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Ginsburg Illness Stirs Speculation About Court Departures

Legal Times

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg underwent surgery in New York City on Thursday to treat early-stage pancreatic cancer, the Supreme Court announced. The announcement offered no assessment of the success of the surgery or future treatments. Ginsburg, who is 75, recovered from colorectal cancer in 1999. Word of the new illness stirred talk of a departure from the bench for the liberal justice, but those who know Ginsburg say it is far too early to make such predictions.

Judge Sets Dreier Bail Conditions to Minimize Flight Risk

New York Law Journal

Judge Jed S. Rakoff issued a bail order Thursday paving the way for attorney Marc S. Dreier to exchange a jail cell for home detention while he awaits resolution of the $400 million fraud case against him. While acknowledging that Dreier is a flight risk, the judge concluded that the defense proposal -- a $10 million personal recognizance bond and the admittedly controversial condition that armed guards move into the Dreier apartment -- "goes far to minimize this risk."

Mel Weiss, Other Former Milberg Partners Snared in Madoff Scam

The American Lawyer

As if Melvyn Weiss and David Bershad didn't have enough troubles, documents released Wednesday reveal that the two convicted Milberg Weiss partners were customers of Bernard Madoff. Former Milberg Weiss name partner Patricia Hynes is also on the list as a customer of Madoff, who allegedly ran a $50 billion Ponzi scheme. Confirming that Weiss was one of Madoff's victims, Weiss' lawyer said, "To fool people like Mel Weiss, Mort Zuckerman, and [Mets owner] Fred Wilpon suggests that Madoff was truly a 'master' at his craft."

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Chief Justice Roberts Worries About 'Partisanship'

The Associated Press

Chief Justice John Roberts, during a question-and-answer session on Wednesday after an address in Arizona, said he is troubled by the increasingly politicized nature of the Senate judicial confirmation process. Roberts said he thought he was treated fairly during his Supreme Court confirmation hearings, receiving "significant support from both sides of the aisle." Roberts continued: "But that's not always the case, and what do we do about it?"

Deputy AG Nominee Pressed About His Private Practice Clients

Legal Times

The Senate Judiciary Committee pressed Deputy AG nominee David Ogden on Thursday to distance himself from the views of those he represented in private practice, reviving a debate on how much weight to give a nominee's choice of clients. It's a key issue for Ogden, who has often represented controversial clients as a Wilmer partner. In contrast to AG Eric Holder Jr., whose Covington & Burling work included few appellate cases, Ogden's name has appeared on 20 briefs in Supreme Court cases that reached the merits since 2002.

11th Circuit Tosses Fraud Precedent

Fulton County Daily Report

The full 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has tossed a 12-year-old precedent that had irked prosecutors in their pursuit of alleged fraudsters. The 1996 ruling, U.S. v. Brown, had said that prosecutors seeking to convict for mail fraud needed to show that a defendant's scheme could have deceived a reasonably cautious person. Prosecutors had complained that this requirement had the perverse effect of exempting from prosecution schemes that target the most naive and gullible victims.

DOJ Apologizes for Misstatements in Stevens Case

Legal Times

The Public Integrity Section has taken plenty of lumps from U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan over the course of the case of former Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens, who was convicted of corruption charges in October. By the looks of court pleadings filed Thursday, it can expect a few more. In an attached letter, the section's director, William Welch II, told the judge he "deeply regrets the drain on the court's resources and loss of credibility in the court's eyes." Why the apology? Two mistakes, one especially glaring.

Another Midsize Firm Cuts Attorneys, Staff

The National Law Journal

Midsize law firm Hodgson Russ laid off five lawyers and eight staff members from its Buffalo, N.Y., headquarters and its New York office last week. Although there were "different reasons for different people" being asked to leave, firm CEO Gary M. Schober acknowledged that "the overriding factor was the economy." He noted that the cuts represented less than 2 percent of the firm's head count.

N.J. Judge Faces Ethics Charges Over Affair With Bailiff

New Jersey Law Journal

New Jersey Municipal Court Judge Wilson Campbell has been charged in an ethics complaint with having had an affair with a court worker, who apparently attempted suicide when it ended. In a complaint made public on Thursday, the state Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct says Campbell's "intimate relationship" with Ann Kirolos, a bailiff assigned to his courtroom, came to light after Kirolos took a drug overdose in June and, when asked why, said she was depressed over the break-up.

Federal Judge Unhappy With Flip-Flopping Fed

The Recorder

It's never a good idea to make a judge on the brink of a five-month-long death penalty trial think he's wasting his time. Assistant U.S. Attorney Denise Barton learned that lesson this week, when Northern District of California Judge William Alsup ordered her to explain why the government decided to dismiss a sex offender registry prosecution less than two weeks after Alsup had sorted through extensive briefing on the statute's constitutionality.

Winston & Strawn Revenues Up, Profits Flat

The American Lawyer

Winston & Strawn saw modest revenue growth and managed to keep profits nearly level despite an unprecedented investment in lateral hires in 2008, The Am Law Daily has learned. Profits dipped slightly to $1.27 million, while revenues grew by about 6.7 percent, to $744 million. The firm's expanded Charlotte, N.C., office is not suffering as much as some might have expected, as it focuses on traditional asset-based lending, which "has held up pretty well" in the downturn, says managing partner Thomas Fitzgerald.

India Is First Choice for Referrals, Say U.K. Firms

Legal Week

India has emerged as the most important emerging market referral country for U.K. law firms, according to new research that highlights the differences between the approach U.K. and U.S. firms take with regard to key emerging economies. Legal Week Intelligence's 2008 Emerging Markets Report shows that while India is followed by Russia and the United Arab Emirates as the biggest destination of referral work for U.K. firms, Brazil is deemed the biggest referral market for U.S. firms.

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Information Age Saps Jurors' Attention

The National Law Journal

With smart phones and personal digital assistants, jurors live in a dynamic information marketplace that bombards them with data day and night. Attorneys accustomed to presenting complex cases orally, without visual stimulus, can no longer expect to capture a jury's attention.

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Bad Economy Makes Troubled Couples Avoid Divorce

The Connecticut Law Tribune

The recession may be better than marriage counselors at keeping troubled marriages going, but probably for the wrong reason. Divorce lawyer Marc F. Greene says many of his clients are staying married simply because of the higher living costs involved following a separation. And some of those couples who are divorcing are cooperating more, because they want to keep their lawyer fees down. With divorce practices in flux, lawyers, especially solos and those in small firms, are diversifying to stay afloat.

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Small Firms Targeted by Con With Fishy Fees

The Recorder

A scam is targeting small firm lawyers, and even cautious ones are getting caught in the net. California attorney Dana Sack received an "absolutely genuine"-looking check in the scam, but he checked with Citibank and learned it was invalid. The controller for the company that supposedly issued the check told Sack he'd been getting calls from lawyers across the country. The scammers went one step further with Alabama solo Steven Brom, providing a phony "800" Citibank phone number to validate his bogus check.

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