Quinn remains

THIS WOULD NEVER HAPPEN AT WILMER

Yankees win

Theeeeeeeeeee Yankees WIN!

what did Ropes and Gray have to do with a 16th Century Spanish ship?

Ropes and Gray to 0k!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OCEANS RISE

CITIES FALL

QUINN REMAINS (a free man!)

Mystal is the WALRUS!

Censorship is rape of the mind!

How will this affect Deferred for Life???

Now it really is Ropes & Chains.

Does Ropes have an established Insider Trading practice group?

Was Deferred for Life one of those arrested???

NY bar scores are up and available at https://www.nybarresults.org/resultslu/results.asp

Rapes & Gay pwnd!

Rumor has it they caught the attorney telling his friend that Blue Horseshoe loves Anacott Steel.

not surprising given that this is the same douchebag firm that stockpiles tamiflu

I'm Ron Burgundy?

Re: 16, here is the link:

http://abovethelaw.com/2009/10/ropes_gray_stockpiling_swine_f.php

That was my favorite ship in Sid Meier's Pirates!

Does anyone have the hiring partner's contact information? Surely, they will be hiring to replace the work that was being done by the accused, right?

This is breaking news? Wasn't someone arrested at another law firm recently for insider trading (for a gain of like $6K)? I don't think this quite qualifies as "breaking news" . . . at least not unless it was a managing partner who made off with millions. That might be interesting. This is just a request for more information.

But I guess you have to report on something . . .

Kash,

I would never use ropes and chains on you during our sexy sexy making unless you wanted me too. please yes thank you.

ShaFeef

Just sent out my resume to Ropes & Gray!

remember the scene in Wall Street when charlie sheen is handcuffed and is escorted out of the office by the police and SEC, crying like a baby. that's happening to r&g partners today? hilarious!

23 has the right idea. Looks like Ropes' investment practices group has a few vacancies. Hope on that ye forlorn 3Ls.

Let the rampant speculation begin . . .

Was this a partner who was balls deep in the mire?

Was this a junior associate who thought he had a fool-proof plan to make a few quick bucks?

Was this a secretary who caught wind of a deal going down and told her hubby to buy "XYZ"?

Was this a janitor who, while cleaning out the trash, found a confidential document and decided to read it and trade on the information therein?

I can tell you this much - if it's anything less than #1, I'm going to be mighty upset that the story got this much attention before we know ANYTHING about it.

Yawn.

this means an office opened up ... undeffer me!

If you recall, Bud Fox received inside tips from his BigLaw friend (played by James Spader).

Art Cutillo is a junior associate in the IP group. He's actually very nice guy. I think he had financial issues because he had a few bad reviews that were setting him up to get laid off, and he has a family to raise. It's very unfortunate.

most likely a few partners

most likely a few partners

Man looks in the abyss, there's nothing staring back at him. At that moment, man finds his character. And that is what keeps him out of the abyss.

Even more important: Is Ropes & Gray's line of credit now jeopardy? Are they now dissolving? Stay tuned.

this is why if you're a top firm you don't hire outside of Y/H/S

never works out

never

30 -

Thank you for providing an actual story to read here. Before your comment, this post was lame.

I loved the Abyss. I am just not sure how that movie is relevant here. Just saying.

36 - but you'd read up to comment 30

stfu

34 - troll much? You did read that this is a junior associate who was arrested, right?

I really can't believe this is true. This is shocking. I hope he plea bargains out because his family will be out on the street if he's put away. This is really tragic.

Ropes has really been messing with people it is planning to fire by dangling the hope that if the associate worked hard enough, he can reverse the trend of bad reviews and keep his job. In actuality, the Boston crew already made up their minds on who to cut, the reviews are pretextual, and there's no way to get out.

If you want the pic Google image "Arthur J. Cutillo".

It's kind of surpirsing that someone as junior as this guy could have gotten really juicy inside information and had the contacts to get much miliage out of it.

Lawyers cheat all the time, just like everyone else. Only a small fraction of cheaters are ever caught. We live in a world full of people who will do whatever it takes to get ahead in business or in life. The problem is the high level of incompetence that exists at our regulatory agencies, because they rarely catch anyone. With so few getting caught and punished, it can come as no surprise that more and more people cheat and break the law in order to get ahead.

