Legal Research

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LAWYERS WHO GIVE SOUND ADVICE CAN'T BE 'SLAPPED BACK'
"In a ruling that should make lawyers breath a little easier about counseling bellicose clients, the state Supreme Court held Thursday that a litigant who makes a full and honest disclosure to an attorney and believes he is given sound legal advice can't be held liable for lodging a so-called 'SLAPP suit.' In Lobiondo v. Schwartz, A-86-87-07, the Court also stated its reluctance to allow the adversary to lodge a "SLAPP-back" suit charging the plaintiff's attorney with malicious prosecution or abuse of process, saying such an expansive remedy would chill a litigant's ability to pursue a plausibly meritorious claim."

ADJUNCT INVOLVED IN SUIT VS. RUTGERS IS BARRED FROM TEACHING
"Conflict-of-interest rules applicable to state employees apply to Rutgers Law School adjunct professors as well, as one adjunct has discovered to her dismay. Since 2007, Sheryl Mintz Goski has been teaching international mediation, a growing practice area in this age of globalization. In February, she led students to Paris for a moot-court-style international mediation competition. But the university has now told Goski, of Herold Law in Warren, that she can't teach as long as she continues to represent an international company in a commercial dispute with Rutgers Business School. 'Rutgers legitimately may view Ms. Goski's representation ... as interfering with her loyalty and commitment to the University,' the university's general counsel says."

MUNICIPAL COURT BRIEFCASE BAN RANKLES BAR
"In Englishtown, police officers providing security in municipal court have been enforcing a ban on briefcases, pocketbooks and other satchels, according to attorneys who appear there. Any lawyer who comes to court with a briefcase is told to stow it outside the building; only individual files can be taken into the courtroom. But having to trudge back to the car annoys some lawyers, who have complained about the briefcase ban on listservs and in letters to the judiciary and the State Bar Association. On Wednesday, the State Bar trustees passed a resolution calling on courts to respect the rights of lawyers to have briefcases in the courtroom."

DRINKER BIDDLE TO PUT TRAINING OVER SALARIES FOR FIRST-YEARS
"In place of a larger paycheck with an instant requirement of billable hours, Drinker Biddle & Reath associates this September will be part of a training program for six months without that pressure. During the training period, associates will have their salaries reduced to $105,000 and will mainly be expected to shadow partners, similar to an apprenticeship model. Their work will be billed at significantly reduced rates or, where appropriate, written off entirely. The program has been greeted with open arms by law school deans, one of whom calls it 'a courageous step toward the core values of training and mentoring the firm's own attorneys.' "

BY THE NUMBERS, WOOD LEADS SOTOMAYOR AS SOUTER REPLACEMENT
"Judge Diane Wood of the Seventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals should beat out federal bench colleague Judge Sonia Sotomayor of the Second Circuit for the nod as a U.S. Supreme Court candidate ? at least according to an empirical view of one law school professor. University of Chicago Law School Professor Eric Posner this week expanded on a 2004 study of 98 federal appellate judges, determining that Wood outranks Sotomayor in a composite rating based on quantity, quality and independence of court opinions. Posner used the study's analysis of opinions to rank Wood eighth and Sotomayor in the lower half. He included Justice Samuel Alito Jr., previously a judge on the Third Circuit, for perspective, ranking him at No. 16."