States

Blank Rome Raids Saul Ewing for 5 Partners, Opens Princeton Office

Blank Rome is opening a new office in Princeton, N.J., raiding the local office of Saul Ewing of five litigation partners in order to do so. The 500-lawyer firm’s new Princeton office will open in January, staffed with former Saul Ewing partners John “Jack” Pribish, Seth J. Lapidow, Michael J.…

Dec 11, 2007 7:36 PM CST

Ex-Hollinger GC Gets Probation

Lost in the news accounts of sentencing yesterday for Conrad Black, the ex-CEO of Hollinger International, was the sentence for the company’s former general counsel. Mark Kipnis, convicted of fraud for helping arrange illegal payments to Black and two co-defendants, received five years’ probation, the Wall Street Journal Law Blog…

Dec 11, 2007 7:18 PM CST

Sure Cure for Jury Duty: Carry Sword

A man who reported for jury duty yesterday at the Brooklyn Supreme Court never made it to voir dire. Vladislav Lisetskiy, 40, was arrested when officers in the courthouse security line discovered he was carrying an unusual weapon—“a trick cane that concealed a 2½-foot sword and a 6-inch dagger,” reports…

Dec 11, 2007 6:10 PM CST

Anti-Mansion Law for L.A.?

Responding to a growing trend of building bigger and bigger homes, city officials in Los Angeles could impose as early as next month a controversial proposed new law that would severely limit the size of new-construction homes in established single-family neighborhoods. A number of homeowners who might wish to sell…

Dec 11, 2007 5:14 PM CST

‘Plodding’ Federal Judge Still Pondering 1990 Civil Rights Case

A “famously plodding judge” has spent a decade pondering his options after a magistrate recommended a $5.4 million judgment against a New York town for civil rights violations, the New York Times reports. The case against Island Park, filed in 1990, alleged that village officials gave federally subsidized home loans…

Dec 11, 2007 4:58 PM CST

Pregnant Lawyer Wasn’t Kidnapped

A pregnant lawyer who claimed she had been kidnapped has recanted her story. It isn’t clear exactly what Karyn McConnell Hancock, 35, is now saying happened during the several days she was missing from Toledo, Ohio, last week. But she has recanted her original story that two men and a…

Dec 11, 2007 4:24 PM CST

Would Hearsay Rule Bar Pastor’s Drew Peterson Revelation?

A Chicago-area minister says Drew Peterson’s wife blurted out that her husband killed a former wife, raising questions about whether the hearsay rule would permit such testimony in court. Rev. Neil Schori told Greta Van Susteren of Fox TV that Stacy Peterson said her husband Drew killed third wife Kathleen…

Dec 11, 2007 4:04 PM CST

Michael Flatley Awarded $11M for False Rape Accusation

“Lord of the Dance” star Michael Flatley has been awarded an $11 million default judgment against a woman for falsely accusing him of rape. Flatley’s lawyer, Ricardo Cestero told KNBC.com that a Los Angeles judge awarded the amount in the dancer’s lawsuit against Tyna Marie Robertson, an exotic dancer-turned-real estate…

Dec 11, 2007 3:20 PM CST

Reyes Should Get No More than 21 Months for Backdating, Judge Says

A federal judge has recommended a sentence of 15 to 21 months in prison for former Brocade Communications CEO Gregory Reyes, convicted of fraud for stock options backdating. The recommendation was in an opinion by U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer that was unsealed last week, Financial Times reports. Federal prosecutors…

Dec 11, 2007 2:00 PM CST

N.J. Lawmakers Nix Death Penalty

New Jersey is on the verge of becoming the first state in the country to repeal the death penalty by a legislative vote. The toughest hurdle, a state senate vote, was cleared yesterday, and both the state house and New Jersey’s governor are expected to approve putting an end to…

Dec 11, 2007 12:47 AM CST

Isiah Thomas Settles Sex-Harass Suit

A settlement in an undisclosed amount was reached today by Madison Square Garden and New York Knicks coach Isiah Thomas with a former female team executive in a sexual harassment and retaliation case. One apparent impetus for the pact: additional compensatory damages beyond the $11.6 million in punitives previously awarded…

Dec 11, 2007 12:06 AM CST

Chitwood Wins Motley Face-Off; Former Lawyers Spin Off Again

A year-and-a-half after Chitwood Harley Harnes settled claims against four former lawyers who set up a rival securities litigation shop at a new Atlanta office of Motley Rice, the Chitwood firm apparently has prevailed in a head-to-head battle for clients. Motley is closing its Atlanta office, and the four former…

Dec 10, 2007 11:27 PM CST

Prominent Partner Beaten in Street

The chairman of Dilworth Paxson’s labor and employment practice was found at around 8 p.m. Thursday in a southwest Philadelphia street near his Acura, badly beaten. Police think that Gino Benedetti, who has chest and severe head injuries, may have been the victim of a botched robbery, reports the Legal…

Dec 10, 2007 9:56 PM CST

Judge Helped Spouse Shield Assets

Lawyers recommended to a disciplinary panel at a hearing today that a New Hampshire judge be publicly reprimanded for helping her husband shield assets from creditors as he was being disbarred several years ago. Superior Court Judge Patricia Coffey says she didn’t realize at the time that she was doing…

Dec 10, 2007 9:37 PM CST

FBI Agents Search Offices of Lawyer for Richard ‘Dickie’ Scruggs

FBI agents this morning searched the office of a lawyer for indicted personal injury lawyer Richard “Dickie” Scruggs, who is accused in a federal indictment of conspiring to bribe a judge. Agents executed a search warrant for the office of lawyer Joey Langston of Booneville, Miss., according to the Clarion-Ledger.…

Dec 10, 2007 7:41 PM CST