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: New York Supreme Court Criminal Term Library

LAW.COM Newswire Highlights May 21, 2009

By David Badertscher, PLL

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If you are already an online subscriber to the LAW.COM service you should be able to click on any of the links below, sign in, and access the full text of all articles listed. A subscription to LAW.COM is needed for online access to this service. Ex-Prosecutor Charged in Federal Court With Murder, Other Crimes New Jersey Law Journal Just weeks after pleading guilty to misdemeanor charges for operating a Manhattan-based call-girl ring, former Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Bergrin was indicted Wednesday for leading a racketeering conspiracy that arranged the murder of a witness in one drug case and attempted to kill an informant in another. The 14-count indictment charges that Bergrin engaged in a host of illegal activities from his Newark, N.J., law office, including witness tampering, wire fraud, money laundering and drug trafficking. Federal Judge Cool to Drugmaker's First Amendment Argument in Off-Label Prosecution The Recorder Lawyers for former InterMune CEO Scott Harkonen argued Wednesday that when Harkonen sent out a press release in 2003 describing an InterMune medication as a lifesaver -- even though the FDA said it really wasn't -- he was engaged in a scientific debate protected by the First Amendment and should not have been criminally charged for fraud. Federal Judge Marilyn Hall Patel has yet to rule, but, so far, she doesn't appear to be buying the Harkonen line. Federal Judges Grouse About Lawyers' Courtroom Attire The National Law Journal When a federal judge said during a panel discussion this week that some female attorneys need to dress more appropriately for court -- mentioning one woman attired as though she had stopped in "on her way home from the gym" -- she probably didn't realize she'd opened some floodgates. As it turned out, a male judge and some male lawyers in the audience also had plenty to say on the issue. One such complaint, from a male judge, involved women who wear "blouses so short there's no way the judges wouldn't look." Reed Smith Cuts Associate Salaries for U.S. Offices The Legal Intelligencer Reed Smith has joined a small but growing group of large law firms that have decided to cut associate salaries as one way of adjusting to the economic downturn. The firm, as first reported on the blog Above the Law, said in a memo Wednesday that it would cut all existing U.S. associates' salaries by 10 percent effective July 1. In the memo, Reed Smith said that it has also lowered compensation levels for partners as a response to the recession. Five Lawyers Involved in Detroit Text Message Scandal Charged With Professional Misconduct The National Law Journal Five lawyers involved in the text message scandal that put former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick behind bars and cost him his job and law license have been charged with professional misconduct. At the heart of the charges is the allegation that the lawyers knew Kilpatrick had committed perjury in a police whistleblower trial, but didn't notify the court. The five face possible suspension or revocation of their law licenses. Specter Recommends Four Women Who Are Not Judges for High Court Nomination The National Law Journal The former chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee said Wednesday that President Barack Obama had asked him to name some possible successors to Justice David Souter on the Supreme Court. And Arlen Specter, D-Pa., said he has complied, though in speaking with reporters he would only hint at the people he suggested. "I submitted four names -- all women, and none who owns a black robe," Specter said after a speech Wednesday. There are three female non-judges among those reported to be on Obama's short list. Microsoft Ordered to Pay $200 Million in Patent Dispute The American Lawyer A federal jury in Tyler, Texas, has ordered Microsoft to pay $200 million to Canadian software company i4i for patent infringement resulting from Microsoft Word's use of XML, or "extensible markup language." Douglas Cawley of McKool Smith, who represented i4i at the six-day trial, says the jury found the infringement to be willful, which gives federal Judge Leonard Davis the discretion to treble the damages. That determination is weeks away, according to Cawley. Senate Rebukes Obama, Blocks Guantanamo Shutdown The Associated Press In a rare, bipartisan defeat for President Barack Obama, the Senate voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to keep the prison at Guantanamo Bay open for the foreseeable future and forbid the transfer of any detainees to facilities in the United States. Democrats lined up with Republicans in the 90-6 vote that came on the heels of a similar move a week ago in the House, underscoring widespread apprehension among Obama's congressional allies over voters' strong feelings about bringing detainees to the U.S. from the prison in Cuba. Discovery Dispute Leads SEC to Seek Attorney Sanctions Daily Business Review The Securities and Exchange Commission is seeking sanctions against three Akerman Senterfitt attorneys and a Miami solo, accusing the attorneys of dragging out the discovery process by erroneously arguing that documents sent by U.S. Pension Trust to regional