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Lawyers for Mohawk Industries must give a former employee information they had argued was protected by attorney-client privilege, the 11th Circuit has ruled. A panel this week upheld a ruling ordering the company to turn over information related to conversations between former supervisor Norman Carpenter and Mohawk counsel Juan P. Morillo. Carpenter's case is an offshoot of a class action racketeering suit claiming that the company's hiring of illegal aliens depressed the wages of Mohawk's legal employees.
Officials of the Bank of China are denying charges that the bank negligently transferred money to terrorists in Israel. The claims stem from a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on behalf of more than 100 family members of Israeli terror victims. The suit charges the bank with "intentionally, recklessly, and negligently providing extensive banking services to the Palestine Islamic Jihad and to Hamas, which caused, enabled, and facilitated terrorist attacks."
Three 2nd Circuit judges expressed concern during oral arguments Wednesday that the statutory language of a key provision of the USA Patriot Act might be overly broad, potentially applying in instances where national security is not truly at stake. The statute authorized the FBI to issue National Security Letters to telecom carriers, compelling their cooperation in investigations relating to national security efforts.
A federal judge Wednesday said there is sufficient evidence for a jury to decide whether Exxon should be held liable for actions of Indonesian soldiers who, while guarding Exxon assets, allegedly beat, shot, tortured and raped villagers eight years ago. Exxon's lawyers argue there is no evidence that the soldiers who reportedly injured the plaintiffs were the same guards assigned to protect gas fields and not among the thousands of other troops the Indonesian government deployed to keep order in the region.
Two New York attorneys who were improperly listed as employees by government agencies that they advised owe the state close to $700,000 in pension funds, New York Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli said Wednesday. DiNapoli called the actions of Lawrence W. Reich and Albert D'Agostino "the most egregious examples" uncovered to date in the state's probe of excess pension payments. The comptroller's office has so far revoked pension fund membership or retirement service credit for 33 lawyers.
Along with increased emphasis on laborious corporate compliance details, greater independence of corporate directors and heightened pressures on general counsel comes another post-Sarbanes-Oxley Act trend: more lawyers in the boardroom. While some boards retain outside counsel to attend all meetings and advise them on an ongoing basis, others do so on a more limited basis. The trend highlights the potential for tension in the boardroom with the presence of both directors' lawyers and general counsel.
Two recent decisions should help guide parties to avoid costly case outcomes due to certain e-discovery miscues by collaborating on search methodology. An agreed-upon plan provides control and predictability over one of the most significant and potentially expensive aspects of discovery.
At San Francisco's Brydon, Hugo & Parker, about 70 percent of firm revenues come from product liability litigation. To help diversify, partner John Brydon is looking to expand the firm's bad-faith insurance coverage and commercial trucking litigation work. Rather than merge the 32-lawyer firm into a bigger one to get the benefits of geography and resources -- something its leaders are not interested in doing -- Brydon Hugo magnified its reach by joining a network of similar-size firms with similar goals.
Worries about associate turnover and billing efficiency pressures from clients are prompting more law firms to pull IP associates away from their caseloads for specialized training. Some firms, such as Boston-based Ropes & Gray, are offering new internal training programs or revamping existing ones. Learning by watching other lawyers doesn't work anymore because associates want more guidance and mentoring, and clients want to keep billable hours in check, says Ropes & Gray partner Mark Bloomberg.
The judge overseeing much of the massive litigation over withdrawn painkiller Vioxx has capped fees for plaintiffs attorneys at a relatively low 32 percent of the $4.85 billion settlement. Altogether, 871 law firms are involved in the litigation. A much smaller group of firms that pulled together thousands of documents under a pre-trial discovery process that the judge coordinated will receive additional fees above the 32 percent. But the extra amounts will come from the other attorneys, not from claimants.
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