Avvo rating: "We have not found any instances of professional misconduct for this lawyer." Might be outdated.

Where did Artie Bucco go wrong??

wow I know this guy, would be the last person I would suspect of doing this.

this is a reflection of r+g's screwing around with junior associates ever since the economy collapsed

keep scaring people into billing more when you've made your mind to fire, this is what happens

shame on you

you should dissolve

also, stop hiring TTT grads

42 -

All you need to know is something that the public doesn't know. If you're working on a deal, you have tons of "juicy information." You know that deal exists, for one. If you then go and buy or sell stock in the company, you could be deemed as having used "insider" information. If you work for a law firm, odds are you have tons of insider information about lots of things. Most people simply don't use it. This guy did. If what people are saying here is true, it's actually a pretty sad story about a guy who was down on his luck making a pretty bad decision that cost him more than he ever would've suspected.

You can see his picture from the firm website if you do a google images search for Arthur Cutillo. Lat - you could save the picture off of the google images search and photoshop it back into his bio.

Here's the direct link - http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:zHd9lpJD97vVGM:http://www.ropesgray.com/files/Professional/0a8210bf-ab8a-4ca1-81d9-bc9a24a86a7a/Presentation/Photo/02004.jpg

wtf is villanova?

Typical Villanova.

Anybody got any good stock tips?

I know this a crazy concept, but just because the guy was arrested DOESN'T MEAN HE ACTUALLY DID ANYTHING, much less is guilty of anything. He may very well be, but the fact is that nobody knows anything right now, much less any relevant facts.

I don't know this guy from a hole in the wall, but I would think that lawyers, of all people, wouldn't get caught up in the usual "he was arrested, so he must have done it" mentality.

Sweet! More Tamiflu for the rest of us here at R&G.

Even if he pleads, he'll still do some active time. The Fed sentencing guidelines are tough on white collar stuff. He'll likely get a minimum of 12 months, more likely 18-24 months, and he'll serve every day of it. The good news is he'll likely spent his time in a minimum security camp, as opposed to sharing a cell with Bubba.

Villanova? And, even worse, Rutttgers?

I know the man very well. I like him very much. But I have no doubt that he did this. He's been very tense for the last few months. I thought it was because of the bad review spiral and his finances and family but now it makes sense.

52 - I heard intel (INTL) is facing a bunch of antitrust liability.

The firm was pretty quick to kick him to the curb. Wonder if they'd have been more restrained in their response if it had been a partner.

53, are you dumb as a post? Lawyers know better than anyone else that virtually everyone arrested for such things is guilty as sin. Go back to sucking someone's dick.

53 = Arthur J. Cutillo

His profile is preserved for posterity in the Wayback Machine:

http://web.archive.org/web/20080604224646rn_1/www.ropesgray.com/arthurcutillo/

A clients really paying $300/hr for a bunch of Nova grads to steal their information??

15 - Well played sir, well played

I knew this guy well. This is really surprising. He was sorta geeky but in a nice way, not really flashy and he didn't particularly stand out academically either. Real short though.

R&G has been using pretextual reviews for well over 10 years. Gotta have a way to be able to lay people off or not make them partner.

53, Professor Donald Jones, is that you?

Sweet news. This may open up jobs for those of us who just passed the NY bar exam!!!

He's ten years out of college, so he's not that young.

60, you're totally right. When you've been arrested and charged with a crime, you're definitely guilty. Just ask Joe Nacchio, Greg Reyes, Ted Stevens, or any number of other white-collar defendants who in just the past year alone have been exonerated.

Who's "dumb as a post" now?

Sincerely,
A white-collar defense lawyer

I knew this guy really well. In fact, I fucked his wife a few times while he watched. I knew there was something odd about him. I mean, he didn't even wack off while I was doing his wife right in front of him.

Lets be honest here. Who among us hasnt tried to profit off of our knowledge of our clients' situations? Who hasnt perhaps furthered their profitability by selling that info down the line once they were done with it? Is it a crime to personally enrich yourself? Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.

