Today the winners of Lawyer of the Day honors are obvious. Congratulations to Arthur Cutillo, Michael Kimelman, and Jason Goldbfarb, three attorneys who stand accused of involvement in the infamous Galleon Group insider trading scheme.

Both Cutillo and Kimelman have distinguished pedigrees, with ties to two top firms. Cutillo (left), a holder of an M.S. in chemical engineering as well as a J.D. (both from Villanova), was an associate at the white-shoe firm of Ropes & Gray. Kimelman (right), a partner at Incremental Capital LLC, once worked as an associate at super-prestigious Sullivan & Cromwell. Check out Cutillo’s firm bio and Kimelman’s LinkedIn profile over here.

The third charged lawyer, Jason Goldfarb, apparently worked as a personal injury lawyer in Brooklyn. He allegedly served as a conduit of information between Cutillo and Zvi Goffer — the former Galleon employee apparently referred to as “Octopussy” at the SEC, because “he had his arms in so many insider” trading schemes.

More on our three honorees, after the jump.

The news was first reported by CNBC. See Dealbreaker for more details.

We have phone calls and emails in to Ropes & Gray and are waiting to hear back. We will keep you posted on further developments.

If you have more info, please email us. Thanks.

UPDATE (10:00 AM): According to Bloomberg, the FBI has arrested Arthur Cutillo (pictured). He is no longer on the Ropes & Gray website, but you can find his bio via Google Cache. Interestingly enough, he was an IP litigator, not a corporate attorney.

CNBC is now reporting that a Ropes & Gray employee allegedly provided inside information about various “going private” transactions the firm was involved in. Some of these transactions apparently involved companies heavily dependent upon intellectual property, such as technology companies.

UPDATE (10:10 AM): In case the Google Cache entry is removed, we have posted Arthur Cutillo’s bio after the jump. He graduated from Rutgers (undergrad) and Villanova (law), and he worked at Merck before joining Ropes.

UPDATE (10:15 AM): Here is a statement from Ropes & Gray:

We are deeply disappointed to learn about this situation, which suggests an extreme breach of this person’s duty of trust to our clients and to the firm. We cannot comment in detail on an ongoing investigation but we are moving quickly to protect our clients and are cooperating fully with authorities.

UPDATE (12:15 PM): 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.

UPDATE (4:30 PM): We’ve honored Artie Cutillo, Michael Kimelman, and a third lawyer, Jason Goldfarb, as our Lawyers of the Day.

Art Cutillo’s Ropes bio and Mike Kimelman’s LinkedIn profile, after the jump.

Seven Arrested In Insider Trading Case [Dealbreaker]

The general public really doesn’t understand what top-flight counsel does for their corporate clients. If they did, the pitchforks and torches crowd would be as angry at Wall Street lawyers as they are at Wall Street bankers.

Friday’s “revelation” about the advice given to Bank of America by Wachtell Lipton illustrates the point. Am Law Daily reports:

Amid the piles and piles of formerly privileged documents related to the Bank of America-Merrill Lynch merger, there are a few notes and e-mails from mid-December 2008 showing that BofA’s lawyers at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz were saying very different things to their client and to federal regulators.

What dastardly double talk did Wachtell Lipton allegedly engage in? Corporate Counsel reports:

The e-mails show that early on the morning of December 19 [Wachtell litigation partner Eric Roth] advised the bank’s chief executive, Ken Lewis, and its interim general counsel, Brian Moynihan, on how difficult and financially risky it would be to try to invoke a so-called MAC — or material adverse change — clause, which would allow the bank to get out of the merger with Merrill.

But another e-mail from associate general counsel Teresa Brenner to Moynihan, sent several hours later and on the same day as Roth’s e-mail, says, “Eric made a very strong case as to why there was a MAC” during a conference call with some officials from the Federal Reserve.

J’accuse!

Pitchforks on parade after the jump.

