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A former high-ranking CIA official has pleaded guilty to abusing his influence within the agency to direct lucrative contracts toward an old friend who showered him with tens of thousands of dollars worth of gifts. Kyle "Dusty" Foggo struck a deal in federal court, pleading guilty to a single count of wire fraud for "depriving the United States and its citizens of their right to his honest services." Prosecutors dropped 27 other counts and agreed to seek a prison term no longer than three years and a month.
Sullivan & Cromwell has recruited as senior counsel a former chief lawyer for the Federal Reserve Board. Virgil Mattingly was general counsel of both the Fed and its open market committee from 1989 until his retirement in 2004. Previously in his 30-year career with the Fed, Mattingly served as deputy GC and head of the legal division's banking structure section.
Moviegoers beware: the popcorn you munch during the show probably will not be perfectly popped. A Manhattan civil court judge offered that warning last week as he ruled that an insurance broker who broke a tooth on an unpopped kernel while watching a movie could not recoup $1,250 in dental costs from the theater. The judge found that the plaintiff's expectations that the theater "remove the offending kernels ... or at least notify patrons of the dangers of encountering them" were unreasonable.
In a boon for the mortgage lending industry, the 7th Circuit has ruled that the Truth in Lending Act does not allow for rescission of mortgages on a class action basis. The court said the "personal character of the [rescission] remedy makes it procedurally and substantively unsuited to" class actions. An attorney for defendant Chevy Chase Bank noted that although the circuits are consistent in disallowing class action status for rescissions, district court judges nationwide have recently split on the issue.
The Maryland Office of Public Defender recently announced it will no longer contract with private attorneys to handle an estimated 10,000 cases annually in which it has conflicts because the office has no money to pay them. The office handles about 200,000 cases per year, of which about 5 percent, or 10,000, involve indigent defendants referred to private attorneys when there is a conflict in their cases. Private attorneys are paid $50 per hour, for a total cost of $4.7 million.
Large global corporations are slowing their spending on legal fees, both for in-house and outside legal counsel -- but compensation to lawyers is still on the rise, according to a survey of 223 companies done by legal consultant Hildebrandt International. Lawyer pay -- including base salary and bonuses -- increased by an average of 8 percent among all lawyer levels. Last year, that figure was 10 percent. The average compensation for in-house attorneys is $236,000, up from $226,000.
With Monday's news that Citigroup will swallow up Wachovia's banking operations in an FDIC-brokered $2.1 billion deal, it's clear that the tempest roiling Wall Street is not through claiming major victims -- and Congress' vote not to approve a $700 billion bailout package suggests the storm is not about to blow itself out. To assess the impact of the Wachovia deal on lawyers, The Am Law Daily looked at some of the top firms that have handled deals and litigation for the bank and its subsidiaries since 2003.
Thelen's 20-attorney China practice has joined Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman. The team is led by partners Thomas Shoesmith, head of Thelen's Shanghai office; Mary Utterback; Joseph Tiano Jr.; and Louis Bevilacqua. The team includes three of counsel and 13 associates working out of offices in Shanghai, Washington, D.C., and San Francisco. The loss of the practice comes amid widespread rumors that Thelen's merger talks with Nixon Peabody have been called off.
Facebook has hired a GOP insider as its new GC, surprising scores of Silicon Valley lawyers who'd been vying for the hottest in-house gig in town. The social networking site announced Monday that its legal department will be led by Theodore Ullyot, a Kirkland & Ellis partner who has worked in the Bush White House and the Gonzales Justice Department. In fact, Ullyot's policy background may be a big reason why Facebook chose him over more traditional Silicon Valley types.
New Jersey Judge F. Michael Giles judge has been reprimanded for directing profanity-laced invective at lawyers and litigants on multiple occasions. The state Supreme Court followed the Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct's recommendation that Giles not be suspended, based on findings that he was suffering from health problems and personal family tragedies at the time his outbursts occurred. Giles did not contest the presentment and waived his right to a hearing before the court.
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