Posts from ‘August, 2009’

A federal judge dismissed with prejudice on Friday a closely watched criminal case against international pharmaceuticals businessman Zhenli Ye Gon, who had been accused of participating in an international drug trafficking conspiracy. Judge Emmet Sullivan of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia agreed to dismiss the case based on a motion by the DOJ, which said that the U.S. did not plan to pursue its case against Ye Gon because he faces prosecution in Mexico.

Information about the vast majority of job openings passes by word of mouth rather than through recruiters or advertisements. Consultants Valerie Fontaine and Roberta Kass provide tips on tapping into this “hidden” job market. One step is to reach out to everyone, including contacts who aren’t lawyers. It may be daunting to contact people you haven’t spoken to in years, especially if you’ve been laid off, but take heart in knowing that the stigma of being laid off and actively in the job market has diminished.

After watching its competitors slash salaries all summer, King & Spalding has announced it will cut pay for associates, other salaried attorneys and consultants, effective Sept. 1. The firm announced the pay cut to its personnel late Thursday in a memo. Partner-track associates will have their base salaries reduced to last year’s levels, and those in Atlanta and Charlotte, N.C., will take an additional $10,000 hit. The memo notes salaries for counsel, staff attorneys and consultants will be cut by 5 percent.

When is attorney misconduct so egregious that it warrants dismissal of the client’s case? That was the question for the 7th Circuit in determining whether to uphold the dismissal of a False Claims Act case against Sallie Mae and other defendants that was thrown out for what Chicago federal district court Judge Milton Shadur described as a “virtually unbroken pattern of dilatory and irresponsible conduct” by plaintiffs lawyer Jorge Sanchez.

A federal judge in Los Angeles has preliminarily approved a $55 million settlement between Countrywide Financial and its former employees, who were seeking compensation for losses to their retirement plans. It was the first ERISA action to settle with a mortgage lender since the recession began, according to Lynn Sarko, lead plaintiffs attorney in the case. The settlement includes attorney fees totaling up to 27.5 percent of the settlement fund.

As Arizona-based mining company Asarco nears the end of its four-year bankruptcy odyssey, lead debtors counsel Baker Botts submitted its 12th application for fees on Friday. The filing put the firm past the $100 million mark in billable hours since Asarco filed for bankruptcy in 2005 after getting hit with a series of asbestos and environmental pollution suits. And Baker Botts may have more work ahead.

A sophisticated computer hacker who allegedly participated in a conspiracy that netted more than 40 million credit and debit card accounts from at least nine corporations has agreed to plead guilty to wire fraud and conspiracy charges, capping one of the largest-ever identity theft prosecutions. The prosecution of Albert Gonzalez has been closely watched due to the sheer size of the cases, the involvement of Fortune 500 companies and the extraordinary measures the government has taken to control its evidence.

Five months after ordering the Food and Drug Administration to allow the marketing of the emergency contraceptive Plan B to 17-year-olds without a prescription, a Brooklyn federal judge has refused to allow three Christian lobbying groups who oppose abortion to challenge the ruling. The judge held that the groups lacked standing due to a failure to show harm, calling one of their arguments a “stretch.” The judge also ruled that the groups failed to make a timely motion to challenge his earlier decision.

In what the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is calling a “major class lawsuit,” United Parcel Service has been sued in federal court in Chicago for allegedly denying sufficient medical leave to disabled employees. The suit claims UPS sets arbitrary deadlines for returning to work after medical treatment — in one case firing an employee who would have exceeded its 12-month leave policy by mere weeks — in violation of federal law. A UPS spokeswoman said she was baffled by the EEOC allegations.

The D.C. Circuit on Friday took a shot at the FCC when it tossed a rule that barred any single cable television operator from serving more than 30 percent of all subscribers. Cable operators, including Comcast, had argued that the restriction blocked their ability to make efficient acquisitions. In the closely watched case, the circuit held that the FCC had not shown that allowing a cable operator to serve more than 30 percent of subscribers risked reducing “either competition or diversity in programming.”