Posts on ‘March 25th, 2009’

Quinn Emanuel has announced that derivatives and structured finance expert Daniel Cunningham is joining the firm’s partnership. Cunningham, co-head of the global U.S. practice at Allen & Overy, will move to Quinn’s New York office on July 1. The addition of Cunningham, a transactional attorney, does not signal a departure from the firm’s litigation-only model, managing partner John Quinn said in a statement, but is part of an effort to expand the firm’s litigation capabilities.

Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank called Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia a “homophobe” in a recent interview with a gay news Web site. The Democratic lawmaker, who is gay, discussed his expectation that the high court would some day be called upon to address the gay marriage issue. “I wouldn’t want it to go to the United States Supreme Court now because that homophobe Antonin Scalia has too many votes on this current Court,” Frank said.

A former Oklahoma judge who was convicted in 2006 of indecent exposure after witnesses testified he used a sexual device in court is now appealing a state agency ruling that revoked his judicial retirement pay. Donald D. Thompson was getting $7,789 a month when his benefits were cut off on the grounds that his conduct violated his oath of office.

The Chicago law firm Arnstein & Lehr is absorbing the seven-lawyer, Coral Gables, Fla.-based Fieldstone Shear & Denberg as of April 1, expanding its presence in that southern state. Arnstein & Lehr will have 143 attorneys after the addition, including 50 in Florida, with the bulk of the new attorneys joining the firm’s Miami office.

President Barack Obama has announced his choice for another key legal post in his administration. Harold Koh, dean of Yale Law School, is Obama’s pick for legal adviser to the State Department. If confirmed, Koh will counsel Yale alum Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on all domestic and international legal questions that arise in the course of her work, and he’ll have a hand in formulating and implementing U.S. foreign policies.

Just as the American Bar Association is resuming its role of evaluating candidates before their nominations, a new study by three political scientists alleges what conservative groups have long charged: The ratings are biased against conservatives. Richard Vining of the University of Georgia, Amy Steigerwalt of Georgia State University and Susan Smelcer, an Emory University doctoral candidate, will present their findings at a Chicago conference in April.