Posts on ‘September 25th, 2009’

Allen & Overy has been ordered to rehire a Frankfurt-based associate laid off earlier this year after German labor courts ruled that her dismissal was unlawful. The Magic Circle firm has confirmed reports that the German court handed down a ruling Wednesday ordering it to take back an associate it laid off as part of its global restructuring earlier this year. The ruling said that the associate is still employed by the U.K. firm as the dismissal did not comply with German employment laws.

En banc arguments in a controversial gun rights case were animated Thursday, but don’t be surprised if the 9th Circuit sits on this one for awhile. The U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to decide next week whether to grant cert in a 7th Circuit case involving the same issue, whether the Second Amendment binds the states. “That may well give us an answer, and there would be no need for us to decide this case,” Judge Stephen Reinhardt said. Judge Susan Graber echoed the sentiment at another point in the argument.

Patent lawyers say a recent Eastern District of Texas order that shipped some defendants to California while keeping the local defendants in the district highlights the traditionally plaintiff-friendly Texas district’s increasing tendency to reject cases that belong in other venues. Lawyers say the Sept. 15 order, which transferred most defendants to the Northern District of California, follows the lead set by three recent rulings that criticized the Texas federal court for not transferring cases.

Collecting ESI from the cloud isn’t tomorrow’s problem — it’s the rare e-discovery scenario that doesn’t involve webmail and a facility to download it to a local collection amenable to EDD processing. Consultant Craig Ball details the steps he used to POP multiple Yahoo Mail folders.

Sonia Sotomayor said she waited for 12 hours to get the Memorial Day phone call from President Obama confirming his plan to appoint her to the Supreme Court. When her cell phone finally rang and the White House operator said the president was on the line, “I had my left hand over my chest to calm my beating heart, literally,” she said. Sotomayor’s remarkably personal comments came in excerpts from an interview she gave to C-SPAN as part of its “Supreme Court Week” documentary series, which begins airing Oct. 4.

Despite strenuous objections from New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s administration, New York Gov. David A. Paterson has signed a bill into law that opens a one-year window in state court for the filing of otherwise time-barred claims against municipalities by people allegedly sickened while working in and around Ground Zero following the 2001 terror attacks. Bloomberg’s chief lobbyist estimated that the new law could revive more than 3,000 suits and cost the city “hundreds of millions” of dollars in damages.

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is heading back to work after being hospitalized Thursday evening, the Court announced. The 76-year-old justice felt faint after receiving an iron sucrose infusion for an iron deficiency on Thursday. Ginsburg was treated successfully earlier this year for early-stage pancreatic cancer. She has appeared vigorous in recent public appearances.