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CONDITIONS FOR ALCOTEST APPROVAL DON'T APPLY RETROACTIVELY
"The New Jersey Supreme Court's approval of the state's new drunken-driving meter has apparently left some drivers in the lurch. An appeals panel on Wednesday held some of the strictures that were conditions for the Court's imprimatur don't apply to drivers who were convicted prior to the Court ruling in State v. Chun but whose sentencings had been put on hold pending the outcome. State v. Pollack ? the first published decision to interpret Chun's dictates ? could affect thousands of defendants convicted from 2006 to 2008 while the court decided on scientific reliability of the device. "

WISEACRE JUDGE SAYS HE'S SUFFERED ENOUGH FOR BARBS FROM BENCH
"James Convery, an Essex County judge whose wisecracking from the bench landed him in disciplinary proceedings, has asked to be spared from punishment because he conceded his error, apologized for it and has already been punished due to public embarrassment. In his answer to a formal ethics complaint, Convery admits to two alleged incidents, in which he asked a past president of the Hispanic Bar Association of New Jersey if she was an illegal alien and joked about a litigant who used a hearing aid. But Convery takes issue with the Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct characterizations of his actions."

LAWYER LAYOFFS HIT DAY PITNEY
Day Pitney laid off 20 attorneys this week, including six from Florham Park, N.J., and four from Hartford, Conn., firm officials said Wednesday. The other associates and counsel let go were spread among the firm's other seven offices, which range from Boston down to Washington, D.C. It was the second round of cuts in three months for the firm, which trimmed 66 staffers and paralegals from its ranks in February, including 31 in Hartford.

DAG LOSES APPEAL IN SUIT ALLEGING UN-CHAIR-ITABLE TREATMENT
"A New Jersey appeals court on Wednesday turned away a deputy attorney general's plaint that a trial judge denied her a fair trial in her disability discrimination suit, which was based on the Division of Law's failing to provide her with the ergonomic chair of her choosing. Returning to her job following a one-year medical leave of absence due to a car accident, Cathy Melitski asked that she be allowed to work part time and that she be given a stand-up desk and a Bodybilt chair costing more than $1,000. The Division met her first two requests but provided a cheaper alternative chair, prompting the suit, which an Essex County jury no-caused. The appeals court, in Melitski v. New Jersey, A-3848-07, found no error in the trial judge's evidentiary rulings or instructions to the jury."

LAW FIRM SURVEY: ECONOMY NOT BREEDING RADICAL CHANGE
"The law firm revolution is not upon us. So say 208 law firm leaders in response to an Altman Weil survey conducted in March and April. 'Law firms are not doing anything dramatic and are not planning to do anything dramatic,' says an Altman Weil consultant and co-author of the survey, which was distributed to 687 firms with 50 or more lawyers, asking how firms are dealing with strategy, growth, pricing, staffing and business development in light of the current economy. However, 38 percent of firms with 500 to 999 lawyers say it is likely or possible that they will cut additional equity partners in 2009."

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