Posts from ‘December, 2008’

The financial whirlpool created by Bernard Madoff continued to churn Tuesday as the price tag of liquidating his old firm rose, and duped investors including actors Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick struggled to accurately estimate how much they lost. Meanwhile, one part of the cost of cleaning up after Madoff’s collapsed firm came into clearer focus, as a federal bankruptcy judge on Tuesday approved the transfer of $28.1 million to cover expenses tied to the liquidation of Madoff’s investment firm.

Ever used a friend’s account to sign on to a Web site instead of paying its subscription fee? One realtor is facing a $900 million suit for allegedly doing more or less the same thing. CoStar Realty Information alleges that managers at Dumann Realty illegally accessed their Web site, a subscription to which costs hundreds of dollars a month. But here’s the $900 million wrinkle: CoStar is accusing Dumann, as well as the alleged co-conspirators who lent it the account, of copyright infringement.

While there’s been much focus on the rich victims of an alleged $50 billion scam wrought by Wall Street fund manager Bernard Madoff, federal securities investigators have quietly moved on another suspected Ponzi scheme, much smaller in scope but similarly devastating. Attorneys for investors claim that the network branched out across several states, targeting people with little investment experience and few assets. Attorney Jared Levy estimates the losses could exceed $100 million.

California atheist Michael Newdow — famed for challenging the words “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance — has gone to federal court seeking an injunction to prevent Chief Justice John Roberts Jr., as well as the congressional sponsors of the Jan. 20 inaugural and several other defendants, from inserting the words “so help me God” into the presidential oath of office. But the plaintiffs indicate that they would have no objection if President-elect Barack Obama chooses to add the words himself.

Declining revenues and dramatic cutbacks confront general counsel across corporate America. Law firms are cutting associate and non-equity partner ranks while trying to retain key rainmakers and avoid risk of possible dissolution. Corporate counsel cannot expect to receive the opposite of what they currently incentivize, according to attorney John F. Brown Jr., who says nothing less than mandatory risk-sharing fee arrangements will effectively address the overriding concern with rising legal costs.

At just over 6,000 members, Paul Lippe’s brainchild, Legal OnRamp, a social networking site geared primarily to in-house lawyers, has yet to take the legal profession by storm. Lippe discusses how Legal OnRamp and its select network of clients might revolutionize the practice of law.

With clients facing hard times, Alexander Dubose Jones & Townsend is taking the unusual step of reducing billing rates in current hourly-fee cases by 10 percent, beginning on Jan. 1. Douglas Alexander, a partner with the Texas appellate boutique, says clients are tightening their belts so “we’re willing to tighten our belts in terms of what we charge them.” Alexander says the firm will not cut support staff or reduce salaries to make up for revenue loss, but ultimately the reduction will hit lawyers.

The use of medical monitoring as a remedy for mass exposure to toxic chemicals has suffered a setback in New Jersey. A federal judge has denied class certification sought on behalf of 15,000 people whose drinking water may have been contaminated by a chemical spilled from DuPont’s Chambers Works. The judge ruled that there were too many variables among the potential class members’ exposure to perfluorooctanoic acid — used in the manufacture of nonstick cookware, microwave popcorn bags and other products.

An associate fired from Kirkland & Ellis in 2004 after admitting he tried to arrange a meeting “to engage in an oral sexual act” with someone he thought was a 13-year-old girl has been suspended from practicing law in New York for three years. A five-judge panel agreed that Steven J. Lever “brought shame to himself and to this State’s Bar” by using the Internet “to prey on minors for purposes of sexual gratification.” They also agreed his conduct required “a significant sanction.”

The 3rd Circuit has vacated a lower court’s decision to certify a class action over an alleged price-fixing conspiracy, finding the judge had erred by failing to conduct a sufficiently “rigorous analysis” before concluding that the proposed class would be able to prove “antitrust impact” through common rather than individual evidence. The circuit found the judge appeared to have erred by accepting the testimony of the plaintiffs’ expert witness without considering the contradictory testimony of the defense expert.