Nigeria: ICPC Investigates 1,000 Cases
Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related offences Commission (ICPC) has investigated over 1,000 cases involving over 800 accused persons in the past eight years.. More »
Nigeria: Bankole Uncovers Plots to Destabilise House
The last is yet to be heard about the controversial purchase of vehicles worth N2.4billion for federal lawmakers, as a member of the House of Representatives,Hon Umar Farouk, yesterday alleged that chairman House Committee on Cooperation and Integration in Africa, Hon Independent Ogunnewe, offered him N1 million to organize a press conference and print leaflets to call for the removal of Speaker Dimeji Bankole. More »
Nigeria: Drug Trafficking, Threat to Economy- Giade
Chairman, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) Alhaji Ahmadu Giade, said yesterday that drug trafficking remained a threat to Nigeria's economy if not properly addressed. More »
Nigeria: Pipeline Vandalism - Shell Contains Oil Spill
Shell said yesterday it successfully contained the oil spill caused by suspected saboteurs, who used a hack-saw to cut through the company's Adibawa delivery pipeline in the Okordia-Zarama community in Bayelsa State. More »
Sierra Leone: Man Arraigned After Swallowing Cocaine
Emmanuel Okechukwu was on Tuesday arraigned before Magistrate Komba Kamanda for allegedly being in possession of nine lumps of cocaine on August 15 this year. More »
Nigeria: Car Saga - 'I Was Bribed to Frame Bankole'
A self-styled pro-democracy activist, Mallam Umar Farouk, yesterday appeared before the House of Representatives Committee on Ethics and Privileges investigating the N2.3billion car purchase saga alleging that he was recruited by five lawmakers to spearhead a smear campaign against the leadership of the House. More »
Zimbabwe: Politicians Also Behind Economic Mess
WHILE Zimbabwe is facing an unprecedented economic crisis mainly caused by greedy politicians who are reluctant to share power, it is now time to reflect and look at alternatives to turn around our economy. More »
Botswana: Policeman Admits Failure in Patlakwe Rape Case
An investigating officer in the case in which former government journalist Norman Patlakwe is accused of rape, said at the Village Magistrates' Court yesterday that he did not do a thorough job. More »
Botswana: Sister Held in Connection With Brother's Death
Police in Mabutsane are holding a 32-year-old woman in connection with her brother's death. The deceased was 35-years-old. More »
Botswana: CMS Fraud Rises to P20 Million
The additional charge states that the 11 suspects in the corruption case defrauded the government of nearly P3.5 million by falsely pretending that a pharmaceutical company had sold and delivered drugs to CMS. More »
Orrick Lays Off Associates, Staff in Response to Downturn
Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe announced Thursday that it's laying off 40 associates and counsel and 35 staff. The cuts come in practice areas most affected by the slowdown: structured finance, real estate and corporate. "This is the most significant financial crisis in my lifetime," said Orrick Chairman Ralph Baxter Jr. "It is something that happened relatively suddenly: It dropped and stayed down, and it produced a need to do this." Baxter emphasized that none of the cuts is performance-based. More »
Detroit Firm Leaders Don't Fear Being Driven off the Road
What does the possibility of a Chapter 11 filing by General Motors mean for law firms that depend on Detroit's business? The big question for law firms is which will be left standing in the wake of "massive consolidation," says one law firm CEO, adding that, in the meantime, the turmoil creates a lot of legal work. Another CEO notes that the auto industry downturn has existed for the past several years. "Right now we're just trying to stay the course." More »
Judge Nixes Change in Exxon Valdez Damage Payout
A federal judge has rejected a seafood company's request to rewrite a plan for dividing punitive damages to be awarded from the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill. Barring an appeal of the ruling, lawyers hope to begin handing out punitive damages to fishermen, cannery workers, landowners, Alaska Natives and other claimants in the yearslong legal battle with Exxon Mobil Corp. In June, the U.S. Supreme Court reduced Exxon's punitive damages from $5 billion to no more than $507.5 million. More »
Attention Law Firms: Lehman Brothers Is Open for Business -- Again
Good news for law firms that do work for Lehman Brothers: Judge James Peck at federal bankruptcy court in Manhattan has given the failed investment bank permission to start hiring outside professionals in the normal course of business. Not surprisingly, law firms have been among the first to jump in on the action. First out of the gate: Thacher Proffitt & Wood and Squire, Sanders & Dempsey. More »
