D.C. Circuit Court

Judge Appoints Lawsuit Guardian Due to Client’s ‘Irrational Hostility’ to Lawyer

A federal district judge in Washington, D.C., has appointed a guardian to oversee a plaintiff’s interests in a more than decade-old copyright case, due to what he has described as her “paranoid outbursts” and “irrational hostility” to her own lawyer. Attorney Nathan Lewin’s request for a guardian ad litem was…

May 29, 2009 11:54 PM CDT

High-Profile Ex-Staff Attorney’s Lawsuit Against Covington & Burling Is Dismissed

A discrimination suit filed earlier this year by a high-profile former staff attorney against Covington & Burling and five current or former lawyers there has been dismissed. In a order (PDF) filed today, U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton of the District of Columbia dismisses the case without prejudice for want…

May 29, 2009 7:34 PM CDT

‘Greedy’ Stanford Law Grad to Pay $630K in Legal Fees Over Meritless Art Suit

An art dealer who graduated from Stanford Law School reportedly tried to bully a well-known art auction house into paying $168,000 to settle a baseless lawsuit. But now the tables have been turned on art dealer and Washington, D.C., attorney Robert Fastov, reports the Blog of Legal Times. His effort…

Apr 20, 2009 11:22 PM CDT

Fred Fielding Lands at Philly-Based Firm

In the latest presidential administration churn, former top White House lawyer Fred Fielding has joined Philadelphia-based Morgan Lewis. Fielding, who was counsel to President George W. Bush and a former member of the 9/11 Commission, will work in the firm’s D.C. office, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. As of April 15,…

Apr 9, 2009 12:30 PM CDT

Alaska Seeks Hatch Act Probe in Stevens Case, Supports Possible Tort Claim

Opening a new chapter in the ongoing debacle over the federal government’s stunningly unsuccessful prosecution of then-Sen. Ted Stevens for corruption, the legislature of his home state of Alaska today overwhelmingly passed a resolution calling for further investigation of potential election law violations and demanding that the federal government give…

Apr 9, 2009 12:24 AM CDT

Special Prosecutor to Investigate Government Lawyers in Sen. Stevens Case

As requested by the government, a federal judge today reversed the corruption conviction of former Sen. Ted Stevens and dismissed the case against him with prejudice. But the case is far from over. U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan is appointing a special prosecutor to pursue a criminal contempt probe against…

Apr 7, 2009 4:52 PM CDT

Fed’l Judge in Sen. Stevens Case Puts Spotlight on Prosecution

Six days into a high-profile corruption trial of then-Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), federal prosecutors in Washington, D.C., knew they’d made a major mistake. A February 2007 document in the FBI file concerning the government’s chief witness could well be helpful to the defense. But the prosecution hadn’t turned it over…

Apr 6, 2009 5:42 PM CDT

Stevens Debacle Shows More Oversight of Prosecutors is Needed, Experts Say

In the aftermath of a stunning reversal of fortune for once-victorious federal prosecutors in the political corruption case against former Sen. Ted Stevens, experts—and, it appears, the U.S. attorney general—are calling for increased attention to the issue of government misconduct in other cases. The Alaska Republican’s initial conviction, based on…

Apr 4, 2009 12:44 AM CDT

Afghan ‘Enemy Combatants’ Can Argue Detention in US Courts, Judge Rules

After being held for six years without trial as “enemy combatants” at a United States military base airfield in Afghanistan, three prisoners in the war on terror can challenge their detention in U.S. courts, a federal judge in Washington, D.C., has decided. The government, which had sought to distinguish the…

Apr 2, 2009 9:02 PM CDT

Tongue Ties

National origin discrimination suits are making waves—and law

Apr 2, 2009 1:30 AM CDT

Covington Returns Yolanda Young Fire, Says Ex-Staff Lawyer Had Lackluster GPA

Sued last month by a former staff attorney who claimed Covington & Burling maintained its staff attorney ranks as a ghetto for minority attorneys, the law firm didn’t hesitate to fire back earlier when Yolanda Young apparently made similar charges in an administrative complaint with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity…

Mar 27, 2009 6:21 PM CDT

Obama Eliminates ‘Enemy Combatant’ from DOJ Legal Lexicon

In a U-turn from the language of the Bush administration, the White House has eliminated the use of the term “enemy combatant” concerning terrorism suspects being held at the U.S. military detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. At the same time, the White House may also have strengthened the legal…

Mar 13, 2009 9:41 PM CDT

Will Ex-Judge Press On With $54M Pants Suit Case? Supreme Court Is Last Resort

After losing Monday a request for an en banc rehearing before the entire Washington, D.C., District Court of Appeals, Roy Pearson Jr.’s infamous $54 million “pants suit” claim may be running out of steam. His only hope, at this point, is that the U.S. Supreme Court will grant certiorari, should…

Mar 4, 2009 10:23 PM CST

Wilmer Asks for $1.3M Legal Fee, Gets $730K + Lecture from Judge

Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr hasn’t had a lot of luck lately when requesting legal fee reimbursements in a long-running whistle-blower case. Last summer, when WilmerHale and co-counsel Wiley Rein sought $20 million in fees in Miller v. Bill Harbert International Construction Inc., Chief Judge Royce Lamberth of U.S.…

Mar 3, 2009 2:10 AM CST

High-Profile Ex-Staff Lawyer Sues Covington & Burling, Alleges Discrimination

Last year, a onetime staff attorney at Covington & Burling wrote a controversial article for the Huffington Post that accused her former firm of “stockpiling its staff attorney ghetto with blacks and other minorities.” Now Yolanda Young has filed a pro se federal race discrimination and retaliation suit against the…

Feb 25, 2009 9:28 PM CST