* A dramatic closer look at Wolf Block’s collapse. [Philadelphia Magazine]
* The media buzz this week on Sotomayor: Her decision in the New Haven firefighters case could be a key issue during her confirmation hearings. [USA Today]
* Minnesota’s Supreme Court will hear arguments today in the Coleman–Franken election race. Yes, it is still going on. [Wall Street Journal]
* GM files for bankruptcy today. Wasn’t it always just a matter of time? [Associated Press]
* U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Arthur Gonzalez has approved Chrysler’s sale of most of its business to Fiat. [Bloomberg]
* A Georgia man is facing execution for murdering an off-duty cop in 1989, even though seven out of the nine witnesses have recanted their testimony. Should SCOTUS intervene? [New York Times]
Eliza Gray
Posts by Eliza Gray
-
Posted in:
Bankruptcy, Death Penalty, SCOTUS, Sonia Sotomayor, WolfBlock
Morning Docket 6.01.09
By Eliza Gray-
Posted in:
Bankruptcy, Barack Obama, Guantanamo Bay, Immigration, Morning Docket, SCOTUS
Morning Docket 5.22.09
By Eliza Gray
* Republicans slam Obama for his “empathy” standard for his SCOTUS nominee, citing an earlier speech on the Senate floor emphasizing a different standard. [The Washington Post]
* Speaking of Obama, is he “the best lawyer to occupy the U.S. presidency since William Howard Taft”? [Foreign Policy]
* The Yankees held a moot court in a room off the clubhouse. Would you want to face a jury of Derek Jeter and Johnny Damon? [The New York Times]
* The Justice Department has arranged for the first Guantanamo inmate to be tried in a New York court. [The Washington Post]
* Shuttered Chrysler dealers may have a tough time fighting their closures in court, due to the freedom that bankruptcy laws give courts to tear up contracts. [The Wall Street Journal]
* Immigrants are being deported in the middle of their court cases. [The Los Angeles Times]
* President Obama will talk about his plans to close Guantanamo in a national address in order to rally support from the public after getting shut down by members of Congress. [CNN]
* After quietly accepting charges from several states, Craiglist is fighting back. The company sued South Carolina’s attorney general for violating free speech and the Commerce Clause with his prosecution threats. [San Francisco Chronicle]
* A “flamboyant” high profile defense attorney in New Jersey who was famous for saying “no witness, no case” has been charged with having key witnesses murdered. [New York Times]
* “Manhattan prosecutors have charged a New York personal injury lawyer with stealing $650,000 in client settlement money. [ABA Journal]
* Despite his liberal tendencies, David Souter treated the business community well. Will Obama’s successor do the same? [Wall Street Journal]
* The pitfalls and benefits of power of attorney. [New York Times]
-
Posted in:
Jeffrey Toobin, John Roberts, Morning Docket, Twittering
Morning Docket 05.20.09
By Eliza Gray
* Struggling to compete for business in a shrinking market, law firms are hiring image and marketing consultants to improve their chances–one Philadelphia-based image consultant even tells them how to dress for the courtroom. Lay-off problem solved–apparently all you need is a makeover. [The Wall Street Journal]
* Not only that, but in an effort to be more business savvy, more firms are investing in management courses for their top lawyers. [The Wall Street Journal]
* Tweets lawyers should follow. [Law.com]
* Jeffrey Toobin on John Roberts. [The New Yorker]
UPDATE: * Kash on Toobin on Roberts. [Above The Law]
* The District US Court of Appeals ruled that the White House can keep emails from the public because the White House Office of Administration is not subject to The Freedom of Information Act. [The Philadelphia Inquirer]
-
Posted in:
Guantanamo Bay, Morning Docket, Paralegals, SCOTUS, Sarbanes-Oxley / Sarbox / SOX
Morning Docket 5.19.09
By Eliza Gray
* A word of advice to the new summer associates: Paralegals can’t be trusted. [Legal Intelligencer]
* SCOTUS dismissed the lawsuit that sought to punish top Bush officials, including former Attorney General John Ashcroft, for detaining Muslims that were not involved in 9-11. [Christian Science Monitor]
* Military commission trials for Guantanamo detainees present many of the same challenges that the Bush administration faced, in spite of Obama’s facelift. [New York Times]
* The White House passed on an opportunity to bring a case involving gays in the military to the Supreme Court. Are they stalling and playing politics or are they right to say that the law should be changed in the legislature and not the courts? [Wall Street Journal (subscription)]
* What do potential SCOTUS nominees and ambulance chasers have in common? Uh, hopefully nothing…[Esquire]
