Corporate Law

By Using Only 2 Law Firms, 1 Co. Cuts Legal Budget 20% and Saves Staff Lawyer Time

Levi Strauss & Co. chopped perhaps 20 percent off its outside counsel costs by having Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe and Townsend and Townsend and Crew handle all of its global legal work on a flat-fee basis. Although the company doesn’t disclose its total legal budget, comparable companies have budgets topping…

Feb 17, 2010 5:46 PM CST

Most Americans Oppose Supreme Court Campaign Finance Ruling

Eighty percent of Americans polled oppose the U.S. Supreme Court’s Jan. 21 ruling that found corporations have a First Amendment right to expressly support political candidates. The Washington Post-ABC News poll found that 85 percent of Democrats and 76 percent of Republicans opposed the ruling in Citizens United v. Federal…

Feb 17, 2010 1:31 PM CST

Ex-Client of Cravath Battles Firm’s Current Client in Conflict Case Venue War

Updated: Today was the day that a Pennsylvania state-court judge was supposed to conduct a hearing on a former client’s claim that Cravath Swaine & Moore is conflicted out of representing a competing company in a $5.1 billion takeover bid. But that didn’t happen, because Cravath and its current client,…

Feb 16, 2010 11:28 PM CST

Attorney Helped Me Mail Home $211K in Secret Swiss Account Cash, Va. Surgeon Says in Plea

In a plea bargain today that may signal a more sweeping prosecutorial approach to tax issues related to secret Swiss bank accounts, a Virginia surgeon admits that he conspired with a banker and an attorney to conceal from United States authorities the $250,000 he inherited from his mother, plus $18,000…

Feb 16, 2010 10:51 PM CST

As Jury Deliberates, Federal Judge Dismisses All Charges in Stanford Document-Shredding Case

In the latest blow to U.S. Department of Justice prosecutors pursuing high-profile charges, a federal judge today dismissed the obstruction and conspiracy case against two men accused of ordering the destruction of documents related to R. Allen Stanford’s alleged $7 billion Ponzi scheme. Citing a lack of intent as he…

Feb 12, 2010 10:32 PM CST

Complex Toyota Case Could Rival Tobacco Litigation, Plaintiffs Lawyers Predict

Plaintiffs lawyers are predicting that what has the potential to be the largest-ever automotive products liability case will result in a complex federal action equivalent to tobacco litigation. It may not be easy to prove the diminished-value claims being asserted in perhaps 30 of the more than 40 would-be class…

Feb 12, 2010 7:53 PM CST

GC Credited with Breaking Bribery Ring at Company

Jay Dalton, a now-retired general counsel of an international oil and gas pipeline company, is getting credit for not only helping find employees who were bribing foreign government officials, but stopping them from continuing the scheme. Corporate Counsel examined Dalton’s involvement after the late January sentencing of two former executives…

Feb 12, 2010 5:11 PM CST

Radio Host in Contempt Case Urges Fans to E-Mail Court; Federal Judge Is Not Pleased

Updated: Facing a new ruling from U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman, after a federal appeals court instructed him to reconsider an earlier $37.6 million contempt sanction, infomercial pitchman Kevin Trudeau apparently thought the judge might take note of praise from his fans for his books. And Gettleman clearly did. Finding…

Feb 12, 2010 1:15 AM CST

Trustee Sues Rothstein Partner for $10M, Alleges Charges for Jewelry, Home Repairs & Reptiles

In at least the third such lawsuit filed against a partner of the South Florida law firm at the center of ex-attorney Scott Rothstein’s reported $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme, a bankruptcy trustee is seeking seven-figure reimbursement from Stuart Rosenfeldt. However, the suit against the Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler name partner seeks…

Feb 11, 2010 11:31 PM CST

Shareholder Suit re ‘Staggering’ Pay Says Morgan Stanley Is Run for Employees’ Benefit

Two pension funds have filed suit against the world’s biggest brokerage, seeking billions in restitution and contending that Morgan Stanley paid out “staggering” compensation and bonuses to its employees in 2006, 2007 and 2009 without regard to the interests of its shareholders. “The payments are staggering not only in absolute…

Feb 11, 2010 8:19 PM CST

Trustee Seeks Law Firm Records to ID Any Other Attorneys in $1.2B Rothstein Scheme

Updated: In an effort to identify others who may have been involved in ex-attorney Scott Rothstein’s reported $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme, a bankruptcy trustee overseeing the dissolution of Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler has asked a federal judge to order a California technology company to produce records of confidential electronic conversations between…

Feb 11, 2010 7:24 PM CST

Cut Out of Final Chapter of $39.5M Case, Kasowitz Sues Client for $7.1M ‘Success Fee’

A new general counsel for Duane Reade Inc. may have thought he was saving his employer money when he allegedly settled a contract dispute with an ATM operator in 2009 for $39.5 million without involving the New York-area drugstore chain’s longtime outside lawyers. But despite its lack of involvement in…

Feb 11, 2010 5:58 PM CST

Judge’s order vacates up to $312K in bad-faith sanctions at parties’ request

Updated: After a federal district judge’s opinion blasting a law firm and its corporate client over what he describes as their bad-faith litigation tactics, a federal magistrate judge made a sanctions recommendation and later vacated it. U.S. Magistrate Judge Walter Johnson said in a Jan. 29, 2010, report two lawyers…

Feb 10, 2010 7:03 PM CST

Reagan Era Influenced Supreme Court Vote in Citizens United Campaign-Finance Case

A landmark campaign-finance decision by the U.S. Supreme Court last month striking corporate spending limits as an unconstitutional restriction of companies’ free speech reflects the influence of the Reagan era, writes David Savage in a Los Angeles Times analysis of the decision. All five of the justices who voted to…

Feb 10, 2010 12:56 AM CST

RICO Case Against Ex-Prosecutor Criminalizes $3M Glock Legal Fee Dispute, His Side Says

Accused of racketeering and theft in connection with his work as outside legal counsel for Glock Inc., a former federal prosecutor and onetime candidate for Georgia attorney general did nothing wrong, his team says. James “Jim” Harper III, 55, was indicted in Cobb County last month along with two associates,…

Feb 9, 2010 9:24 PM CST