Corporate Law

Fed’l Judge Balks Again, Further Delays Ruling on SEC’s $33M Pact With BofA

A proposed $33 million settlement by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to resolve allegations that the Bank of America didn’t disclose to investors that it was to pay $3 billion in executive bonuses when acquiring Merrill Lynch & Co. “might be approvable,” a federal judge said at a hearing…

Aug 10, 2009 11:22 PM CDT

Blank Rome Settles Malpractice Case for $20M Without Admitting Liability

Without admitting liability, Blank Rome has agreed to settle for $20 million a malpractice claim brought by a former client’s trustee in bankruptcy. Trustee George Miller, who also sued the company’s former officers and directors, was reportedly seeking more than $700 million in compensatory damages from the law firm and…

Aug 10, 2009 5:14 PM CDT

Law Firm Won Tax Case, But Says Ex-KPMG Partner Still Owes $1.3M Bill

A law firm is suing a former KPMG partner, saying that he hasn’t paid $1.3 million of the legal bill that Kostelanetz & Fink racked up while successfully defending him in a high-profile criminal tax case concerning illegal tax shelters. Although Richard Smith obtained a settlement from KPMG that was…

Aug 7, 2009 6:04 PM CDT

GE Pays SEC $50M, Professionals $200M to Settle Financial Statements Complaint

It cost General Electric Co. $50 million to settle—without admitting liability—a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission complaint that the company materially misstated information in 2002 and 2003 financial statements. But resolving the matter cost the company another $200 million or so in legal and accounting fees, notes the Am Law…

Aug 4, 2009 9:52 PM CDT

To Get iPod Refund, Apple Required Confidentiality Pact, Family Contends

A reported attempt by Apple to get a British family to sign a confidentiality agreement in exchange for getting a refund on an alleged exploding iPod music player has apparently backfired. Instead of signing, they told their story to the London Times. The newspaper wrote an article about the incident,…

Aug 3, 2009 10:18 PM CDT

Big Bank Legal Dep’t in Spy Confab, Nixed Law Firm Mole Plan, Detective Tells WSJ

Members of the legal department at Deutsche Bank AG sat in on a 2006 meeting in which a private detective was provided with a list of some 20 individuals and entities on which he was expected to spy, the investigator, Bernd Bühner, told the Wall Street Journal. Among those on…

Aug 3, 2009 7:17 PM CDT

Sentence Nacchio Based on Actual Qwest Insider Profit, 10th Circuit Says

In a move that could nearly halve the six-year prison term that former Qwest Communications chief executive Joseph Nacchio got for insider trading, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals today ordered that he be re-sentenced. Both Nacchio’s prison term and the amount of money he is required to forfeit…

Jul 31, 2009 10:32 PM CDT

Lawyers for Sen. Stevens and Ebbers on Ethisphere’s ‘Hall of Fame’ Lawyer List

The lawyer who helped Sen. Ted Stevens win a reversal of his conviction because of prosecutorial misconduct is one of five lawyers named to a “hall of fame” list of attorneys who matter by the magazine Ethisphere. Brendan Sullivan, a senior partner at Williams & Connolly, had claimed the government…

Jul 31, 2009 5:40 PM CDT

FTC Suspends ‘Red Flags Rule’ Requiring Law Firms to Create ID Theft Policies

Citing uncertainty among small businesses about their compliance obligations, the Federal Trade Commission has suspended until Nov. 1 implementation of its controversial “Red Flags Rule.” The new regulations, which require businesses, including law firms, to develop policies to combat identity theft, have drawn fire from the ABA, notes the Daily…

Jul 29, 2009 7:09 PM CDT

Fla. City to Pay $55K to Bait Shop Ticketed for Displaying US Constitution

Lawyers for the city of Clearwater had said the Florida municipality was on solid legal ground when it fined a local bait shop over a fish mural painted on an exterior wall of the business. But after two federal judges disagreed that the city’s sign ordinance was constitutional as applied,…

Jul 28, 2009 7:13 PM CDT

Landlord Sues Tenant for Libel Over Tweet About ‘Moldy Apartment’

An apartment management company in Illinois has sued a tenant for libel over a “malicious and defamatory” tweet about the state of her apartment to her 20 followers on Twitter. Chicago Bar-Tender has the complaint (PDF) filed by Horizon Group Management against Amanda Bonnen, who was a tenant in one…

Jul 28, 2009 4:38 PM CDT

As Rio Tinto Saves Millions, Other Corps. Will Outsource, Too, Counsel Says

By outsourcing document production in one Federal Trade Commission matter to a team of Indian attorneys, an international mining company saved $1.5 million over what it would have paid to have its usual BigLaw antitrust firm in Washington, D.C., contract out the same work. And that’s just the beginning of…

Jul 28, 2009 12:12 AM CDT

Ex-BigLaw Associate, 29, Forms Biotech Boutique via Craigslist

When Afif Ghannoum decided to open a biotechnology boutique in Cleveland, the 29-year-old former BigLaw associate advertised for potential partner-level attorneys on Craigslist. He received responses from nearly 100 lawyers in Ohio and another 400 in New York City. To help keep costs low, the firm’s nine lawyers operate out…

Jul 27, 2009 5:54 PM CDT

Attorney Sought Law Firm Job to Spy On Businessman, Regulator Says

An unidentified attorney got a job at a law firm in Munich in order to gather information about businessman Leo Kirch on behalf of Deutsche Bank NG, says a German data-protection regulator. The bank, which is Germany’s biggest, called off the effort by private detectives it had retained before the…

Jul 21, 2009 8:27 PM CDT

Non-Muslims Turn to Shariah Courts in UK to Resolve Civil Disputes

Shariah courts in the United Kingdom aren’t just being used by Muslims. A small but growing number of non-Muslims also are turning to the religious tribunals to resolve commercial disputes and other civil matters. The tribunals, which apply Islamic law based on the Koran, can offer a swifter resolution than…

Jul 21, 2009 5:22 PM CDT