Posts on ‘January 14th, 2009’

Two defendants convicted in the criminal kickback case against Milberg — former partner Steven Schulman and former lead plaintiff Howard J. Vogel — are scheduled to report to federal prison this week. Both were sentenced as part of a lengthy investigation in which federal prosecutors alleged that the firm and several of its current and former partners obtained $251 million in attorney fees by paying kickbacks to lead plaintiffs. Milberg agreed to pay $75 million to settle charges last year.

A federal appeals court has ordered a new look at a prosecutor’s explanation that he struck a woman from a jury due to her size. Seth Dolphy maintains that his drug and weapon convictions should be vacated because the prosecutor used the juror’s weight as a pretext to discriminate against the woman, who was the only black person on the jury. When the defense objected to the challenge of the juror, the prosecutor said he didn’t select overweight people because they “tend to be very sympathetic toward any defendant.”

California lawmakers are rushing to introduce legislation that would offer greater legal protections to Good Samaritans in light of a recent state Supreme Court decision that held that a state statute only shields rescuers from liability if they provide medical care in an emergency situation. The ruling puts at risk aid-givers who inadvertently hurt victims while removing them from a burning building or other potentially dangerous scenarios.

The Supreme Court issued two opinions Tuesday morning, both of them striking down lower court opinions that had favored prosecutors. In one, the justices agreed that a conviction on the charge of “failure to report” to prison isn’t the kind of prior “violent felony” conviction that triggers a 15-year mandatory prison sentence for someone found guilty of illegal possession of a firearm. The second involved the deadline for filing a federal habeas appeal under the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act.

Alston & Bird appears to be the latest law firm to announce that it will freeze associate salaries at 2008 levels. The Web site Above The Law reported Monday afternoon that the firm has told associates that raises planned for 2009 will not occur; the site also posted a memo it said was from firm management to associates. In a sign of hope the raises would be restored, the memo said that the salary freeze “will be re-visited through the year” and that the bonus program for 2009 will remain in effect.

Because of new criminal charges lodged last week against U.S. District Judge Samuel B. Kent, the Judicial Council of the 5th Circuit has reopened its investigation into misconduct allegations against the judge, who sits in the Southern District of Texas. In an order, 5th Circuit Chief Judge Edith H. Jones wrote that following the upcoming trial of criminal charges against Kent, the judicial council will investigate the additional three charges of misconduct and may impose further sanctions.

The London office of Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft has suffered a setback with the walkout of seven partners. It is understood that the group will now join Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker. The departure leaves Cadwalader with just four partners in London, prompting speculation that the office could be shut down. Firm Chairman Christopher White and former Chairman Robert Link have flown to London from New York in a last-ditch attempt to resolve the crisis.

A public finance attorney has launched a sexual discrimination lawsuit against Nixon Peabody, alleging that he was subjected to taunting and ridicule while working at the firm’s Los Angeles office. Henry Har, now an associate in Holland & Knight’s San Francisco office, claims that he was wrongly fired from Nixon Peabody in 2008 because of his gender, and because he is Asian-American.

The Supreme Court announced late Tuesday that President-elect Barack Obama and Vice President-elect Joseph Biden will pay a private courtesy call on the Court Wednesday afternoon. They are following a recent tradition of such visits when the White House changes hands. Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton also visited the Court in the period before they were inaugurated.

A federal court in Florida has declared Raoul Weil, the former chairman of Zurich-based UBS’ global wealth management and business banking division, a fugitive. Weil was indicted in November as part of an ongoing tax probe by the Justice Department and IRS into whether UBS helped wealthy U.S. clients hide assets in overseas accounts in order to avoid paying taxes.