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Toyota Executives Head to Capitol Hill to Testify on Public Safety Record

The National Law Journal

Toyota executives head to Capitol Hill today for the first of three hearings on the automaker's product safety record -- a trip to the political woodshed that could get the company into a deeper legal thicket in courts around the country. Plaintiffs lawyers on Monday said they will be watching testimony closely. So, too, presumably, will prosecutors and regulators who are mounting investigations into Toyota's handling of braking and acceleration problems in several of its vehicles.

High Court Justices May Favor Clients Over Lawyers in Fee Shift Dispute

The National Law Journal

A majority of the Supreme Court appeared sympathetic on Monday to the Obama administration's arguments that attorney fee awards under a key fee shifting statute belong to the clients, not the attorneys who earn them, and the awards can be offset to pay debts owed to the government. The case, Astrue v. Ratliff, which concerns the Equal Access to Justice Act, is one of nearly a dozen cases this term in which the justices face questions concerning the practice of law and attorney behavior.

Philadelphia Jury Awards $9.45 Million in Damages Over Prempro Drug

The Legal Intelligencer

A Philadelphia jury awarded $6 million in punitive damages and $3.45 million in compensatory damages Monday to a woman who was diagnosed with breast cancer after taking Wyeth's hormonal drug Prempro. According to plaintiffs counsel, the case is the first in the United States involving a plaintiff diagnosed with breast cancer well after the July 2002 release of the Women's Health Initiative, a randomized, controlled trial of the risks and benefits of hormone replacement.

Pa. Federal Judge Defers to Delaware Chancery in Cravath-Airgas Dispute

The Legal Intelligencer

A federal judge in Philadelphia agreed to stay proceedings in a fight between Radnor, Pa.-based Airgas and its former law firm Cravath Swaine & Moore until Delaware's Chancery Court decides whether the law firm should be enjoined from representing Airgas competitor Air Products & Chemicals in its bid to take over Airgas. Both companies had been clients of Cravath's for years. Airgas alleges Cravath dumped the company as a client after nine years in order to represent a 40-year client, Air Products, in the deal.

Howrey's Revenue, Profits Plummet in 2009

The National Law Journal

For Howrey, 2009 was a rough year. The firm's gross revenue fell from $573.2 million to $480 million, marking a decline of 16.3 percent. Revenue per lawyer dropped by 19.2 percent to $702,782. Net compensation to equity partners slid 28.3 percent to $128.6 million. And profits per partner sank from about $1.3 million to $846,053 -- a 34.9 percent drop. Firm Chairman Robert Ruyak said that as the firm enters into more alternative billing arrangements, there will continue to be fluctuations in year-to-year revenue.

Holland & Knight Revenue Down 10 Percent

Daily Business Review

The recession has clearly hurt Holland & Knight, with revenue down 10 percent last year and a 9 percent lawyer reduction, including 70 layoffs a year ago. The biggest headcount drop was in non-equity partners, with a one-year drop of 11 percent. "They're taking care of the equity partners because the equities put the gas in the engine. Without rainmakers, you have no firm. Without clients, you have a social club," said Joe Ankus, a longtime legal headhunter and a former Holland & Knight attorney.

Courtroom Murder Shadows Chicago Gun Suit at Supreme Court

The National Law Journal

The landmark 2008 Supreme Court decision in D.C. v. Heller, declaring an individual right to bear arms under the Second Amendment, may soon be eclipsed by its sequel: McDonald v. City of Chicago, set for argument March 2. McDonald may be the case that makes the right real nationwide, by applying or incorporating it as a shield against state and local restrictions on firearms as well. A major segment of the case began with the long-ago murder of a lawyer and judge in a Chicago courtroom.

A Reluctant Judge Rakoff Defers to SEC in Accepting BofA Deal

New York Law Journal

New York federal Judge Jed S. Rakoff on Monday "reluctantly" approved a $150 million agreement between the Securities and Exchange Commission and Bank of America, which settles allegations that the bank failed to make required disclosures in connection with its $50 billion takeover of Merrill Lynch in 2008. Rakoff said the settlement's major defect was that it "advocates very modest punitive, compensatory and remedial measures." Wrote the judge: "While better than nothing, this is half baked justice at best."

Parties in Case Pending More Than 4 Years Sue Texas High Court Justices Over Delay

Texas Lawyer

Alleging that the delay in their case has deprived them of their constitutional rights to due process, plaintiffs in a class action suit pending more than four years at the Texas Supreme Court have sued each of the court's nine justices. Plaintiffs attorney Thomas R. Bray says the class claims total approximately $80 million, including $40 million in actual damages and $40 million in prejudgment interest. The plaintiffs say the appeal in their underlying suit is the oldest awaiting a decision by the state high court.