60, I didn't say he could get a good lawyer and get off, only that he's probably guilty, just like good old Ted Stevens.

72, is this a confession?

/me throws a rock at 72.

he had a master's in chemical engineering, what a waste to go to law school after that...and how lousy to end up at Ropes & Gray after working for a great company like Merck

I need to see a picture before I can rule on the validity of this arrest.

When I saw who was arrested, I knew I would have to sit down to read the comments. "Ooooh, we found a Villanova grad who did insider trading! Typical TTT."

Where are you hypocritical FTT hacks when your own are arrested? Where is the outrage when your own help to enable Ponzi-scheming members of the criminal corporate enterprise? Villanova grads were not behind Enron, MCI, the Torture Memo, BofA, AGI, or any of the others on the list--amoral, justice-averse FTT hacks were. Your silence is deafening.

It all goes to prove my point about FTTs. A bunch of self-entitled, elitist blue bloods who are more interested in protecting their own profiteering. Then you justify your piracy by calling it capitalism and "zealous representation." In the unfortunate event FTTs are sued for their enablement, their self-dealing FTT buddies on the bench will grant them immunity. I modify my original statements--FTTs are not simply enablers of a criminal enterprise, they are participants.

Stands to reason, given that FTTs don't even need to work to earn their cushy BigLaw jobs--instead, they can rely upon the revolving-door incest policies instituted to insulate FTT hacks from their own stupidity and idleness. See my prior post regarding the NYU grading scale--representative of FTT grading scales in general (if they even grade)--which is more top-heavy than Dolly Parton lactating.

why does it say arrestS at ropes & gray. wasn't it just one guy?

76 -

Wow. You think a masters in chemical engineering is inherently valuable, and that Merck is a great company. I can't comment on how lousy it is to work at Ropes, but I can most certainly say (based on substantial personal knowledge) that the other two are patently wrong.

This doesn't surprise me a bit. I've had some recent dealings with Ropes & Gray and found them unusually sleezy and sneaky.

Dear Partner Emeritus,

Can you please provide some insight as to how you would handle it if something like this happened in your firm?

Thanks,

- Your Biggest Fan

This doesn't surprise me a bit. I've had some recent dealings with Ropes & Gray and found them unusually sleezy and sneaky.

Partner Emeritus--eagerly waiting for your thoughts.

i know it's mean to say, but this is what you get for hiring outside of the T14

don't expect R&G to get the cream of the crop at Y/H/S, but... Villanova? Didn't even know the school has a law school

Hello. After much careful examination, we have decided that the frequency and competency of trolling in this thread warrants an investigation into possible trollercoaster status. Certain posts responding to obvious troll posts in a serious way leads us to believe that entertaining the usual notice and comment procedures would be both dangerous and deleterious to the rule making process. Therefore we will summarily rule as to the status of this thread post haste.

At this time no action is required on your part; please stay tuned.

86 - you fail

85

Apparently the T14 kids suck at logic. This was not a case of incompetance. This was a case of unethical behavior. I know, I know, everyone that has ever gone to harvard has been ethical. I cant think of a single Yale grad who lost their license. For lying to a grand jury. About a blowjob.

This sucks. But I mostly feel bad for his family.

Shouldn't trade on inside info.

Of course, this is how PE made his money, but it was easier to get away with back in the 70s and 80s.

Arthur is a smart, funny, kind person, deeply devoted to his friends, to his community, and to exploring, understanding, and ultimately improving the world around him.

Brian Schroeder's Mom

88 - it is incompetent to do what this guy did

the law is not hard

firms hire t14 grads because such grads won't do what this hack did

ps your response, marshalling in logic -> trite, pathetic

90 - clutch, FTW

91

Breaking the law does not mean incompetance. Take Madoff. The SEC followed the law. Does that make them competant? Madoff broke the law, does that make him incompetant? Or better yet, take all of the ivy league attys that are out there snorting coke off a hookers ass. They are breaking the law. Does that make them incompetant? Breaking some arbitrary rule is an ethical matter.

88 - ttt

YAY!

Passed the bar, not time to pass the restaurant.

