Posts on ‘December 16th, 2008’

Looking to bolster his legal team, Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich formally retained Edward Genson of Chicago’s Genson & Gillespie Monday. Genson is a seasoned Windy City litigator who knows a thing or two about political corruption trials. But Genson is perhaps best known for defending former Hollinger International CEO Conrad Black on fraud charges and R&B star R. Kelly on child pornography charges.

Zafar Hasan, a former associate in Foley & Lardner’s Chicago office, can proceed with an employment discrimination suit against the law firm, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said in a ruling Tuesday. Hasan, who is a Muslim of Indian descent, alleges in the 2004 lawsuit that certain partners at the law firm pushed to fire him on the basis of his race, religion, color and national origin after the Sept. 11 terrorist attack in New York.

Business pitches on the golf course, surprise $35,000 bills for legal memos and lawyers who discuss cases with the company’s executives without keeping in-house counsel in the loop are just a few of general counsel’s least favorite things. Four general counsel from Boston-area companies and organizations, representing Emerson College, health care provider Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Inc. and technology companies Cognex Corp. and Waters Corp., dished about outside counsel’s mistakes at a recent legal forum.

The expansion of document discovery in federal civil litigation has many eschewing court battles for alternative dispute resolution, but massive electronic document discovery can eviscerate the benefits of arbitration. What can be done to save arbitration from the e-discovery morass?

If there are any winners in the $50 billion scandal surrounding former Wall Street wizard Bernard Madoff, it will be lawyers and accountants. Professionals in both fields are sharpening their pencils to prepare for an onslaught of litigation expected to hit South Florida federal and state courts in the wake of Madoff’s arrest last week on fraud charges. One law firm partner said he expects to see more such revelations as the economy worsens. He called Madoff a “harbinger of things to come.”

Want an early look at how law firms will end 2008? Check out their associate bonus memos. Of the 14 firms whose memos have made it onto the blogosphere, all but one in some way refer to the economy or firm finances in explaining why bonuses are down. While all 14 firms managed to avoid the term “recession” in their memos, three of them used the word “challenging” to describe the current economic climate. It’s impossible to quantify firms’ profit losses, but a picture emerges that is not cheery.

Move over, New York — it’s Philadelphia’s time in the hot seat. Reports were flying on Monday that two Philadelphia firms are seeing associate cuts. Wolf Block has laid off 15 associates and staff and Drinker Biddle & Reath let go of about 20 or fewer attorneys on Friday, according to the Above the Law blog. And one consultant says he knows of a few other firms that have decided to lay off attorneys, but are waiting until after New Year’s to avoid layoffs just before the holidays.

In a surprise 5-4 decision Monday, the Supreme Court ruled that a state
lawsuit brought by Maine smokers could proceed against the parent
company of Philip Morris for fraudulently advertising the health
benefits of “light” cigarettes. The majority ruling rejected Altria’s
assertion that the Federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act
pre-empts state tort actions. The decision runs against the Court’s
recent trend in favor of federal pre-emption in cases involving tort
litigation against businesses.

The $565 million merger struck between Whole Foods Market and Wild Oats Marketplace in mid-2007 is becoming one of those legal battles that’s so protracted it’s hard to keep up with. Now, the Whole Foods legal team is trying something it says hasn’t been attempted in half a century — suing the Federal Trade Commission. The suit filed Monday accuses the FTC of violating the federal Administrative Procedure Act. Leading antitrust experts are not optimistic about Whole Foods’ chances of winning that argument.