February 6--February 8, 2010

GENERAL

A Mediocre Criminal, but an Unmatched Jailhouse Lawyer

Sidebar / Adam Liptak, New York Times

02-08-10 -- Shon R. Hopwood was not a particularly sophisticated bank robber. . . . “We would walk into a bank with firearms, tell people to get down, take the money and run,” he said the other day, recalling five robberies in rural Nebraska in 1997 and 1998 that yielded some $200,000 and more than a decade in federal prison. . . . Mr. Hopwood spent much of that time in the prison law library, and it turned out he was better at understanding the law than breaking it. He transformed himself into something rare at the top levels of the American bar, and unheard of behind bars — an accomplished Supreme Court practitioner. . . . He prepared his first petition for certiorari — a request that the Supreme Court hear a case — for a fellow inmate on a prison typewriter in 2002. Since Mr. Hopwood was not a lawyer, the only name on the brief was that of the other prisoner, John Fellers. . . . The court received 7,209 petitions that year from prisoners and others too poor to pay the filing fee, and it agreed to hear just eight of them. One was Fellers v. United States. . . . “It was probably one of the best cert. petitions I have ever read,” said Seth P. Waxman, a former United States solicitor general who has argued more than 50 cases in the Supreme Court. “It was just terrific.” . . . Mr. Waxman agreed to take the case on without payment. But he had one condition. . . . “I will represent you,” Mr. Waxman recalled telling Mr. Fellers, “if we can get this guy Shon Hopwood involved.” . . . Mr. Fellers said sure. “It made me feel good that we had Shon there to quarterback it,” Mr. Fellers said.

Plaintiffs Firms Mount Mass Attack on Toyota

Litigation over Toyota's faulty accelerators will be epic in scope

Amanda Bronstad, The National Law Journal

02-08-10 -- A contingent of small firms with expertise in class actions and products liability litigation are behind a legal onslaught against Toyota Motor Sales USA Inc. following reports of sudden acceleration in many of its most popular vehicle models. . . . As of Friday, Toyota had attracted more than a dozen class actions filed on behalf of consumers who allege that Toyota's failure to adequately disclose problems with its accelerator pedals amounted to fraud. At least three other suits were filed on behalf of people injured, or whose family members were killed, when their Toyota accelerated without warning. Additional firms planned shareholder suits against Toyota, whose stock value has dropped beneath the weight of the negative publicity. . . . "This is not a human carnage, this is economic disassembling," said Tim Howard, a professor at Northeastern University in Boston who as a plaintiffs attorney specializes in consumer and products liability litigation. "But Toyota will experience some pain from this process. And it's our job to inflict it."

CSX Chases Plaintiff Firm Over Asbestos

Railroad company asks 4th Circuit to reinstate racketeering claim

Marcia Coyle, The National Law Journal

02-08-10 -- A railroad company's dogged pursuit of conspiracy and fraud charges against an asbestos law firm is unfolding in a federal appellate court and with a major assist from business and tort reform groups. . . . In an unusual role reversal, CSX Transportation Inc., the target of thousands of asbestos claims brought by Pittsburgh's Robert Peirce & Associates, sued the law firm five years ago for allegedly engaging in a claims-manufacturing scheme in violation of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. . . . The railroad was not successful in federal district court in West Virginia, but its luck may change in the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. In its appeal, the company has raised a significant RICO issue, and its resolution, said some scholars, could resound well beyond this particular battle.

ABA Adopts Host of Criminal Justice Measures

By Edward A. Adams, ABA Journal

02-08-10 -- The ABA’s policy-making House of Delegates this morning passed a series of nine criminal justice resolutions. The measures had wide support from both prosecutors and the defense bar, according to speakers. The resolutions urge: / • Employers and educational institutions to ignore juvenile convictions that have been expunged. / • Legislatures to adopt simplified Miranda warnings for juveniles who are arrested. / • Legislatures to study whether some misdemeanor laws should carry civil fines rather than criminal penalties. / • Judges to conduct a conference with parties in a criminal case prior to trial, advising them of their respective disclosure obligations, such as the obligation of federal prosecutors to disclosure information under Brady v. Maryland and related case law.

The full text (PDF) of the resolutions:
102A, 102B, 102C, 102D, 102E, 102F, 102G, 102I, and 102J.

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CALIFORNIA  

Calif. State Bar Embezzler Gets 32 Months in Prison

Mike McKee, The Recorder

02-08-10 -- With a light kiss on the right cheek from one of her lawyers and no opportunity to say goodbye to her elderly parents, Sharon "Shari" Pearl went to prison late Friday for embezzling more than $615,000 from the State Bar of California. . . . Alameda County Superior Court Judge Morris Jacobson sentenced the State Bar's former director of real property operations to two years and eight months, after finding that the 52-year-old woman had used the stolen money to live a "very comfortable lifestyle well above her means." . . . "The loss here is mammoth," Jacobson said during a 90-minute hearing on Friday in People v. Pearl, 161610. "It's just absolutely mammoth." . . . The judge ordered restitution of about $615,000, plus payback of about $167,000 for audit, internal investigation and outside counsel costs, and around $117,000 for the Franchise Tax Board. Pearl has already paid back about $393,000 of the restitution, mostly by selling her house for around $180,000 and getting a $200,000 boost from family members.

COLORADO   

Faegre & Benson partner Matthews, 2 others killed in midair collision over Boulder

Denver Business Journal

02-08-10 -- Robert Matthews, a Boulder partner with the law firm Faegre & Benson, was the pilot of one of two small planes that collided in midair Saturday near Boulder, killing Matthews, his brother and a man piloting the other plane. . . . “We are shocked and deeply saddened by the tragic death of our partner, Bob Matthews,” Faegre & Benson said in a statement Monday. “Bob was an extraordinary talent and friend to all. ... We extend our deepest sympathy to Bob’s wife, Cindy, and to the Matthews children. We have known no finer colleague than Bob Matthews. May he rest in peace.” . . . The Camera newspaper of Boulder reports that Matthews, 58, was piloting his Cirrus SR20 plane, while his brother, Mark A. Matthews, 56, an engineer from Englewood, was a passenger. . . . The brothers were killed when their plane collided with a Piper Pawnee piloted by Alexander Howard Gilmer, 25, of Evergreen, at about 8,000 feet. Gilmer also died in the crash, the Camera reported.

