Posts on ‘November 4th, 2008’

In a rare malpractice complaint against a defense firm, an insurer charges that Cleary, Alfieri & Jones was appointed to a personal injury case against Monmouth County, N.J., through political connections and botched it, causing a $250,000 loss. The complaint states that the case “required skillful defense counsel rather than political appointees.” The insurer alleges that the firm’s incompetence forced a $450,000 settlement of the case when its legitimate settlement value was only $200,000.

In an IP fight between two “green” car companies, Tesla Motors has emerged black and blue. An arbitrator ruled Monday that the electric car maker failed to prove that rival Fisker Automotive stole trade secrets, and that Tesla’s allegations were “baseless and neither brought nor pursued in good faith,” according to a Fisker press release. Tesla alleged that two Fisker executives who had previously worked for Tesla had taken confidential information and used it in the design of a Fisker vehicle.

The Supreme Court justices on Monday heard argument in a First Amendment case involving the authority of local governments to make payroll deductions for political activities. Discussion of whether an Idaho statute proscribing the practice should be subject to heightened constitutional scrutiny led two of the justices to get into what Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. called “confessional mode” and seek clarification regarding some tenets of First Amendment jurisprudence.

Tax and finance boutique McKee Nelson announced Monday it was laying off 13 associates in New York and four in Washington, D.C., in response to the “unprecedented devastation” of the credit markets. The firm stressed the layoffs were not performance-based. Launched in 1999 as a law firm offshoot of accounting giant Ernst & Young, McKee Nelson last winter began offering buyouts to lawyers willing to quit the slowing structured finance practice, which was decimated by the subprime crisis.

On Oct. 16, the New York Court of Appeals affirmed the convictions of former Tyco executives Dennis Kozlowski and Mark Swartz, who may now theoretically challenge their convictions in federal court by seeking habeas review. Regardless of the fate of these two individuals, the opinion may have created more issues than it resolved. Its construction of a civil procedure discovery statute in the context of a criminal prosecution may well have opened up a Sixth Amendment Pandora’s box.

Cutting-edge technologies on the electronic data discovery market offer tools to aid collection, review and production. Lawyers who embrace new e-discovery tools will be better equipped to meet client needs with reduced costs while still complying with discovery obligations.

Now that we’ve finally reached Election Day, who is Biglaw pulling for? Though reports show Biglaw firms are giving more money to Obama, humor columnist The Snark says don’t let that make you think law firms are full of socialist liberals. Biglaw lawyers are motivated by all sorts of things in making their presidential choices and party affiliations, and they’re not a solid voting bloc, he says. And he reminds lawyers that although they may know everything, there is no point in debating each other.

A growing number of people are working toward their law degrees over the Internet. Typical online students are older, midway through their career, work part time or full time and have family or financial commitments that prevent them from devoting three years of their life and upwards of $100,000 to attend traditional law school. And though most aren’t gunning for jobs at prestigious firms or other highly competitive law positions, “You can’t be a slacker and do this,” says online grad Joy Nonnweiler.

Joseph Collins, Refco’s principal outside lawyer for more than 10 years, was the fifth person charged with Refco crimes, but the only one who wasn’t a company insider. Charged with securities fraud, bank fraud and related charges, he faces a sentence of up to 30 years if found guilty. In a decade that’s seen waves of corporate scandals — Enron, WorldCom, Tyco, Adelphia and Global Crossing — Collins stands alone as the only outside lawyer to be indicted. Why him?

Broadcom Corp.’s last general counsel was a casualty of the company’s mountainous stock option backdating mess. Now, the semiconductor company is turning to Arthur Chong, a veteran in-house lawyer who has handled corporate turpitude in the past. Chong was deputy general counsel at McKesson Corp. while the health care giant weathered a huge accounting scandal that consumed most of a decade. Chong is also known for a 2006 speech that has become somewhat legendary in legal circles.