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A Victims-of-Law Associate


March 11 -- March 12, 2010

"If the present Congress errs in too much talking, how can it be otherwise

in a body to which the people send 150 lawyers,

whose trade it is to question everything, yield nothing, & talk by the hour? That 150 lawyers should do business together ought not to be expected."
--Thomas Jefferson, autobiography, 1821


GENERAL

Making legal aid more accessible and affordable

By Gillian Hadfield

03-12-10 -- The United States stands largely alone in advanced-market democracies in drastically restricting where and how people can get help with their legal problems. In all states, under rules created by bar associations and state supreme courts, only people with law degrees and who are admitted to the state bar can provide legal advice and services of any kind. . . . In England, Australia and the Netherlands, by contrast, a wide variety of professionals and experts can provide legal assistance. . . . Nonprofit organizations as well as for-profit firms can develop specialized expertise in particular areas of legal need -- housing, immigration, debt-management, child custody and so on. Often, studies show, specialized non-lawyer providers ultimately offer better service than the solo and small-firm practitioners who do someone's taxes one day and provide criminal defense the next. . . . In other countries, consumer and community organizations can provide legal services, as can unions and other workplace groups. Starting next year in England, so too can large companies such as Tesco, the European equivalent of Wal-Mart. There are online subscriber services giving legal advice on employment or consumer problems. The legal equivalent of TurboTax is probably just around the corner, if not already on British computer screens. ****** The writer is a professor of law and economics at the University of Southern California and a visiting professor at Harvard Law School.


Lehman Report Assigns Blame Far and Wide

Zach Lowe, The American Lawyer

03-12-10 -- The independent examiner's report investigating the collapse of Lehman Brothers is out (you can read it here), and the snippets making early headlines suggest the examiner, Jenner & Block Chairman Anton Valukas, spreads the blame around in his 2,200-page report. . . . Our colleagues at The Am Law Litigation Daily will have more analysis shortly. On first glance, it appears that Valukas has produced a thorough report and cast a wide net of blame. The report, which cost $38 million to produce, says that JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup, as lenders to Lehman, contributed to the liquidity crisis that drove it into bankruptcy. It also suggests that "a limited amount" of Lehman assets were "improperly transferred" to Barclays when the U.K. bank purchased Lehman's North American operations just days after Lehman's bankruptcy filing on Sept. 15, 2008, according to Bloomberg. It's unclear now what impact that finding might have on Lehman's suit accusing Barclays of getting an "improper windfall" in the deal. Boies, Schiller & Flexner is representing Barclays in that dispute; Jones Day is representing Lehman.


Unwanted Attention: Linklaters Nabs Starring Role in the Lehman Report

Zach Lowe, The American Lawyer

03-12-10 -- For our purposes, the highlight of the 2,200-page (with appendices) report released Thursday that examines the demise of Lehman Brothers starts at around page 700, when the examiner, Jenner & Block chair Anton Valukas, delves into the accounting tricks Lehman used to temporarily shift $50 billion in bad assets off of its balance sheet. . . . This detail jumps out at us because the report names Linklaters as the only firm Lehman could find to bless the transactions in the way Lehman wanted, according to our reading of the report. (The New York Times offers a similar analysis.) . . . The transactions, which one Lehman exec characterized as "window dressing" in an interview with Valukas' team, involved a variation on standard repurchase agreements, or "repo" deals. In a normal repo deal, a bank such as Lehman exchanges collateral for cash and agrees to take back the collateral very soon after the initial deal. The arrangement essentially works like a short-term loan. The bank (Lehman in this instance) then uses the cash to fund ongoing operations before taking back the initial collateral and repaying the cash. (For a more thorough description, complete with graphics, see the NYT link above). Such deals are normally characterized as a form of financing, meaning that the collateral stays on the bank's books for the duration of the transaction.


Plaintiffs Lawyers Jockey for Venue in Massive Toyota Litigation

Amanda Bronstad, The National Law Journal

03-11-10 -- Plaintiffs lawyers have been positioning themselves for a front seat in the mounting litigation arising from the sudden unintended acceleration problems in vehicles manufactured by Toyota. . . . Approximately 150 lawyers assembled on Friday at the InterContinental Chicago hotel to discuss sharing experts and legal strategies in the Toyota litigation, which now exceeds 80 lawsuits. Many of the lawyers have broken into camps based on which jurisdiction they believe should hear the multidistrict litigation against Toyota -- and, perhaps more importantly, which judge should decide the cases. . . . One of the most popular districts under consideration is the Central District of California in Los Angeles, near the headquarters of Toyota Motor Sales USA Inc. Lawyers supporting this locale include products liability attorneys Mark Robinson Jr. and Richard McCune as well as Toyota's lawyers, Cari Dawson and Lisa Gilford, both partners at Atlanta's Alston & Bird. McClune was the first into court against Toyota.


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ALABAMA  

Federal grand jury closes King investigation

By Sebastian Kitchen • Montgomery Advertiser

03-12-10 -- Alabama Attorney General Troy King said Thursday that his personal lawyers have been informed that a federal grand jury investigation of him and his office has been closed. . . . He said the office of new U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance of the Northern District of Alabama informed his attorneys that the investigation has been concluded and the grand jury has adjourned. . . . King, who stood next to his wife Paige as he read a prepared statement, talked about the difficulties "many months of intense scrutiny" and a protracted investigation had caused him and his family. . . . He neither disclosed details about what the investigation had concerned, nor took questions from the media. . . .  While this has been a long and often stressful process, I never wavered in the knowledge that I have conducted myself and the high office I hold in an honorable and ethical fashion, and in accordance with the law," he said in the prepared statement.


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Attorneys & Judges Involved in Sexual Misconduct


CALIFORNIA  

DLA Piper Sued Over Associate's Alleged Discovery Snafu

Leigh Jones, The National Law Journal

03-12-10 -- What may have been a case of oversharing on the part of a DLA Piper associate has dragged the firm into court to defend a legal malpractice lawsuit. . . . A former client claimed in a complaint filed on Tuesday that DLA Piper unlawfully "rifled through" its files and disclosed confidential information to a third party, resulting in about $1.2 million in damages. . . . The client, George Sutton & Associates Inc., a San Diego software company, alleged that DLA Piper breached its fiduciary duty, unfairly charged more than $200,000 in legal fees and cost Sutton a $1 million business deal.


Encino lawyer among hundreds arrested in insurance scam

Scheme: Suspects accused of staging `paper accidents' to collect money.

By Troy Anderson, Los Angeles Daily News Staff Writer

03-11-10 -- An Encino attorney, three chiropractors and a handful of legal aides were arrested Thursday for alleged involvement in a large-scale auto insurance fraud ring involving more than 300 suspects, authorities said Thursday. . . . Dubbed "Operation Big Fish," the case is one of the largest in a string of auto insurance fraud rings the District Attorney's Office has broken up in recent years, Auto Insurance Fraud Division Deputy District Attorney Gregory Alker said. . . . The defendants, one of whom fainted when he opened the door to investigators Thursday morning, are accused of defrauding 19 insurance companies by filing false claims for staged accidents. The total losses are estimated at $549,000, Alker said. . . . The ring allegedly carried out what Alker called "paper accidents."


DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA  

Lawyer for 'D.C. Madam' Slapped With 3-Year Suspension

Jeff Jeffrey, The National Law Journal

03-12-10 -- Montgomery Blair Sibley, best known for his representation of the late "D.C. Madam" Deborah Jeane Palfrey, had his law license suspended for three years by the D.C. Court of Appeals on Thursday. The court's decision is a reciprocal disciplinary sanction that stems from a 2008 decision by the Supreme Court of Florida to pull his license in that state for three years. . . . Sibley's license was suspended in Florida because he failed to pay more than $100,000 in child support payments and because he repeatedly filed "vexatious and meritless" lawsuits against judges who have been assigned his cases. Sibley has argued that the Florida disciplinary process violated his due process rights and failed to prove that his conduct warranted discipline.


Holder Did Not Disclose Briefs on ‘Enemy Combatant’

By Charlie Savage and Bernie Becker, New York Times 

03-11-10 -- During his confirmation last year, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. failed to notify the Senate that he had signed several briefs urging courts to reject President George W. Bush’s claim that he had the power to imprison an American citizen as an “enemy combatant,” the Justice Department acknowledged Thursday. . . . “The briefs should have been disclosed as part of the confirmation process,” said Matthew Miller, a Justice Department spokesman. “In preparing thousands of pages for submission, it was unfortunately and inadvertently missed. In any event, the attorney general has publicly discussed his positions on detention policy on many occasions, including at his confirmation hearing.” . . . But at a meeting of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which held the confirmation hearing, Republicans signaled that they were likely to attack Mr. Holder over his joining the briefs — and his failure to list them, along with other public documents, on a routine confirmation questionnaire — when he testifies before them later this month.


1-Year Suspension Recommended for Former Bush White House Aide Over Theft Charge

Jeff Jeffrey, The National Law Journal

03-11-10 -- The D.C. Board on Professional Responsibility has recommended to the D.C. Court of Appeals that former White House aide Claude Allen, who pleaded guilty in 2006 to one misdemeanor count of theft of property under $500, be suspended from the practice of law for one year. That suspension would be a much stiffer penalty than the 90-day suspension earlier recommended by a hearing committee. . . . Allen, who worked for President George W. Bush, admitted that, on three separate occasions, he bought an item at a Target store, later went back to the store with the receipt, pulled an identical item off the shelves, and used the receipt to "return" it, allowing him to keep the purchased item at no cost. According to the hearing committee's Nov. 19 report, Allen used such means to steal a $525 Bose stereo, a $237 Kodak printer, and an $88 RCA stereo in 2005.



A Victims-of-Law Associate


FLORIDA  

Embattled Hillsborough County attorney now hit with Bar complaint

By Bill Varian, Times Staff Writer 

03-12-10 -- Hillsborough County Attorney Renee Lee is now facing a complaint with the Florida Bar Association in addition to a state criminal investigation. . . . Hillsborough-based political consultant and blogger Chris Ingram on Wednesday lodged a bar complaint relating to the recent e-mail snooping allegations against Lee. He claims her actions violate the Bar's rules governing professional conduct. . . . Barnes has claimed that the e-mails in question may have included information pertaining to his review and a Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigation of 1 percent pay raises that County Administrator Pat Bean secretly awarded to herself and Lee in 2007. Lee had no business looking at them, Ingram says.


Former Receiver Pleads Guilty to $2.6 Million Fraud, Faces up to 14 Years

John Pacenti, Daily Business Review

03-11-10 -- Lewis Freeman made some desperate phone calls to friends and family last August. . . . He needed $1 million. . . . The attorney-accountant had to hustle to make up for a shortfall in a fraud case in which his Miami firm had been appointed receiver. Freeman had stolen $1.5 million from the receivership of Hess Kennedy, a debt settlement firm closed down by the Florida attorney general's office. It turned out he had been moving money around from his court-supervised accounts for more than a decade, while pilfering $2.6 million from creditors and victims of fraud. . . . But then the Hess Kennedy marker came due. . . . "The scheme fell apart when several courts asked him to make distributions on fiduciary matters, and Freeman was unable to do so because he stole too much money," Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Levi told U.S. District Judge Paul C. Huck.


Former RRA Partner to Answer Questions on Payments From Convicted Fraudster

Says defense attorney, 'At the end of the day, he is as much a victim as anyone else is in this case'

Jordana Mishory, Daily Business Review

03-11-10 -- Former Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler partner Steve Lippman has agreed to sit for a deposition without invoking his Fifth Amendment rights when questioned about money received from his former boss, convicted fraudster Scott Rothstein. . . . A hearing was set Wednesday on Lippman's request to postpone a deposition sought by the law firm's bankruptcy trustee, but attorneys arrived in court with an agreement on how to proceed. . . . Lippman's attorney in the bankruptcy case, Patrick Scott of GrayRobinson in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., said afterward that his client "denies any complicity in Rothstein's scheme." He did not elaborate.


INDIANA  

Indiana attorney arrested and charged with distributing child pornography

ethiopianreview.com

03-12-10 -- A local attorney accused of possessing and distributing child pornography was arrested and charged in federal court Tuesday. The charges resulted from an investigation conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). . . . Samuel Hasler, 50, of Anderson, Ind., was arrested March 9 and charged with two counts of distributing child pornography and one count of possessing child pornography. . . . According to the criminal complaint, Hasler allegedly distributed multiple images of child pornography via the Internet in December to a person in another state. On Feb. 14, Hasler sent additional images of child pornography from his computer to a police officer working in an undercover capacity. . . . On March 9, ICE agents executed a federal search warrant at Hasler’s law office in Anderson. During the search, agents recovered images and videos of child pornography contained on an external hard drive in Hasler’s law office. The complaint does not allege that Hasler produced the child pornography.


MINNESOTA   

St. Cloud lawyer reprimanded

By TaLeiza Calloway • St. Cloud Times

03-12-10 -- Attorney Chad Michael Roggeman of St. Cloud was publicly reprimanded Thursday and placed on supervised probation for two years by the Minnesota Supreme Court. . . . The Office of Lawyers Professional Responsibility filed a petition for disciplinary action against him, citing neglect of a client matter, failure to keep that client informed and misrepresentations to cover the errors, according to court documents.


MISSISSIPPI  

Mississippi attorney disbarred in misconduct case

The Associated Press, SunHerald.com    

03-11-10 -- The Mississippi Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the disbarment of a prominent Mississippi lawyer amid allegations he mixed his personal and business funds with the funds of his clients. . . . The Mississippi Bar filed the complaint against James McIntyre of Jackson in 2008. . . . McIntyre had been a member of the Mississippi Bar Association since 1965. . . . Mississippi Bar Association attorney Adam Kilgore said a disbarred attorney can seek reinstatement after three years. . . . McIntyre represented one-time Ku Klux Klan leader Edgar Ray Killen in 2005 during Killen's trial in the 1964 slayings of three civil rights workers in Neshoba County. Killen was convicted of manslaughter in the deaths of Michael Schwerner, James Chaney and Andrew Goodman. . . .The tribunal that disbarred McIntyre noted that he admitted during a Bar Association investigation that he commingled funds, wrote checks from his lawyer trust account for personal expenses and used his trust account to  over personal debts.


Miss. jury: Lawyers committed fraud in lawsuit

By Holbrook Mohr, The Associated Press, BusinessWeek      

03-11-10 -- Two Mississippi plaintiffs lawyers, including a former state lawmaker, committed fraud during an asbestos lawsuit they filed in 2001 and should pay Illinois Central Railroad Co. $420,000 in damages, a federal jury has decided. . . . Illinois Central claimed McComb attorneys William Guy and Thomas Brock knew their clients lied about their involvement in an earlier landmark asbestos case when they were questioned during the railroad lawsuit. . . . Guy is a well-known attorney who served two terms as a state representative in the late 1960s and 1970s before moving to the Senate for one term. He ran unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor as a Democrat in 1995. . . . The jury made its decision Monday. It awarded Illinois Central actual and punitive damages, finding the lawyers responsible for the fraud. The company asked the court Wednesday to force the lawyers to pay another $145,000 in interest.