CONNECTICUT  

Panel OKs Total Attorneys Web Ads With ‘Very Little Margin for Error’

By Martha Neil, ABA Journal

02-08-10 -- An Internet advertising scheme in which lawyers pay $65 per referral for names of potential clients passes ethical muster with "very little margin for error," an attorney discipline panel says in an opinion today. . . . Explaining its ruling (PDF) last month that the Total Attorneys Inc. advertising does not violate lawyer ethics rules, the Statewide Grievance Committee for Connecticut focuses on the fact that the Web referral scheme does not recommend lawyers and the nature of Internet advertising.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA  

Lawyer Makes Find of a Lifetime: Early Draft of Constitution

By Molly McDonough, ABA Journal

02-08-10 -- In a find of a lifetime, researcher Lorianne Updike Toler discovered that papers she was examining were an early draft of the U.S. Constitution, in the handwriting of framer James Wilson, of "We The People" fame. . . . Toler, a lawyer and founder of the nonprofit Constitutional Sources Project, had been examining Wilson's writings at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania when she read the famous words, "We the people." The cursive continued, but stopped. It seemed to Toler that pages were missing, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.

FLORIDA  

Justice Thomas Gives Shout-Out to Fla. Lawyer

Tony Mauro, The National Law Journal

02-08-10 -- Supreme Court justices don't often compliment the lawyers who appear before them -- much less lawyers who argued more than 15 years ago. But that's what Justice Clarence Thomas did in his talk Thursday before the University of Florida Levin College of Law, where he was giving the Marshall Criser Distinguished Lecture. As we reported here Thursday, it was a wide-ranging conversation with students. . . . One student asked about oral advocacy before the Court, and how justices can be persuaded. Thomas began his answer with a familiar jab at his fellow justices for asking too many questions. "If my colleagues would let you talk ... assuming that improbability," he said, drawing laughter. But then he turned serious and recalled, "I have been persuaded by a lawyer from Florida." The lawyer was also a CPA and a certified financial planner, he said, and she was disciplined for including that information in her advertising. "She argued her own case," said Thomas. "She was clear, you could see she was honest, she knew the record, and she won her case." . . . The lawyer Thomas was complimenting is Silvia Ibanez, the petitioner in the 1994 case Ibanez v. Florida Dept. of Business & Professional Regulation Board, one of several commercial speech cases the Court issued in that period. By a 7-2 vote, the Court ruled that the board's action violated her First Amendment rights, and that the CPA and CFP designations were not misleading.

ILLINOIS  

Illinois Supreme Court sends personal injury lawyers the ultimate Valentine

By Travis Akin  -Illinois Lawsuit Abuse Watch

02-07-10 -- The Illinois Supreme Court lovingly gift wrapped the ultimate Valentine's Day present for personal injury lawyers by striking down the state's historic medical malpractice reform law in a recently released decision. . . . In a 4-2 decision in the Abigaile Lebron v. Gottlieb Memorial Hospital case, the Illinois Supreme Court struck down the state's medical malpractice reform law, ruling that the caps provisions in the law violated the Lebron case in November of 2007. The case went to the Illinois Supreme Court for further review. Voting to strike down the law were justices Thomas L. Kilbride, Charles E. Freeman, Thomas R. Fitzgerald and Anne M. Burke. . . . The justices voting in favor of striking down the law stated that the law violated the separation of powers by limiting what a judge could award in non-economic damages in medical malpractice cases. The comprehensive medical malpractice reform law was approved in 2005. It included medical, insurance and legal reforms. While there were no limits on economic damages, the law capped damages for pain and suffering to $500,000 for doctors and $1 million for hospitals.

NEW YORK  

N.Y. Attorney Charged With Tax Evasion

Vesselin Mitev, New York Law Journal

02-08-10 -- New York state investigators targeting systemic tax fraud have charged an upstate lawyer with tax evasion. . . . According to Department of Taxation and Finance officials, Rochester. N.Y., attorney Harvey Bunis, 61, has been charged with four felony counts of repeated failure to file personal income tax returns between 2002 and 2007. During that time, he earned a total of $350,000, working as a part-time prosecutor for the Monroe County district attorney's office and running a private law practice. He faces a maximum of four years behind bars.

Ethics Rules: Even the NYC Bar Association says lawyer-legislators should comply

By The Post-Standard Editorial Board

02-08-10 -- The ethics bill that flew through the state Legislature last month was far from perfect. One of its more significant flaws was exempting attorney-legislators from the same financial disclosure rules that apply to other lawmakers. . . . The bill exempts legislators who are lawyers from disclosing who their clients are, how much those clients pay and what kinds of services they receive. . . . Gov. David Paterson highlighted that flaw when he vetoed bill. . . . This page has argued that, on balance, the governor should have signed the ethics legislation, flawed as it was, because the alternative may be no ethics legislation at all. But Paterson is right about the attorney exemption. Dozens of legislators are attorneys, and many run active practices. Citizens have the right to know which companies and individuals are paying them for their services — and could have an influence on their behavior as legislators.

PENNSYLVANIA  

Year later, Pa. lawyer's murder still a mystery

By Larry King, Inquirer Staff Writer

02-07-10 -- By all accounts, Eric Birnbaum was the consummate provider. . . . To his two daughters, the divorced Bucks County lawyer supplied cars, college tuition, and daily fatherly calls and text messages. . . . To his clients, he provided a painstaking advocacy, his case files so meticulously kept that his boss was awed. . . . To friends and coworkers, Birnbaum was the check-grabbing mensch who remembered birthdays and kept in touch. To his sister in California and his parents in Florida, his was the deep voice on the phone like clockwork, each Monday night and Saturday morning. . . . But to police long stymied by his execution-style slaying outside his office last year, Birnbaum has provided only frustration.

TEXAS  

Allure of pro bono work is contagious at Fort Worth law firm

By Darren Barbee, star-telegram.com

02-06-10 -- Billy Ray, 59, needed a divorce, but he had no money for a lawyer and he can't read or write. . . . Nevertheless, the attorney who represented him was from one of the largest and most prestigious law firms in Tarrant County: Cantey Hanger. Over its more than 125 years, the firm has counted Fortune 500 companies, hospitals, local utilities and other institutions among its clients. . . . About a year ago, a judge asked Billy Ray, a former Fort Worth city employee, some questions and then granted the divorce. To protect his privacy, the Star-Telegram isn't fully identifying him. . . . "I don't think I could have done any better if I had went and hired me a lawyer," he said. "I doubt I could, because they were so nice." . . . His attorney from Cantey Hanger, Philip Vickers, worked the case pro bono after volunteering for the Fort Worth branch of Legal Aid of NorthWest Texas, which helps the poor in legal disputes. . . . Vickers' enthusiasm for helping out -- he finished one case, then took on another without hesitation -- was contagious. Now, 16 Cantey Hanger attorneys have agreed to accept at least two pro bono cases each from Legal Aid -- the largest such partnership in the nonprofit's 59-year history.

