Posts on ‘October 12th, 2009’

Mention “networking” to a law student and watch her cringe. Suggest an informational interview and prepare for his eyes to glaze over. Law students are told frequently about the value of these activities but generally find the idea of an informational interview intimidating and overly time-consuming. Why should I bother? What should I ask? How do I arrange one? How do I prepare? Alyssa Dragnich, Assistant Director of Career Services at The Dickinson School of Law, answers those important questions.

Back on the D.C. Circuit’s docket last week was a suit alleging the
government unlawfully wiretapped and watched a man after he made a
passing remark about airline security on the telephone. After ruling in
favor of the man earlier this year, the court had a change of heart and
ordered a rehearing in light of the Supreme Court’s Iqbal
decision. Latham & Watkins associate Lori Alvino McGill argued that her
client’s factual claims are plausible; he does not allege “little green
men” are watching him, she said.

The FBI has executed search warrants at the offices of high-profile accountant and attorney Lewis Freeman, who frequently is picked by judges as a court-appointed receiver or trustee for troubled companies in South Florida, sources say. Freeman and the FBI weren’t talking Thursday when asked about the warrants. Legal community sources said the Miami and Plantation, Fla., offices of Lewis B. Freeman & Partners were searched by the FBI. The FBI’s presence indicates a criminal investigation may be under way, observers said.

Seeking some $307,000 in unpaid legal bills, Baker & Hostetler is suing the owner of a celebrity hot spot. The suit against Little Rest Twelve Inc. follows the Manhattan restaurant’s firing of Baker & Hostetler over its fees, which included five partners billing at $475 to $950 an hour. “I must tell you that I am shocked by your invoice,” a company director said in a March e-mail. Little Rest replaced Baker & Hostetler with Fish & Richardson in a fixed-fee deal. But now, Fish & Richardson may be left high and dry.

A New York judge has taken to task some well-known personal injury attorneys for what she called a “nonsensical and frivolous” bid to recoup the costs of an unsuccessful medical malpractice action. Victoria Kremen underwent a double mastectomy after allegedly being misdiagnosed with breast cancer. She accused Morelli Ratner and the now-defunct Schapiro & Reich of mishandling the action against her doctors. Now, Morelli Ratner is pressing a counterclaim against Kremen to recoup $6,000 the lawyers spent advancing her case.

Fish & Richardson is working to combat the efforts of some would-be
scammers who are trying to pass counterfeit checks written on a firm
account. The checks — ranging in value from $780 to $9,800 — were sent
to people around the country with cover letters telling recipients to
cash the checks, and to send some of the money to the sender for
“processing fees” or to a “mystery shopper, and keep the rest of the
money.” The firm has put a notice on its Web site and contacted various
agencies about the scam.

A federal judge has handed down what he called “the ultimate sanction” for litigation misconduct against a Georgia-based mortgage company and its chief executive officer, issuing a default verdict in favor of a former employee who claimed the CEO had sexually harassed and assaulted her. The judge found that the defendants had presented as evidence a fabricated affidavit with the forged signature of a former employee. A jury trial will now focus only on how much in damages the defendants should pay the plaintiff.

It could mark one of the biggest changes for lawyers joining the profession since the first U.S. bar examination was given in Delaware in 1763 — a single bar exam aimed at standardizing attorney credentials nationwide. Next year, at least 10 states are expected to switch to the Uniform Bar Exam, and 22 other jurisdictions are positioned to adopt the test in the next few years. The test will allow law school graduates to transport their bar scores across state lines without re-taking exams.

Have you been bitten by a vicious dog, been the victim of a surgical mishap or of a sexual assault on a cruise ship? There’s a lawyer waiting for your call. Florida-based whocanisue.com, a Web site that matches visitors with lawyers, has scores of billboards and bus-shelter signs showing a lawyer slipping on a banana peel. But there’s controversy over this quick way to sue. The site has drawn the ire of many in the legal community, including the vice chairman of a Florida Bar advertising-ethics committee.

The 1st Circuit ruled Thursday that companies cannot recover the cost of fighting lawsuits or administrative cases alleging wrongful director or officer conduct unless the cases name the individuals as parties. Judge Bruce Selya wrote that directors and officers policies exist to protect corporate directors and officers, not corporations, from personal liability from lawsuits, and that the position advanced by the company in the case “would if accepted transmogrify D&O policies into comprehensive corporate liability policies.”