91 - anyone JR attorney who thinks they can get away with what Arthur did is an idiot

villanovaTTT, go figure

The level of semantics and forced controversy in posts 87-93 force us to conclude that this thread is indeed riding a low-intensity trollercoaster. The Department of Internet Security has been informed.

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

in fairness to Ropes re: whether this was caused by the firm's dubious performance-based layoff bs, the allegations suggest that this guy passed the info back in 2007

if he was being set up with bad reviews for termination back then, given what happened at Ropes in May, he would have been gone LONG before today.

90 Rules

Job Opening at Ropes & Gray?

HLS grads torch churches.

The Bloomberg article states: "ccording to today’s court filings, some of the defendants traded on inside information related to Bain Capital LLC’s proposed buyout of 3Com Corp. Cutillo, an attorney who worked at Ropes & Gray LLP, allegedly stole information from his law firm and leaked inside information to Goldfarb, according to the FBI."

He stole information? Or did he just hear something at the water cooler and pass it on, perhaps accidentally? We'll know soon enough. It certainly makes you want to not hang out with hedge fund folks or others who would be dirty enough to use such information.

For all you who are focusing on this dude's pedigree (or lack thereof), read Den of Theives---it describes how a WLRK PARTNER got busted for insider trading in the 80s.

80 - it takes a lot more intelligence to get a master's in chemical engineering than law, just look at all the idiots you know who are lawyers...but maybe I'm wrong in assuming that chemical engineers have better job prospects than lawyers (if not earning potential), I don't know...I guess we just disagree about Merck, I think it is a great company and is built to last unlike many law firms...in any event, my larger point is that there are simply too many lawyers, America needs more scientists and people who actually create something

76

The headline says "Arrests at Ropes and Gray." Was it, in fact, multiple arrests?

In my country, they cut off your right hand with a scimitar for this offense.

ShaFeef

ps: Kash, I would never let this happen to you my little camel blossom!

does rg even interview at willanowa?

Please remove # 71.

Please remove # 71.

Please remove # 71.

104 - You're misreading the word "stole." He "stole" information in the sense that he misappropriated it and passed it on for his own personal gain. That doesn't mean he didn't have the right to use it in the firm. It's like my office chair. I have the right to use it in my office all I want, but if I take it home to use at my home computer, I've stolen it.

93 - you are "incompetant".

71 --> "I knew this guy really well. In fact, I fucked his wife a few times while he watched. I knew there was something odd about him. I mean, he didn't even wack off while I was doing his wife right in front of him"

for reals?

"In case the Google Cache entry is removed, we have posted Arthur Cutillo’s bio after the jump.:

Awwwwwwwwwwwww. How sweet of you, Lat!

Bitch.

Figures that this guy is Jewish.

Glondor

I thought Blue Horshoe loved Teldar Paper. Maybe I am missing something.

Ralph Lauren shirt ftw

108 -- in my country, they would cut off both of his hands for this heinous act, god willing.

He was hired for his technical knowledge, not his law pedigree.

More bad publicity for S&C this week:

"UPDATE (12:15 AM): U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara (S.D.N.Y.) is giving a press conference discussing the charges. One of the other individuals charged, Michael Kimelman, once worked as an associate at Sullivan & Cromwell."

Can you say FUGLY? Makes sense for someone with a tech background.

Why is my groin engulfed in flames right now?

42: not that difficult at all. he just had to wait for them to spread their cheeks...

In my country we would not cut off his hands. In fact, this will likely serve as a launching pad for his career. I am quite certain that at some point folks will find a way to get him into politics as a bailout specialist, or governor, or perhaps even president!

Honestly, it would not surprise me if this ultimately led to the creation of new legislation...perhaps a bill called the "Creative Use of Information Act"!!!!!

At least he didn't burn down a church.

Sullivan & Cromwell is PE's firm. He should be proud.

law students probably want to throw up, back in the day associate editor of the villanova environmental law journal was good enough to get a job at ropes

This should be a good lesson to firms who keep on unfairly and incompetently throwing people on the street.

If you work at a law firm, you can't help but to have access to tons of insider information and it is not difficult to find somebody who can use it. If done well, and we know the SEC can't catch a two legged dog on ice, you can profit from it.

