Posts on ‘October 15th, 2009’

Lawyers are a diverse bunch, but one thing they all seem to have in common is a love for the sound of their own voices, writes The Snark.
This is not just a Big Law thing — it’s a lawyer thing. Lawyers especially love meetings where they get paid to share their wisdom with clients and colleagues in six-minute increments. But don’t think that lawyers stay quiet at nonbillable meetings. Wondering if you have this problem? The Snark provides a short test to see if your love for talking is hurting others.

During arguments in a water dispute that came to the Supreme Court under
its “original jurisdiction” over conflicts between states, the justices
considered some broader questions about the nature of original
jurisdiction cases and the role of special masters appointed by the
Court to assist in their adjudication. Chief Justice John Roberts Jr.
seemed especially protective of the Court’s role in such matters,
returning a number of times to the idea that they are a unique and
important subset of the Court’s cases.

Lead-tainted toys have Mattel and its Fisher-Price subsidiary digging into their pockets to resolve 22 consolidated lawsuits. Marking the latest fallout from the 2007 recall of 1.5 million toys, the companies on Tuesday announced that they have agreed to pay potentially more than $50 million to settle a consumer class action over the tainted toys. Of that amount, $13 million will be divvied up among 20 plaintiffs firms.

In a test of the free-speech limits on prayer, a lawyer who has challenged the right of a Dallas-based organization to endorse military chaplains alleges in a recently filed suit that the organization incites its followers in prayers to violence against him. Michael Weinstein, a former lawyer in the Reagan administration and former GC for Ross Perot, alleges that defendant Gordon Klingenschmitt, on behalf of The Chaplaincy of Full Gospel Churches and its founder, also defendants, issued a “fatwah” against him.

Ever since the federal challenge to Proposition 8 was filed, Northern District of California Chief Judge Vaughn Walker has been leading the parties toward an early trial — and he didn’t loosen the leash Wednesday. Walker swept aside attempts by Prop 8 supporters to knock out the case on summary judgment and sparred with two U.S. Supreme Court-hardened lawyers on key issues expected to affect the outcome of the case. On each of those issues, Walker’s ruling helps same-sex marriage advocates more than it hurts them.

The Federal Trade Commission on Wednesday cleared Pfizer’s acquisition of Wyeth, but required divestitures in the animal pharmaceutical market. FTC staff conducted nearly 200 interviews and reviewed hundreds of thousands of pages of documents before concluding that the deal did not raise anti-competitive concerns in any human health product markets. Pfizer, the world’s largest pharmaceutical company, and Wyeth, the 12th largest drugmaker in the U.S., announced the $68 billion merger in January.

Be it last-minute deadlines, frantic clients or impromptu therapy sessions, the dawn of a new tax day is here for many U.S. citizens. Oct. 15 is the amnesty deadline for Americans to file income tax returns with the IRS and voluntarily disclose assets stashed away in Swiss bank accounts or other offshore tax havens. Am Law attorneys are swamped and trying to keep up with the workload. And unlike an understanding college professor willing to look the other way on a late assignment, the IRS deadline is hard and fast.

Looking for a jump on a new world order in the automotive industry, Detroit’s Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn and Minneapolis’ Faegre & Benson have formed a joint legal practice group that will span the U.S., U.K. and China. The idea is for Faegre to couple its Chinese corporate expertise with Honigman’s traditional auto industry ties to jointly drum up additional business for both firms. Talks of an auto alliance between the two firms had been in the works for about nine months.

Truc T. Do, a deputy district attorney who helped secure a murder conviction against music producer Phil Spector earlier this year, has announced plans to join Munger, Tolles & Olson. Do, who worked in the major crimes division of the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office, plans to join the L.A.-based firm on Dec. 1. In her career as a deputy district attorney, Do maintained a 100 percent conviction rate in the 20 murder trials she has handled. At Munger, Do says she hopes to work on IP cases.

A federal appeals court has bounced an age-bias suit by a lawyer whose firm axed him after a tortuous year-and-a half stint, finding there were ample non-discriminatory reasons for firing him. Affirming summary judgment for the firm, Moser, Patterson & Sheridan of Shrewsbury, N.J., the 3rd Circuit held that the evidence proferred by John Kelly shows that at most, age was one of multiple motivations, which is not enough to prove a violation of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act.