Posts on ‘February 5th, 2009’

President Barack Obama announced on Wednesday a $500,000 cap on senior executive pay for companies receiving substantial federal bailout money. Steven Friedman, chairman of the employee benefits practice group at San Francisco’s Littler Mendelson, called the cap “unprecedented.” He also said the move could discourage companies from seeking government bailouts while giving a recruiting advantage to competitors that do not receive federal funds. Friedman examines the implications of the cap.

The Supreme Court announced Thursday that Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg had surgery in New York City for recently discovered pancreatic cancer. Ginsburg, 75, had what she described as a “long bout” with colorectal cancer in 1999, but recovered and has worked at full strength since.

A Minnesota accounting firm has been hit by lawsuits alleging that it failed to detect problems in two separate Ponzi schemes — the purported $50 billion investment scam by financier Bernard Madoff and the $3.5 billion alleged “electronics” scheme by Thomas Petters. The suits against McGladrey & Pullen and similar suits stemming from the Madoff scandal against accounting firms KPMG, Ernst & Young and BDO Seidman point up the likely spread of litigation as financial victims attempt to recover massive losses.

If attorney Marc S. Dreier gets his way, he soon will be released from the Metropolitan Correctional Center to his own midtown luxury apartment. But first, he has to convince federal Judge Jed S. Rakoff, who said the relatively rare issue raised two questions: Is it appropriate to permit “people with means or access to means” to effectively create their own “private prison”? And do armed private guards have the same ability to prevent a defendant’s flight as a U.S. marshal or a prison guard?

President Barack Obama announced on Wednesday a $500,000 cap on senior executive pay for companies receiving substantial federal bailout money. Steven Friedman, chairman of the employee benefits practice group at San Francisco’s Littler Mendelson, called the cap “unprecedented.” He also said the move could discourage companies from seeking government bailouts while giving a recruiting advantage to competitors that do not receive federal funds. Friedman examines the implications of the cap.

Last year was one of aggressive expansion for Jackson Lewis. Head count grew markedly, and the firm opened eight new offices. Even better, gross revenue shot up 20 percent, to just over $233 million. How did Jackson Lewis do it? By focusing on employment law, a practice area that appears to be recession-proof. Since the economic downturn started, employment lawyers say 100 clients call almost daily for advice on how to conduct layoffs.

Plaintiffs law firm Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro has filed its second class action for alleged home appraisal rigging with a new federal suit against Wells Fargo and its appraisal subsidiary. In a press release about the case, Hagens Berman says the company and its Rels Valuation subsidiary collected more than $100 million by requiring homeowners to use Rels Valuation for overpriced appraisals. Rels Valuation farmed out the work to subcontractors and billed homeowners at a higher rate, the law firm alleges.