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New York Law Journal

Attorney Marc S. Dreier said "guilty" eight times but remained free on bail after admitting Monday to selling fictitious promissory notes in a scheme that ripped off investors of hundreds of millions of dollars and ended with the implosion of his 250-member law firm. A New York federal judge said that allowing Dreier to remain free pending his July 13 sentencing was a close call in a case where Dreier has "shown that he is to be ranked with those who have committed some of the most egregious frauds in history."

The Legal Intelligencer

The current market seems to have thrown law firms' highly leveraged model out the door for the foreseeable future -- and maybe even permanently. In response to the economy and the shift to a buyer's market, firms are moving from the pyramid model of a few partners at the top and hordes of associates at the bottom to a diamond shape, in which several senior associates and junior partners make up the bulk in the middle, in an effort to maximize value for the client.

The National Law Journal

The legacy of retiring Supreme Court Justice David Souter can be discovered not only in his 140 majority opinions over 18 years, but at law schools, law firms and public service workplaces across the nation, where his 72 former law clerks, a "notoriously loyal tribe" in the words of one, have fanned out after their year with the justice. Souter's clerks have strongly protective instincts toward him and generally keep the media at bay with a consistency exceeding even that of other justices' former clerks.

Texas Lawyer

Former U.S. District Judge Samuel B. Kent was sentenced Monday to 33 months in prison after pleading guilty earlier to one count of obstruction of justice. Kent, a former judge in Galveston, Texas, is the first federal judge in history to be indicted for alleged sexual crimes. The sentencing hearing included testimony from two former courthouse employees who alleged Kent had assaulted them, one of whom told the sentencing judge that she "will forever be scarred" by what happened to her.

The National Law Journal

A federal judge in California has approved a stock options backdating settlement with Marvell Technology Group that involves no cash payments to the company, but has delayed approving $16 million in attorney fees to be paid to the two plaintiffs firms, Coughlin Stoia and Scott & Scott. The settlement, resolving all derivative claims associated with stock options backdating at Marvell, comes as other judges question fees for plaintiffs firms in noncash settlements of derivative actions involving backdating.

The Associated Press

Yahoo has won a legal battle over its long delay in removing nude photos that an Oregon woman claimed her ex-boyfriend posted on its Web site without her knowledge or permission. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Internet service providers such as Yahoo are generally protected from liability for negligence in publishing or posting material from a third party. The woman's lawsuit also claims her former boyfriend created a fraudulent profile and posed as her in a chat room to solicit sex.

The Legal Intelligencer

Drinker Biddle & Reath's decision to combine a training program for first-year associates with an initial below-market salary of $105,000 is being hailed by law schools graduating those attorneys as a creative and novel approach. In place of a larger paycheck with an immediate billable-hours requirement, Drinker Biddle associates this September will enter the six-month training program, after which their salaries will rise to market rate. The current starting salary in Philadelphia is $145,000.

Fulton County Daily Report

Though finding a Kuwaiti military contractor being sued by a dead American soldier's family to have been "indignant and callous," a Georgia federal judge said he was compelled to vacate a $4.9 million judgment against the company and dismiss the suit because the court does not have jurisdiction. The suit has become a national case of first impression regarding a foreign military contractor's responsibilities when an employee's negligence results in an American soldier's death, according to the family's lawyer.

The Legal Intelligencer

In a holding fraught with irony, a 3rd Circuit panel has declared that the so-called "mailbox rule" -- the ordinary presumption that a letter mailed is a letter received -- cannot be invoked against the U.S. Postal Service to save an otherwise time-barred claim. Instead, the court said, a plaintiff pursuing a claim under the Federal Tort Claims Act has the burden of proving that the federal agency was "presented" with a timely administrative claim, and that proof of mailing is not enough.

The Recorder

California Attorney General Jerry Brown has come under attack for taking the unexpected step recently of questioning the constitutionality of Proposition 209, the 1996 ballot initiative that eliminated most affirmative action programs in California. In a letter brief filed with the California Supreme Court last week, the Pacific Legal Foundation condemned Brown's stance as "political expediency" and accused him of trying to revive programs that are "relics of a long-gone era of racial politics."

New Jersey Law Journal

Former NBA star World B. Free is suing Nike for marketing a commemorative basketball shoe in his name without his permission. The former Philadelphia 76ers point guard alleges Nike's planned June 12 rollout appears timed to take attention away from an eponymous line of shoes and clothing launched this month by a small German company, K1X, with the athlete's authorization. The plaintiff, born Lloyd Bernard Free, changed his name to World B. Free in 1980 as part of a campaign for peace and tranquility.

The Recorder

Publicity rights protect the identities of the famous beyond the grave with a fundamental limitation: The persona was fixed at time of death. Now, computer technology can generate new, living works featuring dead performers, ushering in an age of dynamic post-mortem publicity rights.

The National Law Journal

As layoffs surge, employee laptops are being turned back in with signs of foul play. According to a recent study, some 60 percent of employees who quit or have been fired or laid off admit to stealing company data. And it's not just rank-and-file employees doing it, but executives as well.

The National Law Journal

Deferral strategies represent an effort by some law firms to keep their word to recruits, preserve their reputations at law schools and maintain a stockpile of new talent in case of an economic rebound. But if firms make good on assurances to this year's graduates, the class of 2010 could prove to be the fall guy. A "collision of classes" is expected by James Leipold, NALP's executive director, and he's not alone in thinking new associate supply will outstrip demand once the deferred start dates arrive.

Daily Business Review

Attorney Jeremy G. Epstein argues that the study of literature gives a lawyer, particularly a trial lawyer, many of the skills needed to assess evidence and persuade a trier of fact, including "close reading," precision of expression and a sense of narrative structure. An appropriate literary reference can also help a lawyer illustrate a point about human behavior. Epstein, a former prosecutor, once quoted Samuel Johnson during his summation in a bank robbery case -- and got a conviction.

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