New York

Herbert Smith and Freehills OK Megamerger; 2,800-Attorney Firm Plans to Open New York Office in 2012

Partners of London-based Herbert Smith and Australia’s Freehills have agreed to merge on Oct. 1. The 2,800-attorney merged firm will open a New York office this year, as well as in Africa and Seoul, reports Bloomberg. An office in Germany is planned next year. The Australian (reg. req.), the Financial…

Jun 28, 2012 3:31 PM CDT

Peter Madoff, Compliance Chief for Brother’s Securities Firm, to Take 10-Year, $143B Plea Deal

Peter Madoff, an attorney who served as chief compliance officer for his brother’s now-infamous securities firm, has reportedly agreed to take a plea in a criminal case related to Bernard Madoff’s record-breaking Ponzi scheme. Prosecutors said Peter Madoff will be charged and plead guilty on Friday in federal court in…

Jun 27, 2012 9:15 PM CDT

Law Firm Sues Over Doppelganger Domain Name, Says Infringing Website Is Intercepting Attorney Email

A New York intellectual property boutique has filed suit against a self-proclaimed cybersecurity developer who allegedly has gained access to some law firm email through a “typosquatter” website with an almost identical name. Defendant Arthur Wesley Kenzie not only registered a doppelganger domain name intended to be mistaken for the…

Jun 25, 2012 9:42 PM CDT

Brooklyn DA Charges 4 Ultra-Orthodox Men in Unusual Witness-Intimidation Case

After weeks of controversy over a New York prosecutor’s routine policy of not identifying ultra-Orthodox Jewish defendants in sex-crime cases, in order to encourage victims to come forward without fear of harassment, an unusual case has been brought against four men from the community who allegedly tried to intimidate a…

Jun 21, 2012 10:32 PM CDT

Disbarred Closing Lawyer Gets 1 Year in Bank Fraud Case; Counsel Says He Was Only Helping Clients

A disbarred New York closing attorney was sentenced Tuesday to a year and a day in federal prison after being convicted last year by a Manhattan jury of bank fraud and money laundering concerning real estate matters he handled in Westchester County. Louis Cherico must also forfeit $17,500 and serve…

Jun 20, 2012 5:49 PM CDT

Secretarial Supervisor Laid Off After 27 Years at Fried Frank Loses Age Bias and Retaliation Suit

An evening secretarial supervisor who was laid off by Fried Frank after 27 years of employment there has lost her federal age bias suit against the law firm. Although Roseanne Zito contended that she was fired, at age 57, in 2008, because of her age and in retaliation for taking…

Jun 20, 2012 4:15 PM CDT

Jailed Ex-BigLaw Partner Once Made $183K Monthly, Now Has Court-Appointed Lawyer for Tax Case Appeal

Until May 2009, John J. O’Brien was making $183,000 per month as a partner at Sullivan & Cromwell. Now serving a 28-month federal prison sentence, after pleading guilty to four misdemeanors in a tax-evasion case, he is pursuing an appeal of his sentence with the help of a court-appointed lawyer.…

Jun 19, 2012 8:55 PM CDT

Federal Civil Rights Suit Seeking $40M Is Dismissed; Process Server Gave Complaint to Wrong Court

A federal judge in New York has dismissed a civil rights suit filed over a hate-crime slaying, agreeing with a magistrate that a process server hired by the plaintiffs’ lawyers delivered the complaint to a state criminal court building rather than the Suffolk County clerk’s office. Survivors of Marcelo Lucero,…

Jun 19, 2012 4:09 PM CDT

Lead Bankruptcy Law Firm for Dewey & LeBoeuf Seeks Court OK to Charge Up to $935 Per Hour

On the eve of a Tuesday afternoon conference call at which former partners of Dewey & LeBoeuf will learn more about the financial issues they face in the law firm’s ongoing New York bankruptcy case, another significant expense could be looming. In a Friday filing, the firm’s lead bankruptcy counsel,…

Jun 18, 2012 10:10 PM CDT

Ex-McKinsey Chief Rajat Gupta Is Guilty in Insider-Trading Case Linked to Hedge Fund Head Rajaratnam

A 63-year-old former managing partner of McKinsey & Co. was convicted Friday in a high-profile insider trading case by a federal jury in Manhattan. Rajat Gupta, who is also a former director of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Procter & Gamble Co., was accused by prosecutors of passing along boardroom…

Jun 15, 2012 7:22 PM CDT

Defendant Dewey Leader Calls Ex-Partner’s ‘Ponzi Scheme’ Suit ‘Sad,’ Says Plaintiff Got Bigger Bucks

Responding to a lawsuit filed by a former Dewey & LeBoeuf partner that accuses leaders of the now-bankrupt law firm of “running a Ponzi scheme” in recent years, one of the five named defendants described the litigation by Henry Bunsow as “sad” and said Bunsow received more of his promised…

Jun 14, 2012 6:31 PM CDT

NY Appeals Court Nixes ‘Unreasonable’ Bail of $2M for Accused ‘Hockey Mom Madam,’ Sets Bond at $250K

After three months in jail, a mother of four accused of running a call-girl operation in New York City’s well-to-do Upper East Side has a better chance of winning release on bond. Anna Gristina, who has no prior criminal record, should not have had her bail set at $2 million…

Jun 12, 2012 7:50 PM CDT

Appeals Court Suspends Lawyer Accused of Exposing Himself to Opposing Counsel

A lawyer in Rochester, N.Y., has been suspended for two years based on a referee’s findings that he exposed himself and fondled his opposing counsel during a pretrial conference. New York’s Appellate Division, Fourth Judicial Department, said lawyer Lawrence Baker had disputed many of the allegations, report the Legal Profession…

Jun 12, 2012 6:37 PM CDT

Judge Orders DA to Give Lawyer Copies of Documents Seized in Police Raid of His Law Office

A state-court judge has ordered the local district attorney’s office to provide to a New York lawyer copies of all documents seized during a police raid last week of his law office. Ezequiel Neuman, 51, doesn’t know what his court schedule is because his calendar was seized, defense attorney Edward…

Jun 12, 2012 6:37 PM CDT

Federal Judge Refuses Request to Serve Party by Facebook, Orders Newspaper Publication Instead

A Manhattan federal judge has refused a bank’s request to serve an elusive party by Facebook. U.S. District Judge John Keenan instead opted for traditional methods to serve a woman with a history of providing fake or old addresses, the New York Law Journal reports. He told Chase Bank to…

Jun 12, 2012 11:59 AM CDT