Legal Research

Selections from National Law Journal Daily Headlines February 25, 2009

By David Badertscher, PLL

Source: NLJ.COM, February 25, 2009.

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FROM THE UPCOMING ISSUE  |  Firms start to form practice groups focusing on federal stimulus legislation
"Need help decoding the voluminous and labyrinthine $787 billion stimulus package recently passed by Congress? Law firms have already begun assembling teams of attorneys to help clients navigate the new legislation. The move is hardly surprising, seeing as many firms formed financial crisis response teams in the fall. But firm leaders say the breadth of the new stimulus plan means it will affect a much broader swath of clients, and those clients will need legal advice."

FROM THE UPCOMING ISSUE  |  Partner promotions in 2009 a 'mixed bag' for women
"Most law firms have made their partner promotions for 2009, and the results are a 'mixed bag' for women, according to the Project for Attorney Retention. A study of new partner classes at 85 major law firms found that women made up about 28% of newly minted partners. The results varied greatly from firm to firm, however. Women made up 40% or more of new partners at 23 of the firms surveyed, while 14 firms did not promote any women to partner this year."

WEB-ONLY  |  Mandatory employee furloughs carry a long list of legal concerns for employers
"In an attempt to avoid layoffs, many employers are instituting mandatory furloughs as a means of cutting costs during the current recession. Littler Mendelson's Alison Hightower said instituting unpaid time off is becoming increasingly popular despite several complicated legal issues, such as the impact on salaried employees, vacation time and 401(k) plans. "

WEB-ONLY  |  Overburdened immigration judges urge U.S attorney general to hire one of their own as leader
"A group of immigration judges called for the U.S. attorney general to appoint one of their own as the next chief immigration judge, to reform what has been a problem-plagued and overburdened agency for years. 'We have been totally resource-starved and things have been very slow in coming,' said Judge Dana Leigh Marks of San Francisco, who is president of the National Association of Immigration Judges."

WEB-ONLY  |  Many of the 'hands-on' positions in Obama administration going to law professors
"With most of his cabinet nominations confirmed or in the confirmation process, President Obama is moving now to name his choices for second-tier, hands-on agency administrators, and he is finding a number of them in law schools. The president recently announced the nominations of Jon Cannon, who teaches at the University of Virginia School of Law, as deputy administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, and Seth Harris, a professor at New York Law School, as deputy secretary of the Department of Labor."

WEB-ONLY  |  Prosecutor deciding whether to charge Burris won't set 'artificial timeline' for resolution
"The top prosecutor in southern Illinois who will decide whether to bring perjury charges against U.S. Senator Roland Burris, D-Ill., over the senator's statements about contact with aides to former Illinois Governor Blagojevich is a Republican with a decade of experience in the post. Sangamon County State's Attorney John P. Schmidt said in an interview that 'the matter is under review,' and he refuses to set an 'artificial timeline' for resolving the issue."

 OPINION

UNWANTED MEDICAL PROCEDURES  |  A right to forgo treatment
"Removing a person's feeding tube may look like physician-assisted suicide or even euthanasia. But there is ample authority for the view that it is neither. The right that the Supreme Court recognized in Cruzan is not a 'right to die' generally, but a more limited right to forgo unwanted medical procedures. If a patient could refuse potentially lifesaving treatment at the outset but not be allowed to discontinue the treatment once it began, many would probably not avail themselves of it in the first place."
  

Full post as published by New York Supreme Court Criminal Term Library on February 25, 2009 (boomark / email).