Lawyer - News

A Georgia court has ruled that the family of the county court reporter killed in a 2005 courthouse shooting may sue the Fulton County sheriff for negligence. The decision overturns a lower court finding that the sheriff is a county employee. The distinction could be critical, as county staff lawyers defending the sheriff have argued that the litigation against him is barred by the federal Workers Compensation Act, which generally bars all claims by an injured employee against a co-employee or employer. No comments

Chicago-based Much Shelist Denenberg Ament & Rubenstein has formed an outside board of advisers to give direction to the management committee on "a broad range of issues that impact legal services," according to the law firm. The panel will act like a board of directors, offering an outside perspective on cultural, global, economic and technological issues. The first meeting took place last week. No comments

has lost its bid to unseal the docket and court documents in a precedent-setting case brought by a woman who claims she was fired because she had an abortion. The paper was not seeking to learn the name of the woman, but instead, argued that the sealing of the dockets at both the trial and appellate courts was unconstitutional, and that in general court documents should be open to the public. Lawyers for the paper say they are studying their options to renew the challenge. No comments

Headline-grabbing Supreme Court opinions came fast and furious in June: Gitmo Detainees Get Habeas! No Death Penalty for Child Rapists! Exxon Valdez Punis Slashed! An Individual Right to Bear Arms! All produced sharp splits, with conservatives and liberals winning two apiece. But the justices leave for the summer in a better frame of mind than last term, when the Court seemed ready to break out in fistfights. Like a family that hits a rough patch, did the justices decide this term not to sweat the small stuff? No comments

Heller Ehrman, rumored to be in merger talks with Baker & McKenzie, was cagey when confronted with the speculation on Friday. Heller's director of communications, Patrick Bustamante, said the firm "is not considering" a merger with Baker. Asked later to clarify whether "not considering" meant the firm was not in current talks with Baker to explore the possibility of a merger, Bustamante was less clear. "I don't know that I can go into that kind of detail or comment at all," he said. No comments

Two software companies have sued mortgage-lending law firm McGlinchey Stafford and Youngblood & Bendalin and one of its partners, alleging they misappropriated a database of legal documents to make "millions" in profits in residential loan transactions. The firm is a branch of McGlinchey Stafford, also named as a defendant. The suit alleges that agents of the firm used plaintiffs' intellectual property after obtaining a fully operational version of certain software, rather than "read only" access. No comments

The Canadian and American bars have more than language in common. They share some of the same problems, such as how to keep women from fleeing firms. In an effort to stop women from leaving private practice, a number of initiatives will be rolled out in Ontario as part of a program officials hope will serve as a model for other Canadian jurisdictions. The program -- which has different requirements and options for large and small firms -- has already piqued the interest of U.S. firms as well. No comments

George Carlin, who died a week ago, taught us the "Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television." If you were paying attention, the counterculture comic also taught us how to be great speakers. He did three things that we can all learn from, says consultant Joey Asher: He took strong positions, spoke with passion and practiced a lot. Carlin left a wonderful legacy of anti-establishment comedy, and regardless of whether you agreed with him, attorneys can all learn from how he held an audience. No comments

Sean Doherty, Law.com legal technology editor, delivers the goods on LegalTech. The Hon. Elizabeth D. Laporte advises counsel and clients on electronically stored information; Chevron's GC seeks effective knowledge management; and CT Summation reviews how evidence goes from ESI to court. No comments

It took eight years and a conversation over drinks to turn a friendship into work that resulted in a billion-dollar deal. During an impromptu trip to Paris with their wives, after a few scotches, Joseph Macchione, GC of GMH Communities Trust, and Ajay Raju, head of Reed Smith's securitization and finance team, discussed moving GMH's legal work to Reed Smith. According to Macchione, the biggest reason he made the switch was Raju's willingness to work with his company on an alternative billing system. No comments