NEW JERSEY  

Solo Punished for Paying Paralegal a Percentage of Fees

Henry Gottlieb, New Jersey Law Journal

03-11-10 -- After practicing law for 57 years, Martin Burger learned something new. You can be reprimanded by the Supreme Court for paying paralegals a percentage of fees on cases they bring in. . . . He also learned the punishment could have been worse. . . . In an order made public on March 5, the justices adopted the Disciplinary Review Board's finding that Burger, a Paramus, N.J., solo, capitalized on paralegal Lita Biederman's contacts in the Filipino community to generate immigration cases. . . . Burger paid her half the fees he collected in her cases, plus $200 per week for general secretarial duties. Those included filling out forms and sometimes acting as interpreter for Tagalog-speaking Filipino clients. . . . Between 2000 and 2006, Burger paid $230,000 to an entity Biederman controlled, Darius Group. . . . Burger violated Rule of Professional Conduct 5.4(a), the prohibition against sharing fees with nonlawyer employees, and RPC 7.3(d), the stricture against giving something of value to a person to obtain a client, the DRB found in Matter of Martin Burger, 09-243.



NEW YORK  

Business Partner Convicted in Murder of Attorney

Vesselin Mitev, New York Law Journal

03-12-10 -- A Suffolk County, N.Y., jury on Monday convicted the business partner of a Long Island lawyer who was shot and killed in the parking lot of a Korean restaurant in October 2008 for arranging the hit. Ronald Thornton of Nesconset, N.Y., was found guilty of first-degree murder and conspiracy in the death of James DiMartino, who worked for Nationwide Court Services.


Ex-Kasowitz Partner Pitcock on Patent Suit Against Google, Facebook

Drew Combs, The American Lawyer

03-11-10 -- Former Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman partner Jeremy Pitcock is back in the news -- and this time it's for his role as a litigator, not a litigant. . . . Pitcock filed a patent infringement lawsuit Monday in Manhattan federal court on behalf of his client Wireless Ink Corp. against Google Inc. and Facebook Inc., according to this Bloomberg article. In its complaint, Wireless Ink, which operates a mobile content management and social networking software company called Winksite, alleges that Facebook's Facebook Mobile application and Google's Google Buzz infringe on one of its patents. . . . Google and Facebook were likely aware of the patent, which Wireless Ink says it was issued in October, "given the time and resources defendants have invested in their desktop and mobile Web sites as well as their strategic importance," according to the complaint.


NORTH CAROLINA  

Lawyer ordered to home confinement again

by Cheryl Caswell, Daily Mail staff

03-12-10 -- A circuit judge has doubled the bond and again ordered home confinement for a Charleston lawyer accused of chasing and battering a client with a baseball bat. . . . Joshua Robinson was apprehended at his Lee Street home by police and more than a dozen SWAT team members after he failed to post bond or report to jail this week. . . . An officer told the judge Thursday that when officers entered the house more than five hours after he was to turn himself in, they found Robinson in bed with his wife eating pizza and watching television. The living room was full of packing boxes. . . . It was the third court appearance for Robinson in less than a week before Judge Louis "Duke" Bloom.  This time, he said he misunderstood where and when he was to turn himself in.


TEXAS  

Houston lawyer loses big in Internet scam

by Jeff McShan / 11 News 

03-12-10 -- A successful Houston lawyer says he fell for an elaborate Internet scam that ended up costing him $182,500. . . . Houston attorney Richard T. Howell, a law partner at Buckley, White, Castaneda and Howell, says he would rather not be in the news, because what happened to him is embarrassing to say the least. But hoping others won’t fall into the same trap, Howell decided to sit down and talk with 11 News. . . . “I’ve had to put a second lien on my house. It has been an extremely stressful time for both my wife and I,” Howell said. . . . It all began when Howell received an e-mail from a company, 8,000 miles away, that wanted him to legally pursue four of its U.S. customers who owed it money. . . . “The e-mail said this is a Hong Kong company and we would like to retain you as counsel,” Howell said.  “And they gave me the customers names for a total debt of about $4 million.” . . . The Hong Kong company he was corresponding with had a Web site, and its customers were all legitimate U.S. companies with Web sites, Howell said. . . . “I mean in a perfect world, I guess I could have said, ‘Come over here and meet me in Houston.’ But I have met tons of my clients -- a number of my clients I’ve never met that are out of state, or out of the country. I mean, that is not unusual at all,” Howell said. . . . So when Dallas attorney Raul Loya eceived a similar e-mail, he said he was interested, too. . . . “They need someone to help recoup their losses in the U.S.,” Loya sad. . . . Both lawyers signed contracts with their overseas client and exchanged e-mails and documentation regarding the debt that was involved.


Former City Attorney Suspected in Dallas Office Shootings Dies

The Associated Press, Law.com

03-11-10 -- Dallas police say a former city attorney accused of shooting a father and son inside their financial business has died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. . . . Sr. Cpl. Kevin Janse said 60-year-old Robert Mustard died early Wednesday afternoon. . . . Police say Mustard turned the gun on himself after shooting 66-year-old Richard Smith and 39-year-old Christopher Smith on Monday. Mustard would have faced aggravated assault charges, but Janse says those charges won't be filed now.


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March 9 -- March 10, 2010

GENERAL

In Search of Volunteer Lawyers for Death Row Inmates

By Tony Mauro | The Blog of Legal Times | New York Lawyer

03-10-10 -- For several months last year Robin Maher, director of the American Bar Association Death Penalty Representation Project was feeling like the proverbial Maytag repairman. "I could not even get a return phone call," she said, from law firms she had called in search of volunteers to help the hundreds of death row inmates nationwide who are without counsel. "I think there was a lot of uncertainty about layoffs and other changes that made law firms reluctant to commit to new pro bono projects," Maher said in an interview. . . . Unfortunately, at the same time, the economic downturn has also made the need for pro bono lawyers greater than ever, she said. "Reductions in state and county budgets mean that defender offices with crushing workloads and inadequate funding are struggling more than ever to represent poor people facing death sentences." The project receives numerous letters from prisoners and public defenders every week, she said. Despite having recruited hundreds of private firm lawyers over the years, she added, "We do not have nearly enough to meet the tremendous need."


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Freed gadfly lawyer Lerach warns of more Wall Street fraud

Alexandria Sage, Reuters

03-08-10 -- His debt to society finally paid in full, William Lerach, the fiery shareholder litigator who exposed the excesses of Enron before running afoul of the law himself, warned of another wave of financial fraud emerging on an unregulated Wall Street. . . . Lerach, whose name for years sent shudders through many a corporate boardroom before his too aggressive tactics landed him a two-year jail sentence, became a free man this week, eager to again take America Inc to task. . . . He blasted Wall Street for everything from inflated salaries leading to risky behavior to a lack of responsibility to society, shareholders and even their own companies. . . . "There will be another financial fraud wave if serious changes aren't made," the 63-year-old disbarred lawyer said. "We keep repeating the same mistakes. There is no real legal or economic accountability of the people on Wall Street." . . . He was pessimistic of any significant strengthening of financial regulation: "Nothing really meaningful, in my opinion, will happen on the regulation front." . . . Lerach admits to serious missteps of his own. He served time for a kickback scheme in which shareholders were paid to act as plaintiffs in class-action cases. . . . In an exclusive interview, he said he regretted his mistakes but remained proud of his courtroom successes.


