Posts on ‘November 16th, 2009’

Ropes & Gray’s newly launched London practice has secured a trophy mandate after being instructed to advise cable group Liberty Global on its 3.5 billion euro ($5.2 billion) takeover of Germany’s Unitymedia. The U.S. law firm was instructed two weeks ago to handle the high-yield debt backing the acquisition, one of the largest media deals since the credit crunch crippled the leveraged finance market in 2007.

The No. 1 challenge to lawyers’ and law firm administrators’ efficiency is in dealing with the ever-increasing barrage of information — online and off — that bombards them day and night, writes tax attorney Sheldon I. Banoff. He discusses 12 signs that someone might be suffering from information overload, the effects it can have on your efficiency, and some things lawyers and administrators can do to better deal with — if not control — the information overflow.

In a speech to the Federalist Society, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito Jr. spoke of the importance of judges interpreting “what the law is and not what it should be.” He stood up for his newest colleague, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who he said had been criticized during her confirmation hearings for saying that her tenure on the high court would be characterized by fidelity to the law. Alito also discussed Ricci v. DeStefano, a case that became one of the primary themes of Sotomayor’s confirmation hearings.

A federal judge has approved a settlement by which a former board member of Tyco International Ltd. will pay $5.6 million to settle claims that New Jersey pension funds lost more than $100 million because of securities fraud. New Jersey charged that Frank Walsh Jr. took a $20 million payment from Tyco, without disclosure to shareholders or other board members, for helping arrange the corporation’s 2001 purchase of The CIT Group. The settlement brings the state’s recovery from the Tyco litigation to $84.7 million.

The unfolding fraud scandal involving high-rolling South Florida lawyer Scott Rothstein raises questions about the nature of structured settlements. Did Rothstein manipulate these financial arrangements to his advantage or concoct something else entirely? Five lawyers in South Florida — some of whom were familiar with Rothstein and his practice at Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler — give their take on the nature of his fraud and what, if any, consequences it might have on structured settlements.

A former Louisiana congressman who famously stashed cash in his freezer was sentenced Friday to 13 years in prison for taking hundreds of thousands in bribes in exchange for using his influence to broker business deals in Africa. The sentence was far less than the nearly 30 years prosecutors had sought for William Jefferson, a Democrat who represented parts of New Orleans for nearly 20 years. Agents investigating the case found $90,000 wrapped in foil and hidden in boxes of frozen pie crusts.

Federal prosecutors charged two computer programmers who worked for Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities with aiding in the cover-up of a massive Ponzi scheme. The SEC also filed a separate civil complaint against the two defendants, Jerome O’Hara and George Perez. The men are accused of providing technical support to falsify documents and generate fake trading records that were used to defraud Madoff investors. The Madoff trustee has determined that cash losses in the scheme have grown to $21.2 billion.

Former Attorney General Michael Mukasey on Friday criticized the Justice Department for its decision to prosecute five terror suspects in federal district court in New York, saying it risks creating sweeping new law that will affect routine criminal cases. Speaking at the Federalist Society annual conference, he said the security of judges, prosecutors, jurors and courthouses will be a chief concern, warning that Manhattan could become a target for “mischief” among the followers of the defendants.

A little more than a month after merger talks were revealed between Hogan & Hartson and British firm Lovells, the two firms have agreed on a new name. Alas, it’s not the Harry Potter-esque Hogells. London’s Legal Week reports that the two firms have settled on Hogan Lovells. The rebranding will take effect if partners from both firms approve the trans-Atlantic merger of equals as planned by mid-December.

Without comment, the Supreme Court on Monday morning denied review in Harjo v. Pro-Football Inc., a challenge brought by Native Americans who assert that the name of the Washington Redskins is offensive and should be denied trademark status. The long-running dispute began in 1992 when Native American groups sought cancellation of the trademark under the provision of the Lanham Act that prohibits trademarks that disparage persons “living or dead.”