Posts on ‘February 8th, 2010’

Latham & Watkins has lured M&A partner Andrew Macklin from White & Case’s Doha, Qatar, office, Legal Week reports. Macklin is the 13th partner to leave the firm for Latham in the past two weeks. The defections began on Jan. 29 when Latham took the bulk of W&C’s U.K. banking practice by hiring four highly regarded banking and capital markets partners. Last week, Latham hired another eight W&C partners from the firm’s offices in London, New York, Abu Dhabi and Riyadh.

Like the dating scene, the job interview process may start with a rendezvous for coffee at a local cafe. Although the meeting is held in an informal setting, the rules of interviewing apply, note consultants Valerie Fontaine and Roberta Kass. You still must prepare, dress appropriately and sell yourself. Presenting your case in a public place presents some challenges, however, particularly when the location is noisy and busy. Here are some tips for getting coffee with an interviewer without burning yourself.

When a D.C. jury convicted Taylar Nuevelle last week of charges that she had stalked her former girlfriend, Magistrate Judge Janet Albert, it brought closure to the public half of the legal drama. For Nuevelle, the only uncertainty left is her sentence, but for Albert, the remaining question is what happens to the judicial misconduct complaint lodged against her by Nuevelle after their 2008 breakup. Judicial ethics experts say Nuevelle’s conviction should not have much impact on the way the allegations are handled.

With a light kiss on the right cheek from one of her lawyers and no chance to say goodbye to her elderly parents, Sharon Pearl went to prison Friday for embezzling more than $615,000 from the State Bar of California. Alameda County Superior Court Judge Morris Jacobson sentenced the Bar’s former director of real property operations to 32 months, after finding she had used the stolen money to live a “very comfortable lifestyle well above her means.” Said the judge during the hearing: “The loss here is mammoth.”

Supreme Court justices don’t often compliment the lawyers who appear before them — much less lawyers who argued more than 15 years ago. But that’s what Justice Clarence Thomas did in a talk at a Florida law school last week, recalling that he was persuaded by Silvia Ibanez, the petitioner in a commercial speech case involving attorney advertising who argued on her own behalf before the Court in 1994. The BLT caught up with Ibanez, who now practices transactional, tax and estate law in Florida.

The Illinois Supreme Court has once again shot down a state law capping non-monetary damages in medical malpractice lawsuits, finding that such a statute violates the separation of powers between the judicial and legislative branches. The high court said in the Thursday decision that the limit on non-monetary damages, such as those for pain and suffering, interferes with “the authority of the judicial branch to reduce verdicts.”

A New York federal judge has approved several settlement agreements between the government, trustees charged with liquidating the estate of disbarred attorney Marc Dreier and his defunct 250-attorney law firm, and other parties affected by his massive fraud. Judge Jed S. Rakoff ruled Friday that a coordination agreement, which prevents the federal government from going after the proceeds of avoidance actions brought by the trustee for Dreier LLP, was “reasonable and in the best interests of the victims collectively.”

The SEC has voluntarily dropped its civil case against four former Broadcom executives, including the former general counsel. It was the latest setback in the U.S. government’s pursuit of securities fraud tied to stock options backdating at Broadcom. In December, a federal judge dismissed criminal charges against Broadcom co-founder Henry Nicholas and former CFO William Ruehle, largely due to prosecutorial misconduct. The judge also dismissed the SEC’s related complaint but gave the commission the option to amend the charges.

With its Monday announcement that it is opening offices in Sydney and Perth with 17 locally recruited partners, British legal giant Allen & Overy is clearly making a major push into Australia. The newly hired group counts 15 former partners of Australian firm Clayton Utz, and two from Freehills. The move by one of London’s top corporate firms highlights the growing conviction among U.K. shops that Australia presents a potentially lucrative route into the expanding Asian markets.