On the eve of the Oct. 1 national holiday marking the 60th birthday of the People’s Republic of China, associates at one of the nation’s largest law firms got some welcome news. Jun He Law Offices announced that it was rolling back cost-saving measures introduced in April. But Jun He partner Kirk Tong warns that China’s recovery — at least as it applies to law firms — shouldn’t be overstated. “It’s getting somewhat better,” he notes, “but it’s still not at the level it was before.”
Posts on ‘October 13th, 2009’
FRE 502: One Year Later
By limiting the consequences of inadvertent production, Rule 502 of the Federal Rules of Evidence aimed to reduce the burden of conducting expensive preproduction privilege reviews. While the rule provided greater protection against waiver, it failed to deliver large cost savings.
The Supreme Court, as Seen on Television
A week’s worth of documentaries produced and aired by C-SPAN may stand as the fullest visual portrait ever of the modern-day Supreme Court. The assembled interviews of all nine sitting justices — and the two retired ones — offer a barrelful of behind-the-scenes anecdotes about things the justices rarely talk about in detail, including the topics of conversation at their traditional post-argument lunches and what transpires during the Court’s private conferences.
Paul Weiss Reportedly Advises BofA Board to Waive Privilege in Merrill-Related Litigation
Bank of America has retained Paul Weiss to help with litigation related to the bank’s merger with Merrill Lynch. And the firm apparently got right down to work: On Monday, according to The New York Times, Paul Weiss lawyers, along with Cleary counterparts, advised the bank’s board to change strategy and vote to waive privilege in the SEC’s disclosure case against BofA, which is headed for a trial next year, after a New York federal judge rejected a $33 million settlement between BofA and the government.
Conservative, Liberal Groups Unite in Legal Fee Case at High Court
An attorney fee case the U.S. Supreme Court will hear on Wednesday –
the first of two important fee challenges to be decided by the Court
this term — has created an unusual alliance among a host of public
interest legal organizations spanning the political spectrum. The high
court case asks whether an attorney fee award under a federal
fee-shifting statute can ever be increased above the basic fee
calculation because of the attorneys’ outstanding performance and the
results they obtained.
UBS Drops American Account Holders as Tax Amnesty Deadline Approaches
For many Americans who secreted away wealth in foreign banks, the best option in the end was to throw themselves on the mercy of the Internal Revenue Service. The deadline for a tax amnesty program to avoid criminal prosecution is Thursday. The change in U.S. policy and the prosecution of a handful of UBS account holders has convinced many tax litigators that the days of squirreling away wealth in secret overseas accounts, corporations, foundations and other vehicles is over, at least for Americans.