* The court will hear a case against Sarbanes-Oxley in the fall term–is this the time to question too much oversight? [Washington Post]
* Conservatives are gearing up to attack Obama’s SCOTUS nominee. [The New York Times]
* The White House is preparing for the fight, and has hired Stephanie Cutter, who currently works for Timothy Geithner in the the Treasury Department, to help with the confirmation process. [CNN]
* But some Republican Senators say that Obama’s nominee will be confirmed no matter what they do (barring some major flaw). [The New York Times]
* The new Justice, whoever she, or he, but probably she may be, will have a busy docket this fall, including a case deciding whether juvenile offenders who commit crimes before they turn 18 can be sentenced to life in prison. [Reuters]
* The U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan is investigating at least 8 of Madoff’s investors and associates, including one of his closest friends. [The Wall Street Journal]
* Two enforcement lawyers at the SEC are being investigated for insider trading. [The Financial Times]
* The New York Times couldn’t get a quote from Justice Scalia about the Fordham privacy invasion, but we did. It feels good to gloat. [New York Times]
-
Posted in:
Department of Justice, Lesbians, Morning Docket, Robert Wone, SCOTUS, Senate Judiciary Committee, Supreme Court
Morning Docket 5.08.09
By Eliza Gray
* There has been plenty off talk about potential Supreme Court nominees, but how about the conservative groups gearing up to oppose them? [The Washington Post]
* Two highly qualified lesbians, Virginia Linder and Kathleen Sullivan, are apparently on Obama’s Supreme Court short list. [ABC News]
* The ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Senator Jeff Sessions, says that an openly gay Supreme Court nominee should be treated fairly “regardless of what kind of persuasion they may have.” [Fox News]
* Meanwhile Specter has lost his seniority on the Senate Judiciary Committee and will become the chairman of the subcommittee on crime and drugs. “What we don’t want is an angry former Republican during a Supreme Court hearing,” said a Democratic staffer. [Washington Post]
* Police continue to investigate mysteries surrounding the death of Robert Wone, a Washington lawyer who was murdered in 2006. [The Blog of Legal Times]
* Did you know there was an elite “Public Integrity Section” in the Department of Justice tasked with probing corruption charges of public officials? [The New York Times]
* A Los Angeles Judge accused an asbestos litigation firm of playing “a grisly game of asbestos litigation” after they refiled a Texas case in California because it has more exacting standards for a defendant to obtain summary judgment. Perhaps, judge, you’ve lost a little perspective? [ABA Journal]
* A German court rejected a woman’s appeal to take her married name Frieda Rosemarie Thalheim-Kunz-Hallstein because it is too long. [Time.com]
* “Across Georgia, poor people accused of crimes are being abandoned by their lawyers because there is no money to pay their legal fees” (this might put deferred start dates in to perspective).[The Atlanta Journal Constitution]
* Madoff “turned his investment firm into his ‘personal piggy bank,’” using the ponzi money for his family’s expenses. Personally, I have no energy for renewed outrage. [Bloomberg.com]
-
Posted in:
Bankruptcy, David Souter, Jury Duty, Morning Docket, Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Morning Docket 05.06.09
By Eliza Gray
* President of San Francisco’s Federal Reserve says the economy is getting better. “For the first time in a while, there is some good news to savor.” If by good news, you mean that laid-off lawyers have taken to wearing track suits around the house “savoring” comfort food instead of 6-figure salaries, then yes, there is reason for optimism. [Bloomberg.com]
* Meanwhile, Chrysler’s bankruptcy judge Arthur Gonzalez paved the way for a fire sale of most of the company’s assets. [Reuters]
* A Miami juror, who was on the jury deliberating the case of 6 men accused of conspiring to destroy the Sears Tower in Chicago, was replaced for refusing to deliberate. Got to hand it to her for getting out of jury duty. [The New York Times]
* Souter says goodbye, telling the U.S. Court of Appeals that a jurist’s satisfaction is “not in the great moments, but in being part of the great stream.” [The Washington Post]
* Should there be more women in the “great stream” Souter described. Justice Ginsburg says the Court would benefit from another woman. [USA Today]
* Senator Chuck Schumer went to bat for Loretta Lynch, former U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, who held the job under Clinton and who has just been re-appointed by Obama. [The New York Times]
-
Posted in:
Bankruptcy, Craigslist, David Souter, Morning Docket
Morning Docket 5.05.09
By Eliza Gray