However, why do lawyers working for prestigious law firms don't do it? Is it because of the ethical guidelines or the small chance of getting caught? No, because they have a secure job that pays well and they have a future. They don't think it is worth it.

What happens when a law firm constantly stealthly lays off associates, makes up bad reviewes for them while keeping them on payroll. Further, what happens when all those who are there realize there is no freaking way in hell anybody is making partner in the next 5 years. The calculations change, especially for those who are about to be laid off, and people will engage in insider trading. Further, if they see that they will be laid off, they can just screw with you and your clients in other legal ways such as doing a crappy job, making mistakes in documents, deleting half of your system and other more sinister ways. What are you going to do, fire me twice?

The lesson to learn from this is that partners cannot continiously treat associates like total shit because even though shit rolls downhill, once it accumulates enough, those on top will be siting in shit as well.

If I was a client, I would not do business with firms who have a mistreated their associates and who have hundeds of people, most of whom still have insider info since many of the old deals are coming back, hating them. Firms like Latham, Orrick, Winston and others (please freel free to add) should not be trusted with confidential information because there is a chance that such information will leak or your deals will get screwed up on purpose.

Of course, nobody should be dealing with ropes and gray. I would pull my deals back and make sure they delete everything from their system. You don't know how many more people are involved in this conspiracy. If this guy is as geeky as he appears to be, there is probably a more senior person involved.

P.S. This is what happens when you hire people from shitty schools. Without you, they have no chance at a decent legal career both because they don't have a pedigree and cause they are stupid. It's either ropes and gray or [my name] and associates P.C.

In my country, we punish the insider trading by slicing open infidel and trading his insides with dung of camel.

Hammurabi

110-112= Hyper-sensitive bitch

Not that it makes any difference, but Art was not hired by Ropes. He summered at Fish & Neave, which was acquired by Ropes after he summered, but before he started as a first year.

130 -- "If I WERE a client..."

This guy is the low man on the totem pole. They probably arrested him to get him to turn witness on the bigger fish in this mess. Its just sad that ATL has turned over this poor junior associate over to the public to criticize and slander. Even if he avoids jail time, you've destroyed any potential for this guy to get another job.

It takes more intelligence to get a bachelors in chemical engineering than a law degree. Not so for the masters degree.

I shaved my balls for this?

"If what people are saying here is true, it's actually a pretty sad story about a guy who was down on his luck making a pretty bad decision that cost him more than he ever would've suspected."

Sad ?

Merely a "bad decision" ?

How about unethical ?

How about illegal ?

Don't worry though. Even if you didn't learn how to make those distinctions at your momma's knee or in law school, you'll probably learn about them in the bar review course.

130--(1) he passed the information years ago, during the "good times," and (2) ropes elevated 8 to partner within the last few weeks.

136 - well, he has both a bachelor's and master's in chemical engineering...I have neither so I don't know which is harder, will take your word for it

139. 8 out of 200. great odds.

134 - good job finding a mistake in my 6th paragraph. Are you so dim as to think I will double check my rantings on a blog?

139 - valid point about good times but not a valid one about partners. 8 is pretty freaking low for a large firm like ropes. Further how many of them had a daddy partner or had some family client and how many of them actually earned their way? Also, non-equity is not a partner, that's a senior associate. How many of them are non-equity?

138,

You've never done anything illegal in your life? Perhaps had two drinks and then gotten into your car?

Do you think the picture of this guy was taken at a time when he knew that he had passed on inside information? The guy looks pretty relaxed and happy for someone who knows he could lose his license and job, and go to prison for a long time.

130/142 - No, I think you should get your grammar right the first time.

- 134

142--

It's not 8 out of 200. Ropes hired 200 summers this year, but not nine or ten years ago.

Ropes does not do the equity/non-equity thing.

141/142, that's fair enough. but my point is still that it's not fair to say that all associates at a firm are insider traders waiting for circumstances to "force" them into breaking the law. can you really say that any v100 firm does a better or worse job recruiting and screening for unethical associations to work on deals, or that conditions at a particular firm are more likely to lead its attorneys to insider trading?

