Lawyer - News

When a federal multidistrict litigation court makes a pretrial ruling in a suit, there usually is little -- if anything -- a U.S. district judge can do except abide by that decision; to do otherwise would frustrate the goals of multidistrict litigation. But in In Re: Ford Motor Co. and Bridgestone/Firestone North American Tire, a case of first impression, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that U.S. district judges do not need to abide by MDL court orders in some circumstances. No comments

For more than two years, the California State Bar has ticked off discipline-defense lawyers by endorsing tougher and more aggressive prosecutorial tactics. Some attorneys thought that might change after former State Bar Chief Trial Counsel Scott Drexel was let go in June. But a lingering Drexel-era proposal that would let State Bar Court judges consider unsworn victim statements as evidence for increasing punishment has the discipline-defense bar up in arms again. No comments

Marriott International suffered a PR nightmare this month related to a lawsuit filed by a woman who said she had been raped in the parking garage of a Marriot Hotel Spa in Connecticut. Lawyers for Marriot's insurance company suggested the woman was partially responsible for the attack because she was careless and negligent for being in the garage. Was the initial legal strategy so outrageous? For a negligence case? No. For a negligence case involving the rape of a woman in front of her two children? Probably. No comments

After watching its competitors slash salaries all summer, King Spalding has announced it will cut pay for associates, other salaried attorneys and consultants, effective Sept. 1. The firm announced the pay cut to its personnel late Thursday in a memo. Partner-track associates will have their base salaries reduced to last year's levels, and those in Atlanta and Charlotte, N.C., will take an additional $10,000 hit. The memo notes salaries for counsel, staff attorneys and consultants will be cut by 5 percent. No comments

Information about the vast majority of job openings passes by word of mouth rather than through recruiters or advertisements. Consultants Valerie Fontaine and Roberta Kass provide tips on tapping into this "hidden" job market. One step is to reach out to everyone, including contacts who aren't lawyers. It may be daunting to contact people you haven't spoken to in years, especially if you've been laid off, but take heart in knowing that the stigma of being laid off and actively in the job market has diminished. No comments

A federal judge dismissed with prejudice on Friday a closely watched criminal case against international pharmaceuticals businessman Zhenli Ye Gon, who had been accused of participating in an international drug trafficking conspiracy. Judge Emmet Sullivan of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia agreed to dismiss the case based on a motion by the DOJ, which said that the U.S. did not plan to pursue its case against Ye Gon because he faces prosecution in Mexico. No comments

A group of investor clients of Stanford Financial Group has filed a class action against Proskauer Rose and partner Thomas V. Sjoblom. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas in Dallas, alleges that the law firm and Sjoblom aided and abetted Stanford Financial's alleged fraud and that it conspired with Stanford Financial. The class action claims that under Texas law Proskauer Rose is liable for the $7 billion in total fraud losses. No comments

While the high-profile legal fight against California's Prop 8 captures headlines, a carefully planned case quietly under way in Massachusetts federal court could be the gay marriage test with the greatest national impact. The challenge is one of four lawsuits around the country that ask federal courts to strike down the 1996 federal Defense of Marriage Act. The suits, and the Massachusetts case in particular, according to advocates and scholars, are just the opening shots in a struggle destined for the U.S. Supreme Court. No comments

Although federal workplace discrimination laws don't cover sexual orientation discrimination, a federal appeals court has ruled that an effeminate gay man must be allowed to pursue a Title VII claim alleging that he was targeted for harassment because he failed to conform to "gender stereotypes." The 3rd Circuit found that a lower court erred when it declared that plaintiff Brian Prowel's sex discrimination claim was nothing more than "an artfully pleaded claim of sexual orientation discrimination." No comments

Each category of software has one application that becomes the standard for comparison: Microsoft Outlook for e-mail, Word for documents and Adobe Acrobat for PDFs. But there are plenty of reasons to use alternatives, says consultant Brett Burney as he reviews Nuance PDF Converter 6. No comments