February 4--February 5, 2010

GENERAL

ABA Report: Recession Undermining Diversity Initiatives

Karen Sloan, The National Law Journal

02-05-10 -- An American Bar Association report appears to confirm the fears expressed by diversity advocates since the economic recession began 1 1/2 years ago: Spending on law firm diversity initiatives has dried up and layoffs are undoing the gains the profession has made. . . . The report, "Diversity in the Legal Profession: The Next Steps," was the first comprehensive diversity study from the ABA since the legal profession began grappling with the economic collapse. . . . Its conclusions were the result of a yearlong study that included surveys, regional hearings, roundtable discussions and a diversity summit held in June that drew 200 representatives of law firms, corporate law departments and diversity advocates. The goal was to create a "functional roadmap for advancing diversity in the legal profession," ABA President Carolyn Lamm wrote in the report.

Little-Known Case Offers Lesson for In-House Counsel on Risk of Fraudulent Schemes

Sue Reisinger, Corporate Counsel

02-05-10 -- An article in the most recent issue of the Food and Drug Law Institute's FDLI Update talks about the important benefits -- and risks -- when a corporate defendant tells the prosecutor that "my lawyer said it was OK." . . . The article (pdf) was written by John Fleder, a principal in the Washington, D.C., office of Hyman, Phelps & McNamara. Fleder writes that the government has become more aggressive in prosecuting corporate lawyers who become part of a fraudulent scheme. . . . He cites the little-known case of general counsel Paul Kellogg, who was sentenced to a year in prison and three years probation in 2008 for allegedly obstructing proceedings before the Food and Drug Administration and the Federal Trade Commission. . . . According to government records, Kellogg was in-house counsel at Berkeley Premium Nutraceuticals in West Chester, Ohio. Among other things, the company sold dietary supplements and other pills that it claimed in TV ads would increase the size of a man's penis by four inches.

Sidley Tied to African Official Named in Corruption Report

Zach Lowe, The American Lawyer

02-05-10 -- Over the past few months, there has been a louder and louder outcry over the reality that some international political officials the U.S. government has classified as corrupt can nonetheless use U.S. banks to transfer funds, complete massive purchases in the U.S., and generally travel freely here. Among the most high-profile of these figures: Teodoro Nguema Obiang, son of the president of Equatorial Guinea, the country's current agricultural minister, and a person the U.S. government has publicly accused of earning "most if not all" of his wealth from corruption related to oil reserves off the coast of his country. . . . Obiang is among the stars of a 352-page report released Thursday by the U.S. Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. The report details case after case of corrupt foreign officials using U.S. intermediaries to exploit loopholes in U.S. anti-money laundering laws. The Patriot Act, passed in 2001, required certain intermediaries deemed "vulnerable" to money laundering (a group that includes lawyers, real estate agents and escrow agents) to perform diligence on the source of money their clients use for major transactions, according to the report and stories out Thursday in The New York Times and USA Today. But the diligence requirement hasn't taken effect for those groups because the Treasury Department granted them an exception in 2002. That has allowed so-called "politically exposed persons" to use these groups as intermediaries for real estate deals and other transactions. 

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Law Firms Rev Up Against Toyota Over Defect Reports

Amanda Bronstad, The National Law Journal

02-04-10 -- Legal attacks against Toyota Motor Sales USA Inc. escalated this week following fresh reports of product safety defects afflicting some of the most popular vehicles in the automaker's fleet. . . . And more suits are coming. . . . "We're not done yet. We're just building," said Tim Howard, a professor at Northeastern University in Boston who as a plaintiffs attorney specializes in consumer and products liability litigation. "But it's going to be a formidable legal armada that Toyota is going to have to deal with." . . . Toyota announced on Jan. 26 that it would stop selling eight models because of accelerator pedals that can stick in the depressed position, causing the cars to speed up out of control. The company has recalled 2.3 million vehicles with that problem. Earlier, Toyota recalled another 4.2 million vehicles, blaming a problem with floor mats.

Shareholder Suits Fly as Deals Flourish

Amanda Royal, The Recorder

02-04-10 -- Securities defense lawyers at big firms have noticed an uptick in shareholder lawsuits over mergers and acquisitions, even those worth under $100 million, a reflection of both increased deal activity and eroded share values that have lowered sale prices. . . . "There's clearly been more cases filed over the last three months than in the comparable period the year before, both here in California and in Delaware," said Kevin Muck, head of securities litigation at Fenwick & West. . . . "I think it's attributable almost exclusively to the increased number of deals we are seeing. It's a sign of the economy improving. As more companies do deals, these lawsuits follow, inevitably." . . . While many target companies are being sold for a premium over their current stock price, those values are often far below what they used to be a few years ago. But defense lawyers say these mergers are being scrutinized even when there isn't a rival bidder.

CALIFORNIA  

Law Association's Former Treasurer Sentenced for Embezzlement

Amanda Bronstad, The National Law Journal

02-05-10 -- The former treasurer of the Black Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles Inc. was sentenced on Tuesday to one year's probation following her guilty plea last year to grand theft by embezzlement. . . . Yvette Wright, 42, of Long Beach, Calif., originally pleaded to a felony offense but the judge reduced the count to a misdemeanor in sentencing her in Los Angeles County Superior Court.

Mill Valley lawyer jailed in yogurt theft case

Gary Klien, Marin Independent Journal

02-04-10 -- A Mill Valley lawyer was charged Thursday with breaking into a hotel refrigerator to steal yogurt, authorities said. . . . Patience Nooney Van Zandt, 43, was booked into the county jail early Thursday morning after an incident at the Mill Valley Inn at 165 Throckmorton Ave. Mill Valley police were called to the hotel after the staff reported that a woman had wandered onto the property, burglarized a refrigerator and taken the food. . . . "She did have evidence of yogurt on her nose," said Mill Valley police Capt. Jim Wickham. . . . Justin Flake, the manager of the hotel, said the stolen yogurt included six Yoplaits of unknown variety. The refrigerator sustained minor damage during the burglary. . . . "She broke a latch the padlock was locked onto," Flake said. "She pried the lock off the refrigerator." . . . Van Zandt was arraigned Thursday on misdemeanor charges of burglary, possession of stolen property and vandalism, said Deputy District Attorney Linda Witong. A plea hearing was pending.

L.A. sheriff's deputies administer aid to stricken attorney

Richard Winton,  Los Angeles Times (blog) 

02-04-10 -- Quick action by two Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies at a downtown courthouse Thursday may have saved the life of an attorney who suffered cardiac arrest while questioning a witness, authorities said. . . . Deputies Noel Furniss and Juan Rivera administered CPR to attorney Michael Dib when the lawyer collapsed while addressing a witness on the stand at the Stanley Mosk Courthouse on Hill Street. The incident occurred about 11:15 a.m.