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CALIFORNIA  

Jailed at 70, lawyer is trouble for judges

By Dan Walters / The Sacramento Bee

03-09-10 -- Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca released hundreds of jail inmates last week before their terms were up, citing county budget problems. . . . However, 70-year-old Richard Fine was not among them. Instead, last week he marked the one-year anniversary of being clapped into a small and windowless solitary confinement cell for what a local judge declared to be contempt of court. . . . Fine is an antitrust attorney who has been a persistent critic of Los Angeles County's practice of giving judges nearly $50,000 a year in extra pay over their state-paid salaries. He's alleged that when the county government is a party to a lawsuit, it's a conflict of interest for judges to hear the case and a conflict for them to hear any cases involving him because of his criticism. . . . In 2008, a state appellate court ruled in a case brought by another party that giving judges extra payments violated the state constitution. A year ago, however, the Legislature attached to its budget package a bill authorizing the extra payments, including those already made. . . . A few days after the legislation was enacted, Superior Court Judge David Yaffe, who had refused to recuse himself from a Fine case, sentenced him to jail indefinitely for contempt, citing a refusal to provide personal financial information in a dispute over attorney fees.


Judge Chastises McKesson Exec's Defense Team but Reins In Prosecution

Dan Levine, The Recorder

03-09-10 -- Former McKesson HBOC Chairman Charles McCall got 10 years for securities fraud Friday, even though federal prosecutors had sought 15 years and the probation office thought he deserved even more than that. . . . McCall is the last defendant to be sentenced in a decade-long case involving cooked books at the company. In fashioning McCall's punishment, Northern District of California Judge William Alsup stressed the need to deter corporate executives from committing these kinds of crimes. However, he said McCall's crimes -- while serious -- are not the same as those perpetrated by the likes of Bernard Madoff. McKesson HBOC was a real company with real products, Alsup said, while Madoff's business was a total sham. . . . "It is easy for the government to get carried away," Alsup said. . . . But Alsup trained heavy fire on McCall's defense team, led by Ted Wells of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, for trying to keep McCall out of prison pending appeal. Alsup called an attempt to quibble with his jury instructions "frivolous," and dinged the defense team for failing to preserve objections during trial.


FLORIDA  

How to Get Attorneys to Read Something: E-Mail Them Telling Them Not to

Daily Business Review

03-09-10 -- Is Fowler White Burnett a foe of the First Amendment? . . . The firm sent out an e-mail to all its attorneys telling them they should not open and read a Daily Business Review article last month about the firm and one of its attorneys, Lilly Ann Sanchez, according to a lawyer in the firm's Miami office. . . . That story detailed a juicy lawsuit filed against the firm and Sanchez, head of the firm's white-collar division and a former federal prosecutor. The suit was filed by the former in-laws of Oscar Rivero, a Miami attorney-developer who was jailed for misusing $700,000 out of $3 million he was paid by the Miami-Dade Housing Agency to build affordable housing for senior citizens. Rivero admitted diverting public money to build himself a dream house in South Miami.


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GEORGIA  

Indictments Dismissed Against Lawyers Charged in 'Slayer Statute' Case

Prosecutor says decision may leave room for one of the original seven criminal counts to survive

Greg Land, Fulton County Daily Report

03-10-10 -- The Georgia Supreme Court last week ruled that criminal indictments against two Carroll County lawyers must be dismissed, ordering the state Court of Appeals to reverse its prior ruling allowing the indictments to stand. . . . According to the Carroll County pair's attorneys, the high court's move puts to rest a case that Georgia's criminal defense bar worried could threaten the livelihoods -- and liberty -- of lawyers whose clients are ultimately convicted. . . . "The order of the Supreme Court demands that the bill of indictment against both attorneys be dismissed with prejudice," said Brian Steel, whose client, Valerie C. Cooke, was charged along with Candace E. Rader in twin seven-count indictments. The women were accused of stealing from the estate of a murder victim by accepting legal fees from his wife, who first inherited her husband's estate but ultimately pleaded guilty to a murder-for-hire plot.


ILLINOIS  

Greenberg Traurig Terminates Partner Facing
Theft-of-Services Charges

Brian Baxter, The American Lawyer

03-09-10 -- Mark McCombs, a government affairs partner in the Chicago office of Greenberg Traurig, was charged by state prosecutors in Illinois on Friday with bilking more than $1 million from a Chicago suburb through inflated legal bills, according to a report in the Chicago Tribune. McCombs, 50, was arrested at his condo on Chicago's Near West Side, the paper reported. . . . In a statement released late Friday, Greenberg Traurig said "upon learning of these charges, the law firm severed connections" with McCombs. The firm is fully cooperating with the investigation into the charges. . . . Cook County prosecutors claim, in a press release sent to local Chicago papers, that, since 2003, McCombs capitalized on his personal and professional contacts with officials in Calumet Park to steal more than $1 million in tax increment finance funds. Most of the bills, the paper said, were for work that was never performed.


Developer accused of bribery loses bid to block ex-lawyer's testimony

By Natasha Korecki, Chicago Sun-Times Staff Reporter

03-09-10 -- Jury selection in the corruption trial of a Chicago developer is expected to begin today after he lost a bid to block his former lawyer from testifying against him. . . . The trial of Calvin Boender, accused of bribing a Chicago alderman, was put on hold Monday as Boender asked the appeals court to block his onetime lawyer from taking the stand against him, saying it violated his attorney-client privilege. . . . The appeals court refused to hear the issue. . . . U.S. District Judge Robert M. Dow ruled that former Boender attorney Dan Reidy can testify about a document prosecutors say he gave them when he represented Boender. . . . Boender is accused of paying for $40,000 in repairs to Ald. Ike Carothers' home, allegedly in exchange for a zoning change.


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NEW HAMPSHIRE  

Former NH Lawyer Gets 4 Years 3 Months For Fraud

AP, WBZ

03-10-10 -- A once prominent New Hampshire attorney and former Manchester city water commissioner is headed to federal prison for more than four years. . . . Thomas J. Tessier was sentenced Tuesday in federal court in Concord as part of a plea deal with federal prosecutors. . . . Tessier pleaded guilty in November to charges of bank and mail fraud and money laundering in connection with what prosecutors said was defrauding a client of $2.3 million over several years.


NEW JERSEY  

N.J. High Court Weighs Title Insurer's Liability for Attorney's Theft of Client Funds

Michael Booth, New Jersey Law Journal

03-10-10 -- The New Jersey Supreme Court is deciding if a title insurer can be held liable for a lawyer's theft of a home buyer's funds if it fails to tell the buyer directly it is not responsible for the lawyer's misdeeds. . . . The case, Lawyers Funds for Client Protection v. Stewart Title Guaranty Co., A-44-09, argued Monday, is being closely watched by the title industry, which could become a deep pocket for fleeced clients if the appeals court ruling below is allowed to stand. . . . Stuart and Susan Goodman hired Richard Pizzi, their neighbor in Bedminster, N.J., to represent them in the purchase of a new home in Somerset in 2003. They sold their existing home and gave the net proceeds to Pizzi, but he stole them. The theft was not discovered until his trust account checks bounced. . . . Pizzi was disbarred by consent in 2005. The Lawyers' Fund for Client Protection awarded the Goodmans $307,456 and then moved for reimbursement from Stewart Title Guaranty Co.


