fraudulent scheme would deceive a reasonably cautious person.

Three lawyers who tried to settle their way out of sanctions and to erase the sanctions decision from legal publications and databases have been rebuffed by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Sanctioned in March for filing a meritless lawsuit against a stock trader, the lawyers and their firms agreed to settle with the trader on one condition — that the 2nd Circuit first vacate the sanctions judgment. But the 2nd Circuit panel refused to go along.

The Colorado federal judge who oversaw the insider trading trial of former Qwest Communications CEO Joe Nacchio is resigning as complaints of judicial misconduct are investigated. Edward W. Nottingham ceased his duties immediately, according to a statement on the 10th Circuit Web site, which said multiple misconduct complaints were being investigated by the circuit’s judicial council. A statement issued by the office of the judge’s attorney said Nottingham “is deeply remorseful for his actions.”

The knives are out, and your neck is ripe for slicing. Firms are on a firing spree, and the first to go are the youngsters. Offers that once looked golden are tin, and the good times have turned bad quicker than you can say “Thelen,” which earlier this year pushed its start date for new associates to January 2009. And you have the bad luck to be interviewing in the middle of the bloodbath. But professor Cameron Stracher offers a few things you can do to improve your odds and avoid the unemployment line.

The SonicBlue bankruptcy vaulted forward Tuesday, but the saga continues for the two law firms being sued for their roles in the case, attorneys involved in the bankruptcy said. The judge in the case confirmed a plan to distribute about $75 million to creditors on Tuesday, putting to bed some of the litigation in the case, although lawsuits against Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman and Levene, Neale, Bender, Rankin & Brill still stand.

Rumors are swirling among legal bloggers about “stealth layoffs” at Dechert, with several Above the Law posters claiming associate layoffs ranging from 13 to 80 and even more during several months since March. But firm Chairman Barton J. Winokur has adamantly denied any layoffs took place and said the number of associates who have left the firm for any reason in the first nine months of the year was lower than in the same period in 2007. “This is all such bull, if you don’t mind my saying so,” Winokur said.

As travelers have noted since time immemorial, the best way to enrich your perspective on your own culture is to step outside it and visit someone else’s. After spending last week in London (home of four of the six biggest law firms in the world), talking to clients and law firms, Legal OnRamp’s Paul Lippe offers some observations and predictions on the worldwide legal market’s downward spiral based on what’s happening in the U.K.

Long a staple of U.K. employment agreements, garden leave clauses are emerging as a more common tool for American businesses to minimize harm caused when employees defect to competitors. These clauses require lengthy advance notice of resignation, prohibit certain competitive conduct during the notice period, and specify that the employee will be sent home but still get paid during the notice period. Attorney Christopher P. Stief offers information to get in-house counsel up to speed on this development.

Web site terms of use seek to restrict how the public uses a site to obtain information, purchase services or participate in social networks. Attorney Nick Akerman examines how terms of use, with the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, can provide protections to firms and end users.

The world as we know it has, it seems, ground to a screeching halt. Countries, clients, credit markets and, yes, even large-firm associates are in full crisis mode. Everyone from partners to the security guard is showing signs of extreme stress. Humor columnist The Snark wishes he had some words of wisdom to offer, but alas, like most of our world leaders, he has no clue what to do. In lieu of wisdom he attempts to explain the stress and offer his best guess at how to survive.