* The bankruptcy judge has made several decisions to keep Chrysler afloat including allowing a $4.5 billion credit line from the U.S. and Canadian governments. [The Detroit Free Press]
* State attorneys general will meet with Craiglist to discuss the elimination of advertisements for “illegal sexual activities.” [The Associated Press]
* In the Court’s first public appearance since Souter announced his retirement–there were many announcements of decisions and upcoming cases–but no mention of the elephant in the room. One case that will be decided is whether it is cruel and unusual punishment to give minors life sentences for serious crimes like rape. [The Washington Post]
* A group of biker lawyers has gotten together to form a small Los Angeles firm that represents victims of motorcycle accidents. [The Los Angeles Times]
* The story of a Beijing lawyer who took on Communist officials in court is evidence of how little freedom Chinese citizens really have. [The Los Angeles Times]
* Kenya has emerged as the chosen venue to try piracy cases. This article is worth it just for the quotes from the Kenyan piracy lawyer. Just try to imagine how much cooler your life would be if you were a Kenyan Piracy lawyer instead of a Biglaw associate. [The New York Times]
* Florida Judge Thomas Stringer worked for years to establish himself as a trusted, competent man. “then last spring, the well-respected, married judge suddenly found his face splashed beside that of a troubled exotic dancer in a kimono,” including here at ATL, of course. Amazing. [The Associated Press]
* Attorney General Eric Holder dodged alternating attacks on Capitol Hill Thursday, with some Congressman telling him to release more documents on Bush-era torture, and some telling him to stop releasing them. [CNN]
Ed. Note: Sorry for the delay. We’re having technical issues this morning. Please bear with us! (And, no, “technical” does not translate to “hungover.”)
* The Iranian court will consider the appeal of the Iranian-American journalist who was sentenced to eight years in prison for “spying on Iran for Washington.” [The New York Times]
* The Supreme Court will take up a case in Arizona “that could limit a federal court’s power to tell states to spend more money to educate students who aren’t proficient in English.” [The Associated Press]
* U.S. Attorney Catherine Hanaway from Missouri is leaving her job to start a law firm with former U.S. attorney general and Missouri governor John D. Ashcroft. Ashcroft’s apparent lack of ambition could pose a problem for the new firm. [St. Louis Post-Dispatch]
* Texas financier R. Allen Stanford, orchestrator of that other Ponzi scheme, has asked a judge to unlock $10 million in frozen assets so he can hire lawyers to save him from his inevitable demise. “It’s not fair,” said Houston criminal defense attorney Dick Deguerin, who is defending Stanford on the “hope” that he will have enough money to pay him. “We’re going to need lawyers all over the world.” Keep hoping, Deguerin–and dreaming of money. [Bloomberg]
* A South Korean blogger, Park Dae-sung, a.k.a. Minerva, a.k.a. “the prophet of doom,” who predicted sharp falls in the stock market and the collapse of Lehman brothers was acquitted Monday of spreading false information…because he was obviously right. [Reuters]
-
Posted in:
Andrew Cuomo, Covington & Burling, Morning Docket, Sarah Palin
Morning Docket 3.27.09
By Eliza Gray
* The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that hundreds of juvenile court cases in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania will soon be overturned. After former judge Mark Ciavarella pleaded guilty to accepting bribes from juvenile prisons in exchange for more convictions, the state hired a “Special Master” to investigate. He is not a Malasian Martial Arts expert or the Commander of a space shuttle. [WNEP news]
* Cuomo is still running around in his superhero cape putting out bonus fires. He has expanded his investigation into credit derivatives to see whether banks like Goldman Sachs received taxpayer funds. Do I smell a presidential run in 2012? [Bloomberg]
* In a stunning act of self parody, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin has picked a Director for the NRA for the state’s new Attorney General. Check out this sweet picture of him sitting on a hummer. [Anchorage Daily News]
* Former Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff has joined Covington & Burling. [Covington & Burling LLP]
* Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen has a different response to executive compensation than Cuomo and Blumenthal. He says “..there is no law in Wisconsin making a contract illegal simply because someone is well compensated.” [The Wall Street Journal]
* In case you missed it, ATL got a shout out in the New York Times and Time Magazine.