Judge Censured for Ordering Lawyers to Be Paid by Retailer Gift Vouchers

Mike McKee, The Recorder

02-04-10 -- No one was more dumbfounded than now-retired Judge Brett Klein when California's Commission on Judicial Performance initiated an investigation into his handling of a class action settlement. . . . That investigation, begun three weeks ago, concluded Tuesday with the CJP issuing a seven-page order publicly censuring the 20-year veteran, who stepped down from the bench on Dec. 1, and barring him from future judicial assignments. . . . "I was a bit surprised that after they received my written response in their preliminary investigation that they went ahead with this," the 60-year-old former Los Angeles County Superior Court judge said Tuesday. "In the past, they have mostly seemed interested in corruption and judges who don't get their work done and then falsely sign their pay stub affidavits. . . . "But now," he added, "they seem to be moving into a different area for them, which is reviewing the correctness of trial judges' rulings, which I find more the function of an appellate court."

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA  

Washington Attorney Transforms Lives

Jeff Swicord | Washington, DC

02-05-10 -- Millions of people are living in the streets of America's cities and small towns.  They sleep on park benches and in subways.  Some suffer from addiction or mental illness; others are just down on their luck.  Most people walk by them, hardly noticing them. VOA introduces us to one man in Washington D.C. who took the time to stop and say hello, and at the same time transformed his own life. . . . As the sun rises over the nation's capital, Jonathan George begins to stir under his blankets on the steps of Capitol Hill United Methodist Church. Then, Rob Farley, a Washington Attorney and member of the congregation, shows up, fresh from his morning run. . . . Two years ago, people in the neighborhood began to complain about the homeless sleeping on the church steps.  So, Rob began to wake up the men each morning and get them moving along. Then something unusual happened: One of them asked for a cup of coffee. "And I was like, oh, I don't want to do this.  But it was cold, so I said sure, come in and get a cup of coffee.  So, I brewed a pot," he explained. . . . Initially it was just coffee. Then other homeless men started coming, and coffee grew into breakfast and friendship. "This is where we hang out.  we come in, I get the coffee going.  Victor is downstairs preparing some soup.   And then we get, uh, guys start coming in," he said.

Covington Seeks Summary Judgment in Discrimination Case

Jeff Jeffrey, The National Law Journal

02-04-10 -- Covington & Burling asked a federal judge on Tuesday to grant summary judgment in the closely watched race discrimination suit against the firm. . . . The suit, filed by former Covington staff attorney Yolanda Young, accuses the firm of discriminating against black staff attorneys by not allowing them to be promoted to associate. Young also alleged that Covington's job assignment policy is discriminatory because it has a disparate impact on black staff attorneys. . . . On Jan. 28, Judge Reggie Walton of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia dismissed Young's claim that the non-promotion policy was discriminatory because it was time-barred. Walton allowed Young's claim that the firm's job-assignment policy is discriminatory to move forward because, as he wrote in the Jan. 28 opinion (pdf), the firm's annual performance evaluations restarted the time frame for potential misconduct.

FLORIDA  

Ex-Dixie Co. attorney gets 87 months in fraud case

By Karen Voyles, Greenville Sun Staff writer 

02-05-10 -- The former county attorney for Dixie County was led out of federal court in handcuffs on Friday. . . . Joseph T. "Joey" Lander was sentenced to seven years and three months in prison for what a judge referred to as "a case about lying and stealing. Point blank." . . . Lander, 40, was convicted in October of 11 felony counts of money laundering and six felony counts of mail fraud in a case involving a start-up vitamin company and two land developments. . . . Throughout Lander's weeklong trial, victims testified to how he defrauded them of hundreds of thousands of dollars through various schemes.

ILLINOIS  

Blagojevich Lawyers Will Recast Strategy After Government Adds Charges

Lynne Marek, The National Law Journal

02-05-10 -- Criminal defense lawyers representing former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich and his campaign manager/brother Robert Blagojevich will review and rework their legal strategies after the U.S. Attorney's Office in Chicago lodged new extortion and bribery charges against the defendants on Thursday. . . . The eight new counts against the ex-governor and three new counts against his brother came in a Feb. 4 superseding indictment. The government had said that it would bring the new charges mainly to beef up its case in light of the possibility that the U.S. Supreme Court will find unconstitutional a type of charge included in the original indictments.

MASSACHUSETTS   

Mass. Judge Orders Two Lawyers to Refund $329K in Excess Fees to Client's Estate

Sheri Qualters, The National Law Journal

02-04-10 -- A Massachusetts probate judge recently ordered prominent Boston family lawyer Gerald Nissenbaum and another attorney to refund a client's estate nearly $329,000 in excess legal fees. . . . Plymouth County Probate and Family Court Judge Stephen Steinberg's Jan. 14 order gave the attorneys 30 days to make the payments. . . . The Barnstable County probate case, In re Guardianship of Kenneth E. Simon, ended up on Steinberg's docket after the Massachusetts Appeals Court recused Judge Robert Scandurra of the Barnstable Probate and Family Court in December 2007. The decision does not address the basis for that recusal. . . . According to Steinberg's order, Simon's guardian, E. James Veara of Dennis, Mass.-based Zisson & Veara, and Nissenbaum sought about $500,000 in attorney and guardian fees for an 83-day guardianship of Simon, which ended with Simon's death on Nov. 2, 2005.

NEW YORK  

NY Attorney Charged With Tax Evasion

By Vesselin Mitev | New York Law Journal | New York Lawyer

02-05-10 -- State investigators targeting systemic tax fraud have charged an upstate lawyer with tax evasion. . . . According to Department of Taxation and Finance officials, Rochester attorney Harvey Bunis, 61, has been charged with four felony counts of repeated failure to file personal income tax returns between 2002 and 2007. During that time, he earned a total of $350,000, working as a part-time prosecutor for the Monroe County District Attorney's Office and running a private law practice.

Rogue Attorneys Indicted in Mortgage Scandal

By Samuel Newhouse, Brooklyn Daily Eagle  

02-04-10 -- Real estate fraudsters and rogue attorneys exploiting “a new breed of crime” were targeted Thursday by Kings County District Attorney Charles J. Hynes at a press conference announcing several recent mortgage fraud cases in Brooklyn. . . . Hynes’ office has indicted 12 people for real estate crimes allegedly committed over the past several years, and as Hynes pointed out, several of the white-collar fraudsters were attorneys or otherwise close to the court system. . . . “One was an attorney, one was a resigned attorney, one was a suspended attorney,” Hynes said, outlining the various suspects. “Ordinarily you’d say get a lawyer — now we say get an honest lawyer.” . . . All together, a staggering total of $2.6 million was stolen in these various, unrelated scams, in many of which power of attorney was forged or fraudulently obtained by the alleged scammers.

