Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Legal Research Blogs -> New York Supreme Court Criminal Term Library

OR PHONE (866) 635-1838 for Bankruptcy Help, (866) 635-6190 for Divorce,
(866) 635-2689 for Personal Injury or (866) 635-9402 for Criminal Defense

Find a Local Lawyer

Bankruptcy (866) 635-1838
Divorce (866) 635-6190
Personal Injury (866) 635-2689
Criminal Defense (866) 635-9402

Legal Research

: New York Supreme Court Criminal Term Library

LAW.COM Newswire Highlights October 29, 2008

By David Badertscher, PLL

ADVERTISEMENTS

If you are already an online subscriber to the LAW.COM service you should be able to click on any of the links below, sign in, and access the full text of all articles listed. A subscription to LAW.COM is needed for online access to this service. Thelen Launches Dissolution Vote, Nixon Peabody Launches Offers The Recorder Thelen's Partnership Council has recommended that the firm's partnership vote to dissolve the firm, informing staff that a dissolution committee had been formed and the firm expected to close Dec. 1. In the first sign of where attorneys may land, it appears about 60 lawyers could end up at Nixon Peabody, which until recent weeks had been viewed as a potential merger partner. The news was another blow to the San Francisco legal community, which only a month ago saw the demise of century-old Heller Ehrman. Google to Pay $125 Million in Settlement Over Book Digitization The Recorder Google will pay $125 million to authors and publishers to settle a high-profile copyright infringement dispute over the search engine's efforts to put books online. Reached after three years of legal wrangling, the settlement is a business deal that will allow Google to go ahead with its project of digitizing millions of books. Observers have differing ideas as to who got the best deal: Google or the copyright holders. After 'Partner Stealing' Case, Nixon Peabody Welcomes 25 French Lawyers The American Lawyer Nixon Peabody has grabbed a whopping 25 lawyers from the French wing of Taylor Wessing a little over a month after a New York judge rejected Taylor's argument that Nixon was illegally stealing its lawyers. The move is part of the firm's strategic plan, crafted over 18 months ago, that calls for 25 percent of the firm's lawyers to work overseas by 2013, says Richard Langan Jr., Nixon's managing partner. Currently, about 5 percent of the firm's lawyers work abroad, including the 25 new attorneys in France. Will Expletives at the Supreme Court Also Ring Out on C-SPAN? Legal Times The tender ears of the Supreme Court justices, and the audience in the courtroom, will be subjected to raw expletives on Tuesday during oral argument in the so-called "fleeting expletives" case. And now C-SPAN, as it does several times each term, has requested permission to air audio of the argument within minutes of its conclusion -- raising the question of whether C-SPAN itself will run afoul of the Federal Communications Commission policy at issue in the case by broadcasting the same offending words. Judge Calls Morgan Lewis' Actions a Bid to Thwart Informal Discovery New York Law Journal A New York judge has barred Morgan, Lewis & Bockius from representing four employees of a hospital the law firm is defending against an employment discrimination claim, ruling that the firm's offer of free services to the potential witnesses constituted an improper attempt to thwart discovery. The decision demonstrates the lack of clarity regarding when a corporate defendant may provide an employee with counsel, preventing the plaintiff's counsel from communicating directly with the employee. 6th Circuit Finds Tennessee Wine Law Unconstitutional, Sends Back for Remedy The National Law Journal The 6th Circuit has ruled that Tennessee's wine industry law contains unconstitutional discriminatory restrictions on winery license requirements, but sent the case back to the trial judge to fashion an appropriate remedy. In addition, the court did uphold the state's prohibition on selling and shipping wine directly to Tennessee consumers, whether by in-state or out-of-state wine sellers. The case is one of several challenges that grew out of a 2005 U.S. Supreme Court decision. Gibson Dunn Adds Bankruptcy Trio From Kramer Levin New York Law Journal Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher has recruited three bankruptcy partners from Kramer, Levin, Naftalis & Frankel. David Feldman, the former co-head of Kramer Levin's distressed and special situations lending practice, will join Gibson Dunn as co-chair of the business