-
Posted in:
Adam Liptak, Dreier, Gay, Hillary Clinton, Morning Docket, Rod Blagojevich, Supreme Court
Morning Docket 3.25.09
By Eliza Gray
* A U.S. District Judge in Virginia, Rebecca Beach Smith, will soon decide whether preserved Titanic artifacts must remain available to the public. [The San Francisco Chronicle]
* Adam Liptak gives us a lively look into the Supreme Court discussion about the highly critical Hillary documentary. [The New York Times]
* Obama’s lawyers were in lock-step with Bush policies Tuesday, arguing in favor of the decision to refuse one of Europe’s leading Muslim intellectuals entry in to the U.S. [Reuters]
* Pakistan’s supreme court chief justice returned to court Tuesday amid dancing supporters. [The Associated Press]
* Attorneys cringe as Blagojevich continues to put himself in the spotlight despite his pending federal corruption indictment. [The Associated Press]
* Dreier LLP may be able to reduce a $29 million claim from Wachovia. They need all the help they can get. [Greenwich Time]
* Barney Frank defends calling Scalia a “homophobe.” [The Boston Globe]
-
Posted in:
Andrew Cuomo, Antonin Scalia, Bernie Madoff, Morning Docket, Pornography, Sexual Harassment, Wal-Mart
Morning Docket 3.24.09
By Eliza Gray
* United Airlines settled a suit filed by a former pilot, who resigned after repeatedly finding porn in hidden places in her cockpit, including underneath a cap on a safety device called a “stick shaker” (no pun intended). Click to see United’s ridiculous effort to dismiss. [The Seattle Times]
* Attorney General Andrew Cuomo convinced 9 out of the top 10 bonus recipients at AIG to return their bonuses. Who is number 10? [The New York Times]
* Barney Frank called Antonin Scalia a “homophobe.” [The Associated Press]
* It turns out that Madoff has more than $1 billion worth of assets and the french authorities plan to seize his chateau in Cap d’Antibe, France, so maybe his victims can get a time share? No? [The Associated Press]
* A court battle between billionaire Wilbur Ross and hedge fund manager Bruce Rose may be the key to understanding the housing crisis. [Bloomberg]
* A sex-discrimination suit against Wal-Mart reaches the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals today. 200 female employees say women in comparable jobs don’t get paid as much as men. [The Huffington Post]
* Preservationists think a landmark case in Chicago is cause for alarm. [The New York Times]
-
Posted in:
Bonuses, Dreier, Morning Docket, SCOTUS, Supreme Court
Morning Docket 3.23.09
By Eliza Gray
* The vultures are circling around Dreier LLP’s Park Avenue office–an auctioneer’s website reads “everything must be sold,” but Dreier’s indictment last week says he must forfeit the firm’s assets–the prosecutors and bankruptcy trustee will have to fight it out. [The National Law Journal]
* “U.K. regulatory lawyers advising clients on the financial crisis and scandals bill as much $1,440 an hour.” “It’s our time in the sun,” says regulatory lawyer Darren Fox–alright Fox, wipe that smug look off your face–just because former M&A lawyers in the states can’t even get volunteer jobs–doesn’t make it OK to gloat. [Bloomberg.com]
* The Connecticut Attorney General got aggressive about AIG bonuses over the weekend. The outrage continues with new information that AIG payed out $218 million in bonuses, more than the $165 originally reported.[The Los Angeles Times]
* Enron executive Scott Yeager will be the first to bring his case before the U.S. Supreme Court. [The Houston Chronicle]
* SCOTUS will review “Hillary: The Movie,” and decide whether the scathing documentary should have been regulated as a campaign ad. [The Associated Press]
* A specialist on law firm finances says New York firms need to follow each others lead and re-shape associate pay–replacing “lockstep” with merit pay. [The Lawyer.com]
* An interesting case for the judge’s probable ruling to uphold Proposition 8 from a progressive gay marriage supporter. [The Washington Post]
-
Posted in:
Andrew Cuomo, Eric Holder, Heller Ehrman, Jenner & Block, Katten Muchin Rosenman, Latham & Watkins, Marijuana, Morning Docket
Morning Docket 3.20.09
By Eliza Gray
