Posts on ‘November 2nd, 2009’

It’s the kind of story that tends to get big play on the blog Above the Law: A prominent University of Miami School of Law professor and civil rights advocate arrested on suspicion of soliciting an undercover officer for sex. The blog had plenty of fun with the story in October 2007 with a series of posts about Donald Marvin Jones, whom it dubbed “The Nutty Professor.” The only problem, according to a lawsuit Jones has filed in federal court, was that it didn’t happen that way, and the blog’s coverage veered into racism.

The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to rule on whether the vacancy-riddled National Labor Relations Board has the authority to make decisions with only two of its five members currently in office. The board has been operating with two members since Jan. 1, 2008, and has issued more than 400 decisions resolving disputes over labor practices and union representation. The federal appeals courts have split over the board’s authority to act, and at least 60 challenges to the validity of two-member rulings have been filed.

Attorney and GOP fundraiser Scott Rothstein’s rise in South Florida’s legal and political worlds has ended with the revelation that investors claim he stole in excess of $200 million. The money is tied to a side business that offered structured settlements, which convert a lump sum award to installments for tax and cost-of-living reasons. Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler’s founding partner Stuart Rosenfeldt has asked a Florida judge to dissolve the firm and appoint a receiver to take over its finances but not its legal practice.

A federal appeals court ruled that a technology purchase deal included an implied contract under Massachusetts law requiring a buyer to make reasonable efforts to develop and promote the technology. The case could encourage similar cases to be brought in the state, a high-tech center.

Cravath, Swaine & Moore on Monday announced year-end associate bonuses that for the most junior lawyers were at best half of what they received last year. Cravath’s announcement kicks off the bonus season among New York law firms, but the head of one major law firm said he would expect a negative reaction from clients on “any bonuses being paid in the current economy.” He said he expected that a decision to pay bonuses “would have been deferred for some number of months.”

Hearing arguments in a closely watched case that could have a major impact on the fee structure in the nation’s $10 trillion mutual fund industry, the Supreme Court appeared wary of second-guessing the fees that funds pay to the investment advisers who run them. Business groups urged the Court to stick with a 27-year-old standard that gives substantial deference to the funds, but investor groups said runaway fees have resulted from the overly close relationship between fund boards of directors and investment advisers.

Lawyers in the Qualcomm discovery scandal claim that the company misled and stonewalled them, ultimately leading to the failure to turn over a mountain of relevant evidence and harsh sanctions from the court. The allegations were made in briefs filed Monday by lawyers from the now-defunct Day Casebeer Batchelder & Madrid, who for the first time are telling their side of what has become the most infamous discovery fiasco in recent times.

Efforts to introduce a Chapter 11-style corporate restructuring law in Hong Kong have been revived, the South China Morning Post reports. In Hong Kong and in much of the rest of Asia, failing companies typically end up in the hands of liquidators. By comparison, Chapter 11 proceedings under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code famously permit troubled companies to enter a court-supervised period of reorganization, during which they are sheltered from creditors and can seek ways of boosting their finances.

More work. Lower pay. Less help. That’s what in-house lawyers have been dealing with as struggling companies figure out where to tighten the belt financially. “I can say that a majority of people looking to change jobs are doing so because they’re overwhelmed” by the workload at their current job, says Elaine Kaiser, managing director of Kaiser Whitney Staffing, speaking about in-house attorneys. And legal recruiters say companies may have to start making changes or risk seeing lawyers burn out or leave.