130 = "Partners cannot..."? I used to say the same thing about my boss at Burger King. He told me to go **** myself. Selling fast food is a business not a coffee clatch. The same with law.

Everyone I know here is shocked. We know Artie as a kind, outgoing, thoughtful and funny person. He was really involved at school, and is an incredibly fun person to be around. I can’t defend what he did, and no one here knows what could have possibly possessed him to do it, but he is not the evil, selfish person people are portraying him as. I know bold, entitled, self-involved Nova types, and Arthur is not one of them. It was an indescribably stupid thing to do, but not something anyone at Ropes thought he was capable of.

People here are also concerned about the homophobia and bigotry that animates many of the comments about what happened. There are concerns that the emotions surrounding the 9/11 tragedy will set him up to be crucified. But to those who know him this is extremely surprising, and saddening, because a very talented and usually thoughtful person has probably thrown away his bright future over what was likely a thoroughly stupid drunken mistake.

"Interestingly enough, he was an IP litigator, not a corporate attorney."

IP litigators often have more information about pending deals then corporate attorneys because they perform due diligence of the target's intellectual property. At my firm, a few IP attorneys perform IP diligence on every corporate deal.

This is not the first, nor second time a Villanova Law alum is arrested. This is precisely the reason why we don't hire from there.

@ 130. You're a troll. But you wrote a lot, and so you should get some sort of response calling you on your bullshit. Otherwise, casual readers might think you are creditworthy.

1. Quality of schools has nothing to do with it.

2. Reputation. It matters. Really. Even in my market (NE, large one) people know who's done what. They watch & remember. If you croak an assignment for your firm, your opposing counsel will (a) know, (b) remember, and (c) associate your name with the fuck-up. And what that means is, you'll not be trusted ever again. You will have the street reputation of being a fuck-up. Trust me, I always call my friends to learn about counsel I've not litigated against before - "Hey Christy, I'm litigating against a guy who used to work at your shop - what's the word? Is he a stand-up guy?" They'll tell me, because they're partners at their firms, sure, but they're also my friends.

Even if you HATE your firm, you do not EVER blow an assignment or do a half-assed job. Never. Never. Never. If you do, it WILL be found out. And the reputation will haunt you for the next 5-7 years.

My experience w/Ropes has been mixed - I've always been on the receiving end w/r/t litigation. I've found them skilled but sometimes unnecessarily confrontational.

Finally, about schools. In my experience, the kids from Suffolk Law have been far, far better attorneys than the kids from Harvard or BU. Other things being equal, I'll hire the SU kid b/f I hire the Harvard kid. I could detail my intuition about the reasons, but all I can say is (a) your comment ("This is what happens when you hire people from shitty schools") is a masterful troll, or (b) you're so ignorant that further analysis would be wasted.

-- ET!

149 lol

Check out Michael Kimelman, former associate at Sullivan & Cromwell = Graduate of University of Southern California Law School.

143 > "You've never done anything illegal in your life? Perhaps had two drinks and then gotten into your car?"

Of course I have.

And that would have been criminal NEGLIGENCE.

What the rogue R&G associate is being accused of is INTENTIONALLY violating multiple federal and state securities by profiting from the sale of inside information as part of an ongoing insider trading scheme.

I knew Art well. Though I would be extremely surpised by any lawyer I knew being brought up on these charges, I can honestly say Art is one of the last I'd have ever expected. I don't know what (or if) he actually did, but I can say that as a person, he's always been one hell of a nice guy. He's also always been atypical in his attitude toward working at a great firm in a large city, in that he's always remained friendly, unassuming, and humble.

I just thought I would add those words, since so many of you (who obviously don't know him) are casting dispersions about who he was as a person.

I'll remain hopeful that Art has been falsely accused, but in any event, I won't let this negate the many good deeds he has done. Good luck Art.

155-

No intent requirement for insider trading.

152,

At big firms in big markets first through third year associates are often not known by the opposing counsel or the client since they are generally doing small research assignments. At many firms many of the partners, especially if they are in other practice groups, don't even know your name let alone how well you've done.

