Legal Research

Selections from National Law Journal Daily Headlines July 25, 2008

By David Badertscher, PLL

Source: NLJ.com, July 25, 2008.

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FROM THE UPCOMING ISSUE  |  Attorneys return to firms after stints elsewhere, including the competition
"When Tim Ryan joined Mayer Brown in July, it didn't take him long to learn his way around. He'd been a new hire at the law firm before ? three times before. Ryan, 37, a partner in the Chicago-based firm's Charlotte, N.C., office, started at Mayer Brown in 1996 right after graduating from the University of Virginia School of Law. Since then, he has taken jobs in-house and at two other law firms, but he has always landed back at the firm where he began. Although Ryan's situation may be extreme, many attorneys are returning to the fold after seeking opportunities elsewhere."

FROM THE UPCOMING ISSUE  |  Deans say call to boycott law school rankings a good idea ? but only in theory
"In response to a recent call to boycott the popular U.S. News & World Report survey of law schools, several deans said they wish it were that easy to make the list go away. Even if the deans were able to act in concert in refusing to provide information for what the vast majority of them say is a flawed instrument, many say that the situation would be the same ? or worse. The notion of getting rid of the rankings 'is whistling in the wind,' said Lawrence Ponoroff, dean of Tulane University Law School."

WEB-ONLY  |  L.A. lawyer charged with making illegal campaign contributions
"Los Angeles attorney Pierce O'Donnell was indicted on federal charges of making $26,000 in "conduit" campaign contributions by reimbursing employees of his law firm who gave to a committee supporting an election campaign for mayor in 2003. If convicted, O'Donnell faces up to 12 years in federal prison."

WEB-ONLY  |  Divorce attorney testifies about privileged conversations in Christensen wire tap trial
"Prominent divorce attorney Stephen A. Kolodny testified on Thursday about the privileged conversations he had with his client in a high profile child support dispute in 2002 in which Terry Christensen, who is facing his second week of trial on federal wiretapping charges, represented his opponent."

WEB-ONLY  |  Colorado ban on taxpayer-funded scholarships to religious school students struck down
"A federal appeals court in Denver has struck down as unconstitutional Colorado's refusal to provide taxpayer-funded scholarships to students at religious schools that the state defines as 'pervasively sectarian.' Colorado Christian University in Lakewood, Colo. challenged the law, and dozens of religious institutions and civil liberties groups weighed in on both sides. "

WEB-ONLY  |  Massachusetts high court widens doctors' liability in negligence cases
"The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts ruled that doctors can be held liable for negligence that reduces a patient's chance of recovery, even when the patient already had less than a 50% chance of survival. The court ruled that the so-called loss of chance doctrine could be a theory of injury allowing a plaintiff to seek compensation if he proves that a doctor's negligence decreased his chances of a favorable medical outcome."

WEB-ONLY  |  D.C. Circuit rules that crash data are open to public
"The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia recently ruled that information that automobile and tire manufacturers submit to the government about crashes resulting in death, injury and property damage, is subject to release to the public under the Freedom of Information Act. Manufacturers have been required since 2003 to submit the information, referred to as "early warning data," under the Transportation Recall Enhancement, Accountability and Documentation (TREAD) Act, but the U.S. Department of Transportation has not disclosed the information because manufacturers appealed a lower court ruling that FOIA applied to the data."

WEB-ONLY  |  N.Y. Law School, patent office to extend pilot project to streamline exam process
"New York Law School and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office will extend and expand a year-long pilot project designed to streamline the patent examination process by opening it to scientific and technical experts. The law school also announced the launch of its new Center for Patent Innovations, headed by Mark Webbink, formerly the senior vice president and general counsel at Red Hat, the premier Linux and open source vendor."

WEB-ONLY  |  Four chosen as Supreme Court fellows for 2008-09
"A federal defender, a staff attorney for a magistrate judge, a state court administrator and rule-of-law advisor for the U.S. Agency for International Development have been selected as Supreme Court fellows for 2008-2009. Each year, fellows are selected by a nine-member commission named by the chief justice of the United States to work with top officials in the judicial branch of government. The program was created in 1973 by the late Chief Justice Warren E. Burger to give promising individuals first-hand experience with the federal government and the judicial branch in particular." 

Full post as published by New York Supreme Court Criminal Term Library on July 25, 2008 (boomark / email).