restructuring and reorganization practice. Eric Wise and Matthew Williams are also joining as partners from Kramer Levin. Ex-Adams and Reese Partner Has $2 Million Bond Revoked The American Lawyer A judge has ordered that James Perdigao, a former Adams and Reese partner charged with bilking some $30 million from the firm's client trust account, stay in jail after FBI agents arrested him again for hacking the firm's computer network to download documents. Perdigao was first arrested in 2004 on mail fraud charges and agreed to cooperate with the feds. The case took a turn for the bizarre when Perdigao claimed prosecutors were conspiring against him because he had politically sensitive information. Visa, MasterCard to Pay up to $2.75 Billion in Antitrust Settlement The Associated Press Credit card issuers Visa and MasterCard said on Monday they will pay up to $2.75 billion to Discover Financial Services to settle an antitrust suit. In 2004, Discover Financial Services filed a lawsuit against MasterCard and Visa saying they had harmed its business by preventing their member banks from issuing credit cards for Discover's network. Judge Denies Christensen's Bid for a New Trial The National Law Journal A federal judge has denied a set of motions for a new trial filed by Terry Christensen, the lawyer who was convicted two months ago on charges of hiring private investigator Anthony Pellicano to wiretap his opponent in a high-profile child support case. Christensen had argued that he should be entitled to a new trial because one of the jurors was wrongfully removed during deliberations and because federal prosecutors had violated their discovery obligations numerous times. Tobacco Company Sues 52 Attorneys General Over Master Settlement Agreement The Associated Press North Carolina company General Tobacco said Tuesday it has sued 52 attorneys general and 19 other tobacco makers for conspiring to stifle competition with their creation of the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement. The agreement requires those tobacco manufacturers who signed on to make annual payments to the states to compensate them for billions of dollars in health care costs related to treating tobacco-related diseases under state Medicaid programs. General Tobacco is suing for $1 billion. Businessman Sentenced for $107 Million Bank Fraud The Associated Press Businessman Andrew Maxwell Parker has been sentenced to nine years and nine months in prison after pleading guilty to charges related to bilking $107 million from a taxpayer-funded bank. A federal judge also ordered Parker to pay $10 million in restitution, equal to his profits from the scheme, and almost $495,000 in back taxes. Prosecutors said Parker bought expensive cars -- as many as 14 in less than three years -- and four mansions, all with taxpayers' money. GPS Evidence Might Drive Your Case Home Law Technology News EDD special master Craig Ball investigates data from GPS navigation systems as a potential source of electronic evidence. As geopositioning grows more ubiquitous, from dashboard to cell phone, he suggests you ask, "How might I use locator data to make my case or clear my client?" Visit Legal Technology Get Ready to Relearn the ADA Legal Times Get ready to relearn the Americans with Disabilities Act -- by Jan. 1, 2009. New legislation signed last month has defanged a common employer defense, and the changes are going to have real repercussions in the workplace. The critical inquiry under the amended law is whether covered entities have complied with their obligations to reasonably accommodate disabled applicants and employees. Attorneys Lawrence Lorber, Fredric C. Leffler and Samantha Morris discuss what has changed and what employers need to do. Visit In-House Counsel With '01 in Mind, Law Firms Alter Layoff Strategy The National Law Journal Clifford Chance's latest round of attorney layoffs unfolded according to a carefully choreographed sequence of events -- almost. As rumors hit popular legal blogs, the firm rushed out a brief statement that attributed the layoffs to "sluggishness in litigation matters." The latest wave of attorney layoffs has shown that firms are more willing to disclose bad news than in the past. And with legal experts predicting more layoffs, firms in downsizing mode must decide if and how to go public with layoff news. Visit the Career Center Law.com 120 Broadway, 5th Floor, New York, NY 10271-1101 (877) 256-CIRC Customer Service Phone: (877) 256-CIRC

Full post as published by New York Supreme Court Criminal Term Library on October 29, 2008 (boomark / email).