Legal News

The PM Roundup: Mr. Mozilo, Meet Mr. Wells, More . . .

By Ashby Jones

Some news you might have missed today while memorizing the recently circulated bios of the incoming summer associates:

SEC to Sue Mozilo? Staff at the SEC have decided to recommend filing civil fraud charges against Angelo Mozilo, the co-founder of Countrywide Financial Corp. The SEC sent a so-called Wells notice to Mozilo several weeks ago alerting him of the planned charges. The potential charges include alleged violations of insider-trading laws as well as failing to disclose material information to shareholders. A Wells notice is a precursor to a civil lawsuit in an SEC investigation. WSJ.

Senators: What to Do with Yoo, Bybee, Bradbury? Senators today debated whether they should investigate John Yoo, Jay Bybee and Stephen Bradbury, former lawyers with the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, over their involvement with memos that authorized harsh interrogation practices. David Luban, a professor at Georgetown University Law Center who testifed Wednesday, said the trio made “frivolous arguments” merely to get the results they wanted. Robert Turner, associate director of the Center for National Security Law at the University of Virginia, said they had legitimate arguments under the Geneva Conventions. BLT Blog.

The Very Latest Scotus Scuttlebutt: A bit of news on this front: A pick isn’t likely to be announced before Memorial Day; the list of potential Souter replacement is longer than has been speculated; and that Obama wants a vote before Congress’s August recess. WSJ. NYT. Meanwhile, the current Intrade forecast shows Second Circuit judge Sonia Sotomayor as the favorite.

Lawyer, Red Raider: Finally, the Bitter Lawyer has a fun Q&A with Texas A&M head football coach Mike Leach. The money excerpt:

Do your players ever ask you if they should go to law school?

Yeah, they do. And I tell them this: If you want to be a lawyer, go. But if you know that you don't want to be a lawyer, get another type of graduate degree. I don't regret getting the law degree because I think education is really important, but for those who know they don't want to be lawyers, they should study something else.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on May 13, 2009 (boomark / email).