Posts on ‘October 23rd, 2009’

Had Silicon Valley engineer Yuefei Ge spent more time listening to his wife, the government’s economic espionage case against him would never have been born, his defense lawyer told a federal jury Wednesday. Ge and a co-worker stand accused of stealing trade secrets from their employer, NetLogic Microsystems, and trying to secure venture funding from the Chinese government. Ge’s lawyer said in his opening statement that Ge’s wife tipped off NetLogic — and then the FBI — about the scheme.

A growing number of U.K. firms are either holding back or reducing partner profit distributions as a result of the recession. Pinsent Masons and DLA Piper have both withheld profit distributions in recent months. Pinsent has withheld its last two quarterly profit distributions, with the firm attributing the “profits distribution holiday” to a series of management responses to the recession. DLA held back its August distribution firmwide and has yet to decide on its next payment, due in November.

For having deceived Hades, the Greek god of the Underworld, Sisyphus was condemned to roll a heavy rock uphill, only to witness its descent after each day’s labor — the ultimate expression of the absurd. For lawyers, writes psychotherapist and professional coach James Dolan, it is all too easy to develop a sense of futility and the absurd in a world of seemingly arbitrary judges, unethical opponents, and dishonest parties and partners. Is the solution for frustrated lawyers to stop rolling their rock?

Given the defense bar’s typical embrace of the understated, it’s not surprising that Georgia attorney H. Andrew Owen Jr. describes his firm’s role in three medical malpractice victories in two weeks as “a little unusual.” The Owen, Gleaton, Egan, Jones & Sweeney partner is quick to downplay his role in one of those cases, but he is eager to heap praise on his colleagues who helped beat back the suits, and is nearly as effusive about his opponents in the most recent trial.

The New Jersey blogger accused of threatening lawmakers and judges in two states is free on $500,000 bond. Lighting a cigar as he walked out of a federal courthouse, Hal Turner waved away a reporter and photographer because he’s under strict orders not to talk to the media. A judge also ordered Turner not to use a computer or any device that can access the Internet.

Litigation over the Bratz doll isn’t over yet. According to a suit filed in the Southern District of New York, artist Bernard Belair read news reports last year about the MGA-Mattel trial in which Bratz doll creator Carter Bryant testified that his inspiration for the Bratz doll stemmed from Steve Madden shoe advertisements. Belair claims that he is the creator of the images used in those Steve Madden ads; he is suing MGA for copyright infringement and is also suing Mattel because it was enriched by the MGA litigation.

Sullivan & Cromwell has promoted five associates to partner, four of whom are women. Firm Chairman H. Rodgin Cohen attributed the growth in female partner ranks to policies the firm put in place to promote the retention of women lawyers, such as flex-time and maternity leave. Of 172 partners at Sullivan & Cromwell, 30 are now women. At five, the number of new partners at the firm is the same as last year.

Three Southern California attorneys have resigned due to misconduct related to loan modifications, according to the State Bar of California, which this year has stepped up its prosecution of lawyers who offer homeowners such services. The resignations came just weeks after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a new law prohibiting attorneys from collecting an advance fee for residential loan modification and mortgage loan forbearance services.

Four Shearman & Sterling partners in the firm’s New York office are advising Galleon Management with respect to the government’s insider-trading investigation and the wind-down of its funds, a firm spokesman has confirmed. Litigation group leader Stephen Fishbein, litigation partner Adam Hakki, asset management partner Azam Aziz, and of counsel M. Holland West, a former head of the firm’s global hedge fund, private equity and structured finance practices, are heading up the Shearman team.

Speaking at an ABA Administrative Law Conference luncheon Thursday, Norman Eisen, President Barack Obama’s special counsel for ethics and government regulation, gave an insider’s perspective into the administration’s thought path as it first embarked on, and now continues to pursue, lobbying reform in Washington. “The president will hold every government servant to the highest standard of fidelity to the public interest,” he said. His remarks did not go unchallenged.