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Law firm names often have an interesting back story, the Rodent notes. For instance, after a name partner dies, does her name get dropped or does it become ossified on the letterhead? And some names show the law firm's amoeba-like function -- how it keeps splitting off pieces of itself.
A black New York homeowner whose conviction for manslaughter and gun possession was upheld last week by an appeals court won a reprieve Wednesday from entering prison. John H. White had received a two-to-four-year prison term for fatally shooting a white teen who had arrived at White's home with four other teens to challenge White's 19-year-old son to a fight.
On Thursday, a D.C. Circuit panel upheld the dismissal of a wrongful
termination suit filed by Roy Pearson Jr., the judge who hit a dry
cleaner with a multimillion-dollar lawsuit over a lost pair of pants and
who was denied reappointment in 2007 to his administrative law judge
post. At issue in the suit was Pearson's contention that he was denied
reappointment because of his complaints about the peer review system in
place at the D.C. Office of Administrative Hearings.
An investment fund claiming a $61 million loss in Scott Rothstein's phony settlement financing scheme is suing the convicted felon and TD Bank, claiming the money disappeared in the final two months before the fraud came crashing down. A total of $30 million in investment funds from Emess Capital was cleaned out of RRA's TD Bank trust accounts just before Rothstein flew to Morocco, also the destination of a $16 million wire transfer by TD Bank, a federal racketeering lawsuit filed Wednesday claimed.
When does a copyright get registered? Once an application is submitted to the U.S. Copyright Office, according to the latest federal appeals court to weigh in on an increasingly divisive issue. A 9th Circuit panel ruled this week that the submission of the application, rather than the Copyright Office's grant of registration, dictates when a copyright is officially registered. The 9th Circuit joins the 5th and 7th circuits in deciding for the application approach, while the 10th and 11th circuits concluded otherwise.
Fried Frank and Wachtell played key roles brokering a $28 million settlement that resolves a long-simmering allegation that Connecticut hedge fund Pequot Capital Management committed insider trading in Microsoft securities in 2001, according to Securites and Exchange Commission officials. The SEC filed suit against Pequot and its chairman, Arthur Samberg, on Thursday, announcing at the same time that Pequot and Samberg agreed to pay $28 million combined in disgorged profits and penalties to settle the case.
Nine former students who claim that Brooklyn's Poly Prep Country Day School engaged in a decades-long cover-up of a sexually abusive football coach have scored a significant victory in their lawsuit against the 156-year-old school. On Tuesday, a New York judge granted a discovery motion that allows the plaintiffs to depose the school's current and former headmasters and requires the school to turn over personnel files and investigative records regarding alleged sexual misconduct by the now-deceased coach.
Warning to outside counsel: Don't look for increased billing opportunities from in-house clients during the coming months. Only 10 percent of 300 in-house lawyers surveyed by recruiting company Robert Half Legal say they will increase the amount of work they give outside counsel during the next 12 months.
As Miami receiver Lewis Freeman awaits sentencing for pilfering $2.6 million, another South Florida receiver trusted by judges for years to oversee bankruptcies resigned from hundreds of cases after the U.S. Trustee's Office determined more than $1 million was missing from accounts under her control, sources say. Real estate broker Marika Tolz was confronted by investigators in the trustee's office after financial discrepancies were discovered in her trusteeships, according to sources. She has not been charged with a crime.
Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. this month issued new guidance to federal prosecutors in a memo that was submitted to the U.S. Sentencing Commission for a Thursday hearing. The May 19 guidance comes amid the Justice Department's ongoing policy review focusing on disparities in sentencing and excesses in mandatory-minimum sentencing. A U.S. Attorney who spoke at Thursday's hearing said the DOJ supports a "limited and judicious use" of mandatory sentencing. Most mandatory minimums are applied in drug and firearms cases.
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