Posts on ‘March 26th, 2009’

By the time attorney Marc Dreier was arrested, his days of living the high life had come to an end, according to papers made public Wednesday. When charged with impersonating an employee of the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, Dreier was in arrears “on everything from payments to the crew” of his motor yacht to “mundane firm expenses like car service and off-site storage,” the report says. Recovered assets range from almost $39 million in art to a majority interest in a largely worthless Asian fusion restaurant.

The Am Law Daily learned late Wednesday that Covington & Burling has added a big name to its white-collar defense and investigations practice group — former Department of Homeland Security secretary and federal appellate court judge Michael Chertoff. “Practicing law is like riding a bicycle, it comes back pretty quickly,” says the 55-year-old Chertoff, who joined the firm’s Washington, D.C., office earlier this week.

In one of the first civil rights suits to focus on “sexting,” lawyers for the ACLU of Pennsylvania will ask a federal judge to protect three teenage girls from a DA’s threat of criminal charges for using cell phones to take and send semi-nude images of themselves. The suit alleges the DA threatened to prosecute the girls on child pornography charges unless their parents agreed to put them on probation and send them to a “re-education” program in which the teenagers would have to discuss “what it means to be a girl.”

Age discrimination, the fastest-growing category of job bias complaints, is the backdrop for a key employment case to be argued next week at the U.S. Supreme Court. Given the economic recession, increasing layoffs and company restructurings, lawyers on both sides agree that the high court’s decision will be important not only to litigation of the increasing number of age claims, but also of other non-Title VII job bias claims such as disability, Family and Medical Leave Act status and pay, among others.

The Senate Judiciary Committee has endorsed three of President Obama’s nominees for top positions at the Justice Department: Covington & Burling partner Lanny Breuer for assistant attorney general for the Criminal Division; Hogan & Hartson partner Christine Varney for assistant attorney general for the Antitrust Division; and Morrison Foerster partner Tony West for assistant attorney general for the Civil Division. Senators also signaled they’re closer to agreement on changes to the patent system.

The wave of Alien Tort Claims Act cases continues to crest against corporations. In-house counsel for multinational corporations can only expect there to be more of these cases in the near future. Given the hazards in these high-profile, high-damage lawsuits, and their growing frequency, paying close attention to human rights and ATCA concerns becomes critical. Attorney Jonathan Drimmer presents five suggestions to follow in order to avoid having your client labeled a human rights abuser.

Redaction removes information from documents that you don’t want others to see because they would use it against you or a client. Still, many people miss redacting data because they either don’t use the right tools or they use them incorrectly. Redact-It Desktop may be one solution.

The vote to dissolve by Wolf Block’s partnership on Monday was bittersweet for one former firm associate. Nancy O’Mara Ezold was told 20 years ago that she would not make partner at the firm. Ezold filed the first gender bias suit that went to trial against a law firm for denial of partnership. She ultimately lost on appeal, but Wolf Block was severely weakened by the case. Ezold, who has since founded her own employment law firm, discusses Wolf Block’s demise and the challenges women lawyers still face.

Who will be next on the Cog chopping block? The Snark says luck plays a huge role in the process, making all Cogs feel powerless. What’s a better method? Cog Cull 2009. Reduce the role of luck via a 24-hour marathon involving some old-fashioned challenges and call-in voting, just like a reality TV show. The Snark notes that Cog Cull should test for skills essential to Big Law survival, such as — in reverse order of importance — legal skill, work ethic, over-confidence and popularity.

Dechert began the process of letting go 125 people Thursday, including attorneys, other time keepers and staff. Firm Chairman Barton J. Winokur sent out an e-mail this morning to the firm explaining that 63 attorneys and other time keepers and 62 administrative staff positions would be cut.