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Why Is O’Melveny & Myers So ‘Spicy’ Today?
(And a PSA from ATL: Beware of ‘subpoenas’ today.)

Monday, April 14, 2008 3:20 PM - By David Lat

Earlier today, a reader emailed us:

Google Trends has O’Melveny & Meyers listed as “spicy” today. Any idea why?

Here’s a screenshot. It’s impressive that, on April 14, OMM is right behind “tax extension” and actually ahead of “irs extension form”:

O'Melveny Myers 2 Google Trends Hot Trends Spicy Above the Law blog.jpg

So what could be driving OMM’s fame? Its involvement in the high-profile Harry Potter copyright case, in which it’s representing Warner Bros. and author J.K. Rowling?

Quite possibly. But there may be an additional (and less fortunate) reason for said “spiciness.” From a different reader:

O’Melveny & Myers appears to have been hacked, with their name being listed on some Form AO-088 subpoenas being sent around. I wonder how many people have received these e-mails. They contain a link to click to download the entire subpoena. Is this the first case of a law firm being used to spread a virus?

Actually, that’s not entirely true. Although OMM’s name appears on fake “subpoenas” making the rounds in cyberspace, it was NOT the firm whose computers were inflitrated. Rather, it was the federal court system whose computers were hacked (which may not be surprising — government can’t afford the same level of cyber-protection as a private law firm).

We learned this after contacting an O’Melveny spokesperson. She helpfully put us in touch with Marty Metz, Director of Information Technology for the firm, who explained the situation:

“The emails come from a uscourts dot gov address. They include a reference to a subpoena in a case that has been long since over, and [some] even misspell O’Melveny’s name. It’s an internet hoax, a spam attack.”

More details, after the jump.

Metz added that email traces show the attack originated out of London this morning. “These spammers are pretty sophisticated,” he said. “They are bouncing the messages off the U.S. courts servers. They hit people’s inboxes, and if the person doesn’t have good spam filtering and open the attachments, they harvest the person’s address book and send messages out to [the people in it].”

According to Metz, the U.S. Courts crew sent out a notice about this hoax earlier today. You can also find mention of it on their website:

Notice: Invalid Subpoenas

Reports have been received of bogus e-mail grand jury subpoenas, purportedly sent by a United States District Court. The e-mails are not a valid communication from a federal court and may contain harmful links. Recipients are warned not to open any links or download any information relating to this e-mail notice. The emails were sent from a uscourts.com address. The federal Judiciary’s email address is uscourts.gov. Law enforcement authorities have been notified.

O’Melveny & Myers isn’t the only firm mentioned in the fake “subpoenas,” Metz added. It appears the spammers had a list of law firm names that they plugged into the faux subpoenas. Such spam and virus attacks are “an unfortunate reality in today’s world,” he said. “It’s why we need to keep our spam filters and virus control up to the date all the time. If you don’t know the sender of an email, then don’t open it.”

As a general rule, it’s not a good idea to ignore a subpoena. But if you receive one today by email, especially if it purports to be from O’Melveny & Myers, then ignore away.

Notice: Invalid Subpoenas [U.S. Courts]

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Posted in: Email Scandals, Junk Email / Spam, O'Melveny & Myers, Technology, Weirdness

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