NEW YORK  

Lawyer Pleads Guilty to Tax Fraud

Joel Stashenko, New York Law Journal

03-10-10 -- A central New York attorney active in defending women's and gay rights pleaded guilty Monday to a Class E felony tax fraud charge that will result in her disbarment. . . . Bonnie Strunk, 62, of DeWitt, N.Y., admitted to fourth-degree criminal tax fraud before Supreme Court Justice John Brunetti in Syracuse. Strunk acknowledged in court that she failed to file a personal income tax return for 2008. Prosecutors contended she owed about $11,700 in taxes.


N.Y. Appellate Panel Affirms Suit Over Alleged Promise to Pay Client's Fee

Firm had sued former client for fees it said it earned in representing her as a potential witness in a $78 million lawsuit brought by Merrill Lynch against a wealthy South American family

Daniel Wise, New York Law Journal

03-10-10 -- An attorney who conveys an alleged agreement to cover the legal costs of another lawyer's client can be held liable for unpaid fees, a unanimous panel of the Appellate Division, 1st Department, ruled Tuesday. . . . The decision allows the firm of DePetris & Bachrach to pursue claims against the Shiboleth law firm and one of its lawyers, Charles B. Manuel, that they had promised that their clients would make good on DePetris & Bachrach's fees. . . . The ruling in DePetris & Bachrach v. Manuel, 111194/08, reverses the ruling of Justice Paul G. Feinman in Manhattan who had dismissed the four causes of action the DePetris firm has asserted against Shiboleth and Manuel. . . . DePetris & Bachrach sued former client Claudia Srour for fees it said it earned in representing her as a potential witness in a $78 million lawsuit brought by Merrill Lynch against a wealthy South American family.


Jury Convicts In Murder Of Attorney

North Country Gazette

03-09-10 -- A Suffolk County jury has convicted Ronald Thornton of Nesconset of first degree murder and conspiracy for arranging the murder of his business partner James DiMartino, a 44-year-old attorney, in the parking lot of a Korean restaurant in Commack on Oct.20, 2008. . . . Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota said he will recommend Thornton receives life in prison without parole when the defendant is sentenced April 14. . . . “This victim was executed in a parking lot, leaving a widow and four young girls,” Spota said.   “The defendant deserves the maximum punishment the law allows”.


Lawyers Indicted In MTA Swindle

Former Brooklyn A.D.A. and Head Transit Tort Lawyer Charged

by Brooklyn Eagle

03-09-10 -- Kings County District Attorney Charles J. Hynes and Metropolitan Transportation Authority Inspector General Barry L. Kluger held a press conference Tuesday announcing two indictments against three people charged with scamming the New York City Transit Authority (NYCTA) out of more than $150,000 in two separate schemes carried out over the course of four years. . . . “Jacqueline Jackson, whose job it was to save taxpayers money by fighting frivolous lawsuits against the NYCTA, cost those taxpayers money, by stealing from the very agency that hired her,” Hynes said. *****Defendant Joyce Ilarraza, 63, owned a record retrieval company — AJI Records Retrieval. Defendant John E. Headley, 45, owned a company — Advance IME Co. — which provided the Torts Division of the NYCTA Law Department with independent medical examinations, medical records and expert witnesses, to testify at trials. . . . Headley allegedly operated Advance IME under the false name, James Douglas, because, as an outside counsel for the NYCTA working on matters requiring independent medical examinations, it was necessary for him to conceal his involvement in the company, according to the indictment.


NORTH CAROLINA  

Warrant: Ex-DA Stashed Dismissals, Impersonated Cop

By Sarah Randaghttp://www.abajournal.com/?ACT=49&vars=YToyOntzOjg6ImVudHJ5X2lkIjtzOjU6IjI1MDkxIjtzOjk6IndlYmxvZ19pZCI7czoxOiIxIjt9, ABA Journal

03-10-10 -- The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation says that a recently retired county district attorney kept a file of citations he had dismissed and referred to it to call in favors. . . . The SBI began its probe of Person-Caswell County District Attorney Joel Brewer last fall, and released a warrant affidavit in that investigation Tuesday, the Herald-Sun reported. Brewer announced his retirement last week, with eight months left in his term, the Danville News reported. . . . According to the affidavit, an unnamed witness "familiar with the workings of the district attorney's office" told the SBI that Brewer would routinely dismiss minor citations and traffic charges for people and keep copies of them in a manila file folder in his office. At election time, he would refer to the folder and call "some of those for whom he has dismissed charges, reminding them of what he did, and asked them for their vote and/or for their help while working the polls."


OHIO  

Two former attorney general aids fined, will assist with criminal probe

by Marc Kovac, Capital Bureau Chief, Hudson Hub-Times

03-10-10 -- Former Attorney General Marc Dann's chief of staff and communications manager were fined March 4 for ethics charges that surfaced as part of the scandal that led to Dann's eventual resignation. . . . Edgar Simpson will have to pay $1,000 for failing to disclose income on a required state ethics form, while Leo Jennings will pay $2,000 for failing to properly file forms and accepting improper compensation while working in the Attorney General's Office. . . . Both received suspended jail sentences for the crimes, and Jennings will have to complete 250 hours of community service as part of his punishment. . . . Both also have committed to assisting in future investigations that may lead to further criminal charges against others.


Lawyer's crimes tap victims' fund

Payouts to former clients of Ken Lawson are among Hamilton County's highest

By Dan Horn • Cincinnati.com

03-09-10 -- Cincinnati lawyer Ken Lawson's former clients have now received more than $200,000 from a state fund that covers victims of attorney theft. . . . The 28 individual claims that have been paid so far are a record for Hamilton County and the total dollar amount is the second-highest for the county in the 24-year history of Ohio's Clients' Security Fund. . . . The fund, which released the figures Tuesday, is supported by registration fees paid by Ohio attorneys and does not receive taxpayer money. . . . State officials would not discuss pending claims against Lawson, so more payouts could be on the way. Officials at the Cincinnati Bar Association, which investigated more than a dozen grievances against Lawson, have said his case is among the largest they have seen in terms of victims.


PENNSYLVANIA  

Local lawyer Urbanski disbarred by top court

By Terrie Morgan-Besecker, Wilkes Barre Times-Leader Law & Order Reporter

03-09-10 -- A Kingston attorney with a history of disciplinary problems has been disbarred from practicing law by the state Supreme Court. . . . The action, taken against Stephen K. Urbanski, stems from a series of complaints that were filed against him by clients dating back to 2000. . . . Urbanski, who had a law office on Pierce Street, was accused of taking money from several clients, then failing to perform the work they had paid for, according to a report prepared by the Disciplinary Board of the state Supreme Court. . . . According to the report, between 2005 and 2007 Urbanski took money from three clients related to a divorce case, landlord tenant dispute and a request to expunge a criminal record, then failed to perform the required work on the cases. . . . The actions were the latest in a series of disciplinary problems Urbanski has had dating back to 2000, when he was admonished for failing to communicate with clients, surrender files and return unearned funds, the report says.


Disbarred Attorney Sentenced to 21 Months for Estate Thefts

The Associated Press, Law.com

03-09-10 -- A disbarred Erie, Pa., attorney has been sentenced to 21 months in federal prison for stealing nearly $200,000 from estate clients. . . . Sixty-two-year-old J. Gregory Moore pleaded guilty in November and consented to disbarment in July. . . . Authorities say Moore went to the Erie County district attorney's office in March to announce that he had drained money from one woman's estate. Moore's confession came during a state Disciplinary Board investigation and led the DA to refer the case to federal prosecutors, who indicted him on mail fraud charges involving multiple clients.


