Posts on ‘September 28th, 2009’

Imprisoned director Roman Polanski is in a “fighting mood” and will battle U.S. attempts to have him extradited from Switzerland to California to face justice for fleeing a 1978 sex charge, his lawyer said Monday. An international tug-of-war over the 76-year-old director escalated Monday as France and Poland urged Switzerland to free him on bail and pressed U.S. officials all the way up to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on the case. Swiss police arrested Polanski on Saturday.

Years ago, most lawyers dictated their documents to secretaries who transcribed them. Today, computers are used to generate content; and dictation, some say, is a beast that may go extinct. But that’s not all due to lawyers’ word processing skills, according to the Assistant-at-Law.

Pervasive Web search tools have opened the door to a valuable new marketing opportunity for law firms: the litigation or case-specific Web site. Unlike a firm’s legacy site or blog, these case sites can allow smaller firms to catapult their reputations and compete against Big Law.

When Judge Cormac Carney rejected Broadcom co-founder Henry Samueli’s plea deal in a criminal stock options backdating case, he said the court could not accept an agreement that “gives the impression that justice is for sale.” The government and Samueli, who is represented by McDermott Will & Emery, appealed rather than withdraw the plea. The 9th Circuit has now dismissed the appeal without considering the merits, finding that it didn’t have jurisdiction because Samueli hadn’t yet been sentenced.

A bankruptcy court judge on Thursday approved a $24 million settlement by Chrysler in the death of a man who was run over by a Dodge pickup truck in 2004. The plaintiffs lawyers said Friday that their demand that Chrysler post an appeal bond after they won a $55.2 million verdict proved to be key once the automaker filed for bankruptcy in April. “Had we not gotten the judgment bonded, we would have been in line behind all the other creditors,” said lead trial and appellate counsel Robert Nelson.

The U.S. Supreme Court begins its term Oct. 5 with new Justice Sonia Sotomayor on board and a docket dominated by corporate disputes. So far, no employment law cases and no environmental disputes have been granted review and, for the first time in a while, no pre-emption cases. But there are potential blockbusters on patents, separation of powers, antitrust law and white-collar crime. The justices will also consider cases involving the legal profession that could dramatically alter the day-to-day practice of law.

In his new book, The National Security Court System: A Natural Evolution of Justice in an Age of Terror, U.S. Coast Guard Academy law professor Glenn Sulmasy proposes a new way to try detainees in America’s war on al-Qaida. Rather than rely on military commissions, which have been struck down by the Supreme Court, or civilian courts, which he says present too many national security risks, Sulmasy explains why his “hybrid court” system could help empty Guantanamo and regain American legitimacy.