Lawyer - News

A New Jersey appeals court has overturned a $99,000 legal fee on a plaintiff's $650 recovery in a consumer fraud case, finding the trial court's measurement scales askew. The appellate panel said the trial judge improperly used his own personal experience to gauge the plaintiffs lawyer's hourly rate and failed to provide a sufficient analysis for his decision to enhance the lodestar by 45 percent -- he only stated his impression that the case "can hardly be classified as 'typical.'" No comments

A court battle over rights to the names of two 1950s doo-wop groups has sparked an appeal that could have far-reaching effects in civil rights litigation. The 3rd Circuit has granted en banc rehearing to decide the proper test to determine a plaintiff's entitlement to attorney fees as the "prevailing party." The underlying battle started when New Jersey officials threatened to take action against a music promoter who was using the two groups' names in a concert series -- a position the state later reversed. No comments

The Federal Circuit has ruled that a defendant's successor companies are liable for an $8 million default judgment in a patent infringement case. The panel rejected the district court's decision to apply South Korean law concerning successor liability, ruling that New Jersey law should apply because Daewoo Electronics' U.S. subsidiary has headquarters in New Jersey. The court cited a recent U.S. Supreme Court case that deemed that the laws of a company's "principal place of business" should apply to transactions. No comments

The Department of Justice is stepping up its investigation into the office of controversial Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio, a nationally known opponent of illegal immigration. DOJ attorneys filed a complaint Thursday in federal court, alleging that Arpaio and his staff have obstructed their investigation into whether the sheriff's office is discriminating based on national origin in its police practices and jail operations. A lawyer for the sheriff's office said he has tried to cooperate with the Justice Department. No comments

Hoskin Farina Kampf sought out a more robust document management system that integrated deeply with Outlook, and with greater flexibility regarding document rights management and security controls. They chose Worldox. Firm administrator Tony Lozano describes the install and results. No comments

Law schools need to have faculty with more practical experience, concludes Georgetown University Law Center adjunct professor Brent Evan Newton in a paper that is awaiting publication. He suggests that law faculty be divided into two tracks -- research professors and teaching professors. No comments

Check out some of the latest posts on the lawjobs.com blog, The Careerist. Big Bucks for Big Law in Big Divorces And A Closet of One's Own: Regarding Ken Mehlman Also Ladies Who Wedge: The new "It-Shoe" for women on the ascent is a $300 Kate Spade wedge No comments

A federal judge has green-lighted key claims by Bank of America shareholders in a securities class action and companion derivative suit over the bank's merger with Merrill Lynch. The judge found that the class action complaint adequately pleads that Bank of America did not make sufficient disclosures about the existence of a controversial $5.8 billion bonus pool to be used to pay Merrill employees before the merger, and that the companies' former CEOs acted with scienter in hiding the bonus pool from BofA shareholders. No comments

Terror suspect Mamdouh Mahmud Salim was ordered to serve life in prison Tuesday for a brutal attack that permanently disabled a corrections officer. New York federal Judge Deborah Batts found that a terrorism enhancement under the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines applied to Salim, who plunged a sharpened comb into the man's eye in a bizarre plot to force a judge to assign him new lawyers. The enhancement and the longer sentence were the result of a 2nd Circuit opinion vacating the initial 32-year sentence Batts gave Salim in 2004. No comments

Antitrust attorney Joseph M. Alioto on Tuesday asked a San Francisco federal judge to do what he says government regulators wouldn't and halt the pending merger of United and Continental airlines. Alioto is arguing on behalf of 49 named plaintiffs that the recently green-lighted merger could lead to higher fares and decreased services. He noted in opening arguments that he brought the claim under Section 16 of the Clayton Act, which provides for injunctive relief, because the plaintiffs haven't yet been harmed. No comments