Have you ever considered the possibility of getting sued for not being able to dance? That’s the reality now facing James Graeber, who allegedly flung a hedge fund employee right off of a dance floor at a New Jersey wedding. The New York Post reports:

An Upper West Side woman is suing a rowdy reveler who drunkenly clobbered her on the dance floor at his sister’s reception last year.

Christine Mancision said she was grooving after dinner at the Hyatt Morristown in New Jersey when, “all of a sudden, I turn and I’m grabbed by this really tall individual.”

“I had no idea who he was. And he grabbed my arm and spun me around to dance with me and then just flung me off to the side of the dance floor, and I went flying to the floor,” the petite 27-year-old recalled.

Turn around, bright eyes
Every now and then I fall apart
Turn around, bright eyes
F***in every now and then I fall apart
And I need you now tonight
I f***in need you more than ever.

In related news, people who can dance do not go to weddings in New Jersey.

Mancision suffered a broken wrist and is suing James Graeber. But she’s also suing the Hyatt, for reasons passing understanding.

Details and updates after the jump.

* Bank of America’s board votes to waive privilege and disclose the legal advice it received on the Merrill Lynch merger, which could spell trouble for B of A’s outside counsel at Wachtell (depending on the advice given). [New York Times]

* Meanwhile, B of A expands its team for the SEC litigation in the S.D.N.Y. by hiring Paul Weiss (which, along with Cleary Gottlieb, urged the bank to waive privilege with respect to the Merrill merger advice). [Dealbook / New York Times]

* Tort reform, in the form of limitations upon medical malpractice suits, could save up to $54 billion over the next 10 years. [CNN]

* Jon and Kate arbitrate… [People]

Is the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board unconstitutional? This admittedly boring-sounding entity has the important task of overseeing accounting firms, who in turn keep an eye on the balance sheets of corporate America, through such mechanisms as Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) compliance.

The constitutionality of SOX and the PCAOB is at issue in Free Enterprise Fund v. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, one of the most important cases of the new Supreme Court term. As previously noted, the D.C. Circuit upheld the board’s constitutionality against a separation-of-powers challenge — but over a strong dissent by Article III rock star Brett Kavanaugh, which may have grabbed the justices’ attention.

Read more — and comment (anyone care to predict the result?) — over at Going Concern.

Is the PCAOB Going the Way of the Dodo? [Going Concern]

Earlier: The Sarbanes-Oxley Accounting Board: Not Long For This World?

Yesterday, we covered Andrew Cuomo’s letter to Bank of America. In it, the New York Attorney General ask BofA to essentially waive its attorney client privilege and allow the AG’s office to question BofA outside counsel at Cleary Gottlieb.

Update: The NYAG is looking to talk to the lawyers who consulted on the Bank of America/Merrill Lynch merger. Cuomo wants to talk to attorneys at Wachtell and Shearman & Sterling. He is not asking to talk to Cleary lawyers about their work for the bank.

Today, Cleary commercial litigation partner Lewis Liman, fired back at New York’s chief lawyer. The Charlotte Observer has the details:

“First, the basic premise of the letter is simply wrong,” Bank of America’s attorney, Lewis Liman, wrote in the bank’s response. “Bank of America has not put at issue the subject matter of any advice of counsel. Nor has Bank of America offered reliance on legal advice as a justification for its disclosures. Bank of America’s position has been clear and consistent throughout: the proxy statement and related disclosures complied with all applicable laws, rules and regulations. Because Bank of America did not violate the law, it has not offered reliance on legal advice as a defense.”

Lewis Liman? That sounds more like something Josh Lyman would write.

Apparently, the NYAG isn’t the only one that knows how to litigate in through the press. More from Liman and Bank of America, after the jump.

A couple of weeks ago, I asked if the mainstream media was aware of the existence of Biglaw lawyers. They’re still not, but the New York Attorney General is. Dealbook reports:

Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo fired another shot at Bank of America on Tuesday, asking the bank to allow its lawyers to be questioned.

In a letter to the bank’s outside counsel, Lewis J. Liman of Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton, Mr. Cuomo wrote that “attorney-client privilege is hindering this office’s ability to make fair and fully informed decisions as to what charges, if any, to bring and whether individual Bank of America officers should be charged.”

