Posts on ‘June 2nd, 2009’

Sending incoming associates into temporary public-interest jobs with a healthy stipend is intended to be a fiscally smart and compassionate way for law firms to handle an overabundance of young attorneys. But some recent law school graduates intent on public-interest careers worry that firms are hurting their job prospects by flooding the public-interest job market, even while they understand the situation. Recent graduate Allison Standard notes, “You can’t blame the organizations for taking the free labor.”

Dewey & LeBoeuf has been named in a $3 billion malpractice suit related to the failure and sale of St. Louis-based General American Life Insurance. The insurance provider’s liquidators allege that Dewey & LeBoeuf’s predecessor, LeBoeuf Lamb, put other clients’ interests ahead of General American’s, costing General American hundreds of millions of dollars in at least one deal alone. In a statement released by Dewey & LeBoeuf, the firm said it “categorically rejects the unfounded allegations in the complaint.”

Former male model Russell Christoff didn’t think much of it when a woman standing in line with him at a store in 2002 told him he looked like the guy on her coffee jar. But two months later, he was startled when he, indeed, saw his picture — taken 16 years earlier — on a Taster’s Choice jar in a Rite-Aid store. On Wednesday, Christoff’s lawyer goes before the California Supreme Court to argue that Taster’s Choice maker Nestle USA owes his client millions of dollars in damages for using his image without his consent.

The Federal Circuit met en banc Friday to examine a hot-button issue in the intellectual property world: whether patents on processes are protected by a law that says a company can be held liable for infringement for exporting the components of an invention patented in the United States to be manufactured abroad. The questioning from the bench was lively, with several of the judges appearing skeptical of expanding the scope of the law in question.

If you thought that Emulex would be steamrollered by Broadcom’s $764 million hostile offer — and an accompanying Delaware Chancery Court suit — think again. On Friday, Emulex filed a 60-page California state court complaint accusing Broadcom of being a renegade enterprise. “Broadcom has a history of not dealing in a forthright manner with others, even stooping to highly illegal and criminal behavior if necessary to attempt to better itself at the expense of others,” says the lawsuit.

A securities class action plaintiffs lawyer who was on The National Law Journal’s annual “Top 40 Lawyers under 40″ list several years ago pleaded guilty Monday to wire fraud and criminal contempt. Acknowledging that he had no excuse for taking $9.3 million from a settlement escrow account and spending it on shaky investments and law firm overhead, Steven Eugene Cauley told the judge, “I always made a good deal of money in my law practice and, knowing that I had additional monies coming in, I took a short cut.”

As law firms ramp up traditional lobbying and specialized practice groups in hopes of snagging economic stimulus funds for clients, a few have adopted a more esoteric strategy. Unlike traditional lobbying, which focuses on pursuing stimulus dollars through legislative means, these firms are allying themselves with outside consulting firms to advise clients on the intricacies of the stimulus contracting process — both before and after obtaining federal grants.

The investigation into how the Justice Department handled its prosecution of former Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens could end up having repercussions in another major corruption case. Lawyers for one of jailed lobbyist Jack Abramoff’s former associates are seizing on the inquiry, claiming it has created conflicts of interest that could compromise their own client’s chance at a fair trial.

The Senate’s top Democrat praised federal judge Sonia Sotomayor Tuesday as an extraordinarily well-qualified Supreme Court nominee whose background as an “underdog” appeals to Americans. “We could not have anyone better qualified,” said Sen. Harry Reid, seated beside Sotomayor in his Capitol office. The visit was the start of a daylong schedule of meet-and-greets with Republicans and Democrats designed to let senators get to know President Barack Obama’s nominee before they debate confirming her.

Bank of America dodged what might have been a $2 billion bullet on Monday when the California Supreme Court unanimously ruled that a practice used by many banks for covering overdrafts and penalty fees is perfectly legal. The long-awaited ruling will be welcomed by the banking industry, with several agencies arguing in amici curiae briefs that an unfavorable opinion could have forced financial institutions nationwide to undertake a “massive overhaul” of their practices.