The Lehman Brothers Bill: $641.9 Million and Counting

The American Lawyer

The Lehman Brothers estate submitted an updated accounting Friday of fees it has paid bankruptcy advisers through the end of January. The tab stands at $641.9 million and could well reach the $1 billion mark, according to Bloomberg and the estate's SEC filing. Fifteen law firms -- not including the estate's fee examiner -- have billed Lehman $310,791,000 since it filed for bankruptcy on Sept. 15, 2008. Weil Gotshal, Lehman's lead debtor counsel, leads the way among the law firms, billing an average of $300,000 per day.

Threats to Juror Alleged in Bid to Throw Out Astor Case Verdicts

New York Law Journal

Moving to set aside his conviction for looting the $132 million estate of his mother, Brooke Astor, Anthony Marshall on Monday offered purportedly new evidence that a single holdout juror was threatened during deliberations. Marshall and his co-defendant, Francis Morrissey, claimed in their post-trial motion that they were denied their right to a fair jury trial when the judge declined to make a statutorily mandated inquiry of the jurors, which they said would have revealed the intimidation.

N.J. Shopping Center to Pay $10.3 Million in Premises Liability Suit

New Jersey Law Journal

A New Jersey man who suffered a head injury in a shopping center accident accepted $10.3 million last week to settle his suit against shopping center owner Paragano Associates. Michael Hess was leaning on a metal railing on an elevated walkway outside a store when the railing gave way, and he fell four feet to the pavement below, hitting his head. The railing had broken the day before, but the shopping center used wire to hold it together and did not post warning signs, said the plaintiffs attorney.

Tension Flares Over Distribution of Seized Rothstein Assets

Daily Business Review

Federal prosecutors and the bankruptcy trustee dismantling defunct law firm Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler are fighting over restitution plans for an estimated 350 victims of convicted fraudster Scott Rothstein's $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme. The two sides met Feb. 12 in hopes of finding a way to work together, but attempts at a behind-the-scenes collaboration immediately sputtered, according to a government motion, which decries "inflammatory statements" by the trustee's side.

Judge Rules Not to Impose Sanctions on Boston Federal Prosecutor

The National Law Journal

Chief Judge Mark Wolf of the District of Massachusetts ruled not to sanction Assistant U.S. Attorney Suzanne Sullivan for failing to disclose exculpatory evidence in a timely fashion despite his doubts that new government discovery training programs for prosecutors would succeed. Wolf cited Sullivan's participation in several of the training programs and "independent efforts to educate herself on her discovery obligations." He also said her violation of the defendant's rights was "unintentional rather than deliberate."

Recorder Names 2009 Attorneys of the Year

The Recorder

Persistence. Tenacity. Determination. Those characteristics came up again and again as The Recorder took stock of its 2009 Attorneys of the Year. From Michael Bien, who's been litigating a prison rights case for two decades, to Peter Kerman, who spent the better part of a year negotiating Genentech's sale to Roche Holding, to Elliot Peters, whose eight-year fight for the wrongly imprisoned John Tennison yielded a $4.6 million settlement, tenacity was a key ingredient of success.

From Patton Boggs to Afghanistan and Back Again

The American Lawyer

While his peers spent the past few months worrying about billing the requisite hours and keeping their desk jobs, Maj. Frank "Gus" Biggio helped build a forward operating base and kept his eyes peeled for IEDs. Biggio, a Marine Corps reservist and fourth-year associate in Patton Boggs' Washington, D.C., office, recently returned to the firm after spending seven months leading a civil affairs unit in Nawa, a restive region in southern Afghanistan where Marines are currently taking part in an offensive.

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'Pension Committee' Clarifies E-Discovery Requirements

New York Law Journal

Judge Scheindlin's most recent e-discovery opinion is a practical roadmap on how real people and real attorneys may be confronted by challenges regarding compliance, says Herzfeld & Rubin member Michael Hoenig. It is also a how-to manual that sets forth key principles relating to EDD.

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Times Are A-Changin' for Law Firm Partnerships

Fulton County Daily Report

From consultants to partnership committee boardrooms, the new mantra is: "The bar for making partner is being raised." And existing partners may have new challenges too. Altman Weil's Thomas S. Clay says current partners may be at risk of being pushed out "to make room for young blood."

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