Posts on ‘June 11th, 2009’

For the second time in eight months, all eyes in the business and human rights community turned to U.S. federal court, as plaintiffs hoped to finally persuade a jury to hold a corporation liable for violating the law of nations under the Alien Tort Statute. Alas, it was not meant to be. Late Monday, on the eve of trial in New York, the parties settled in Wiwa v. Shell for $15.5 million. But the case still has implications for the larger trend of natural resource claims in regions of conflict.

Unlike in other practice areas, client demand in the health care arena is rising, mainly because companies want to prepare for the Obama administration’s anticipated health care overhaul. As a result, firms are recruiting corporate, regulatory and transactional lawyers who have experience with health care, pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device industries. Attorneys have also been busy advising clients on M&A activity, as the health care industry hasn’t been as affected as others by financing issues.

In April, New York’s Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman filed a complaint against an array of big banks on behalf of Fontainebleau Resorts, which was seeking to complete an abandoned Las Vegas resort project. The suit claimed that the banks reneged on loan agreements necessary to fund a revolving credit facility for the resort’s construction. But now the operator of that partially completed resort, Fontainebleau Las Vegas, has filed for bankruptcy in Miami. And the litigation is along for the ride.

Incensed that a state appeal court ignored their express desire that a case be dismissed and, instead, issued a ruling no one liked, all parties in a class action against two insurers joined together to do something about it. In a rare alliance, the plaintiffs, defendants and third-party movants — all of whom had settled their disputes and wanted no ruling — have asked the California Supreme Court to depublish the opinion and order San Diego’s 4th District Court of Appeal to do as they had all asked.

A federal judge in Washington, D.C., said Tuesday that he would begin using the same sentencing standards for crack and powder cocaine offenses, becoming one of the first judges in the country to adopt a so-called 1-to-1 ratio. In a decision that reduced the four-year-old sentence of a convicted crack dealer, Judge Paul Friedman of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia wrote that there was no convincing policy reason for treating crack and powder cocaine offenses differently.

With Wilson Sonsini’s John Roos set to become ambassador to Japan, the scramble to find a new CEO at Silicon Valley’s most powerful law firm has begun. The two primary candidates are corporate rainmaker Steven Bochner and litigation head Douglas Clark, say sources. And as management mulls the decision the question about who will step into Chairman Larry Sonsini’s shoes must be asked. Will the person chosen for CEO — and Sonsini is expected to have a big say — be seen as his anointed successor?

Times are tough, so firms are paying more attention to every dollar. Just one example: Fulbright & Jaworski sued to force a client to pay $57,632.04 in legal bills — but the suit was dismissed on appeal. Almost everything about the lawsuit is strange, according to ethics experts, one of whom says firms are typically “loathe to sue” for fees. Says law professor Stephen Gillers, “For Fulbright, $50,000 is a rounding error. The out-of-pocket time Fulbright spent on the case is probably worth more than the claim.”

The House Judiciary Committee voted to impeach retired U.S. District Judge Samuel B. Kent by a 29-0 vote Wednesday, marking the first time in 20 years the body has taken that action against a federal jurist. Kent pleaded guilty earlier this year to obstruction of justice and as part of the plea admitted to nonconsensual contact with his former court administrator and his former secretary. He was sentenced to 33 months in prison, and is expected to report to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons on Monday.