District of Columbia

Thieves Snatch Less Obvious Items; Leaky Gas Tanks Point to Theft

Thieves in the Washington, D.C., area aren’t limiting their take to laptops and iPhones. They are also stealing necessity items, such as diapers, laundry detergent and frozen foods, the Washington Post reports. Items with copper—including downspouts, gutters, HVAC units and catalytic converters—are also popular. In Takoma Park, Md., some car…

Mar 1, 2012 12:32 PM CST

EEOC Claims DC Law Firm Rescinded Job Offer Because of Lawyer’s Pregnancy

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission claims in a suit that a Washington, D.C., law firm rescinded a job offer after the newly hired lawyer disclosed she was pregnant. The suit against James E. Brown & Associates was filed Thursday, a day after the EEOC sponsored a meeting on pregnancy discrimination,…

Feb 17, 2012 1:00 PM CST

Chapman and Cutler Raids Orrick for 6-Partner Finance Team to Open DC Office

Chapman and Cutler has announced that it plans to open an office in Washington, D.C., with six structured finance and securitization partners from Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe. The Chapman firm has been looking at D.C. for some time, because many of its clients are regulated there, the Am Law Daily…

Feb 15, 2012 7:14 PM CST

DOJ Losses in Two High-Profile Bribery Trials Linked to Racy Texts by FBI Agents

Federal prosecutors failed to win any convictions in two high-profile foreign bribery trials after the defense used the words of FBI agents to attack their credibility. One trial of six defendants ended in Washington, D.C., federal court last month, the Washington Post reports. The jury foreman, a nonpracticing lawyer, told…

Feb 14, 2012 1:38 PM CST

Tenn. Firm Taps Former Fulbright & Jaworski Health Care Partner to Head New DC Office

A 220-attorney law firm based in Tennessee is opening an office in Washington, D.C., with a former Fulbright & Jaworski health care partner at the helm. In addition to John Kelly, who was an assistant chief for health care fraud at the Department of Justice’s Criminal Division before heading into…

Feb 14, 2012 12:35 AM CST

DC Is the Place to Be for Law Firms

Washington, D.C., is attracting law firms eager to capitalize on regulatory and international work involving the agencies there. In less than a year, at least seven law firms have opened offices in Washington, D.C., the Washington Post reports. An eighth, Miles & Stockbridge, will open on Wednesday. Miles & Stockbridge…

Feb 13, 2012 2:20 PM CST

6 Staff Docs and Scientists Sue FDA Over Secret Gov’t Surveillance of Personal Gmail Accounts

Six doctors and scientists have sued the Food and Drug Administration after discovering that the agency snooped into their personal Gmail accounts, which the staffers accessed from their government computers. Government documents show that the secret surveillance took place, over a two-year period starting in January 2009, after the staffers…

Jan 30, 2012 11:27 PM CST

Federal Prosecutor Will Take the Fifth in Congressional Fast and Furious Probe

A federal prosecutor subpoenaed to testify in the congressional probe of Operation Fast and Furious will assert has Fifth Amendment rights and decline to testify. Lawyers for Patrick Cunningham, chief of the Criminal Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Arizona, notified the House Oversight Committee about the decision not…

Jan 20, 2012 2:11 PM CST

Moms Plan Nurse-In on National Mall in Washington, DC

In an effort to educate Americans about laws that give mothers the right to nurse their babies in public, a “nurse-in” is being planned this summer on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. To be held on Aug. 4, during World Breastfeeding Week, the event is the brainchild of a…

Jan 11, 2012 10:23 PM CST

Appellate Brief: Chevron, Counsel Used Unfair Tactics to Try to Force Patton Boggs Off Case

In a brief filed this week with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, a well-known law firm accuses its opposing counsel and a major corporation of using unfair tactics to try to force it to step down from representing the plaintiffs in a multibillion-dollar environmental case, the…

Dec 16, 2011 9:04 PM CST

Cops Use Social Media, Launch Website in Effort to Find Potomac River Rapist

The FBI is joining with local police in Maryland in an Internet-inspired effort to get the public’s help in tracking down a serial rapist. Authorities are launching a website, employing digital billboards and using social media in an effort to find the man known as the Potomac River rapist, the…

Dec 16, 2011 2:59 PM CST

Jury Awards $2.3 Million to DC Man Imprisoned 10 Years After Wrongful Parole Revocation

A federal jury has awarded a Washington, D.C., man $2.3 million for the 10 years he spent in prison after his parole was wrongfully revoked in 1996. U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson had previously held that the district was liable for violating Charles Singletary’s constitutional rights, setting up a…

Dec 14, 2011 8:36 PM CST

DC Officials Admit Using Personal Email Accounts for Work Purposes

Two top officials in the District of Columbia’s financial office have admitted using personal email accounts to conduct official business. Chief Financial Officer Natwar M. Gandhi testified in a deposition last month that he “occasionally” uses his personal email account for office purposes, the Washington Post reports. Gandhi’s chief of…

Dec 13, 2011 10:28 PM CST

SEC Sues SIPC, Seeks to Force Industry Insurer to Ante Up for R. Allen Stanford Customer Losses

In what may be the first such case ever brought, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has filed suit against a securities industry insurance fund, seeking to force it to liquidate the operation of R. Allen Stanford, reports the Houston Chronicle. If the SEC suit against the Securities Investor Protection…

Dec 13, 2011 3:51 PM CST

14-Lawyer Vinson & Elkins Public Finance Group to Join Bracewell & Giuliani as Partners

A 14-lawyer public finance practice group from Vinson & Elkins will be joining Bracewell & Giuliani in January as partners, their new firm announced today. The group, which also does tax and muncipal securities work, may be joined at Bracewell by additional Vinson & Elkins lawyers in counsel and associate…

Dec 13, 2011 3:26 PM CST