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Most of Texas' largest firms are staying aligned with their business needs by bringing in fewer summer associates for 2010. Among the 22 large Texas firms that responded to a survey, the total number of summer associate slots for 2010 decreased by about a third from last year.
Now that a jury has acquitted a defendant charged with murdering a police officer whose 2007 death prosecutors tried to link to bullets the defendant shot into the officer more than 40 years earlier, many attorneys are questioning why the Philadelphia district attorney's office proceeded to trial despite the lengthy time gap between the shooting and the officer's death and despite the defendant's prior attempted murder conviction in the shooting.
Although seeming to agree that gratuities are the "sole property" of tip-earning employees, five California Supreme Court justices didn't appear ready Tuesday to give those workers a private right to sue their bosses in court. "As a matter of public policy," Justice Ming Chin asked Los Angeles attorney Dennis Moss, "don't these matters belong with the labor commissioner? Do they really belong in court?"
Three companies that sold lead-based paint and were sued in a landmark case cannot recover money they spent defending themselves in the lawsuit, a judge ruled Tuesday. Rhode Island in 2006 won a jury verdict that could have forced the companies to spend billions removing lead paint from homes and buildings. After the state Supreme Court threw out the verdict in 2008, the companies asked that the state reimburse them for legal expenses -- but Superior Court Judge Michael Silverstein denied that request Tuesday.
Judge Jennifer Bailey canceled Orlando Eslava's mortgage debt after lender HSBC Bank USA ignored her previous order to post a $414,000 bond. Bailey expressed disbelief that HSBC had opposed canceling a foreclosure sale when Eslava was in the middle of a loan modification trial. Calling the bank's opposition "idiotic," Bailey told the HSBC lawyer that "somehow in Foreclosure World everybody thinks ... you can ... walk in here and ask judges for things left and right without even knowing what's going on."
Having forced Charles Schwab to the settlement table in an investor fraud suit, plaintiffs firm Hagens Berman will be compensated nicely. A federal judge has given preliminary approval to two deals that would furnish $235 million to class members. Of that, Hagens Berman will reap about $20 million: 8 percent of the $200 million set aside for federal claims, and 11 percent of $35 million to resolve the state law claims.
Advocates for domestic violence victims and those seeking child custody and support are breathing easier this week because the Supreme Court dismissed a case that could have limited the enforcement of court orders in those areas. Because the lower court's order stands, Robert Long, a partner at Covington & Burling, puts this one in the win column. What is important, Long said, is that private enforcement for criminal contempt -- by victims of domestic violence or parties to child custody disputes -- remains a viable tool.
An attorney who was suspended and later disbarred for misappropriating client funds has been ordered to pay a former client nearly $500,000 in a malpractice case. A special referee in Manhattan Supreme Court ordered Howard L. Blau to pay the former Barnard College employee, who had been charged with third-degree rape. After being found guilty, the man fired Blau, brought on new counsel and was acquitted. The judgment is the latest in a string of problems for Blau, who has faced lawsuits by other former clients.
Even though he was hired for an executive position at age 52, Brian Reid contends he was booted from Google 20 months later because management felt he was no longer a "cultural fit" for a company dominated by younger employees. If questions posed by California Supreme Court justices during arguments on Wednesday are any indication, Reid -- who claims that fellow workers and managers said he was obsolete, an old fuddy-duddy and lacked new ideas -- might get his day in court after all.
The New York County district attorney's office has charged James Mazzuto, a former CEO of Industrial Enterprises of America, and James Margulies, an outside lawyer, with running a $60 million stock scheme. Margulies, a founding partner of Cleveland-based Margulies & Levinson, served as outside counsel to Industrial Enterprises and briefly was its top executive in 2008. He also served on the company's board of directors and worked as its CFO and general counsel.
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