Posts on ‘August 25th, 2009’

Despite all of the uncertainty, today’s law students can be certain that in the long run, they can have long and happy legal careers, writes William A. Chamberlain, assistant dean for law career strategy and advancement at Northwestern University School of Law. Chamberlain notes that the on-campus interview season has been far different than any other in recent memory, and that students are being advised to look broadly for employment and to be risk-adverse, meaning that they should accept offers quickly.

The transition to a new chief judge for the first time in more than 15 years defined the New York Court of Appeals in its 2008-09 term, perhaps as much as its rulings did. The court made significant decisions on such issues as the constitutionality of the warrantless use of global positioning devices to track criminal suspects. But it was the departure of Judith S. Kaye and the arrival of the new chief, Jonathan Lippman, which left scholars and legal observers speculating about the direction of the state’s highest court.

Davis Polk M&A Chair George Bason Jr. has sat across the table from Proctor & Gamble’s in-house legal team before — most notably in 2005, when he represented Gillette when it was acquired by P&G for $57 billion. It was no different this time around when Bason advised Irish drugmaker Warner Chilcott in its $3.1 billion acquisition of P&G’s prescription drug business on Monday. “P&G is always tough and always very professional,” says Bason.

After the Justice Department’s internal watchdogs concluded that D. Kyle Sampson violated federal law and misled Congress and the White House while he was chief of staff to former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, a review committee refused to approve his application to the D.C. Bar. Turning to the D.C. Court of Appeals, Sampson and his high-profile supporters waged an all-out campaign to portray him as a hero of the DOJ scandals. The court quietly granted a rare waiver to allow Sampson to continue practicing law.

Motive is not dispositive in determining whether an employee has spoken out on a matter of public concern, the 2nd Circuit has ruled in clarifying its “less than clear” precedents with regard to First Amendment retaliation claims. The court reinstated the retaliation lawsuit of a Connecticut state employee who claimed he was fired for complaining about incidents of violence in the workplace. A lower court had ruled that Bryan Sousa had been merely speaking about employment grievances, not matters of public concern.

It’s game over for Delaware’s planned Sept. 10 launch of a state-sponsored sports lottery now that a federal appeals court has ruled that the proposed expansion of its gaming would violate the federal Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act. In a rare move, the 3rd Circuit not only found that a lower court judge had erred in refusing to issue a preliminary injunction, but declared that the answer to the ultimate question in the case was indisputably clear — and that a permanent injunction must be issued.

The 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, has a long legal history, most recently dredged up by the “compassionate” release Friday of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, a Libyan convicted of planning the attack. The uproar surrounding Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill’s decision to release Megrahi has only intensified in recent days. The Am Law Daily spoke with four people entangled in the fallout of the Lockerbie legal battles to discuss the impact of Justice MacAskill’s decision.

A patent holding firm has sued Foley & Lardner for allegedly revealing confidential information and for undermining the company’s settlement negotiations during a separate lawsuit. SPH America, a company formed in 2008 by former Fish & Richardson associate Choongoo Park, has filed suit against Foley in federal court, alleging that the firm publicized confidential information it gained during the course of negotiations with SPH in an infringement case by incorporating the information in another lawsuit.

Authorities say a northwestern Indiana lawyer was found dead inside his home on the day his trial was to have started on charges he embezzled millions of dollars from clients. The Lake County, Ind., coroner’s office ruled that the death of William Crabtree II was not a homicide but that the cause remained under investigation. Crabtree was indicted last October on federal charges that he stole more than $2.2 million from his clients between 2006 and 2008.

A Los Angeles jury awarded $13.8 million in punitive damages against Philip Morris USA on Monday in the retrial of a case that originally netted a record $28 billion to a lifetime smoker. The smoker died one year after obtaining the original 2002 award, which later was reduced to $28 million. Last year, a California appeals court reversed the punitive damages against Philip Morris altogether, finding that the judge in the original trial had failed to give necessary jury instructions.