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Calling her contrition "too little too late," the California Commission on Judicial Performance on Thursday ordered Superior Court Judge Kelly MacEachern removed from the bench. Commissioners said MacEachern filed fraudulent expense reports for a judicial conference and then lied about her attendance to court officials and a panel of special masters that reviewed the allegations against her. MacEachern is the fourth trial court judge ousted by the commission in the last 18 months.
A former Army scientist who was named as a person of interest in the 2001 anthrax attacks will receive $5.8 million to settle his lawsuit against the Justice Department. Steven Hatfill claimed the DOJ violated his privacy rights by speaking with reporters about the case. The deal requires the Justice Department to pay $2.825 million up front and buy Hatfill a $3 million annuity that will pay him $150,000 each year for 20 years.
It took eight years and a conversation over drinks to turn a friendship into work that resulted in a billion-dollar deal. During an impromptu trip to Paris with their wives, after a few scotches, Joseph Macchione, GC of GMH Communities Trust, and Ajay Raju, head of Reed Smith's securitization and finance team, discussed moving GMH's legal work to Reed Smith. According to Macchione, the biggest reason he made the switch was Raju's willingness to work with his company on an alternative billing system.
Sean Doherty, Law.com legal technology editor, delivers the goods on LegalTech. The Hon. Elizabeth D. Laporte advises counsel and clients on electronically stored information; Chevron's GC seeks effective knowledge management; and CT Summation reviews how evidence goes from ESI to court.
George Carlin, who died a week ago, taught us the "Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television." If you were paying attention, the counterculture comic also taught us how to be great speakers. He did three things that we can all learn from, says consultant Joey Asher: He took strong positions, spoke with passion and practiced a lot. Carlin left a wonderful legacy of anti-establishment comedy, and regardless of whether you agreed with him, attorneys can all learn from how he held an audience.
The Canadian and American bars have more than language in common. They share some of the same problems, such as how to keep women from fleeing firms. In an effort to stop women from leaving private practice, a number of initiatives will be rolled out in Ontario as part of a program officials hope will serve as a model for other Canadian jurisdictions. The program -- which has different requirements and options for large and small firms -- has already piqued the interest of U.S. firms as well.
Two software companies have sued mortgage-lending law firm McGlinchey Stafford and Youngblood & Bendalin and one of its partners, alleging they misappropriated a database of legal documents to make "millions" in profits in residential loan transactions. The firm is a branch of McGlinchey Stafford, also named as a defendant. The suit alleges that agents of the firm used plaintiffs' intellectual property after obtaining a fully operational version of certain software, rather than "read only" access.
Heller Ehrman, rumored to be in merger talks with Baker & McKenzie, was cagey when confronted with the speculation on Friday. Heller's director of communications, Patrick Bustamante, said the firm "is not considering" a merger with Baker. Asked later to clarify whether "not considering" meant the firm was not in current talks with Baker to explore the possibility of a merger, Bustamante was less clear. "I don't know that I can go into that kind of detail or comment at all," he said.
Headline-grabbing Supreme Court opinions came fast and furious in June: Gitmo Detainees Get Habeas! No Death Penalty for Child Rapists! Exxon Valdez Punis Slashed! An Individual Right to Bear Arms! All produced sharp splits, with conservatives and liberals winning two apiece. But the justices leave for the summer in a better frame of mind than last term, when the Court seemed ready to break out in fistfights. Like a family that hits a rough patch, did the justices decide this term not to sweat the small stuff?
As Law.com's Legal Blog Watch gears up for its first day covering LegalTech West Coast 2008, Monica Bay, editor-in-chief of , tests your conference knowledge -- past, present and future. Take a short quiz and gauge your readiness for this year's event.
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