Oh and associates at big firms are definitely phoning it in. I can tell you that at my firm junior associates see no point in going the extra mile when the firm will conduct layoffs en masse yet blame everyone's work product. If the firm will give you a shitty performance review even if you put in 110%, then you might as well slow down and begin looking elsewhere. Most firms don't bother writing nice recommendations when they lay you off. Even if they do, partners are instructed to avoid mention of economic difficulties, so as not to damage the firm's reputation. Senior associates face a similar dilemma.

155 - "No intent requirement for insider trading."

Agreed.

My point in that comment was not to lay out relevant elements of the charged offense (e.g., fiduciary relationship, materiality, etc.), but to point out that, if the allegations are correct, the R&P associate fully intended to sell the information for his own personal profit.

There's no evidence that he was drunk, doped up, stupid or negligent.

He was a well-paid lawyer in a big firm who had co-authored a litigation defense manual for private equity firms.

He chose to violate a client confidence and to intentionally violate the federal securities law.

It is too bad that nobody along the way (family, law school, R&P) educated him with respect to what his responsibilities to his clients, employer, and the law are.

Top article on Forbes.com too, talks about lawyers specifically:

http://www.forbes.com/2009/11/05/galleon-insider-trading-ropes-gray-personal-finance-lawyers.html

"It is too bad that nobody along the way (family, law school, R&P) educated him with respect to what his responsibilities to his clients, employer, and the law are."

He knew what his responsibilties were. It seems that he chose to ignore them.

Several posters have said nice things about him. That's the side of him that you knew.

If this young man is convicted he is going to pay a very heavy price. Prison time, disbarment and damage to reputation that will be with him for the rest of his life.

I hope that he has a strong family. He is going to need their support.

60 = Japanese Judge

Love the R&G logo on the posterboard used in the press conference.

Love the R&G logo on the posterboard used in the press conference.

Hey 117 - re: "Figures that this guy is Jewish."
He is NOT Jewish. But you're still an anti-Semitic ignoramous.

Hey 117 - re: "Figures that this guy is Jewish."
He is NOT Jewish. But you're still an anti-Semitic ignoramous.

Did he fail the NY bar in 2005?

156, I don't want to cast any aspersions on your vocabulary but one does not cast dispersions.

Wow. Art is an incredibly nice guy. Genuine. I am sitting here going... I hope there's an explanation and, if not, what were you thinking, Art? He's got another baby on the way... R&G must be struggling, rumor is that there are many cuts coming among the associate ranks on the 26th.

I think it's a stretch to interpret this unethical behavior as reflecting some greater malaise at Ropes or as a response to stealth layoffs (or as a reaction to any meta issue involving the legal profession). I've no earthly clue why he did what he did, but I'm reasonably sure that it involved more than low billables or "being treated like total shit" by the partnership. And while he may be a nice person, if potentially a very troubled one, he betrayed our clients' trust and damaged the reputation of a firm I've been proud to practice with. It's depressing.

You are absolutely right 170. I should not have put the associate layoff comment in the same sentence. I think many, like me, wonder why someone like Art would get involved in something like this. I should have in no way tied it to the firm or the hard working folks at R&G. -169

That is what happens when you hire shitty TTT graduates and when threaten to lay them off. You would hire a Suffolk grad over Harvard - well, that means you have no freaking chance of a Harvard graduate accepting an interview with your firm, even in this economy. How pathetic are you is that you justify the fact that you hire middle of the class Suffolk graduates by the belief that they are better than Harvard graduates. I agree with you on the BU - they suck balls.

169 -

So you're saying that there are rumors flying around talking about associate layoffs coming on Thanksgiving? Something tells me that you're full of poo.

It makes no sense to say that layoffs that may have happened at Ropes THIS year had anything to do with Art's giving away information on deals that were happening back in 2007, long before the financial crisis...

167: Cutillo likely did not fail the NY Bar exam. He was admitted in NY the year following his NJ admission because NY runs the background check after you passed the exam.

Moderator-- delete #71.

All of you who've posted incredibly horrible things-- shame on you. It's not right that he did what he did-- IF he did it-- but no excuse for what's been written.

Anyone who is curious as to why us lawyers have the horrible reputation that we do-- look no further than the disgusting comments on ATL.

Delete #71

Delete #71