Posts on ‘February 19th, 2009’

It was a day of jaw-dropping revelations in the corruption trial of former Pennsylvania state Sen. Vincent J. Fumo as prosecutors called three of Fumo’s former lawyers to rebut testimony that Fumo was relying on poor legal advice when he instructed his staff to destroy documents in the midst of an FBI probe. One lawyer called as a rebuttal witness testified that he never gave Fumo any such advice and never would have, and that he never believed Fumo’s claim that he received such advice from another lawyer.

Shearman & Sterling reports a 4.9 percent dip in revenues, to $876 million, for 2008, along with a 9.6 percent drop in profits per equity partner, to about $1.7 million. Shearman is well-positioned to weather the economic downturn, says senior partner Rohan Weerasinghe, because it has spurned aggressive growth, negotiated favorable real estate leases and trimmed its long-term debt by nearly 40 percent. “I look on 2009 as a period of challenge,” says Weerasinghe, “but also a time of tremendous opportunity.”

More than 150 pages of previously sealed court records and transcripts released Tuesday reveal for the first time the Justice Department’s arguments as to why a complaint alleging prosecution and FBI misconduct in the case against Sen. Ted Stevens should be kept from the public. FBI Agent Chad Joy alleges that prosecutors schemed to relocate a witness and tried to withhold evidence from Stevens’ lawyers at Williams & Connolly. The prosecution, and Joy’s lawyer, did not want the information made public.

The New Jersey Supreme Court is poised to decide whether a bank is liable under the Consumer Fraud Act for an employee’s failure to deliver on a promise to buy securities for a client. The banking industry is watching the case closely, since a pro-plaintiff ruling carries the prospect of treble damages and counsel fees.

Former Florida Bar president Miles McGrane’s defense of retired admiralty lawyer Jay Wingate dragged him into a contempt hearing Wednesday in a fee-splitting scandal that has rocked Miami’s admiralty bar. Judge Herbert Stettin set the hearing after receiving an agreement indicating Wingate, former associate Peter Sotolongo and fellow Miami admiralty lawyer Brett Rivkind of Rivkind Pedraza & Margulies would split the proceeds from 77 crew injury cases against Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines.

A New Jersey federal judge has approved a $69 million settlement in a class action accusing leading insurance brokers of conspiring with carriers to manipulate the market. In a separate decision in the same case, also on Tuesday, $19 million was awarded in fees, costs and incentive payments. The decisions resolved a big chunk of the litigation, in which plaintiffs claim that brokers violated antitrust and racketeering laws in a scheme to rig bids for policies and steer customers to carriers in return for kickbacks.