Appeals Court Rejects Recruiter’s Suit Seeking Fee From Law Firm

A legal recruiter cannot collect a fee of nearly 0,000 from Blank Rome in connection with a merger the law firm first rejected and then completed with the assistance of a competing placement firm, a New York appeals court has ruled. The court concluded that a series of e-mails exchanged between Mark Bruce International and Blank Rome approximately 10 months before the Philadelphia firm joined forces with New York-based Healy & Baillie did not amount to an enforceable contract.

Supreme Court Appears Divided Over Hillary Clinton Movie in Campaign Finance Case

The Supreme Court’s weakened support for the McCain-Feingold campaign law seemed to slip further Tuesday as the justices debated whether an anti-Hillary Clinton movie released during the 2008 presidential campaign should be regulated as a campaign advertisement or protected under the First Amendment. The oral argument yielded few signals about how the case would come out — until the government’s defense of the law raised the specter of prohibitions being placed on book publication in some circumstances.

No Easy Answers in Wolf Block’s Demise

The legal community has been speculating about the “why” behind Wolf
Block’s collapse. Some point as far back as 1985, when Howard Gittis
left as leader of the firm, as the start of the downfall. Others cite
partner defections in the 1990s, a heavy reliance on its real estate
practice, two failed merger attempts, or a lack of leadership in the
last year. Chairman Mark L. Alderman said there is no question that in
any other economy or any other credit environment, the dissolution would
not have happened.

No Shortage of Anxiety Among Law Students at Job Fair

The mood at a recent Georgia job fair for law students was understandably more anxious than usual. “It’s looking awful out there,” said one 3L, William D. Corriher, who is seeking a job in public interest law. “The competition is fierce,” he said, and his worry was echoed by almost all of the 2Ls and 3Ls interviewed. One positive from the job fair: federal agency representatives who had no current openings were hopeful that the federal stimulus package would create new legal department openings.

Chimp Attack Case Could Break New Legal Ground

Everyone knew that after a chimpanzee mauled a Connecticut woman, causing near-fatal injuries, a huge lawsuit was coming. Now Connecticut lawyers are watching to see if the case breaks new ground in state tort law. The plaintiff is seeking million in damages, and her lawyers argue that the chimpanzee’s former owner is strictly liable for owning a wild animal, and that she was negligent and reckless for doing so. But the attorney representing the former owner says strict liability doesn’t apply.

Defunct Small Firm’s Suit Proceeds Against Poacher Firm

A New Jersey judge has granted defunct law firm Ravin Sarasohn the right to pursue a rare case claiming that firm Lowenstein Sandler was complicit in the theft of confidential information, used it to woo key defectors and caused Ravin Sarasohn’s demise. The judge rejected Lowenstein Sandler’s argument that a ruling in a related arbitration favoring one of the defecting partners estopped Ravin Sarasohn and mandated dismissal of the claim. A lot more could happen to derail the trial scheduled for April.

What to Do When Vendors Start Falling

In the current economic downturn, law firms can mitigate the risk of loss of services that can arise from dealing with financially at-risk electronic discovery vendors. Ask the right questions and use appropriate contractual provisions to manage the unexpected changes affecting vendors.

Reducing the Costs of Privilege Reviews and Logs

Federal Rule of Evidence 502 was intended to provide a remedy for the increasing costs of protecting privilege. But will it reap the cost savings intended, and if so, how? The answer lies in the willingness of litigants to take advantage of the rule’s protections, which, if used strategically, may help alleviate much of the costs and burdens of both privilege review and logging, say attorneys Jeane A. Thomas, David D. Cross and Courtney Ingraffia Barton.

Two Largest State Pension Funds Ask to Lead in Class Action Against Merrill, BofA

The nation’s two largest state public pension funds asked a federal court in New York to name them lead plaintiffs in a securities class action against Bank of America Corp. for its handling of the merger with Merrill Lynch & Co. The 1.6 million-member California Public Employees’ Retirement System and the 833,000-member California State Teachers’ Retirement System alleged that Bank of America management misstated or withheld important details of Merrill Lynch’s finances.

In a Sign of the Economic Times, Value of Structured Settlements Jumps by 25 Percent

In a sign of the economic times, the total value of structured settlements — in which plaintiffs in personal injury lawsuits accept periodic payments rather than one lump sum of cash — jumped by 25 percent during the fourth quarter of 2008, compared to the previous quarter, according to statistics from Structured Financial Associates, a structured settlement brokerage firm based in Atlanta. The increase could indicate the beginning of another significant increase similar to that of previous economic downturns.

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