Posts on ‘March 20th, 2009’

On Wednesday, Manhattan federal Judge Gerard Lynch dismissed Mayer Brown and partner Joseph Collins as defendants in the Refco securities class action, concluding that the Supreme Court’s ruling gave the plaintiffs no basis to sue them, even if they had engaged in fraud. But now Lynch is urging Congress to change the law. In a footnote to a corrected opinion, Lynch faults the legal system for failing to provide shareholders the right to sue guilty accomplices.

The federal government got off the sidelines Thursday to throw a few blocks for plaintiffs in a huge gender class action against Wal-Mart. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is opposing Wal-Mart’s bid to try punitive damages on a case-by-case basis, according to an amicus curiae brief the commission filed with the 9th Circuit. The move is a reversal, as the commission had previously declined to intervene. Wal-Mart’s lawyer, Theodore Boutrous Jr., called the EEOC’s position “fundamentally incorrect.”

The government must hand over the names of companies and individuals who allegedly fell prey to indicted attorney Marc Dreier’s fraud, New York federal Judge Jed Rakoff ruled at a status conference Thursday, saying that any privacy right that individuals have is outweighed by Dreier’s need to fairly respond to the charges levied against him. Rakoff set a June 15 trial date for the case.

Two firms with the bulk of their lawyers in Chicago have announced collective cuts of 23 lawyers and 80 staff members. Katten Muchin, which has about 625 lawyers, dismissed 23 attorneys, including 12 associates and seven non-equity partners, six paralegals and 40 administrative staff members. Jenner & Block, which has 461 attorneys, said it’s eliminating 34 support staff positions. Katten will also cut base salaries by 20 percent for associates who last year failed to bill within 200 hours of their target.

Why weren’t compliance, ethics and risk departments able to prevent the financial industry meltdown? In a search for answers, looked for examples from the catastrophe that highlight both problems and solutions, including the many ways in which compensation is structured to reward bad behavior, how building an ethical culture can take years to accomplish, and how success often depends on the extent to which executives empower the employees responsible.

Like other travelers who have been burned by the nuances, and business models, of using technology abroad, writer Alan Cohen recently picked up some handy, if tardy, tips that lawyers can use to avoid unpleasant surprises and increase productivity when traveling to foreign countries.

Nobel laureates, scholars and international organizations have flooded the U.S. Supreme Court with legal briefs in support of five convicted Cuban spies, arguing the defendants were sandbagged from the start because the Miami trial took place in a city defined by decades of anti-Castro fervor. A dozen amicus briefs focus mainly on a judge’s refusal to move the trial north to Fort Lauderdale. But a brief by Howard University law professors has particularly offended the Cuban-American community, some say.

What makes a lawyer great? There might be no better people to ask than those considered “a lawyer’s lawyer” — the kind of lawyer another calls for help or would recommend to a loved one, the kind of lawyer other lawyers respect. Molly Peckman, director of associate development at Dechert, raised the question with those she considers to be lawyers’ lawyers. A few key qualities they mentioned included dedication, the ability to listen, getting the help you need and acknowledging those who provided it.

Denouncing a “squandering of the people’s money,” lawmakers voted Thursday to impose a 90 percent tax on millions of dollars in employee bonuses paid by troubled insurance giant AIG and other bailed-out companies. In some cases the bonuses might be taxed 100 percent, leaving recipients with nothing. It was only this past weekend that the bailed-out insurance giant paid bonuses totaling $165 million to employees, including traders in the Financial Products unit that nearly brought about AIG’s collapse.