directors and sales agents are outside the Florida-based company's control when it had a legal right to them. The SEC also accuses the attorneys of refusing for nearly a year to provide access to electronic documents in a usable format. Judge: Golf Lawsuit by Giuliani's Son Slices Off Course The Associated Press Suffice it to say that in U.S. Magistrate Judge Wallace Dixon's opinion, ousted Duke University golfer Andrew Giuliani's lawsuit against the school did not make par. Dixon sprinkled golf lingo and even a quote from the movie "Caddyshack" into his written ruling that Giuliani's claim flew off the fairway and landed out of bounds. Dixon's recommended dismissal of the lawsuit by the son of former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani will be reviewed by a higher judge. Souter: Republic Is Lost Unless Civic Education Improves The National Law Journal In a speech Wednesday, retiring Supreme Court Justice David Souter made a powerful plea for re-educating the American public about the fundamentals of how government works. The republic, Souter said, "can be lost, it is being lost, it is lost, if it is not understood." He cited surveys showing large majorities of the public cannot name the three branches of government. Souter spoke at a conference focusing on the independence of the judiciary, convened by retired Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. Nomura Suit Against Cadwalader Survives Dismissal The American Lawyer Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft has taken a lot of lumps lately because of its heavy investment in its securitization practice. Late last month it suffered another setback when a New York judge refused to dismiss a malpractice suit brought by Nomura Asset Capital Corp. arising from a commercial mortgage financing that Cadwalader handled more than a decade ago. The litigation raises questions about whether law firms could bear some liability for soured securitizations. FSA Launches Insider Trading Case Against Two Lawyers Legal Week The U.K.'s Financial Services Authority has brought insider trading charges against two lawyers: Andrew Rimmington, a partner in the London office of Dorsey & Whitney, and Michael McFall, a former partner with McDermott Will & Emery. The criminal prosecution, which carries a maximum prison sentence of seven years, relates to Novartis' 2006 takeover of Neutec, according to court documents. Peter King, Neutec's former financial director, has also been charged. Visit International News Kilpatrick's London Office a Thing of the Past The American Lawyer In a highly unusual move for an Am Law 100 firm, Kilpatrick Stockton has closed its London office. The Atlanta firm has just confirmed the office closing, which occurred in late March, to The Am Law Daily. The decision to do so came after a steady stream of partner departures from the London office over the past five years. Co-managing partner Bill Dorris says the firm is still committed to serving its clients' international needs through links to U.K. practices and its offices in Stockholm and Dubai. Visit International News Lockstep Gaining Favor in Asian Legal Practices The American Lawyer In U.S. legal circles, lockstep compensation usually is described as a relic of the profession's past. Though a handful of elite firms continue to embrace it, most others discarded lockstep and its seniority-based pay scale long ago in favor of performance-based compensation schemes for partners. Many large American law firms are now looking at abolishing lockstep for associates, too. But among emerging leaders of the legal profession in Asia, lockstep is getting a new lease on life. Visit International News The Discoverability of Digital Voicemail Law Technology News Companies have many options to generate, receive, store and retrieve voicemail messages -- all in digital format. While more efficient and flexible, these options raise a number of issues involving the obligation to preserve, search and disclose voicemail messages relevant to litigation. Visit Legal Technology Cutting Costs Is a Way of Life for In-House Fulton County Daily Report How one in-house counsel approaches outside law firms may very well summarize the state of today's legal economy. "I have to personally reduce outside counsel costs," said Michelle L. Meiselman, assistant GC for Akzo Nobel. "If I don't, then it comes out of my bonus -- if there are bonuses this year." Another in-house lawyer and law firm attorneys at a recent panel discussion agreed that cost cutting for outside counsel services to corporations has reached unprecedented levels this year. Visit In-House Counsel It's Time to Face It: The Big Law Bubble Has Burst Fulton County Daily Report What makes a partner a rock star one day and unemployed the next? How could a sought-after law school recruit who was juggling competing six-figure offers just three short years ago be unable to find employment now? The Snark isn't sure it's possible to recognize the peak of your career any more than it is possible to recognize the peak of the stock or housing markets. But it's clear the insulating Big Law bubble has burst, and The Snark says maybe the best thing you can do is be prepared for the decline. Visit the Career Center Copyright 2009. Incisive Media US Properties, LLC. All rights reserved

Full post as published by New York Supreme Court Criminal Term Library on May 21, 2009 (boomark / email).