Disbarred Attorney Sanctioned Over 'Vexatious' Motion

Daniel Wise, New York Law Journal

02-04-10 -- A disbarred lawyer who has stayed out of New York state for fear of being arrested to serve a 30-day contempt sentence has been sanctioned by the Southern District's chief bankruptcy judge for raising a "vexatious" motion with "an improper purpose." . . . Judge Stuart M. Bernstein ordered the former lawyer, Kenneth Heller, to pay more than $4,800 to cover one of his opponent's legal costs for making a third attempt to collaterally attack a $3.7 million settlement negotiated for one of his former clients by Jacoby & Meyers. . . . In December, Judge Bernstein denied Heller's request to be paid a portion of the $1.2 million in fees he had approved for Jacoby & Meyers' work after the firm replaced Heller because he had been disbarred for conduct in unrelated matters.

Fried Frank Fires Back at Former Associate's Discrimination Suit

Zach Lowe, The American Lawyer

02-04-10 -- Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson responded forcefully to an ex-associate's suit that accuses the firm of denying her partnership because she is gay, ignoring her complaints about sexual harassment and instructing lawyers to write exaggerated negative performance reviews of unpopular associates. . . . The $50 million suit was filed in December in federal court in Manhattan by Julie Kamps, a Harvard Law School graduate who worked at Fried Frank for a decade before the firm allegedly terminated her during the middle of an arbitration in January 2009. Kamps claimed that litigation partner Janice Mac Avoy sexually harassed her; that partners told her to wear more feminine clothing; and that firm higher-ups retaliated against her for complaining. Kamps is represented by Daryl Davis of the employment firm Doman Davis; Davis did not return a call seeking comment. . . . In a response filed late last month, Fried Frank, represented by Proskauer Rose partner Bettina Plevan, denied all of Kamps' allegations and argued that Kamps failed to state a valid claim, failed to seek other remedies and missed the statute of limitations deadline.

SOUTH CAROLINA   

S.C. Man Kills Ex-Wife's Lawyer, Then Himself

Meg Kinnard, The Associated Press

02-05-10 -- A South Carolina man was distraught over drawn-out divorce proceedings and a recent order to sell a home he co-owned with his ex-wife when he killed the woman's attorney and then himself, authorities said Thursday. . . . Jerry Dean Crenshaw shot 61-year-old J. Redmond Coyle several times Wednesday afternoon in a parking lot behind Coyle's downtown Pickens, S.C., office, Police Chief Tommy Ellenburg said. . . . Crenshaw's wife had hired Coyle after the pair filed for divorce in 2007, according to court filings. That divorce became final in May 2009, but the couple had been haggling over splitting up property they had owned together, said Harold Welborn, Pickens County clerk of court.

TEXAS  

Judge Eases Penalty for Austin Lawyer Who Made Obscene Gesture in Court

Mary Alice Robbins, Texas Lawyer

02-04-10 -- After determining Wednesday that he had jurisdiction to hear Austin, Texas, solo attorney Adam Reposa's request to modify the manner and means in which Reposa serves a 90-day sentence for criminal contempt, Senior District Judge Paul Davis of Austin ordered that Reposa remain confined in the Travis County Jail through Feb. 12 instead of for the entire 90 days. "I want you to be there a full 10 days," Davis told Reposa, who appeared before the judge in striped jail garb. . . . Davis further ordered that after Feb. 12, Reposa is permitted to participate in the Travis County Sheriff's Weekend Alternative Program, know as SWAP, in which he will perform work in the community or for the county on weekends but will remain out of the jail. Davis also ordered Reposa to wear an electronic monitor and said Reposa would receive jail credit while wearing it. . . . Davis said he was making it a condition that Reposa faithfully attend to all the needs of his girlfriend Susan McCleary and the child they will have. McCleary testified at Wednesday's hearing that their baby is due March 5 and that she needs Reposa's help at home. "I don't have any other relatives in Austin," she told the judge.

Man Sues for Extra Time on LSAT, Claiming ADHD

Brenda Sapino Jeffreys, Texas Lawyer

02-04-10 -- A prospective law school student who alleges he has a disability filed a suit in U.S. District Court in the Western District of Texas, seeking a court order to force the Law School Admissions Council to provide him with accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act for the Law School Admissions Test. . . . Matthew Scott Jones of Austin, Texas, alleges he was scheduled to take the LSAT in 2009 in Austin, but he didn't take the test because the LSAC "has illegally refused and is illegally refusing to accommodate Jones' learning disability by refusing to provide Jones additional time to take the LSAT." He alleges he was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and his disability impairs his reading ability and his ability to concentrate "to the point that his competence level is below that expected in comparison to most people."

February 2--February 3, 2010

GENERAL

Former Lehman Brothers Top Lawyer Takes GC Slot at AIG

Carrie Levine, The National Law Journal

02-03-10 -- Thomas Russo of Patton Boggs, formerly the top in-house lawyer for Lehman Brothers, is the new general counsel for American International Group Inc. The company announced his appointment Tuesday, a day after The National Law Journal reported that Russo had accepted the job. . . . "It is a challenge," Russo said in an interview Tuesday about joining the company, which staved off disaster in the credit crisis with government aid. "I think it is a real opportunity to both pay the taxpayer for its support and to have a viable strong insurance company after that. And so the exciting part is to participate in making that happen. Now it's not a sure thing, nothing is a sure thing, but ... I'm excited about the process in trying to make that come about." . . . His title at AIG will be executive vice president, legal, compliance, regulatory affairs and government affairs and general counsel.

Facebook GC Tells Lawyers He's Looking for a Fight

LegalTech keynote speaker Mark Howitson said Facebook is looking for clarity from a federal ruling

Amy Miller, Corporate Counsel

02-02-10 -- Facebook's legal department is ready for a fight. Almost every day, law enforcement officials and civil litigators request information from a user's Facebook account, Deputy General Counsel Mark Howitson told several hundred lawyers in a packed ballroom during his keynote address Tuesday morning at LegalTech New York. But he is still waiting for a case on Facebook's policies to go before a federal judge to define exactly what content on Facebook is protected so that it's clearer to everyone. There's some public misunderstanding about what Facebook's legal responsibilities are to protect user's privacy, he said. "We don't want to have to deal with these requests." . . . The hugely popular social networking site is loath to hand over any information on its 350 million users without a subpoena, and even then the company will only provide basic subscriber information unless that user gives his or her consent, Howitson says. The Electronic Communications Privacy Act, which currently determines Facebook's legal policies, was passed in 1986, long before the advent of online social networking, let alone the smartphones through which many users access Facebook. A federal hearing could help clear up some of the confusion. "We're itching for that fight," he said.