TEXAS  

Prosecutors to Seek Indictment Against Attorney for Murder of Former Partner's Ex-Wife

Mary Alice Robbins, Texas Lawyer

03-10-10 -- Dallas County prosecutors will seek an indictment for murder against plaintiffs attorney Scott Marshall in connection with the Dec. 20, 2009, shooting death of Staci Montgomery, the ex-wife of Marshall's former law partner, Bady Sassin. According to an e-mail from Jamille Bradfield, spokeswoman for the Dallas County district attorney's office, prosecutors will present the case against Marshall to a grand jury on Friday. . . . Montgomery’s death occurred as the two former partners were engaged in a legal battle. Sassin filed Sassin Law Firm v. Marshall Law Firm in August 2009, alleging that Marshall did not hold up his end of the partnership after they agreed to start Marshall Sassin in January 2009. In his first amended petition, Sassin accuses Marshall of fraudulent inducement and breach of contract, among other things -- allegations Marshall denies in his response and countersuit.


Former Rockwall DA Ray Sumrow paroled after serving fraction of sentence

By Richard Abshire / The Dallas Morning News

03-10-10 -- See a man off to prison with a 15-year sentence, you expect him to stay gone awhile. Which is why some in Rockwall are surprised to hear that Ray Sumrow is out on parole after 20 months. . . . His convictions resulted in a 15-year sentence, but he's now on parole after serving 20 months. . . . Sumrow, 60, was the sixth-term Republican district attorney in Rockwall when convicted twice in 2008. . . . Prison and parole officials said Sumrow qualified for parole based on a formula that weighs the nature of his crimes and the sum of "flat time," the actual number of days he served, plus "good time" plus "work time." . . . Sumrow is appealing a March 2008 conviction in which he was accused of stealing $9,652 in computer equipment and money from a county account. He was later found guilty of diverting $68,000 in state money into his personal checking account between November 2003 and June 2004. He finished paying the money back in December 2004, after apparently using it to cover personal expenses and to avoid bank overdrafts.


Charges in Dallas Office Shooting Depend on Suspect's Recovery

The Associated Press, Law.com

03-10-10 -- Dallas police say charges against a former city attorney accused of shooting a father and son inside their financial business are on hold because the accused gunman isn't expected to survive. . . . Police say Robert Mustard shot himself in the head after shooting the others Monday. The 60-year-old was in intensive care Tuesday. . . . Police Sr. Cpl. Kevin Janse says aggravated assault charges won't be filed if Mustard dies. . . . Police say Mustard turned the gun on himself after shooting 66-year-old Richard Smith and 39-year-old Christopher Smith. Richard Smith was shot four times in the legs. His son was shot in the head and neck. Both remained hospitalized but stable Tuesday.


Houston lawyer wants airport to pay for coat he left
at food court

By David Yates, Southeast Texas Record

03-09-10 -- Most airports remind passengers not to leave their baggage unattended. However, one plaintiff's attorney is contending it was also the airport's responsibility to remind him not to leave his pricey coat unattended. . . . William Ogletree, a Houston trial lawyer who worked in Beaumont at one time, sent a warning letter to the city of Houston, Continental Airlines and Westfield Concession Management on Jan. 18, threatening to sue all three entities if they did not pony up $800 for the "expensive black leather coat" he left behind while catching a flight to Las Vegas. . . . According to the two-page letter published by The Smoking Gun, on Dec. 30 while on his way to Gate C-19, Ogletree writes that he left his Polo coat at a Houston Intercontinental Airport food court while grabbing a slice of pizza. He never found it. . . . "I have diligently attempted but failed to determine which (of the three entities) is responsible for the area and who should have collected the coat, kept it in a secure place and held it for a reasonable period of time for the owner to locate it," the letter states.


UTAH  

SLC lawyer accused of visa fraud arrested after taking Mexico trip

By Pamela Manson, The Salt Lake Tribune

03-09-10 -- After he was indicted last year on visa fraud charges, Salt Lake City attorney James Hector Alcala was allowed to remain free if he stayed in Utah and wore an electronic monitor, among other conditions. . . . The lawyer now is facing time behind bars even before he gets to trial. On Tuesday, Alcala admitted at a hearing in federal court that he had traveled to Mexico, where he met with clients applying for U.S. work permits and took photos of the perimeter of the American consulate in Ciudad Juarez. . . . But Alcala insisted he had no intention of violating his pretrial release conditions. He asked U.S. Magistrate David Nuffer "to have mercy" and release him from jail, where he landed after his arrest on Friday.


WEST VIRGINIA   

Lawyer in client-beating case arrested after failing to post bond

Witnesses claim attorney repeatedly hit man with baseball bat

by Cheryl Caswell, Daily Mail staff    March 9, 2010

03-09-10 -- Charleston attorney Joshua Robinson, who is charged with beating a client with a baseball bat, had to be arrested after failing to either post bond or report to jail on Monday. . . . Earlier in the day, Robinson had been placed on home confinement until his trial next month. Bond was set at $25,000 with a 10 percent cash option and a requirement of home confinement. . . . But Robinson failed to post bond by 4 p.m. Monday -- and also did not report to jail in lieu of that. There was a warrant issued for his arrest, and police apprehended him at his Lee Street home.


WISCONSIN    

Lawyer convicted in Bielinski builders fraud reinstated to bar

By Bruce Vielmetti of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

03-09-10 -- Milwaukee attorney Michael Gral, who served two years in prison for his role in defrauding a major area home builder and client, has won back his license to practice law in Wisconsin. . . . The state Supreme Court on Tuesday followed a referee's recommendation and reinstated Gral's license, on the condition he not represent any clients with whom he also is involved in real estate deals for three years. . . . The reinstatement follows a three-year suspension imposed in 2005, when Gral, 49, was convicted in federal court. Gral served a prison term and then federal probation, which ended last month. He petitioned to rejoin the state bar in March 2009, and a hearing was held before a referee in August. . . . At that hearing, a partner from Gral's old firm, Michael Best & Friedrich, opposed Gral's reinstatement. Stephen Means, now an attorney with the state Department of Justice, called Gral's crime the "result of conscious, deliberate acts over a period of time that were motivated by personal greed. This man should never practice law again."


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March 6 -- March 8, 2010

GENERAL

Big Law Defends Guantanamo Lawyers

Mike Scarcella and David Ingram, The National Law Journal

03-08-10 -- The intensifying flap over Justice Department lawyers who have advocated for Guantanamo Bay detainees is spilling over to Big Law, where some firm leaders are fighting back against the criticism. . . . The Justice Department in the past couple of weeks has come under fire from a conservative group and Republican lawmakers for hiring lawyers who represented Guantanamo Bay detainees while in private practice. The controversy ramped up after the Justice Department refused to name the lawyers. Then the conservative group Keep America Safe posted a YouTube video questioning the allegiance of the DOJ lawyers and giving the attorneys a name -- "The Al Qaeda Seven." . . . The political talk shows are buzzing about ethics and loyalty. Lawyers are writing opinion pieces. One Virginia congressman fired off a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. that compared Gitmo lawyers to attorneys for the Mafia. And in the middle of it all are a group of former private practitioners in Big Law at firms that include Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr, Morrison & Foerster, O'Melveny & Myers and Sidley Austin.