What, does Andrew Cuomo want BOA to waive privilege to help him out? I’m not sure that this is how to run a prosecutor’s office, but it seems like a pretty effective way to run for Governor through the headlines.

Cuomo Takes Aim at Bank of America’s Lawyers [Dealbook]

Earlier: The Mainstream Media Is Aware That Law Firms Exist, Right?

Will the mainstream media ever hold law firms accountable for their roles in the global financial crisis? Probably not. Relatively speaking, only a small sector of society understands that Biglaw firms played a significant role making “toxic assets” lucrative and legal. Without attorneys, bankers wouldn’t know their tranches from their enhancements.

Too few people can get their head around what actually happened to cause the market crisis. But the public — the average American citizen — can wrap its mind around the concept of bonuses. I think it goes something like this:

Bonuses, BAD. Wall Street, BAD. Pitchforks and Torches, GOOD.

Can the mainstream media latch onto that?

You know you want to know….

Hazard a guess. Then click on the link below.

Bernie Madoff’s Greatest Scam Of All [Dealbreaker]

Earlier: What Kind Of Package Is A Bernie Madoff Package?

Or maybe good news? It seems they’ll get to enjoy Labor Day weekend before any trouble hits.

Read more and discuss over at Dealbreaker.

Federal Prosecutors May Let Andy And Mark Madoff Enjoy Labor Day Weekend
[Dealbreaker]

It’s legal, so it’s within our jurisdiction. But our sister sites have written it up already, so we’ll simply refer you to their coverage.

UBS is Naming Names (Finally) [Going Concern]
UBS Eagerly Pays Extortion Money [Dealbreaker]

A U.S. House member wants Bank of America to turn over extensive documentation relating to its Merrill Lynch deal (with a focus on lossess and loss projections at Merrill). We wonder which law firm is representing B of A in this matter — there’s nothing like a good old-fashioned congressional investigation to get the billable-hour engines revving.

Read more and discuss over at Dealbreaker.

In A Surprising Twist, Lawmakers Focus On The BAC/ML Merger [Dealbreaker]

If the SEC was a private law firm, it would have dissolved already.

The SEC is taking action against Bank of America over its bonus payments. But it probably won’t matter. Even if the SEC levels BOA with huge fine, we’ll probably just bail them out of again.

Click on the link below to read more about the suit.

BAC May Need Some More TARP Funds…… [Dealbreaker]

If some law firms are not willing to invite members of the class of 2010 to work for them over the summer, why should banks?

We just received word that Citigroup has decided to cancel its 2010 Summer Program for 2L summer associates. A tipster sent us this email that students at Penn Law School received this morning:

Dear Students,

I regret to inform you that Citigroup is not having a summer class for the Summer of 2010 and has cancelled all of it on campus interviews. Your bid will not be lost as we will consolidate it before we process the interview schedules. I apologize for any inconvenience this cancellation may cause you. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you need further assistance.

All the best,

Did you know that Citigroup got legal talent fresh off of the law school tree? Well, they don’t anymore.

Let’s look at what the program used to be after the jump.

Could the credit rating agencies who are now being sued for their alleged role in the financial meltdown have a valid First Amendment defense? Floyd Abrams, god of First Amendment law and longtime partner at Cahill Gordon & Reindel, thinks so.

Abrams is the subject of a lengthy, interesting article in Sunday’s New York Times, focused on his representation of Standard & Poor’s, the biggest of the rating agencies. From the NYT:

Dozens of investors have filed lawsuits seeking redress from the rating agencies, contending that the companies bear responsibility for investors’ losses, under a Whitman’s sampler of theories. The recession, in other words, is about to begin its litigation phase, and Mr. Abrams and a handful of partners at the law firm of Cahill Gordon & Reindel are readying defenses for more than 30 suits filed against S.& P. Up first, an oral argument on a motion to dismiss one case is set for July 31….

