Posts on ‘December 3rd, 2008’

A New York judge has dismissed DUI and firearm charges against a 9/11 rescue worker, citing the man’s status as an “American hero.” In granting the motion to dismiss, the judge cited the work done by Michael McCormack at Ground Zero and the symbolic significance of the now-iconic “World Trade Center flag” that McCormack reported recovering at the site. McCormack has become a frequently quoted critic of the government, suggesting that the 9/11 attack might have been an “inside job.”

Identity theft was on the minds of many of California’s appellate lawyers Monday as word spread about the mid-November theft of a disk containing attorneys’ names, Social Security numbers and other personal information from the Central California Appellate Program — which supplies lawyers for indigent appeals in Sacramento’s 3rd District Court of Appeal and Fresno’s 5th. Attorneys contacted Monday said that while the news upset some CCAP panelists, most took it in stride and didn’t blame the agency.

A New York litigation boutique filed a class action suit Monday against Countrywide Financial Corp. on behalf of investors in 374 securitization trusts that suffered losses due to Countrywide’s $8.4 billion settlement with 15 states’ attorneys general. Countrywide agreed in October to modify more than 50,000 largely adjustable rate mortgage loans, but plaintiffs lawyers say that substantially more loans will require modification of some type.

What one Florida Supreme Court justice called an “all-out personal attack” on a colleague may result in a public reprimand for an appellate judge. Lawyers say it would be the first time a Florida judge has been disciplined for violating judicial ethics because of what he wrote in a court opinion. The debate centers around Judge Michael Allen’s comment that fellow Appeal Court Judge Charles Kahn should have stepped down from a case to avoid the appearance that he was trying to “snooker” the public.

Four Clifford Chance litigation partners are reportedly in talks to defect to Skadden Arps and Morgan Lewis. The departures follow Bingham McCutchen’s hiring of three antitrust and regulatory partners from the firm, and Clifford Chance’s announcement that it’s terminating 20 associates in New York and Washington. Reports say the decline of the pound against the dollar is plaguing the Magic Circle firm’s U.S. partners. And then there’s the time-honored dispute over whether to pay some partners above lockstep.

Reed Smith continues to scoop up lawyers from collapsed Thelen, announcing Tuesday it had brought on two more from Thelen’s energy group and a technology transactions lawyer from its Los Angeles office. This is on top of several other laterals from the energy and labor and employment practices who were already known to be joining Reed Smith from Thelen, which announced its recent dissolution in late October.

Brown Rudnick has become the latest firm to make job cuts in the wake of the credit crisis, with the announcement that it is to lay off almost 10 percent of its global work force. The losses affect 20 lawyers, three paralegals and 20 support staff across the firm’s Boston, Hartford, New York and Providence offices, and three associates and one member of the firm’s support staff in London. The cuts are intended to help the firm “be successful in this more challenging economic environment,” said CEO Joseph Ryan.