Posts on ‘February 24th, 2010’

Law students are taking advantage of social media, but struggling with follow-up, which is a key component of career and business development. Those are findings from a poll conducted by consultant Ari J. Kaplan, who discusses the importance of mentors and staying connected.

San Diego attorney P. Randolph Finch Jr., at 38, is the firm managing partner of 30-attorney Marks, Golia & Finch. He joined the firm as a first-year associate, and his career has taken off at an uncharacteristic clip. He became an equity partner within about four years. As a third-year associate, Finch suggested a first-time retreat for the firm. At the retreat, he laid out his five-year plan for the firm, which included his promotion to partner in year one. The equity offer was on the table the next month.

When he was in private practice at Hogan & Hartson, Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. did not handle veterans’ benefits claims. So, during oral arguments at the Supreme Court on Monday in Astrue v. Ratliff, an attorney fee case under the Equal Access to Justice Act, Roberts understandably found “startling” information with which lawyers for veterans are only too familiar: In litigating with veterans, the government more often than not takes a position that is substantially unjustified.

For the first time in a decade, Ruden McClosky’s partners were forced to sign personal guarantees to secure the law firm’s line of credit with its bank. It’s a telling sign of the serious financial problems faced by the firm, which last year saw substantial layoffs, an 18 percent pay cut, mass defections and the closing of two offices. With sources saying attorneys are being courted and offices such as Tallahassee and Miami are struggling, many believe Ruden McClosky is in a major restructuring mode.

By failing to grant the state’s judges a raise for 11 years, the New York Legislature has created a “crisis” that violates the separation of powers doctrine, the New York Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday. The court found 5-1 that the continued linking of judicial pay to unrelated issues was threatening the judiciary’s independence. However, the court declined requests to order an immediate raise or to fashion a remedy other than the “appropriate and expeditious legislative consideration” of the issue on its merits alone.

Four partners at Vinson & Elkins have withdrawn from the partnership to join Latham & Watkins in its move to bulk up a new Houston office, sources say. The lateral hires of William Finnegan IV, Brett Braden, Charles Carpenter and Charles Timothy Fenn follow the opening of Latham’s Houston office last month with hires from Baker Botts and Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld. Latham has said it hopes to use the Houston office to push further into the energy sector.

Miami attorney and forensic accountant Lewis Freeman, who literally wrote the manual on court-appointed receiverships, has been accused of skimming $2.6 million from court-supervised accounts and misappropriating $6 million in those accounts. The single count of mail fraud conspiracy carries a maximum 20-year prison sentence. An attorney for Freeman has entered a not guilty plea for his client but said that would likely change. Freeman was charged by criminal information, indicating a plea deal has been arranged.

Three different opinions were issued by the 2nd Circuit Tuesday as judges staked out positions on how the court should review the 28-month sentence disbarred attorney Lynne Stewart was ordered to serve in 2006 following her conviction for helping imprisoned Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman communicate with his followers. The opinions were issued as the circuit announced it was declining to rehear en banc a November ruling by a three-judge circuit panel that was itself divided over the leniency shown Stewart.

The president of Toyota’s U.S. distribution unit walked a fine line Tuesday as he tried to explain the company’s response to recent safety problems without admitting fault that could come back to haunt it in products liability lawsuits and two federal investigations. James Lentz testified before Congress that two factors contributed to the acceleration that consumers say has caused accidents: lack of communication inside the company about prior recalls, and pressure to increase production at the expense of safety.

Stalking is stalking, whether or not the defendant appreciates that his conduct would reasonably arouse fear in the quarry, the New Jersey Supreme Court says. The justices affirmed a conviction under the state’s anti-stalking law, rejecting the defense that the defendant’s intentions were purely romantic. “The claimed innocent intention of one with an unrequited love interest in another does not permit an individual to stalk the other with impunity,” Justice Jaynee LaVecchia wrote.