Mr. Abrams will contend that S.& P.’s ratings deserve exactly the sort of free-speech protections afforded to journalists, on the theory that a bond rating is like an editorial — an opinion based on an educated guess about the future. And for the same reason you can’t sue editorial writers, Mr. Abrams will argue that you can’t sue a bond rater because the economy went into a free fall that few saw coming.

Is this a valid comparison? Is trying to sue a ratings agency like trying to sue a newspaper editorial board? Or the weatherman?

Read more, and debate the issue, after the jump.

Sir Allen Stanford, financier / accused fraudster, has some issues with the conditions of his pretrial confinement.

Read more and comment over at our sister site, Dealbreaker.

Sir Stanford Takes Issue With Conditions Behind Bars [Dealbreaker]

Thanks to everyone who attended last week’s cocktail hour and panel discussion, Market Volatility & Your Finances. The well-attended event — held at the headquarters of AXA Advisors, in a spacious room with stunning views of Central Park (see above) — was informative and fun.

A special thanks to Larry Bahr and AXA Advisors for hosting the evening. If you’re looking for a financial advisor to help you navigate these challenging times, you should definitely drop Larry a line.

We’ll be doing more Above the Law events in the future. If you’re interested in possibly sponsoring an event, please contact our sales and marketing director, Elyse DiPierri, by email (subject line: “Event Sponsorship”).

Check out the pictures, after the jump.

You’d be surprised by how often we receive requests for financial advice around here (even though that’s really more the province of Dealbreaker). E.g., should I refinance my law school loans? How much should I be saving for retirement? I’ve just been laid off; what should I do with my 401(k)?

These questions lie beyond our expertise. So we’ve put together a panel of experts to offer insight into current market conditions and what they mean for your personal finances. This free event is taking place on MONDAY, JUNE 29, at 6:30 PM.

The roundtable will be preceded by a sunset cocktail hour, in a room with stunning Central Park views (see above). So come enjoy free drinks with the ATL editors (Lat, Elie, Kash and Marin); pick up some complimentary swag, including Above the Law t-shirts and gavel-shaped stress balls; and then sit down for an informative panel discussion:

MARKET VOLATILITY AND YOUR FINANCES

When: Monday, June 29, 2009, at 6:30 p.m.

Where: 1345 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York

Speakers:

• Sam Mari, VP, AllianceBernstein
• Bob Stansbury, VP, AXA Equitable
• Deborah O’Neil, J.D., CFPTM, CLU, VP AXA Equitable’s Advanced Markets Team
• David Lat, Above the Law (moderator)

Cost: The event is free and open to the public — feel free to bring friends — but RSVPs are required. Please email rsvp@breakingmedia.com.

The event is less than a week away, and although admission is free, seats are limited. We’ve already received a fair number of responses — so if you think you might be interested in going, please rsvp to save a spot for yourself.

Hope to see you there!

“I invested with Bernie Madoff. I knew Bernie Madoff. Bernie Madoff robbed me blind. Marc Dreier, you’re no Bernie Madoff.”

But Dreier is getting a little closer to attaining the Master’s stature, if government allegations are accurate. From the WSJ Law Blog:

New York lawyer Marc Dreier allegedly defrauded investors out of approximately $700 million, a far higher figure than previously had surfaced in the criminal case, according to an amended indictment unveiled Tuesday.

The attorney was indicted in January on conspiracy and fraud charges for allegedlly selling fictitious promissory notes to hedge funds.

Previously, prosecutors had claimed Dreier sold almost $400 million in fictitious notes. Now, according to the latest indictment, the attorney stands accused of peddl[ing] almost $700 million in notes to 13 different hedge funds and three individuals, whose names were not identified in the filing.

Good for Dreier. Why should guys like Madoff and Robert Allen Stanford have all the fun? A haul of $750 million begins to approach respectability among Wall Street fraudsters.

With New Indictment, Government Cranks up the Heat on Marc Dreier [WSJ Law Blog]

Earlier: Prior ATL coverage of Marc Dreier