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Legal fees, like other debts, are usually wiped clean in a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, but Jason DiBattista's $35,000 debt to his divorce lawyer, Gregg Sodini, was not typical. For one thing, DiBattista is himself a lawyer, concentrating in bankruptcy, and was once Sodini's colleague at Cuyler Burk in Parsippany, N.J. For another, Sodini contends he handled the divorce based on DiBattista's promise to pay the fees even if his precarious finances landed him in bankruptcy.
The wife of a former Bush administration lawyer charged with attempting to kill her in a domestic dispute has filed a $30 million lawsuit against him, claiming the alleged attack has left her unable to work as an attorney at Skadden Arps, according to a story in the Stamford Advocate. Mary Margaret Farren filed the suit last week in Connecticut trial court against her husband, John Michael Farren, who had been unemployed since leaving his post as deputy general counsel to George W. Bush.
Listen up. Federal courts are starting to send a clear message to litigants on how to handle the preservation and production of "outlier" ESI found on cell phones and PDAs, voice mail systems, instant messaging systems, chat rooms, and websites, says Farrah Pepper, of counsel at Gibson Dunn.
The general counsel of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York stood by his bank's actions during a wild congressional hearing Wednesday that saw one lawmaker suggest that the $180 billion bailout of American International Group may be "the largest theft in history." Both Democrats and Republicans on the House committee took issue with how the Fed paid AIG counterparties nearly 100 cents on the dollar for credit default swaps, when other companies were negotiating much lower percentages.
In a packed federal courtroom Wednesday, disgraced Florida attorney Scott Rothstein took responsibility for perpetrating a $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme built on nonexistent legal settlements. Rothstein admitted committing five felonies, including racketeering conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy, fraud conspiracy and two counts of wire fraud. Acting U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Sloman said he had never seen authorities move on a Ponzi scheme of this magnitude in such a short time -- about two months.
A new sign emerged Wednesday of how vital a brewing Supreme Court dispute over the privacy of legal work papers may be to law firms. In a rare move, Reed Smith filed a brief on its own behalf, and for two clients, telling the Supreme Court how crucial Textron v. United States is to the relationship between lawyers and their clients. In the Textron case, the 1st Circuit ruled that tax accrual work papers, prepared by lawyers for auditors and others, were not protected by the privilege and should be turned over to the IRS.
In these economic times, many people are going back to school for more education, and some will undoubtedly ask you if law school is a good idea. The Snark discusses the illusion that a J.D. guarantees a high-salaried job, saying that many recent law grads are bartending, cleaning houses, living with their in-laws or teaching LSAT prep courses. Still, The Snark says there are benefits to a legal education, and runs down lists of the top three -- and bottom three -- reasons to go to law school.
The start of January always brings hopes that the new year will be a better one. And this year, it might be. The bad news is that Union Bank's Justin Miller says that based on conversations with West Coast Am Law 100 and 200 firms, more associates and staff will be getting the pink slip before the spring quarter is over. The good news is that sources don't expect this year to be the disaster that last year was. Recruiter Julie Brush says some firms don't want to over-slash their workforces.
A New Jersey real estate lawyer is liable for nearly $700,000, plus punitive damages and legal fees, for his role in a mortgage foreclosure rescue scam, a bankruptcy judge says. The ruling holding William Gahwyler Jr. jointly liable as a co-conspirator with his client is "the first New Jersey reported case on these mortgage foreclosure rescue schemes," says the plaintiffs lawyer, Gabriel Halpern. Gahwyler faces possible discipline as a result of the case.
Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pa., filed a brief on behalf of himself and two other members of Congress on Wednesday in a closely watched human rights case testing whether foreign torture victims can seek damages in U.S. courts. The case, which will be argued at the Supreme Court on March 3, is a dispute over the meaning of the Torture Victim Protection Act of 1991, which Specter sponsored. In his brief Specter asserted emphatically that Congress intended to cover cases like the one now before the Court.
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