Pennsylvania

Another Attorney Leaves the Law to Drive a Cupcake Truck

Inspired by a New York attorney who started his own business driving a cupcake truck, a Pennsylvania lawyer is also tasting the sweets of cupcake-selling success. Kate Carrara now offers her Buttercream Philadelphia cupcakes from a converted mail truck she found on eBay and painted a creamy white with sprinkles.…

Feb 2, 2010 2:00 AM CST

Privacy-Loving Couple Allowed to Pursue Only Trespass Count Against Google Maps

A Pittsburgh couple who sued Google Maps over its “Street View” feature can’t pursue their claims for invasion of privacy, but they can sue for trespass. The Philadelphia-based 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled (PDF) in a suit by Aaron and Christine Boring, who said Google Maps disregarded their…

Jan 29, 2010 6:48 PM CST

Reed Smith Partners Hit $1M Profit Mark Despite Revenue Dip

Another BigLaw firm has reported increased partner profits last year even though its income decreased. Reed Smith says profit per equity partner in 2009 hit the $1 million mark, reports the Am Law Daily. But the firm fell a bit short of the $1 billion mark in its overall revenue,…

Jan 29, 2010 4:39 AM CST

Drinker Biddle Wins $1.78M Bill Battle; Firm Clocked 5,225 Hours in 3 Months

Drinker Biddle & Reath has won a $1.78 million award from a Pennsylvania state-court jury in a hard-fought legal bill battle that bared ordinarily confidential fee details in a bet-the-company patent litigation case. It all began in 2006, when AgriZap Inc. retained the Philadelphia-based firm to handle a patent dispute…

Jan 21, 2010 11:14 PM CST

Top Court Temporarily Bans Senior Judge Due to Wife-Assault Case

A senior Pennsylvania judge who formerly served as the president judge of Perry County has been banned from the bench by the state supreme court’s chief justice while he resolves a personal criminal case. It concerns allegations that he choked his wife in an alcohol-fueled rage at their Luzerne County…

Jan 21, 2010 12:37 AM CST

Ex-Lawyer Accused of Using Still-Open IOLTA Account to Steal From Ex-Clients

Allegedly making use of an attorney trust account that remained open for four years after he was disbarred as a Pennsylvania lawyer in 2004, former practitioner George Guyer Young III is now accused of misappropriating thousands of dollars in former client funds. The 48-year-old suburban Philadelphia resident is charged with…

Jan 20, 2010 6:40 PM CST

Senior Judge Is Charged with Choking Wife in Domestic Dispute

Updated: A senior Pennsylvania judge has been criminally charged with misdemeanor assault and summary harassment after a claimed alcohol-fueled domestic incident Saturday in which he allegedly choked his wife. It appears that she was not seriously injured. C. Joseph Rehkamp, 61, later turned himself in, reports the Carlisle Sentinel. A…

Jan 19, 2010 8:27 PM CST

Temple 3L Charged in Shooting Caught on Video

A third-year Temple law student has been charged with assault and attempted murder in a shooting caught on videotape outside a Fox television studio in Philadelphia. The 28-year-old student, Gerald Ung, told police he acted in self-defense, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. The video shows one man rushing at another, apparently…

Jan 19, 2010 12:35 PM CST

261 Dickinson Law Alumni Warned of Possibly Breached Info

Updated: Dickinson School of Law gave 261 alumni some bad news last month: Malicious software had infected a university computer containing an archived list including their Social Security numbers. The former students were warned under a 2006 state law requiring notification whenever anyone’s personal information is potentially disclosed by a…

Jan 7, 2010 4:52 PM CST

Ex-Judge Can’t Cite Court’s ‘Culture of Corruption’ in Bid to Regain Job

Many defendants who may have been adversely affected by the alleged misconduct of two former Pennsylvania judges accused of wide-ranging corruption in office have won new trials or dismissals of the cases against them. But a sharply divided disciplinary tribunal has refused to grant the same opportunity to a colleague…

Jan 5, 2010 8:59 PM CST

Meet Art Block, General Counsel of Comcast

When Art Block gave up a partnership at Wolf Block Schorr & Solis-Cohen in 1988 to become the No. 2 attorney in a three-person corporate legal department, his friends told him he was crazy. But today the 54-year-old University of Michigan law graduate is general counsel in charge of a…

Jan 4, 2010 5:44 PM CST

Cozen’s Lateral Hiring Spree Includes Baker Hostetler’s Antitrust Chief

Cozen O’Connor has hired three lawyers from Baker Hostetler, including its antitrust chief, capping a year of frequent lateral hires. Cozen O’Connor made more than 100 high-level lateral hires last year, according to a press release. The latest acquisition includes Melissa Maxman, who led the antitrust and trade regulation practice…

Jan 4, 2010 3:25 PM CST

You Can’t Sue Us for Malpractice, K&L Gates Tells Non-Client’s Trustee in Filing

Responding to a Pennsylvania malpractice suit contending that a major law firm should have detected an alleged fraud by executives during its internal investigation of a now-bankrupt beverage maker, K&L Gates has fired back in preliminary objections to the Allegheny County action. It contends, among other arguments, that there is…

Dec 17, 2009 1:19 AM CST

WolfBlock Alums Gather for Party; About 1/3 Are Jobless or Underemployed

About 180 alumni of the dissolved law firm WolfBlock are gathering today for a holiday party in Philadelphia’s Park Hyatt. The aim is to socialize with old friends and to provide networking opportunities for those still without jobs, the Legal Intelligencer reports. Former WolfBlock executive committee member Jonathan Segal told…

Dec 16, 2009 1:44 PM CST

Philly Defendants Walk Free in Almost Two-Thirds of Violent Crime Cases

Philadelphia prosecutors obtain convictions in only 20 percent of violent crime cases, the lowest felony conviction rate among large urban counties. In other major cities, prosecutors obtain felony convictions in about half of violent crime cases, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. “In America’s most violent big city, people accused of serious…

Dec 14, 2009 1:44 PM CST