Posts on ‘November 25th, 2008’

In a case of first impression, a Brooklyn federal judge has ruled that the ethnicity of two Arab plane passengers cannot serve as a factor in determining whether the government had probable cause for their “de facto arrests” at John F. Kennedy International Airport. Tarik Farag and Amro Elmasry initiated the action after armed police officers met them as they de-boarded a flight in 2004, and brought them in for questioning. The two men later filed the present suit, which the judge allowed to go forward.

Prominent Hollywood attorney Terry Christensen was sentenced Monday to three years in prison in a wiretapping scheme that targeted the former wife of MGM mogul Kirk Kerkorian to disprove her claims that he was the father of her young daughter. Christensen was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Dale S. Fischer after being convicted of one count each of conspiracy to commit wiretapping and aiding and abetting a wiretap.

A committee of the D.C. Board on Professional Responsibility has recommended that Claude Allen, a former assistant to President George W. Bush for domestic policy issues, have his law license suspended for 90 days in connection with a series of thefts from Target stores. The report says Allen should face a “modest sanction” because, as an adviser to Bush during Hurricane Katrina shortly before the thefts, he internalized some of the suffering he witnessed during the crisis.

Automakers were not the only ones left empty-handed at the end of last week’s lame-duck session of Congress. The federal judiciary’s long quest for salary increases made little progress — though hope remains that the post-Thanksgiving session will bring some results. Judges are walking a difficult line, not wanting to appear selfish when the populace at large is suffering as a result of the financial crisis, but judicial pay has lagged for years.

A trio of London firms has seen a mega-mandate come to an end, after the collapse of the $66 billion hostile takeover of Rio Tinto by BHP Billiton. BHP pulled out of its bid to take over its rival mining company Tuesday, citing risks to shareholder value in the wake of the economic crisis. Slaughter and May, Linklaters and Allen & Overy had all taken headline roles on the multibillion-dollar bid, which was set to become the second-largest M&A deal of all time.

Former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Newt Gingrich will teach a course at the University of Georgia School of Law this spring. Gingrich will teach a course on judicial review as a Carl E. Sanders Political Leadership Scholar, along with frequent lecturer and author on government ethics and politics, J. Randolph “Randy” Evans.

Just in time for the holidays, the U.S. Department of Justice has released a new model leniency letter for companies that want to avoid being criminally prosecuted for antitrust violations. But the companies may not be so thankful. In the letter, the government tightens up its amnesty program for corporations and individuals. Deputy assistant attorney general for antitrust Scott Hammond calls the changes “clarifications,” made “to clear up any perceived ambiguities.”

Should one of Detroit’s Big Three auto manufacturers go bankrupt, it will be among the largest Chapter 11 filings in U.S. history. So who are the likely candidates for the assignment? The Am Law Daily interviews leading restructuring lawyers to find out. The apparent early frontrunner for landing a Big Auto Chapter 11 assignment is New York’s Weil, Gotshal & Manges.

Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney confirmed last week that it has been in the process of staff cuts. Firm Chief Executive Officer Thomas L. VanKirk said he expects the number of legal secretaries and other administrative staff affected will be more than 15 but less than 25, or less than 2.5 percent of the firm’s workforce. VanKirk said that the cuts were not layoffs, but that the positions were being eliminated to bring the firm more in line with its goal of a 3-1 lawyer-to-secretary ratio.

A former Hunton & Williams partner was sentenced Monday to 70 months in federal prison for using his firm’s laptop to download and store videos of child pornography. Government prosecutors say Emerson Briggs admitted to downloading pornographic videos at his Hunton & Williams office in Washington, D.C., between November 2005 and April 2006. Some of the videos involved minors under the age of 12, said Wendy Waldron, a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney in the child exploitation and obscenity section.