Lapse in Tax Law May Have Estate Lawyers Hustling for Nothing

The lapse is creating new demand for a specialty that has slowed in recent years because higher tax exemptions left fewer people in need of sophisticated estate-planning advice

Lynne Marek, The National Law Journal

02-02-10 -- On Jan. 5, after it sunk in that Congress hadn't reinstated the federal estate tax that lapsed on Dec. 31, Chicago lawyer Thomas Handler sent an e-mail to about 2,000 clients for whom his firm provides estate-planning services. . . . "This situation is a very real mess, which leaves millions of Americans unnecessarily at risk," he said in the e-mail. "In the event that anyone does not wish to live with this current risk, a stop-gap provision can be put in place." . . . Handler, whose Chicago-based boutique, Handler Thayer, focuses on will, trust and tax planning for wealthy individuals, families and their businesses, received more than 20 e-mail responses and a dozen phone calls from clients within 24 hours.

Thomson Reuters Introduces International Pro Bono Project Connecting NGOs to Lawyers

At LegalTech New York, CEO Peter Warwick discussed goal to extend rule of law with former U.N. IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei

John Bringardner, Law.com

02-02-10 -- Thomson Reuters Legal CEO Peter Warwick introduced a new international pro bono legal service during a session with former United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency Director Mohamed ElBaradei at LegalTech New York on Monday. From the outset of the discussion, called "The Rule of Law and the Role of Verifying Compliance in Developing Nations," Warwick, a trustee of the nonprofit Thomson Reuters Foundation, challenged the roughly 200 lawyers and legal services professionals in the audience to take on new pro bono projects to help extend the rule of law around the globe. . . . The Thomson Reuters Foundation -- the charitable division of the global news provider and parent company of Westlaw -- has created TrustLaw, a Web site designed to bring together non-governmental organizations around the globe with the lawyers and major law firms that can offer pro bono services to help them extend the rule of law. According to the TrustLaw site, the effort "will initially focus on good governance and anti-corruption issues, pulling together a variety of initiatives alongside fresh material by our expert editorial team. TrustLaw features a growing repository of information around anti-corruption and governance issues, including national legislation, international conventions, news, country profiles and law reviews from our own team, as well as from international institutions, law firms, governments, non-governmental organizations and others."

Jones Day: Proposed OCI Recruiting Rules Could Result in Restraint of Trade

Zach Lowe, The American Lawyer

02-02-10 -- The public comment period on the proposed new rules for summer associate recruiting is over, and though we haven't seen all of the responses, we're pretty confident no firm or school will oppose the proposed changes with the vigor of Jones Day. . . . To review: A 17-member commission (which dropped to 16 when Jones Day withdrew its representative) charged by the National Association for Law Placement with revamping 2L recruiting released its proposal for a new recruiting system in early January. The main prong of the proposal is a ban on firms making any offers to prospective summer associates until mid-January, just a few months before those 2Ls would begin their summer stints at firms. The idea, the commission said, was to slow down a process that had grown increasingly compressed as more schools raced to get their students in front of firm recruiters by scheduling on-campus interviews in August -- before those students even started their second-year classes.

Ghostbusters of the Blawgosphere Take Aim at 'Ghostblogging'

Bruce Carton, Law.com Legal Blog Watch 

 02-02-10 -- It feels like a debate that has been going on for weeks, but it was just Thursday of last week when attorney/ghostbuster Mark Bennett wrote on his Social Media Tyro blog about "ghostblogging." . . . Bennett wrote that "[h]olding someone else's resume, face, or results out as your own in marketing your practice is fraudulent. No ethical lawyer could possibly think that any of that would be okay. So how is it okay for a lawyer to hire a ghostwriter to write his blog?" He specifically referenced a service called Legal Ghost Blogger ("Blogging by Professionals, for Professionals") that offers bloggers people who have a blog "a steady stream of content for your estate planning blog, created by an experienced writer and estate planning paralegal. Your content can be a mix of syndicated or original posts, with new material appearing on your blog several times a week."

The 5 Creepiest Defense Attorney Websites

By Soren Bowie, Cracked.com  Jan 29, 2010

ARIZONA  

Drug charges against defense attorney dropped

by Michael Kiefer - The Arizona Republic 

02-03-10 -- Charges were dropped Monday against a defense attorney accused of trying to smuggle drugs to a jail inmate believed to be affiliated with the Mexican Mafia prison gang. . . . David DeCosta, 43, was charged with promoting prison contraband, conspiracy to promote prison contraband, two drug counts and assisting a criminal street gang after a Maricopa County Sheriff's deputy claimed he caught him trying to pass drugs stapled inside a legal pad to a client he was representing in a court hearing.

CALIFORNIA  

L.A. Employment Lawyer Arrested in $850,000 Tax Case

Amanda Bronstad, The National Law Journal

02-03-10 -- Allen J. Gross, a partner at Los Angeles-based Mitchell, Silberberg & Knupp, pleaded not guilty on Monday to five felony counts of failing to file his state income tax returns from 2003 through 2007. . . . Gross was arrested last week at his home in West Los Angeles. . . . According to the Los Angeles County, Calif., district attorney's office, Gross made $2.3 million in income during the period in question. The district attorney's office is seeking $850,000 in back taxes, penalties, interest and costs. If convicted, Gross faces more than five years in prison. . . . David Berton, the deputy district attorney on the case, said that the California Franchise Tax Board referred the matter to his office because "they believe there's evidence that shows there is intent to evade." . . . While declining to specify the evidence, he said that, "generally, the Franchise Tax Board looks to cases in which there's a threshold dollar amount. Also, it's over a period of time — a course of years — that there is a similar course of conduct." . . . Gross's lawyer, Anthony Salerno of Los Angeles criminal defense firm Salerno & Associates, described the problem as a "misunderstanding as to what Allen's obligations were."

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA  

Council clears way for voters to elect D.C.'s top lawyer

By Ann E. Marimow, Washington Post Staff Writer

02-03-10 -- District voters, instead of the mayor, would be allowed to pick the city's top lawyer, under legislation approved yesterday by the D.C. Council. . . . The measure, approved on a 12 to 1 final vote, comes amid ongoing tension between the council and Attorney General Peter J. Nickles, an appointee and longtime friend of Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D). . . . The council's vote will probably be popular among District residents, according to a new Washington Post poll that found a majority of respondents would prefer to elect their attorney general. The poll showed that 55 percent of residents favor a citywide vote for attorney general and that 33 percent want the mayor to continue to choose the chief lawyer.

