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Gucci cannot "cloak itself under a veil of ignorance" to avoid handing over to a competitor communications with its former chief in-house counsel, an attorney not licensed to practice law, according to a magistrate judge. After Guess Inc. sought discovery of the communications in a trademark infringement suit, Gucci claimed communications with Jonathan Moss were protected by the attorney-client privilege. Gucci executives insisted they considered Moss to be a lawyer, even though they never confirmed his bar status.
Prosecutors won't give up trying to convict a pair of Silicon Valley engineers, even though a judge and jury junked most of their case. Lan Lee and Yuefei Ge were accused of stealing trade secrets from their employer, NetLogic Microsystems, and trying to commercialize them with venture funding from the Chinese government. Prosecutors had bumped up the charges to include economic espionage. The government has announced that it will retry Ge and Lee on a trade secret count, the sole count on which the jury hung.
The right to smoke pot for health reasons while not on the job has triggered a lawsuit against Wal-Mart. A Michigan man has sued the retail giant, alleging he was wrongfully fired for using medical marijuana to treat the pain of an inoperable brain tumor and cancer. Similar suits have been filed in other states, and so far courts have sided with employers, holding that they don't have to accommodate medical marijuana users because pot is still illegal under federal law and its use could pose a safety risk.
As lawmakers try to hammer out a compromise on overhauling regulation of financial markets, Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan said today during her confirmation hearing that their power to do so has few limits. Also discussed today: the comparison between judging and baseball umpiring, popularized by Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. during his 2005 confirmation hearing. And the death of Sen. Robert Byrd is complicating the timing of Kagan's hearing, making it unclear whether it will continue Thursday and Friday.
Since the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Bates v. State Bar of Arizona opened the door to attorney advertising in print and on TV and the internet, technology has posed new challenges to state bodies regulating lawyer advertising by requiring lawyers to seek pre-approval for ads.
A federal judge has ruled for Merck in the first Vioxx trial to be brought by a state trying to recoup what it paid so residents could take the painkiller under a Medicaid program. The Louisiana attorney general's office filed the case in an attempt to recover more than $20 million spent for Vioxx prescriptions, interest, attorney fees and litigation expenses, said an attorney for the state. The company still faces about 20 similar lawsuits filed by other government entities, according to a Merck spokeswoman.
Simmons & Simmons and Mayer Brown have called off merger talks, the two firms said in a joint press statement sent Tuesday. The firms did not say why the talks ended, but some partners had questioned how the two firms could combine their London presence, while Simmons partners had also questioned whether they wanted to merge with a larger and more profitable firm.
U.S. Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan attempted Tuesday to defuse Republican concerns about her approach to constitutional law. Kagan declared that Supreme Court decisions regarding gun rights are settled law, disavowed statements by President Barack Obama about the role of empathy in judging, and even sided with Justice Antonin Scalia in endorsing the "originalism" method of constitutional interpretation. The sharpest exchange came over Harvard Law's stance on the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy.
Check out some of the latest posts on the new lawjobs.com blog, The Careerist. Useless Interview Tips And K&L Gates Likes Them Sassy: Conversation with K&L chair Peter Kalis on law school candidates Also (Female) Employee Bites (Female) Boss
The current economic climate has forced many law firms to re-examine their business model, including structure, business policies and practice areas. For some law firms this has meant cutbacks, particularly in the areas of staffing and perks, but for others, this closer look has revealed opportunities to create new service offerings. Consultant Jerome Donovan discusses ways to help a law firm's business grow in today's down market, including looking to its accounting firm for specific financial guidance.
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