Posts on ‘December 17th, 2008’

A fundraiser for embattled Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, Christopher Kelly, will change his not-guilty plea with respect to federal tax fraud charges in a case not directly related to the current probe of the state’s top official. Kelly plans to change his plea at a Jan. 16, 2009, hearing, and a pretrial conference previously scheduled for Jan. 15 has been canceled, according to a filing with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

Dechert has become the latest in a string of firms to announce cuts, laying off 72 administrative staff across its U.S. offices, or about 12.6 percent of its U.S. staff. A firm spokeswoman wouldn’t say whether the cuts were economic or performance-based, only that they were made to “operate more efficiently and address the overcapacity we have.” The firm recently announced that 15 support staff in its London office were subject to redundancy consultations, which generally means those positions will be cut.

Latham & Watkins said Tuesday it will freeze associate salaries in response to “challenging economic times,” a move that could signal the rest of the industry to follow suit, observers say. Latham was the No. 2 grossing firm in the country last year, according to , with $2 billion in revenues and $1 billion in profits. Most associates would’ve seen their pay go up $10,000 to $25,000 on Jan. 1, depending on their class. Now, both first- and second-years will receive $160,000 in 2009.

The New York Court of Appeals, upholding the reversal of a $20.5 million verdict, ruled on Monday that the estate of a smoker who died of lung cancer could not assert a negligent product design claim against two cigarette makers based on the availability of a safer “light” cigarette. The court ruled that the smoker had failed to prove an “essential element,” that light cigarettes have the same “utility” as regular cigarettes, such that smokers find light cigarettes as satisfying as regular cigarettes.

On Oct. 6, in a substantial step towards greater transparency, the Office of Chief Counsel of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Enforcement published its Enforcement Manual, informally known as the “Red Book.” It will serve as a resource to help standardize the SEC’s investigative process by compiling many SEC enforcement procedures in one document available to the public. Attorneys Harold K. Gordon and Tracy V. Schaffer review some of the more noteworthy provisions of the manual.

Search technologies, such as those found in enterprise search platform Microsoft Office SharePoint Server, can help control access to legal information on the Web to meet clients’ needs. Mark Gerow of Fenwick & West describes how his firm successfully implemented SharePoint Search.

A plea deal released Monday by federal prosecutors in Los Angeles shows how in-house lawyer Richard Hirst’s California dreams got squashed. He’s not the one who pleaded guilty; rather, he comes off in the documents as the unwitting instrument in a corporate coverup at KB Home. And while he’ll likely escape jail, Hirst’s role is very far removed from what he probably had in mind when the out-of-town attorney left his GC slot at Burger King to become KB Home’s top lawyer.

Pennsylvania IP boutique Ratner Prestia has announced it will freeze “essentially all attorney billing rates for at least the next six months” in an effort to help clients “weather the current economic storm,” according to a press release. This will be the first year the nearly 30-year-old firm hasn’t increased its rates. While only a handful of smaller firms have announced rate freezes in recent weeks, Altman Weil’s Bill Brennan “absolutely” expects more firms to announce such freezes going into 2009.