New York

Judge Tosses Calorie-Posting Rule

A federal judge has ruled New York City did not have the authority to require fast-food restaurants to post calorie information. The New York regulation, which applied to restaurants that had already voluntarily disclosed calorie information, required them to make it more accessible by measures such as posting it on…

Sep 11, 2007 6:02 PM CDT

Gay Marriage Blurb Brings Suit

Two men are suing American University for publishing an announcement in an alumni magazine that said they had married each other. In a suit filed Aug. 30 in Manhattan federal court, Ross Weil and Brett Royce say the blurb defamed them because the false statement “imputes homosexual behavior” between the…

Sep 11, 2007 4:32 PM CDT

NY Justices Weigh Death Penalty

New York’s highest court is considering arguments in a case that could determine the future of the death penalty in the state. In oral arguments before the Court of Appeals on Monday, lawyers were asked whether the court should revisit a 2004 decision that struck down the state’s 1995 death…

Sep 11, 2007 3:55 PM CDT

Guilty Plea in Tax Shelter Case

One of five remaining defendants has pleaded guilty in the government’s prosecution of advisers accused of working with KPMG to set up phony tax shelters. David Amir Makov pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit tax fraud and agreed to repay $10 million, the Wall Street Journal reports…

Sep 11, 2007 2:07 PM CDT

Politics on Trial Along With Oil Man

The defense attorney for Texas oil man Oscar Wyatt argued yesterday that the federal prosecution of his client for paying kickbacks to buy Iraqi oil is “the United States at its hypocritical worst.” Gerald Shargel told Manhattan jurors that his 83-year-old client had long helped the United States in the…

Sep 11, 2007 11:45 AM CDT

Prisons Tossing Religious Books

Prisons are dismantling collections of religious books as part of an effort to block access to materials that can be used by militant Islamic and other radical groups. The Bureau of Prisons has created lists of up to 150 approved books for each of 20 religions or religious categories, and…

Sep 10, 2007 4:26 PM CDT

Top Broadcom Lawyer Charged up to $850 an Hour

The top lawyer for Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr charged up to $850 an hour for his work representing Broadcom Corp. in a patent dispute with a rival semiconductor maker. The rate, while substantial, is still below that charged by some top law firm partners: $1,000 an hour. Details…

Sep 10, 2007 2:11 PM CDT

Partner Transfers Beef Up NY Offices

Large law firms are seeking to boost their New York offices by relocating partners and big rainmakers there from other locations. In one of the latest such moves, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart Oliver & Hedges is relocating former Stanford law dean Kathleen Sullivan to New York to build an appellate practice…

Sep 10, 2007 1:41 PM CDT

Patriot Act Ruling Could Curtail FBI Technique

A federal judge’s decision yesterday striking down parts of the USA Patriot Act could cut the FBI’s use of national security letters to gather customer information from telecommunications companies for terrorism investigations. The decision said the revisions violated the First Amendment by giving the FBI wide discretion to make case-by-case…

Sep 7, 2007 1:23 PM CDT

Linklaters Strengthens U.S. Office

London law firm Linklaters has transferred a mergers and acquisitions partner to New York, following the lead of a Magic Circle rival. The transfer of Nick Rees is part of Linklaters’ effort to build up its transactional practice in the New York office, Legal Week reports. The law firm recruited…

Sep 7, 2007 12:23 PM CDT

Judicial Watch Founder Loses Pro Hac Vice Bid

The Miami lawyer who founded Judicial Watch, a group that filed several lawsuits against the Clinton administration, has been denied pro hac vice admission for a New York case. In denying temporary bar admission, the judge cited other judges’ past complaints about lawyer Larry Klayman, including one judge’s decision to…

Sep 7, 2007 11:09 AM CDT

Judge: Patriot Act Threatens Constitutional System

Warning of “potential dire effects to individual freedoms,” a federal judge in New York has struck down revisions to the USA Patriot Act for violating the First Amendment and restricting the power of the courts to rule on the constitutional issue. The decision was a victory for the American Civil…

Sep 6, 2007 6:26 PM CDT

Client Turns Tables on Firm in Fee Dispute

A Texas plaintiffs firm that sued to collect an attorney fee from a former client in a medical malpractice case won exactly nothing after a three-day jury trial. But a Tarrant County jury awarded the client $1.4 million last month on his counterclaim against the firm for intentional infliction of…

Sep 5, 2007 11:47 PM CDT

Firm Survives 9/11 Attack, But Changes

It takes a lot today to create a crisis at Harris Beach. Its law offices at 2 World Trade Center were obliterated on Sept. 11, 2001, killing three lawyers, two staff members and a contractor supervising an almost-completed $4 million renovation project. Now, many among the more than 100 who…

Sep 5, 2007 6:16 PM CDT

Joel Steinberg Wants $15 M Award Tossed

Disbarred lawyer Joel Steinberg, convicted of manslaughter for killing his adopted daughter with a blow to the head, is asking New York’s highest court to overturn a $15 million civil judgment against him. Six-year-old Lisa endured “at most, eight hours of pain and suffering,” Steinberg says in legal briefs filed…

Sep 5, 2007 3:47 PM CDT