Posts on ‘March 3rd, 2009’

The Obama administration threw open the curtain on years of Bush-era secrets Monday, revealing anti-terror memos that claimed exceptional search-and-seizure powers and divulging that the CIA destroyed nearly 100 videotapes of interrogations and other treatment of terror suspects. The new administration pledged on Monday to begin turning over documents related to the videos to a federal judge and to make as much information public as possible.

Counsel Financial Services, which loans money to law firms, was within its rights when it decided not to gamble on an attorney who used money he borrowed to play poker, a federal judge has ruled. Michael J. Melkersen had argued that his card-playing was not proscribed by documents he signed for obtaining the money. “His view was that playing poker was business,” Counsel Financial’s general counsel said Monday of Melkersen, adding, “Well, the money was for business, not for him to play poker with.”

The Supreme Court on Monday granted review in a dispute over the long-negotiated settlement between freelance writers and database and news media publishers over copyright compensation for republication of their works. The settlement flowed from a 2001 high court ruling that vindicated freelancers’ right to compensation. A lengthy mediation of class action lawsuits followed, resulting in a settlement in 2005 that created an $18 million fund to be distributed to freelancers.

The Supreme Court’s conservative and liberal justices appeared divided Monday about giving convicts a constitutional right to test DNA evidence, which for 232 people has meant exoneration years after they were found guilty. The issue arose in the case of William Osborne, who was convicted in a brutal attack on a prostitute in Alaska 16 years ago. The Court appeared reluctant to embrace a 9th Circuit ruling in Osborne’s favor, at least not without attaching some limits.

The Supreme Court on Monday declined to grant certiorari or review of three petitions involving claims made by American Vietnam War veterans and residents of Vietnam against manufacturers of Agent Orange. Justice John Paul Stevens recused in all three cases, as he has in previous cases involving Agent Orange. Stevens does not explain his recusals, but his son, John Joseph Stevens, was a Vietnam veteran who died of cancer in 1996. asked the justice’s daughter about the possible connection.

In a case being watched closely by professional sports teams nationwide, the California Supreme Court on Monday ruled for the first time that searches at private entertainment venues, such as stadiums, could violate privacy rights. But the court remanded the suit filed by Daniel and Kathleen Sheehan for further proceedings. The couple owns 49ers season tickets and objected to pat-down searches outside San Francisco’s Candlestick Park as a violation of their privacy rights.

DLA Piper announced Tuesday that it is laying off 20 lawyers and 34 staff across its Asian offices in response to “the deteriorating economic climate.” The product of several mergers of regional American and British firms, DLA Piper has in recent years built up one of the largest Asia practices of any international law firm. The new cuts come weeks after the firm announced sweeping layoffs in the U.S. and the U.K.

Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe announced Tuesday that the firm is letting go of 100 associates and 200 staff members, in addition to the 40 lawyers and 35 staff it laid off in November. In a November interview, Orrick’s managing partner, Ralph Baxter, lamented the initial round of layoffs and said that he did not expect any more in the future. “Our expectation is for this to be it,” Baxter told The Am Law Daily.

Civil libertarians and Democrats on Capitol Hill cheered on Monday as the Justice Department released memos that illuminate the Bush administration’s legal reasoning in the war on terror. They might want to send a few claps to Northern District of California Judge Jeffrey White for hurrying the government along.

Public corporations across all industries are reacting to the government’s scrutiny of banking compensation practices and a revenue crunch caused by the economic crisis by calling on lawyers to restructure executive bonuses and salaries and employee stock-options plans. “Any time you experience this kind of political dynamic and ensuing regulatory change, it’s going to create work for counsel and create work for counsel pretty quickly,” said Pepper Hamilton’s David Kaplan.