Posts on ‘October 1st, 2009’

A Manhattan appeals panel has upheld the dismissal of fraud and legal malpractice claims against prominent Manhattan litigator Kenneth A. Caruso, his current firm Bracewell & Giuliani, and two other firms where he worked: Pillsbury and Chadbourne & Parke. However, the court disputed the lower court’s holding that a malpractice claim against Pillsbury was time-barred, finding that the statute of limitations was tolled while Caruso continued representing the plaintiff in the same matter while at Chadbourne.

Chief Judge Paul Michel, head of the federal patent court, implored a group of Chicago lawyers Tuesday to voice their views in the congressional debate over patent “reform,” lamenting that California technology companies are currently driving the discussion. Michel said he hopes that congressional hearings on the issue aren’t over, and urged the lawyers to write to congressional members, such as Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and to new USPTO chief David Kappos, to express their opinions.

CIT Group, the lender nearing collapse under the burden of $30 billion in debt, has turned to Skadden to negotiate a last-minute rescue deal with a group of bondholders represented by Paul Weiss, according to sources. That news comes as no surprise, as the firms sat across from each other when CIT negotiated the terms of an emergency $3 billion loan from its main bondholders in July. What might come as a surprise is that Wachtell is no longer involved in CIT’s restructuring, say sources close to the matter.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday waded back into the contentious debate over the Second Amendment, agreeing to hear a Chicago case that will answer a question it left unanswered last year: whether the individual right to bear arms applies against state and local gun restrictions as well as federal. The case — one of 12 new matters the justices added to their docket — could also intensify a debate within the Court and academia about the best way to apply or incorporate rights embodied in the U.S. Constitution to states.

As Florida’s foreclosure crisis continues, loan modification and foreclosure defense have become hot specialties for some attorneys. The state attorney general has received a record 756 complaints through August of this year about loan modifications involving attorneys. That compares with 61 similar complaints in all of 2008. “There has definitely been a trend in the last six months or year where attorneys are having some involvement in loan modification scams,” said Arne Vanstrum of The Florida Bar.

A tentative settlement has been reached in a long-running suit that alleges a former intelligence agent and a State Department official unlawfully eavesdropped on a DEA agent, potentially bringing the state secrets case to an abrupt close and sparing the DOJ a loss on appeal. The closely watched suit has been prolonged as the lawyers for both sides fought over the merits of the government’s state secrets privilege and whether the lawyers in the case can and should have access to classified information.

Big firm recruitment is down 20 percent at Harvard Law School, the Harvard Crimson reports. “As a Harvard student, you feel entitled to get a job, and you ignore these dire reports on CNN,” one student told the Crimson earlier this year after failing to get a job offer. It turns out that changes in the legal industry — smaller summer associate classes, deferred start dates and associate layoffs — are also hurting the cream of the Ivy League crop.

In a world where technology enables so much, it is time for law firm leaders to acknowledge and embrace the fact that employees can access information and provide good counsel from almost anywhere. That makes telecommuting viable for anyone. What does this mean for law firms?

Statements that a former Broadcom executive made to his lawyers — who represented the company at the same time — were not protected by attorney-client privilege, the 9th Circuit ruled on Wednesday. Former Broadcom chief financial officer William Ruehle had argued that certain statements he made during Irell & Manella’s internal investigation of stock options backdating were confidential and should not have ended up in the hands of the U.S. government.

Take it back. That’s what general counsel Jeffrey Zimmerman of Hertz Global Holdings has demanded from a research firm that put Hertz on a list of companies “likely to go bankrupt or suffer severe financial distress.” Zimmerman initially wrote a letter to Audit Integrity, accusing the firm of reaching “incomplete and misleading conclusions” in a September report. On Monday, Zimmerman and Hertz sued Audit Integrity for defamation and trade libel, seeking a retraction, an apology and attorney fees.