Posts on ‘February 1st, 2010’

Google’s recent threat to pull out of China over the country’s human-rights and free-speech constraints highlights the central question First Amendment expert and Columbia University President Lee Bollinger attempts to answer in his new book, “Uninhibited, Robust, and Wide-Open: A Free Press for a New Century.” What happens when the American idea of free speech collides with restrictions in a country that does not accept the U.S. conception of press freedom?

Bob Page, Grace Brown and Jessica Vapnek sat down to a meeting sometime after 4 p.m. on Jan. 12 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. They were there working on a project to strengthen the country’s shaky judicial system and had come to talk with local lawyers. Their firm, San Francisco-based DPK Consulting, helps build judicial systems in developing countries. Just before 5 p.m., there was a huge roar and shaking, “like a train coming right through your living room,” recalls Page.

Rather than being intimidated by facing multiple interviewers at the same time, you can ace a panel interview with some preparation, say consultants Valerie Fontaine and Roberta Kass. You may have to work a little harder to make sure you make a connection with each of the interviewers in the room, but as the authors note, panels can provide some advantages for both interviewers and job candidates. Here are some strategies to deal with the group dynamics and other specific challenges of panel interviews.

Dallas-based Winstead has rescinded offers to two incoming first-year associates, including one who was contacted just four days before she was due to start work today. According to the firm, four first-years started work in September 2009 and another five were set to start work today, but the firm rescinded one offer in September and another on Thursday. “They just said there wasn’t any work for me,” says the lawyer who received the call from the firm on Thursday.

People who file tort claims against the U.S. government must put a dollar figure on their damages up front even if they don’t know the final tab because they are still being treated, the 3rd Circuit has ruled. The Federal Tort Claims Act contains no exception to the requirement that a claim must be accompanied by a “sum certain” amount for injuries or losses, and reading one into the statute would amount to a judicial expansion of its limited waiver of sovereign immunity, the circuit held.

While attempts to reopen federal product liability suits against Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. have essentially stopped, a plaintiff is charging ahead in a similar Texas state court case. An appeals court ruled that Pennie Fay Green, whose suit involving a vehicle rollover settled confidentially, can proceed with discovery in her attempt to obtain a contempt order and sanctions. Green filed her motion after a former Toyota in-house lawyer filed a complaint that included allegations of discovery abuse by two Toyota entities.

Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick’s $2.66 million lawsuit against lawyer Michael Stefani, who leaked the explosive text messages that led to Kilpatrick’s downfall, was tossed out on Thursday. A Michigan judge found that Kilpatrick had signed away his right to sue Stefani when he agreed to a settlement in a police whistleblower lawsuit in 2007.

During a year of extraordinary economic turbulence, 280-lawyer firm Hughes Hubbard made double-digit gains in gross revenue and profits per partner. The firm posted a 10 percent increase in gross revenue in 2009, with profits per equity partner rising 9.7 percent. Another sign that things are good for Hughes Hubbard: Word leaked out last month that the firm was unfreezing its salaries and reinstating Cravath-scale bonuses.

Many Am Law 100 firms are reeling from the recession, but not Paul Weiss. Although the firm’s gross revenue slipped by 3.8 percent in 2009, profits per equity partner hit $2.69 million, up from $2.65 million in 2008, even though the firm increased its head count slightly. Chairman Brad Karp said Paul Weiss’ restructuring and litigation practices were particularly busy in 2009, which he described as “the most profitable year in our firm’s history.”

A New York judge has allowed an action to go forward against two attorneys and others who are accused of facilitating a $629,000 mortgage for a waitress who earned less than $25,000 a year. Plaintiff Portia Joseph alleged attorneys Joseph Kunstlinger and Adrian A. Ellis encouraged and directed her to execute fraudulent loan documents. Faced with a substantial lien and potential foreclosure, Joseph and her mother have also filed claims against Bank of America and a real estate broker and the broker’s company.