GEORGIA  

Attorney Says Prosecutors Engaged in Vendetta to Ruin Him

Ga. lawyer acquitted of money-laundering and drug conspiracy charges says troubles started with his zealous defense of drug trafficker

R. Robin McDonald, Fulton County Daily Report

02-02-10 -- It was in 2006 that Columbus, Ga., attorney J. Mark Shelnutt first heard from clients that an agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration in Columbus had told them if they needed a lawyer, they better look somewhere else. . . . The reason they were being steered away, Shelnutt said his clients told him, was because he had become the subject of a criminal investigation by federal law enforcement agents. . . . In 2006, the veteran criminal defense attorney was defending the accused ringleader of a drug trafficking enterprise who had been arrested the previous year after the largest drug seizure in Columbus' history. On May 4, 2005, federal and local drug agents had seized 220 kilos of cocaine, more than a ton of marijuana and $600,000 in cash and broken up what a federal judge described as "one of the largest drug conspiracies in the city's history."

LOUISIANA   

La. police: Ex-attorney printed $1M in fake checks

By Janet McConnaughey, The Associated Press

02-03-10 -- Authorities say a former public defender printed $1 million in bogus payroll checks so he could gamble at casinos from Florida to California, sometimes using Web site logos to make the checks appear legitimate. . . . Lt. Ed Baswell, a spokesman for the Bossier Parish Sheriff in Louisiana, says 47-year-old Charles Bradford was in jail Wednesday on $90,500 bond. Authorities say he printed the checks and recruited others to cash them.

MASSACHUSETTS   

Boston Lawyer Sues Police, City Over His Arrest for Recording an Arrest

Sheri Qualters, The National Law Journal

02-02-10 -- Massachusetts lawyer Simon Glik is suing three Boston police officers and the city in Boston federal court for arresting him after he used his cell phone to record an arrest. . . . The American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts filed Glik v. Cunniffe in the District of Massachusetts on Monday, along with Boston attorney Howard Friedman. . . . Glik was arrested in October 2007 after openly using his cell phone to record police allegedly using force during a Boston arrest. The Boston Municipal Court threw out the case after four months. At the time of his arrest, Glik was a recent New England School of Law graduate, who had just wrapped up a clerkship with the Massachusetts Probate and Family Court Department.

MINNESOTA   

Drug figure's lawyer faces accusation he laundered cash

Lawyer for Internet "drug kingpin" charged in civil money laundering complaint.

By Dan Browning, Star Tribune

02-02-10 -- Troubles continue to mount for John N. Nelson Jr., a St. Paul lawyer who once represented Christopher William Smith, an internationally known e-mail spammer and convicted "kingpin" of an illegal Internet pharmacy. . . . In May, the Minnesota Supreme Court suspended Nelson's law license for 30 days for violating jail regulations by providing prescription drugs to an inmate and for accepting payments for his services that he knew were subject to a federal court order freezing the client's assets. Nelson admitted to the allegations, court records show. . . . Monday afternoon, the federal government dropped the other shoe. . . . It filed a civil money-laundering complaint against Nelson that alleges he took $289,000 in cash "from Christopher Smith and Smith's agents," even though he knew a judge had previously issued an injunction prohibiting Smith from spending his money.

Judge Rosenbaum assigned to lawyer rape case

Judge Marilyn Rosenbaum, who has been assigned the rape case involving a lawyer, is no stranger to high-profile sex crimes cases.

Rochelle Olson, Minneapolis Star Tribune

02-02-10 -- Twin Cities lawyer and accused rapist Aaron Biber's case has been assigned to Hennepin County District Judge Marilyn Rosenbaum, who has presided over at least one other high-profile sex crimes case. . . . Assigning Judge Mark Wernick signed an order late last week giving the case to Rosenbaum. She presided two years ago at the trial of former University of Minnesota football player Dominic Jones. . . . The Biber trial is expected to draw even more attention.

NEW JERSEY  

Ridgewood lawyer pleads not guilty in insider trading case

Bloomberg News, NorthJersey.com 

02-03-10 -- A Ridgewood lawyer charged in a $53 million insider-trading case pleaded not guilty Tuesday, along with six others charged in the case. . . . Arthur Cutillo, 33, a former employee of the New York law firm Ropes & Gray, pleaded not guilty in federal court in Manhattan. He has been accused of illegally passing information about merger deals to an insider-trading network linked to the Galleon Group LLC hedge fund. . . . Cutillo's lawyer, Bryan Blaney, declined to comment. . . . Zvi Goffer, a former employee of the Galleon Group LLC hedge fund, also pleaded not guilty, along with Craig Drimal, who once worked in the offices at New York-based Galleon; traders Michael Kimelman, David Plate and Emanuel Goffer, who is Zvi's brother; as well as lawyer Jason Goldfarb. Lawyer Brien Santarlas, who has pleaded guilty and is cooperating with prosecutors, also worked at Ropes & Gray.

NEW YORK  

SEC Sues Lawyer Over Opinion Letters In Penny Stock Offerings

By Chad Bray, of Dow Jones Newswires

02-01-10 -- The U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission sued a New York lawyer on Monday for allegedly writing bogus opinion letters to help stock promoters improperly procure unrestricted stock certificates in three unregistered "penny" stock offerings. . . . The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan on Monday, alleges that Stephen Czarnik, a partner at Cohen and Czarnik LLP, assisted three stock promoters in the abuse of a rule that allows accredited investors to acquire unrestricted shares from transfer agents in unregistered securities offerings that don't exceed $1 million. . . . The SEC said Czarnik continues to serve as a "one-man 'opinion-mill' for unregistered penny stock offerings." The regulator said Czarnik has authored at least 111 opinion letters for unregistered stock offerings, involving the transfer of more than 2.5 billion shares to penny stock promoters by 43 issuers. . . . "Czarnik served an essential role in these illegal offerings," the regulator said. "He churned out bogus opinion letters predicated on the promoters' alleged representations to him that they are buy-and-hold investors. In fact, Czarnik knew that they had no intention of holding the stock, but that they intended to nationally advertise the stock and quickly dump their shares into the public market for millions of dollars." . . . The alleged improper activity involved unregistered offerings for three penny stock companies between June 2007 and January 2008, in which the promoters served as intermediaries.

NORTH CAROLINA  

Local lawyer accused of inappropriate conduct

By Drew Brooks, FayObserver.com Staff writer

02-03-10 -- A local lawyer could face discipline from the N.C. Bar after being accused of trying to have sex with a client. . . . A complaint filed against William E. Brown in late December alleges he made comments of a sexual nature to a client and made it known he wanted to have sex with her. . . . The complaint stems from a client Brown was appointed to represent in April 2008. He represented the woman from April 2008 until Sept. 30, 2008.

