Posts on ‘August 11th, 2009’

The numbers are in from the U.K. firms, and The American Lawyer’s Global 100 is slowly taking shape. After eight years, Clifford Chance has been knocked from its No. 1 spot as the world’s largest law firm, ranked by gross revenue, and replaced by another British firm, Linklaters. Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer billed enough in the 2008-09 fiscal year to claim second place. Clifford Chance now sits in third place.

With $10 billion and its honor at stake, it’s no wonder JPMorgan Chase is scratching and clawing in the litigation over its fire-sale acquisition of Washington Mutual last fall. But a filing last week in Delaware federal bankruptcy court, in which JPMorgan seeks to compel members of an unofficial group of noteholders to identify themselves, has puzzled others involved in the litigation.

With the sunny days of August come developments in cases involving sunscreens and tanning beds. Last week a federal judge denied a preliminary injunction to Schering-Plough, the maker of Coppertone Sport, which sought to block Neutrogena’s claims that its new Ultimate Sport line of sunscreens provided better protection against UVA and UVB rays than other sport lines. Hollywood Tans also won a victory when the 3rd Circuit overturned a lower court’s decision to certify a consumer fraud class action against the company.

A federal judge has denied a motion for class status by investors suing BDO Seidman for fraud, based on a fraud-created-the-market theory of reliance, regarding their purchase of American Business Financial Services securities. The judge said that the theory requires not just a lower-than-expected return but that the whole operation be a sham. An attorney for BDO Seidman says the decision shows that the fraud-created-the-market theory has very limited applicability in Rule 10b-5 securities cases.

Nebraska’s high court ruled Friday that a county judge violated disciplinary rules when he left a vulgar message on a prosecutor’s voice mail expressing anger over the prosecutor’s rescheduling of a matter before him. The judge’s message, in part: “I did not appreciate that one fucking bit. And if I find out you ever did that again to me or any other members of the county court bench, I’ll shove it up your ass so fucking far it will make your throat hurt.” The justices ordered a 120-day suspension without pay.

Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker poached a star patent litigator from Skadden on Monday. Jeffrey Randall, best known for his representation of eBay in its patent dispute with MercExchange, will co-chair Paul Hastings’ global IP practice. Patent litigators Allan Soobert and Jeffrey Pade are also joining Paul Hastings from Skadden. Randall declined to comment on his compensation or how many clients would follow him to his new firm, but he hinted that more lawyers might be on their way over.