Attorney in Defamation Case Sanctioned $14,000 for 'Frivolous' Action
An attorney who was sued for defamation by a New York law firm has been sanctioned $14,000 for a "frivolous" legal maneuver -- impleading his adversary's attorney as a third-party defendant. The suit arose from Thomas F. Liotti's representation of Anthony Galasso, a former bookkeeper of Galasso, Langione, Catterson & LoFrumento who pleaded guilty to embezzling upwards of $2 million from the firm. In an interview Thursday, Liotti vowed to appeal the sanction. More »
Inside the High Court: Statutory Text and Scalia's Teeth
At the Supreme Court on Wednesday, Justice Antonin Scalia, as he has during several other arguments this term, expressed his frustration that some key statutory language wasn't easily located in materials the parties had submitted to the Court. But this time, the justice's impatience turned into contrition, and he ended up offering a rather colorful apology to one of the arguing attorneys. More »
11th Circuit Dissent Could Push Attorney Fees Case to U.S. Supreme Court
If Georgia's AG wants to keep fighting an order requiring the state to pay more than $10.5 million to attorneys who challenged Georgia's foster care system, he can thank 11th Circuit Judge Edward Carnes for helping to get the U.S. Supreme Court to take the case. Carnes, who has compared the lawyers seeking the fees to a greedy John D. Rockefeller, was one of the judges who dissented from the 11th Circuit decision not to revisit its precedent on when civil rights lawyers should get bonuses for a job well done. More »
Suit Proceeds Against Christie's Auction House Over Fake Basquiat
A buyer who purchased a counterfeit Jean-Michel Basquiat painting from an art gallery that had acquired it a year earlier from Christie's can sue the auction house for fraud and may be entitled to punitive damages, a New York court has ruled. Guido Orsi, who paid the Tony Shafrazi Gallery $185,000 for the work 17 years ago, alleges that Christie's passed off the painting as genuine at a 1990 auction, even though Basquiat's estate had expressed doubts to the auction house about its authenticity. More »
Former O'Melveny Partner to Become Biden's Chief of Staff
Ronald Klain, a former O'Melveny & Myers partner and former chief of staff to Vice President Al Gore, will become Vice President-elect Joe Biden's new chief of staff. Klain, who began his legal career as a clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Byron "Whizzer" White in 1987, is a seasoned political veteran with nearly 20 years of experience in Washington, D.C. He first worked with Biden while chief counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee. More »
Former HMO Executives Get Prison Terms in Fraud Case
Two former executives for a failed health care plan were sentenced to prison Wednesday for taking part in a scheme to hide the company's financial woes. Barry Scheur, the first blind graduate of Yale Law School, was sentenced to 20 months; Robert McMillan, former CFO for the Oath for Louisiana HMO, was sentenced to 13 months. The judge, who said he received some 150 letters attesting to Scheur's "exemplary life of selflessness," departed from federal sentencing guidelines to hand down more lenient sentences. More »
Bingham Brings On Three Clifford Chance Partners in Washington
Bingham McCutchen has added three new partners to its antitrust and trade regulation practice from the D.C. office of Clifford Chance, including that firm's D.C. managing partner, Leiv Blad. Bingham's strategic growth has brought a high number of laterals to the firm's D.C. office over the last few months. Four came on board in August and nine, all from Thelen, joined in September. More »
N.Y. Panel Dismisses Judicial Pay Suit
An upstate New York appeals panel on Thursday dismissed a suit filed by judges seeking to force the state to grant them their first pay raise since 1999. While its decision in More »
Legal Grind Ends for Woman Accused of Dirty Dance
A small North Carolina mountain town has agreed to pay Rebecca Willis $275,000 for banning her from a community hangout eight years ago after residents complained about her dirty dancing. According to court documents, Willis, then 56, was accused of gyrating and simulating sexual intercourse with her partner while wearing a skirt so short it exposed her underwear. Willis described her dance style as "exuberant and flamboyant" but not obscene. More »
Nigeria: It is Time to Check These Dastard Acts-Right Group
The attack by some Naval ratings on Miss Uzoma Okeke has been regarded as an assault that needed to be redress. More »
Nigeria: Representative Escapes Assassins' Attack
A member of the Federal House of Representatives, Mallam Buba Jilbril, yesterday, narrowly escaped death when he was attacked by suspected hoodlums. More »