Ex-lawyer Linney fights for redemption

John Boyle,  Asheville Citizen-Times

02-03-10 -- Forget about the arrests, the convictions, the more than 300 days in the big house. . . . Former Asheville attorney and politician Larry Linney still believes he's innocent, and he's determined to clear his name. Recently he had his attorney, David Belser, file a motion in Buncombe County Superior Court to have his indictments vacated. . . . Linney's original case dates to 1993-94. Initially convicted in 1997 for embezzling from a client's funds, Linney fought that conviction, which an appellate court overturned in 2000 because of improper testimony and flawed jury instructions. Linney was tried again, on embezzlement and perjury charges, and convicted in 2003. . . . Now Linney lives in Charlotte, but he still wants to clear his name in Asheville, where he grew up, practiced law and became a prominent Republican politician. . . . Linney represented Buncombe County in the state House from 1994-96, and he later ran unsuccessfully for mayor and state treasurer. . . . “My legal affairs are far from over,” Linney said last week. “I am doing this because it's the right thing to do. The state was wrong from the beginning. People say, ‘Let this go, let this go,' but it's always been about principle to me.” . . . Linney said he's filed a couple of other motions in the past, “which were swept under the rug,” he said. . . . The recent motion is to have the indictments vacated on a legal principle called collateral estoppel.

OHIO  

Cuyahoga Falls lawyer's license suspended

By Akron Beacon Journal staff

02-03-10 -- The law license of a Cuyahoga Falls attorney has been suspended for six months for failing to abide by the conditions of disciplinary sanctions imposed last year. . . . Attorney Harry J. Wittbrod is banned immediately from practicing law as a result of the suspension the Ohio Supreme Court announced today. . . . The move came in response to a complaint the Akron Bar Association filed that said Wittbrod failed to pay costs of $1,319 stemming from his disciplinary investigation last year for failing to maintain malpractice insurance. In that case, Wittbrod's license suspension was stayed on the condition that he pay the costs, attend counseling and obtain insurance.

Man Released From Jail Because Of Attorney's Mistake

kypost.com

02-02-10 -- Mistakes by a defense attorney has made a young man a free man Tuesday. . . . Jorge Bucio was accused in 2004 of hitting his brother so hard, his heart stopped. But, his attorney, Brad Carmella, did not inform him of an offered plea deal before the trial began. . . . In December 2009, an appeals court ordered Bucio to accept the plea deal offered in 2004 or be tried again in March.

Attorney Disciplined for Having Two Wives

WYTV 

02-03-10 -- A local attorney has lost his license to practice for the next year after a ruling from the Supreme Court of Ohio. . . . Dennis DiMartino was sanctioned after it was determined he lied on a marriage license application in North Carolina saying he was not married.  He then entered into a bigamous marriage in that state before a divorce from his first wife, from Ohio, had been finalized.

PENNSYLVANIA  

Pa. High Court Justices Can't Agree on Attorney-Client Privilege Dispute

Gina Passarella, The Legal Intelligencer

02-03-10 -- As the U.S. Supreme Court collects briefs from parties interested in the work-product doctrine debate in Textron v. United States, Pennsylvania's high court couldn't come to an agreement on a similar issue involving attorney-client privilege. . . . The court issued a per curiam order in Nationwide v. Fleming Friday, upholding a Superior Court ruling that attorney-client privilege only applies to information given to the attorney by the client, not the other way around. There were only four justices to hear the case because Justices Debra M. Todd and Seamus P. McCaffery, having sat on the panel at the Superior Court level, had to recuse themselves. The court was down its seventh judge at the time because of retirements.

TEXAS  

Texas lawyer gets 90 days for rolling eyes

NEWSCHANNEL3,  WWMT

02-03-10 -- Down in Texas a lawyer will spend 90 days in jail because he rolled his eyes in court. . . . The defense attorney says he made the gesture at the prosecutor during a trial, but the judge thought it was aimed at her and slapped him with a charge for contempt. . . . The lawyer now says it's a mistake he won't make again.

Insurance execs admit taking bribes from Houston lawyer

By Mary Flood, Copyright 2010 Houston Chronicle

02-02-10 -- Two Hartford insurance executives pleaded guilty to conspiracy in Houston federal court Tuesday, admitting they took BMW cars and millions of dollars in cash kickbacks from a Houston attorney they helped get settlements for his silicosis clients. . . . Rachel Marie Rossow ,44, and John Frederick Prestage, 39, both of Connecticut and formerly with the Hartford Insurance Co., pleaded guilty to one felony charge each of conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud. They admitted they took money from Houston lawyer Warren Todd Hoeffner in 2002 and 2003 and helped him with lawsuit insurance settlements. . . . Senior U.S. District Judge David Hittner accepted the guilty pleas but noted that the pleas can be withdrawn. The pair can go back to not guilty pleas if the judge refuses to follow the prosecutors' request that Rossow not be sentenced to more than three years in prison and Prestage to no more than two years.

VIRGINIA  

Ex-attorney who worked for SEC in Fort Worth convicted of fraud

By Darren Barbee, star-telegram.com

02-02-10 -- A former Fort Worth Securities and Exchange Commission attorney who once went after fraudsters used his experience and knowledge of the agency's laws to bilk investors of out millions, federal officials said. . . . Phillip Windom Offill Jr., 51, was convicted last week in Virginia of one count of conspiracy to commit registration violations, securities fraud and nine counts of wire fraud for participating in a stock manipulation scheme. He faces up to 20 years in prison for each of the nine wire fraud counts. . . . Offill, who practiced law in Dallas, is subject to forfeiting $15 million, a 2001 Harley-Davidson motorcycle and a 1972 Porsche 911.

WASHINGTON   

Former ranch lawyer denies hearing about alleged payoff

Kevin Graman, The Spokesman-Review

02-02-10 -- A former attorney for Morning Star Boys’ Ranch rebutted the testimony of a witness who said the ranch’s former director paid him to keep quiet about alleged abuse in the late 1970s. . . . Matthew Daley testified Tuesday that he never discussed the alleged payoff with a potential witness he interviewed in 2005 while working for Keefe, King and Bowman, a now-defunct Spokane law firm that once represented the home for troubled boys. . . . Daley was called as a defense witness in the case of former Morning Star resident Kenneth Putnam, who says he was abused by ranch director the Rev. Joseph Weitensteiner and counselor Doyle Gillum, now deceased, in the late 1980s.