Lawyer - News

A Manhattan federal judge has delivered a lengthy manifesto against declining civility in the legal profession in the course of sanctioning law firm Dorsey & Whitney and two of its partners. Southern District of New York Judge Harold Baer opened his 129-page decision with a discussion of how "naked competition and singular economic focus of the marketplace have begun to infiltrate the practice of law, subordinating the high standards of service, collegiality and professionalism as a result." No comments

Medical pot-using patients won a major victory Wednesday when a California appeal court ruled that local police officers must return the marijuana they confiscated from a Southern California man during a traffic stop. The man's attorney was especially happy the court took the extra step of declaring that medical marijuana patients are not criminals under state law. "This is a huge case for us," he said. "It's probably the greatest legal victory for medical marijuana patients in California to date." No comments

New York Justice Herman Cahn has declined to recuse himself from a case in which evidence spoliation allegations have been made against Greenberg Traurig, where Cahn's son is an associate. The judge said such a step would be necessary only if his son was "substantially affected" by the case. "While young associates are a vital part of the structure of large firms, they do not normally, at this point in their careers, have a substantial stake in the cases and clients that the law firms represent," Cahn said. No comments

New Jersey solo Elenora Benz says her pet-trust practice "is not going to make a fortune," but it's a marketing tool, with some clients seeking her out specifically for that reason. It's just one way in which a growing cadre of lawyers is melding a love of animals with legal practice as animal-related issues become incorporated in numerous legal areas, such as personal injury, landlord-tenant and family law. And they're getting a boost from animal-oriented legislation. No comments

Litigation is an inevitable part of business, but one whose costs are often unpredictable because they frequently depend on the uncontrollable actions of third parties. In-house and outside litigation counsel can work together, however, to handle cases more efficiently, and thereby control costs. Attorneys Richard B. Friedman and Carla M. Miller offer several tried and true methods, based on their experiences as outside counsel in litigation and arbitration matters and as in-house litigation counsel. No comments

Getting canned from a large law firm is a big deal. The most common means of ouster is dignified and polite. If it's your time to go, you get the "this just isn't working out" speech during your annual review. Humor columnist The Snark compares it to a break-up by offering several examples of the typical firing/break-up speech. He reminds young attorneys to not misinterpret the speech as some coy effort to get you to work harder or as a second chance. "Doing so is nothing short of embarrassing," he says. No comments

The co-head of Weil, Gotshal & Manges' bankruptcy practice has left to launch a new practice group for Dewey & LeBoeuf. One of the nation's most well-known bankruptcy lawyers, Martin J. Bienenstock is the first high-profile partner to be recruited by Dewey & LeBoeuf, the product of a recent merger. The loss of Bienenstock follows the March departure of four prominent Weil Gotshal bankruptcy partners to Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft. No comments

Peter Bresnan, deputy director of the Securities and Exchange Commission's division of enforcement, is passing through the revolving door and heading to Simpson Thacher & Bartlett's Washington, D.C., office in December. During his 12 years at the SEC, Bresnan took the lead on several high-profile cases, including the multibillion-dollar accounting fraud suit again WorldCom. Settled in 2003 for $750 million, it was the largest penalty ever assessed against a U.S. company by the SEC. No comments

Nearly four months after he suffered a seizure near his summer home in Maine, Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. is still declining to answer questions from the press and the public about the status of his health, his diagnosis, or the treatment or medications he might have been prescribed. Experts on the health of justices are critical of Roberts for refusing to provide any update, with one saying the chief justice is following in his predecessor's footsteps, "behaving in completely Rehnquistian fashion." No comments

A Garfield, N.J., lawyer who is also the town's judge may have played a central role in a scheme to defraud lenders by obtaining mortgages based on inflated appraisals of rundown properties. A state civil suit points to solo William Colacino Jr. as the lawyer referred to in a federal criminal case as "W.C.," an unindicted co-conspirator whose legal services, law office, attorney bank accounts and legal assistant were allegedly used in the scheme. No comments