* AIG turned in the list of bonus recipients to New York’s Attorney General Andrew Cuomo yesterday–let the games begin. Just kidding, I too fear for the safety of heavily compensated AIG executives–there is nothing scarier than an angry progressive. [The Los Angeles Times]
* Dispensers of medical marijuana have room to breathe after Attorney General Eric Holder announced that federal authorities would cease raiding their operations. [The New York Times]
* Attorney General Eric Holder issued guidelines to federal agencies after The White House advised them to release their records to the public. [The Washington Post]
* A 3-judge federal appeals panel is considering whether or not to re-instate Madoff’s bail–springing him from jail until sentencing in June. [Newsday]
* Albert Hu, a Silicon Valley hedge fund manager conned clients by saying he was represented by prominent law firms like Heller Ehrman and Shaw Pittman; he was arrested in Hong Kong, and charged with defrauding millions from investors. [The National Law Journal]
* Another sad tale of an associate whose offer has been put on hold–his employer Latham & Watkins is asking incoming attorney’s to defer their start dates. [The National Law Journal]
-
Posted in:
Affirmative Action, Antitrust, Bernie Madoff, Law Schools, Layoffs, Morning Docket
Morning Docket 3.19.2009
By Eliza Gray
* Take a look at this legal analysis of the AIG bonus fiasco [The Hartford Courant]
* A new report from the Project for Attorney Retention (sounds like something we can all get behind) shows that it makes better business sense to have attorneys work reduced hours rather than laying them off. [The American Lawyer]
* More drama in the never-ending Minnesota Senate race: Al Franken says Norm Coleman should pay for the costs of the trial if he loses. [MSNBC]
* California’s 1996 ban of affirmative action in education, public hiring, or contracting is being closely considered by the courts. [National Law Journal]
* In spite of the recent blood bath at lawfirms–law school applications are still up. [The Wall Street Journal]
* China fell short of international anti-trust standards, rejecting Coca-Cola’s $2.4 billion bid for Huiguan Juice [Reuters]
* Enough Madoff already. Madoff’s accountant was charged with fraud and surrendered. [abcnews.com]
* After visiting Guantanamo, Attorney General Eric Holder says the prison is “well-run now” but the administration is going to close it anyway. The White House just gave itself a big pat on the back. [Reuters]
* The court rejected a Long island surgeon’s bid to get $1.5 million in compensation for the kidney he donated to his estranged wife. [The National Law Journal]
*Bonus Watch part deux: Bank of America’s CEO will testify today in Andrew Cuomo’s investigation of the $3.6 billion in bonuses paid at Merril Lynch before the two banks merged. [Bloomberg.com]
* “The U.S. Supreme Court made it tougher to sue companies for antitrust violations. [Bloomberg]
* A federal identity-theft law that is a “favorite tool of the government” in immigration cases was flawed in the eyes of SCOTUS when they heard arguments about it yesterday. [The New York Times]
* Two former pro-Israel Lobbyists accused of espionage can use classified documents in their defense, a federal appeals court ruled. [The Associated Press]
-
Posted in:
American Bar Association / ABA, Andrew Cuomo, Bankruptcy, Immigration, Labor / Employment, Michael Jackson, Morning Docket, Native Americans, SCOTUS, Supreme Court
Morning Docket 02.25.09
By Eliza Gray
* Michael Jackson “beat it” without paying his legal bill. [The Daily Breeze]
* Former Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain testified for 2.5 hours yesterday in New York in Attorney General Andrew Cuomo’s office, but wouldn’t say which employees got some of the $3.6 billion bonus pie before the merger with B of A. How are we supposed to know which men to date when we get laid off? Kidding….[Bloomberg]
* More than 100 clients of a man who pretended to be an immigration lawyer got free advice from Lawyers at the New York City Bar Association. [The New York Times]
* SCOTUS had a big day yesterday, ruling on a Utah union case and a case involvingIndian reservations, and hearing arguments on environmental cleanups. Ruth Bader Ginsburg was the first to ask questions. [ABA Journal]
