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Williams & Connolly is arguably the most exclusive club in the nation. You basically have to be born at its front door to be admitted to partnership. But the firm just made an exception for Kannon Shanmugam, a former assistant to the U.S. solicitor general and now Williams & Connolly's first lateral partner hire in 22 years. So how did Shanmugam make the cut?
General Electric has sued a one-time staff attorney, claiming that she took privileged company tax documents and gave them to two government agencies and a reporter. The materials apparently described an alleged tax fraud scheme by a GE division in Brazil. Adriana Koeck was a commercial counsel for the company until she was fired "for performance reasons," states GE's suit, which seeks an injunction restraining Koeck from disclosing privileged information and compensatory damages in excess of $100,000.
Attorney General Michael Mukasey has appointed a special prosecutor to investigate the 2006 firings of U.S. Attorneys, as a report released Monday by DOJ watchdogs found "significant evidence" that several of the fired attorneys were let go for partisan or political reasons. The report also describes then-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and Deputy AG Paul McNulty as "remarkably unengaged" in the firing process and cites both for "inconsistent, misleading and inaccurate" public statements about the firings.
To resolve a spate of whistleblower lawsuits, drug manufacturer Cephalon has agreed to pay $431 million in civil and criminal fines for illegally promoting "off-label" uses for three of its drugs, federal prosecutors said. In a global settlement with the DOJ, Cephalon agreed, in part, to pay $375 million to settle claims by the Medicaid and Medicare trust funds and to plead guilty to a misdemeanor criminal charge of distribution of misbranded drugs and pay $50 million in fines and forfeiture.
Contrary to some law firms' expectations, the boom that they enjoyed during the last 15 years has turned out to be unsustainable. So says entrepreneur and lawyer Paul Lippe, in his inaugural column for The Am Law Daily. Lippe considers what will happen now that the boom has ended and law firms have discovered that they, too, must obey the laws of gravity.
Twenty years ago, a father who took paternity leave was the stuff of urban legend. Times have changed, but just a bit, says attorney Denise Howell, and though it's one thing for men to be less reticent about taking a week or two off work, it's another to change a culture. While more men -- more than none, anyway -- take paternity leave, they still don't push for the same reduced hours and extended-leave options as their female colleagues, says Howell, as they pursue the traditional breadwinner role.
Adobe thrilled the legal world when it released Acrobat 8, with built-in tools for redaction and Bates stamping. Consultant Brett Burney reviews the newly released version 9, and finds that while there isn't much brand new, there are noteworthy improvements for the legal community.
An effective approach to catch a trade secret thief relies on a combination of sophisticated forensics and traditional gumshoe tactics. Early forensics and investigation are likely to shorten the case and achieve better results for less, say Howrey's John Keville and Sheryl Falk.
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