Top Legal News
Sutherland's Chandler Joins Wife at King & Spalding
Last week John A. Chandler retired from Sutherland to -- as he put it -- consider the next phase of his life. Meanwhile, his wife, Elizabeth Tanis, left Sutherland for King & Spalding in hopes of bigger opportunities for her accountancy liability practice. On Monday, after a 36-year career at Sutherland, Chandler joined King & Spalding as a partner at the firm. Chandler said both he and Tanis had been in talks with King & Spalding, but his move was delayed by issues of client conflicts. More »
New York U.S. Attorney to Join Kirkland & Ellis
Southern District of New York U.S. Attorney Michael Garcia informed the Justice Department on Monday that he will step down effective Dec. 1. Garcia, who was appointed by President George W. Bush in 2005, will join Kirkland & Ellis. Deputy U.S. Attorney Lev Dassin will head the office until President-elect Barack Obama names a successor. More »
Clinton Administration Veterans Figure Heavily Among Obama Legal Picks
Dozens of former Clinton administration officials are experiencing renewed popularity as President-elect Barack Obama assembles the legal arm of his administration. Four of the five members announced Friday as part of Obama's Justice Department transition team are Clinton administration veterans. And all of the top candidates mentioned regularly by D.C. insiders as potential AGs have Clinton administration ties. At this point in the transition, however, names for key DOJ legal slots have yet to emerge. More »
Supreme Court Takes Up Judicial Ethics Case
The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to take up a West Virginia case that could trigger the Court's first major review of the impact of increasingly costly judicial elections on the appearance and reality of justice at the state level. After several weeks of unexplained delay in acting on the case, the Court announced it was granting review in a case that asks when a campaign donation by a party in a case is large enough that the judge receiving the donation must recuse to avoid violating due process rights. More »
Alston Offers Early Retirement to Staff
Alston & Bird is making an early retirement offer to senior staff. Alston's memo detailing the voluntary offer was posted on the Above the Law blog last week, accompanied by outraged comments that the firm was giving its older employees the ax. Alston's managing partner, Richard R. Hays, told the More »
Case Against Dead Lawyer Rejected; Trial Judge's 'Volume of Errors' Cited
A New York appeals panel has thrown out a breach of contract claim against a deceased attorney, citing the well-established principle that the dead cannot be sued. Initially allowing the case against the late lawyer to proceed was the first of many mistakes by Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Barbara R. Kapnick, according to the unanimous reversal. "This matter arrives before this Court as a result of a volume of errors rarely seen in this Department," Justice James M. Catterson wrote for the panel. More »
Magazine Opposes High Court Petition
The National Geographic Society is challenging a photographer's U.S. Supreme Court petition for review, which, if granted, could revisit the high court's 2001 landmark copyright ruling that said publishers can't sell previously published freelance contributions for use in computer or online databases without renegotiating publication rights with the authors. Writing for the National Geographic, Kenneth W. Starr said the 11th Circuit's en banc ruling resolved the conflict between the 11th and 2nd Circuits. More »