* In Houston, a Republican on the congressional judiciary has called for the impeachment of U.S. District Judge Samuel Kent, aka the groper we’ve been writing about, who is still hoping to get retirement funds from the state. [The Houston Chronicle]
* Show me the money. Lawyers, bankers, and accountants stand to make $1.2 billion in fees from GM’s bankruptcy. [Bloomberg.com]
-
-
Posted in:
Advertising, Asia Chronicles, Shameless Plugs, Sponsored Content, This Is an Ad
The Asia Chronicles: In-House Openings at Hedge Funds In Hong Kong / State Of The Market / 7 New Kinney ’12 US Associate Placements In HK / China
By Kinney Recruiting
Ed. note: This post is authored by Evan Jowers and Robert Kinney of Kinney Recruiting, sponsor of the Asia Chronicles. Kinney has made more placements of U.S. associates and partners in Asia than any other firm in the past five years. You can reach them by email: asia@kinneyrecruiting.comHappy Chinese New Year! We were extremely busy the past few months, including most of our US based team working from our Hong Kong offices during November and December.
As a follow up from our recent post, which listed our 62 US associate and counsel placements in Asia last year (vast majority in HK / China), please note that thus far in January ’12, we have already made seven US associate and counsel placements in Asia. This is an especially impressive number, considering the biglaw lateral hiring market in Asia is down right now (see state of the market brief overview below). These new placements are of new hires in Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai, who were interviewing with their new firm for a month or more and they are spread out among different practice areas, including project finance, litigation, fund formation, M&A and cap markets. We are close on four additional new associate placements, in Hong Kong, Tokyo and Shanghai, that we expect to close soon. We do not discuss partner placements in these articles, but the pace of partner recruitment in Asia (a large part of our business) has continued.
Hedge Fund In-House Openings in Hong Kong
We are seeing a small run of new in-house openings in Hong Kong at hedge funds. We are currently filling three different in-house positions at three different hedge funds in Hong Kong, two of these searches we are handling on an exclusive basis. All three will most likely be filled by a US associate, with about 4 to 6 years of experience. Mandarin not required. Candidates from NYC and London will be considered, but at one of these funds the new hire will likely come from Hong Kong / China or Singapore (with HK being the strong preference).
Please feel free to reach out to us at asia@kinneyrecruiting.com if you are interested in these hedge fund openings. As you probably would expect, the competition for these spots will be fierce and the funds will be very selective when choosing which candidates to interview.
-
Posted in:
Advertising, Shameless Plugs, Sponsored Content, This Is an Ad
The BarMax Manifesto: “We Are Not Sheep”
By Above the Law
In 2009, a small group of Harvard Law School students noticed an absurd monopoly in the bar prep space, held by an unchallenged leader with a non-evolving product. In response, these students teamed up with Harvard Law alumni to launch BarMax on January 14, 2010.The mission: democratize bar prep by embracing new technologies to provide the very best bar exam review courses at a fraction of the cost normally associated with these courses.
Since then, with the encouragement of thousands of students and an unwavering commitment to their success, BarMax has established itself as a comprehensive alternative to the stagnant, over-priced status quo.
As we continue to expand, we do not want to lose sight of the basic premises that led us to create BarMax in the first place. If you are a law student who believes that there is something fundamentally wrong with being forced to take out yet another loan to pay for a $4,000 bar exam prep course, you are not alone.
-
Posted in:
Careers
Continue reading “The Asia Chronicles: In-House Openings at Hedge Funds In Hong Kong / State Of The Market / 7 New Kinney ’12 US Associate Placements In HK / China”