Google’s Top Lawyer Makes More than $2M in Bonus and Pay

By Debra Cassens Weiss, ABA Journal

03-08-10 -- Google’s chief legal officer is getting a $1.73 million discretionary bonus this year, on top of a base salary of $500,000. . . . The compensation is outlined in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, according to PaidContent.org and the San Jose Mercury News. . . .Proxy materials released last year showed Drummond earned a $450,000 salary in 2008 and made a $1.38 million bonus. He also had $3.29 million in stock and option awards, according to the proxy materials.


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CALIFORNIA  

High cost of McCourts' divorce: $19 million in fees

Dodgers' case could be one of the most expensive in California history. Even other high-profile divorce attorneys are surprised.

By Bill Shaikin, Los Angeles Times 

03-05-10 -- Frank and Jamie McCourt's divorce could become one of the costliest splits in California history, with attorneys and accountants commanding as much as $19 million in fees — more than the Dodgers will spend on their starting infield this season. . . . Frank McCourt has estimated his "divorce-related expenses" at $5 million to $10 million, according to court filings. Jamie McCourt has estimated her expenses at $9 million — and asked that her estranged husband be ordered to pay them. . . . Although records of salaries and statistics are omnipresent in baseball, specific information about divorce costs is largely unavailable. The Times consulted with several family law experts, none of whom could recall a divorce costing $19 million. . . . "I'm pretty sure there's not been any litigation in a California divorce where they've spent so much on attorneys' fees," said Lynn Soodik, a Santa Monica family law attorney who represented Meg Ryan in her divorce from Dennis Quaid.


CONNECTICUT  

Justices Throw Twist Into Jury Polling Rule

Judge’s decision to block post-verdict query called ‘harmless error’

By Christian Nolan, Connecticut Law Tribune  

03-08-10 -- It only takes a minute or two. After the verdict is announced, each juror is asked one by one if they agree with the decision. . . . It’s the one last ray of hope for the defeated side’s lawyer, a last-ditch effort to learn whether there was some coercion in the jury room or dissension in the ranks that could lead to a new trial. . . . Under Practice Book rules, Connecticut judges are supposed to allow jurors to be polled in both  . . . criminal and civil cases. But is it a serious breach of a litigant’s rights if a judge refuses to let the polling take place? That’s a question that the state Supreme Court weighed in a recent case stemming from a civil suit in which prison guards were accused of using excessive – and lethal – force while subduing an unruly inmate. . . . In a split decision to be officially released this week, justices ruled that Superior Court Judge John J. Langenbach erred in not allowing the jurors to be polled. But a majority ultimately determined it was a “harmless error” and upheld the defense verdict in favor of the correction officers. . . . Even lawyers not involved in the case took note of the decision. “I was perplexed by it,” said Jim Nugent, who heads the Connecticut Bar Association’s litigation committee. . . . That’s because in 2000, the Supreme Court ruled in a criminal case, State v. Pare, that a judge’s refusal to poll a jury is a mistake that is not subject to harmless error analysis, but instead must lead to reversal of a conviction and a new trial.


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ILLINOIS  

Attorney bilked Calumet Park of more than $1 million, state alleges

Former Greenberg Traurig partner grew up in victimized village

By Matthew Walberg and Joel Hood, Chicago Tribune reporters

03-05-10 -- Lawyer Mark J. McCombs was a native of south suburban Calumet Park who had made good, rising to partner at a major law firm and having a street named for him in the tiny village. . . . The municipal law expert did legal work for years for his hometown and was so trusted under the administration of Mayor Buster Porch that Porch routinely signed off on stacks of bills handed him by McCombs with little explanation, authorities said. The practice continued under current Mayor Joseph DuPar. . . . On Friday Cook County authorities said McCombs, 50, had been arrested at his condominium on Chicago's Near West Side on a charge he stole more than $1 million in tax increment finance funds by billing the village for work he never performed. . . . McCombs did not pocket the money, Assistant State's Attorney John Mahoney alleged in court, but it enhanced his prestige, billable hours and opportunities for more pay at Greenberg Traurig, the downtown law firm where McCombs worked.


IOWA  

Floyd County attorney battles ethics complaints

By Dennis Magee, Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier

03-07-10 -- Since becoming Floyd County attorney, Jesse Marzen has worked under a cloud: His law license could be suspended or revoked because of an ethics complaint pending before the Iowa Supreme Court. . . . According to court records, the review has its roots in allegations Marzen exchanged sex for legal services while representing Victoria Nehls. She was one of Marzen's clients when he worked as a private attorney in Charles City. . . . "When it comes to that, I'm not making any comments about anything. There are rules of confidentiality involved in those processes, and I'm just not going to comment about anything on that subject," Marzen said during an interview in October. . . . During a five-month review of public records and through dozens of interviews, an investigation by The Courier has looked into the ethics complaint and also found other issues related to Marzen's performance as county attorney.


MASSACHUSETTS   

Harvard Law Prof Nesson on the Hook for Motion Cost in Downloading Trial

By Debra Cassens Weiss, ABA Journal

03-08-10 -- Some pro bono litigation could prove costly for Harvard law professor Charles Nesson. . . . Nesson led the defense for graduate student Joel Tenenbaum, who was ordered to pay $675,000 for unlawfully downloading 30 songs on the Internet. Now Nesson may be on a hook for some of the record companies’ legal fees. . . . Last week, U.S. District Judge Nancy Gertner ordered Tenenbaum and Nesson to pick up the costs of a motion to compel filed by the plaintiffs, according to the Copyrights & Campaigns blog. The motion had sought evidence about the posting of seven songs to a public website; Gertner granted the request in June. . . . According to Ars Technica, the motion was filed “after the defense team inexplicably posted the very songs at issue in the case to the Internet, and Nesson posted a public link on his blog for anyone to download them.”


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NEW JERSEY  

Shareholders Cry Conflict of Counsel in Class Action
Over Merck Merger

Charles Toutant, New Jersey Law Journal

03-08-10 -- A law firm faces conflict allegations over its projected $3.5 million fee for representing shareholders who obtained no monetary or equitable relief in a class action settlement over the merger of drug giants Merck and Schering-Plough. . . . Class member Allan Marain, a lawyer in New Brunswick, N.J., filed papers Wednesday opposing the settlement, which a federal judge has tentatively approved, and seeking sanctions against the firm, Carella, Byrne, Cecchi, Olstein, Brody & Agnello in Roseland, N.J. . . . The parties settled the claims in In re Schering-Plough/Merck Merger Litigation, 2:09-cv-1099, last July, and Carella Byrne and Merck reached the agreement for the $3.5 million fee in talks with a court-appointed mediator last November. A final approval hearing is set for March 24. . . . Metuchen, N.J., solo Mark Silber, who represents Marain, argues that certifying the class serves no purpose except to make Carella Byrne eligible for attorney fees. Because the class members are now holders of Merck stock, they would benefit more if the class were not certified, because then Carella Byrne would not be eligible to apply for fees, says Silber. . . . "They didn't accomplish anything at all. They go from representing a class to achieving nothing and wanting their clients to pay them three-and-a-half million dollars. They switched their allegiance," says Silber.


