Posts on ‘December 2nd, 2008’

Former Kirkland & Ellis bankruptcy head James Sprayregen has returned to that firm after a three-year stint as co-head of Goldman Sachs & Co.’s restructuring group. Sprayregen had worked at Kirkland for 16 years, heading the firm’s Chapter 11 representation of United Airlines. The past several months have seen a string of refugees seeking to return to law firms from beleaguered finance houses.

The FDIC has announced that, effective immediately, client funds deposited in Interest on Lawyer Trust Accounts — regardless of amount — are eligible for full deposit insurance coverage under the Temporary Liquidity Guarantee Program through Dec. 31, 2009. The ABA, law firms and individual lawyers had mounted a nationwide campaign to persuade the FDIC to include IOLTA funds in the expanded insurance program.

A judge dismissed eight indictments Monday brought by a South Texas prosecutor against high-profile figures including Vice President Dick Cheney, former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and a state senator. The order by Administrative Judge Manuel Banales ended two weeks of proceedings that some courtroom veterans declared the most bizarre they had ever witnessed. It also began to dim the lights on the rocky tenure of outgoing Willacy County District Attorney Juan Angel Guerra.

From behind bars, ex-Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is fighting to remain a lawyer. One of Kilpatrick’s attorneys filed papers Monday with the Michigan Attorney Discipline Board, asking it to set aside a judge’s order revoking Kilpatrick’s law license. A judge ordered Kilpatrick’s law license to be revoked last month when he sentenced the former Motown mayor to 120 days in jail for lying about an affair at a police whistle-blower trial that cost the city $8.4 million.

DLA Piper has announced a redundancy consultation that could see up to 40 jobs affected in real estate and finance. The consultation, which was launched Monday, will see up to 20 fee earners and 20 support staff across the firm’s U.K. offices in Birmingham, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Glasgow and Manchester facing the axe, as a result of the current economic climate. This August, the firm cut five fee earners from its technology, media and commercial group.

It happened again at the Supreme Court. During oral arguments Monday morning in the original jurisdiction case of , Justice David Souter asked a question of Colorado Attorney General John Suthers, who paused and answered, “Justice Ginsburg … ” Amid nervous laughter, Souter said with a smile, “I’m greatly flattered,” and as Suthers apologized, Souter added, “You’re not the first to have done that.”

A group of 19 former Thelen construction and real estate attorneys is joining Duane Morris. The group — with nine partners and 10 associates and special counsel — will be part of Duane Morris’ 60-attorney construction group and will work in the firm’s New York office.

The U.S. Supreme Court is refusing to enter a politically charged case from West Virginia that involves a large punitive damages award and allegations of bias by a state judge. Massey Energy Co. is challenging a $260 million jury verdict in a dispute with Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Co. Massey wanted the U.S. high court to take the case because it alleges that one state justice, Larry Starcher, is biased against the company and Chief Executive Don Blankenship.

Facebook has won an $873 million judgment against a Canadian resident for sending millions of spam messages to the social networking site. A California federal judge on Friday issued the order, which is believed to be the largest to date under the CAN-SPAM Act, said a senior corporate counsel for California-based Facebook. The lawsuit said the spam posts, which were made on Facebook profile pages, sent users to third-party Web sites that promoted “male enhancement pills” and other sexually oriented material.

The legal, business and political implications of the terror attacks in Mumbai are extensive, but lawyers with ties to the city confronted an especially personal impact last week when it was discovered that relatives of a Reed Smith partner were staying at the Taj Mahal hotel. Ajay Raju, head of Reed Smith’s India practice group, said the firm’s reach and contact base proved helpful in a time when even the State Department wasn’t sure what was going on.