Posts from ‘June, 2009’

Lehman Brothers’ bankruptcy last fall was a nightmare for Lawrence Bortstein, the company’s global head of technology law. But it also presented him with the opportunity to realize a dream. First it spurred him to consider his career options. Then, after he decided that he was ready to start his own law firm, it gave him his first client: the Lehman estate. Bortstein’s new firm is doing some of the same things for the estate that his old in-house team did for the company before it collapsed.

To describe international arbitration as three-dimensional chess is something of an understatement. The nearly 250 cases in the 2009 Arbitration Scorecard — all either commercial disputes with stakes of at least $500 million or treaty disputes with stakes of at least $100 million — overspill the bounds of their charts in every direction. Multifront wars, whether waged over cell towers or oil derricks, have become the norm for the largest cases.

For some lawyers, being busy is not the problem when it comes to time management. Instead, even when they have time on their hands, they are persistently, habitually late. And promises to change rarely lead to permanent success. The result, for them, can be a permanent state of anxiety and shame. Moreover, their reputations (in the firm and with clients) may suffer. Steven C. Bennett, a partner at Jones Day, provides some advice and tips for the perpetually tardy, and for those who must cope with them.

A double whammy hit Texas-based Clark Thomas this month. First, a grand jury indicted Bennie Fuelberg, former general manager of Pedernales Electric Cooperative, and Walter Demond, a former Clark Thomas shareholder who represented the PEC for two decades. Next, the firm agreed to pay the PEC a $4.1 million settlement, avoiding a civil suit. The indictments charge both men with misapplication of fiduciary property, theft and money laundering stemming from allegations of payments of PEC money to two outside consultants.

With its ruling rescuing the Voting Rights Act from constitutional oblivion, the U.S. Supreme Court widened the escape hatch for localities chafing under federal supervision of their election procedures. The decision also gave the Court itself an escape route to avoid confronting the politically divisive choice of striking down Section 5 of the law — the preclearance requirement that many localities dislike. Now the question is whether, and for how long, the ruling can really stave off a constitutional decision.

Stymied by Congress so far, the White House is considering issuing an executive order to indefinitely imprison a small number of Guantanamo Bay detainees considered too dangerous to prosecute or release, two administration officials said Friday. One of the officials said, if issued, the order would not take effect until after the Oct. 1 start of the 2010 fiscal year. Congress has blocked the administration from spending any money this year to imprison the detainees in the United States.

The D.C. Circuit on Friday unanimously upheld the dismissal of a $50 million malpractice suit against Pillsbury, ruling that Capitol Hill Group’s claims — stemming from the work two partners performed in representing CHG in a zoning proceeding in D.C. — are barred by res judicata. Finding that a lower court judge didn’t make a mistake in granting summary judgment, the D.C. Circuit noted that post-representation relations between Pillsbury and CHG were “rocky” and at one point included a “cycle of acrimony.”

To describe international arbitration as three-dimensional chess is something of an understatement. The nearly 250 cases in the 2009 Arbitration Scorecard — all either commercial disputes with stakes of at least $500 million or treaty disputes with stakes of at least $100 million — overspill the bounds of their charts in every direction. Multifront wars, whether waged over cell towers or oil derricks, have become the norm for the largest cases.

Sen. Ted Kaufman, D-Del., worked behind the scenes on Supreme Court nominations for much of the last three decades, as an adviser and chief of staff to then-Sen. Joe Biden. Now, as Biden’s successor and a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Kaufman will have the chance to question and vote on a nominee when the Senate weighs in on Judge Sonia Sotomayor. Kaufman sat down with The National Law Journal to reflect on his experiences, discuss how the process has changed — and offer some predictions.

The Supreme Court has failed to decide on whether a scathing documentary about Hillary Clinton that was shown during the presidential race should be regulated as if it were a campaign ad. The case was expected to be one of the last decisions of the term for the high court, but Chief Justice John Roberts announced that the court would hear arguments again on Sept. 9. A conservative nonprofit wanted to air ads for the movie in Democratic primary states without complying with federal campaign finance laws.