Posts from ‘December, 2009’

A New York judge has rejected a bank’s request for $9,112 in costs for producing subpoenaed documents, calling the claim an example of the excess and greed among “fat cat bankers on Wall Street.” JPMorgan Chase, a non-party in an action to confirm an arbitration award, sought 25 cents per page and $25 per hour for producing 18,248 pages of subpoenaed documents demanded by the petitioner. In a blistering decision, Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Arthur Schack granted JPMorgan Chase only $1,250.27.

Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld has won an appeal in a dispute with a recruiter that claimed it was owed a placement fee for a lawyer the firm hired in 2006. Sivin-Tobin Associates claimed it had an implied contract with the law firm when it sent Akin Gump’s New York office a term sheet and package about Chang-Joo Kim. But the firm claimed it hired Kim based on a referral from a Boston recruiting firm. The appeals court said that no “meeting of the minds” had occurred sufficient to establish an implied contract.

A contentious lawsuit between Marilyn Manson and former bandmate Stephen Bier has been settled without the multimillion-dollar judgment the keyboardist initially sought, court records show. An agreement calls for attorneys representing Bier to be paid $380,000. Manson’s insurance company will pay $175,000 while the rest will be paid by Bier’s former business managers, an attorney for Manson said. Bier sued the shock rocker for $20 million in 2007, claiming the singer spent money owed to Biers to furnish a lavish lifestyle.

After a rough 2009 for most law firms, partners are busy behind the scenes checking out their options, according to recruiters Stacy Miller Azcarate and Avis Caravello. Many partners were jockeying in 2009 to make sure they were paid what they deserved, said Caravello. “The focus on the compensation, ‘If I don’t get X,’ was really heightened this year, because there’s less to go around,” she said. “Anybody who has been waiting to make a move will be ready once they know where the numbers are,” said Azcarate.

Disgraced lawyer Scott Rothstein’s office furniture, Oriental rugs and some personal effects from his former firm’s four offices will be sold to the highest bidder at an auction Jan. 23 in Florida. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Raymond B. Ray approved a request by the firm’s bankruptcy trustee to allow Fisher Auction to sell everything inside the office of Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler. The auctioneer plans to market the auction nationally and assumes many will come “just to gawk.”

Disbarred lawyer Paul Minor and two judges he’s accused of bribing hope an unrelated case before the U.S. Supreme Court will help them get out of prison. A recent hearing before the U.S. Supreme Court has many legal experts believing the high court is poised to strike down an “honest services” statute, which makes it illegal for public officials to fraudulently deprive constituents of honest services. Some observers say such a decision would help Minor and former Judges Wes Teel and John Whitfield.

It’s been a rough year for Ponzi schemes. Nearly four times as many of the investment scams unraveled in 2009 as fell apart in 2008. Tens of thousands of investors watched more than $16.5 billion disappear like smoke in 2009, according to The Associated Press’ national analysis. The recession has led to the exposure of many scams “that otherwise might have gone undetected for a longer period of time,” said Lanny Breuer, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s criminal division.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals released on Wednesday an amended opinion on the resentencing of Lynne Stewart, adding language that appears to require Judge John Koeltl to consider a much longer sentence for the disbarred lawyer. The appeals court has directed Koeltl to make a finding on whether Stewart committed perjury at trial and examine in greater detail her abuse of her position as a lawyer — two factors that would both increase the sentence and help the circuit evaluate whether it was reasonable.

A Paul Weiss partner who lost millions of dollars as a result of Bernard Madoff’s massive Ponzi scheme cannot force his ex-wife to “shoulder her share” of the losses, a New York judge has ruled. As part of a 2006 equitable distribution agreement, Steve Simkin claims he paid Laura Blank some $2.7 million, which he considered her fair share of their Madoff investments. After Madoff’s arrest, Simkin attempted to redo the agreement, claiming it had resulted in a “windfall” for Blank.

A National Association for Law Placement commission discussing a possible overhaul on how law firms and law schools organize the recruiting process for summer associates will release its preliminary recommendations in January. Among the major suggested changes, according to three sources familiar with the report: Setting a date, likely sometime in late fall, before which firms would be prohibited from making offers to prospective summers.