Posts on ‘February 8th, 2010’

The New York legal market saw demand rise in the last months of 2009, with improved conditions in litigation and corporate practice areas. In its quarterly report on market conditions, consulting firm Hildebrandt Baker Robbins said demand nationwide grew 2 percent in the last three months of last year compared to the same period in 2008, with New York experiencing the strongest growth in billable hours of the major markets.

Before the market meltdown in the fall of 2008, Charlotte, N.C., was headquarters to the largest and third-largest banks in the United States measured by deposits — Bank of America and Wachovia Corp. But in the last 18 months, the banks that used to be the biggest exclamation points in a booming regional economy became Charlotte’s biggest question marks. As the banks go, so go their law firms. Last year there were cuts in 18 of the 21 Am Law 200 offices in Charlotte, and the cuts were deep.

Why make substantial changes to a successful software platform when you could easily get by with tiny improvements and call it new? That was the question consultant Brett Burney answered as he explored the new processing and review features of Clearwell E-Discovery Platform version 5.0.

Bernard Madoff’s brother, sons and a niece, accused in a lawsuit of using the family finance business like a “piggy bank,” have agreed to an asset freeze, according to a document filed in court Friday. Trustee Irving Picard sued the family members in November, seeking nearly $200 million that he said had enabled them to live lavishly at the expense of Madoff investors. The consent order requires them to seek permission from Picard to spend more than $1,000 except in the case of exemptions such as legal or medical fees.

As of Friday, Toyota had attracted more than a dozen class actions filed on behalf of consumers who allege that Toyota’s failure to adequately disclose problems with its accelerator pedals amounted to fraud. Despite the rising litigation, the consumer claims face a number of obstacles, according to some law professors and defense attorneys. Consumers will have to prove actual economic damages and assert individual claims that are consistent enough to merit class certification by federal courts.

In a case that could prove to be one of the most important privacy rights battles of the modern era, the 3rd Circuit will hear arguments this week on the proper legal standard to apply when prosecutors demand cell phone location data. The 3rd Circuit will become the first federal appellate court to tackle the question as Justice Department lawyers square off against a coalition of privacy and civil liberties lawyers from the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Center for Democracy & Technology and the ACLU.