NEW YORK   

Firm Sanctioned for 'Perfect Storm' of Improper Practices in Debt Collection

Vesselin Mitev, New York Law Journal

03-08-10 -- A Manhattan law firm committed a "veritable 'perfect storm' of mistakes, errors, misdeeds and improper litigation practices" in trying to collect a debt from a Long Island, N.Y., woman, a New York state judge has ruled in ordering sanctions against the firm. . . . Eltman, Eltman & Cooper was ordered by District Court Judge Michael A. Ciaffa in Nassau County to pay $14,800 for a series of state ethics rules violations, including "disobeying" a court order dismissing the case by making "harassing" phone calls to the defendant. . . . "'High volume' debt collection law practices are subject to the same ethical rules as apply to lawyers handling any other civil litigation matter," the judge observed in Erin Services v. Bohnet, 19984/04. He directed the firm to pay $10,000 to the Lawyers' Fund for Client Protection and $4,800 to defendant Patricia Bohnet of Lynbrook, N.Y. The firm was given 30 days in which to make payments. . . . In August 2004, a default judgment was entered against Bohnet on a $3,158 debt she allegedly owed to an entity called First USA. In July 2009, Bohnet moved pro se to vacate the judgment on the grounds that she knew nothing about the action as she was never properly served. She said she had not lived at the listed address in more than 10 years.


Already Facing Larceny Charge, Lawyer Is Now Accused of Attempted Bribery

Vesselin Mitev, New York Law Journal

03-08-10 -- A Long Island, N.Y., attorney previously charged with stealing $700,000 from real estate investors is now facing an attempted bribery charge after allegedly trying to pay off a Nassau County clerk to speed up his request for information on a property he was trying to close on. According to prosecutors, Frederic Powell, 54, was told by a Hempstead building's department clerk that his request would normally take five days to process. . . . Powell, of East Meadow, then told the clerk he needed the information that day and placed a $100 bill on the counter, and asked "if the process could be sped up." When he was informed that it could not, he placed another $100 bill on the counter, which was again rejected. Before leaving, Powell allegedly crumpled up a $50 bill and threw it at the clerk, according to a statement by Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice.


DeWitt lawyer Bonnie Strunk admits tax fraud

By Jim O'Hara / The Post-Standard

03-08-10 -- A well-known local lawyer today admitted to failing to file a tax return last year in a plea deal to resolve unrelated grand larceny and identity theft charges. . . . Bonnie Strunk, 62, of Kinne Road, DeWitt, pleaded guilty before state Supreme Court Justice John Brunetti to a felony count of fourth-degree criminal tax fraud. . . As a result of that plea, the District Attorney's Office agreed not to prosecute Strunk on charges she stole the identity of her longtime former law partner's husband to set up a credit card account for her personal use. . . . Brunetti promised Strunk a sentence of a three-year conditional discharge. Sentencing was set for May 3. . . . While the deal allows Strunk to avoid any jail sentence, it will cost her her license to practice law. A felony  conviction results in automatic disbarment by the New York State Supreme Court Appellate Division in Rochester.


OHIO  

Defendants tried without lawyers in Huber Heights court win appeals

By Lou Grieco, Dayton Daily News  Staff Writer

03-08-10 -- In late 2008, Nicole Davis called the Montgomery County Public Defender’s Office to complain. She wanted to know why her attorney hadn’t come to her hearing. . . . “It turned out she didn’t have a lawyer to be there,” Public Defender Glen Dewar said. . . . Davis’ obstructing official business case, in Montgomery County District Court Area Two in Huber Heights, was not an isolated case. . . . Dewar’s office soon found several cases in which defendants facing possible jail time were being run through the system without attorneys. . . . The six cases are quite similar — all misdemeanors, all before Montgomery County District Court Judge James A. Hensley Jr. . . . And no attorneys were present for the defendants. . . . “This is part of our duty: to defend the Constitution,” said Dewar. “I consider myself the guarantor of the Sixth Amendment.” . . . The Ohio 2nd District Court of Appeals has reversed six of Hensley’s cases on the grounds that the defendants did not have attorneys and did not waive that right.


PENNSYLVANIA  

Erie lawyer to be sentenced in fraud case

$200,000 was stolen for 'personal and business' expenses

By Lisa Thompson, GoErie.com

03-08-10 -- Disbarred Erie lawyer J. Gregory Moore goes before a federal judge today to be sentenced for stealing about $200,000 from estates in his care. . . . He'll present a stack of letters from community leaders who believe health problems led Moore to mismanage his accounts. They want leniency for their friend. . . . Moore's lawyer, William Weichler, argues that Moore -- a Vietnam War veteran, Sunday school teacher and community volunteer -- deserves probation. . . . But in a forceful document filed Friday in U.S. District Court, the U.S. Attorney's Office said Moore's "own canceled checks" establish no case for special treatment. . . . Authorities have long remained silent on what "personal and business" expenses Moore covered with funds stolen from his clients.


 evidence-of-misconduct_logo_630.jpg

Specials / Evidence Of Misconduct

By David Boeri, A WBUR Series

02-19-10 -- When Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Auerhahn joined Boston’s war on organized crime, he turned his focus to an up-and-coming mobster named Vincent Ferrara. The operation was called “Tunnel Vision,” fitting for a case in which prosecutors were willing to break the rules to bring down their target. Auerhahn thought he had a smoking gun in a witness who testified that Ferrara ordered a hit. Problem is, the witness lied. Worse, a judge ruled Auerhahn knew he lied — and covered it up. . . . The case raises troubling questions from critics — including judges — who worry that withholding evidence has become a tactic of some federal prosecutors. Those critics question whether Justice can police itself. In three parts, WBUR’s David Boeri examines the case, the actions of the Boston prosecutor and how it was handled by the Department of Justice.


Part I: A Prosecutor, Mobster, A Witness Who Lied

In 2003, a judge found that a federal prosecutor for the U.S. attorney’s office in Boston, Jeffrey Auerhahn, intentionally withheld evidence that could have cleared two men charged in a murder case. In the first report, we consider the crucial evidence that Auerhahn never turned over. Full story »

Part II: ‘The Smokingest Gun’

The Department of Justice has never taken public action to discipline Auerhahn. Now the chief federal judge here has set local proceedings in motion to do what Justice hasn’t: publicly punish him. In the second report, we dive into the misconduct case against Auerhahn. Full story »

Part III: The Judges’ Rebellion

In the third report, we consider how the Department of Justice dealt with Auerhahn, and how it’s come to the point that federal judges in Boston could suspend or even disbar him. Full story »


The Courts:

Rochester resident puts American justice on trial

By Tim Louis Macaluso, rochestercitynewspaper

11-25-09 -- In the opening pages of "Ordinary Justice: How America Holds Court," Amy Bach recounts the story of a Texas defense lawyer, Joe Frank Cannon, who literally fell asleep during the trial of his client, Calvin Burdine. . . . After being convicted of murder for shooting a man during a convenience-store robbery, Burdine was sentenced to death. But in a sadly comical turn of events, a panel of federal appellate judges vigorously debated whether Burdine's attorney had violated the Constitution by repeatedly falling asleep, chin-to-chest, during his client's trial. . . . Burdine's death sentence was overturned and he was granted a new trial. But the real question, Bach says, is how did a defense lawyer sleep through a murder trial without a single objection from the judge, prosecutor, jurors, or courtroom witnesses? . . . After eight years of research, Bach found that such cases are not extraordinary. Instead, she says, they occur with disturbing regularity in courtrooms across the country, and require surprisingly little effort to find.


Missing: Ray F. Gricar Centre County, PA District Attorney

http://www.raygricar.com/ FBI MISSING PERSON

RAY GRICAR

 If you have information regarding the disappearance of Centre County, Pennsylvania District Attorney Ray F. Gricar, please contact the Bellefonte Police Department at (814) 353-2320 or your local law enforcement agency.

Please direct all media inquiries to
Tony Gricar at (937) 287-3841

RAY GRICAR

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INAUGURATED ON: September 6, 2004
Updated 03/12/2010