Thursday, August 07, 2008 |
Barnes' widow settles for more than $5.2 million
by Greg Land, Staff Reporter
The widow of the judge slain during the 2005 Fulton County Courthouse shootings has agreed to accept more than $5.2 million to settle her claims against Fulton County Sheriff Myron Freeman and several curr.... |
Deal Watch: Alston's IndyMac work keeps firm busy in California
by Andy Peters, Staff Reporter
Alston & Bird's California invasion continues. The same week that the firm announced the acquisition of 83-lawyer firm Weston Benshoof Rochefort Rubalcava & MacCuish of Los Angeles and the 11-lawyer Sili.... |
U.S. prosecutors feel the heat, want protection 
by Julie Kay, National Law Journal
In the wake of three murders and the recent attack on a federal prosecutor in a New York courtroom, a group representing the nation's federal prosecutors is calling for stepped-up security, including home .... |
Clerk pledges to go to 'next level'
by Greg Land, Staff Reporter
The race for Fulton County Superior Court Clerk pitted an incumbent who spent her first 18 months in office beefing up customer service by working on an electronic filing system against a challenger and fo.... |
Bernes' husband says she will be OK
by Other, Jonathan Ringel and Alyson M. Palmer
Judge Debra H. Bernes of the state Court of Appeals, who underwent two surgeries in the past week to treat cancer, “is going to be OK,” her husband Gary Bernes said late Tuesday afternoon. The judge may .... |
Analyzing a split second
by Jonathan Ringel, Managing Editor
After he was beaten by a mob of white high school students who were protesting busing, a black lawyer in Boston was asked how such an attack could happen to a well-educated and respected person.“I couldn.... |
Juries to decide future damages
by Lynne Marek, National Law Journal
Lawyers for patent infringement cases in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas were put on notice this month that juries in their trials may take up the question of “future damages” for.... |
ABA to tackle conflict of interest
by Leigh Jones, National Law Journal
Who says New York doesn't need any more lawyers? The American Bar Association thinks it does. Starting this week, some 10,000 attorneys, judges and other legal professionals will flock to the Big Apple f.... |
Business Matters
GE chief's bright idea proves NBC is up to the challenge
by Gillian Wee and Rachel Layne, Bloomberg News
General Electric Co. Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Immelt resisted pressure from investors to sell NBC Universal for years. He may be about to show them it was worth keeping. The entertainment unit, st.... |
Viewpoint
Now is not the time to gamble with your money
by RACHEL BECK, Associated Press writer
The money we keep in the bank is supposed to help us sleep at night, not cause nightmares.IndyMac Bank's collapse a few weeks ago, and the fury that followed when some account holders couldn't get their .... |
Wednesday, August 06, 2008 |
Smith Gambrell entangled in hedge fund scandal
by Janet L. Conley, Associate Editor
Smith, Gambrell & Russell and one of its former attorneys are caught up in the expensive brouhaha surrounding International Management Associates, a now-defunct investment firm which bilked pro football pl.... |
In The Trenches: Partners move from Hunton to DLA
by Meredith Hobbs, Staff Reporter
Two corporate partners, Joseph B. Alexander Jr. and Gerry L. Williams, left Hunton & Williams for DLA Piper on Aug. 1. They took two associates with them, Daniel P. Rollman and Anthony M. Webb.Alexander,.... |
Bernes undergoing treatment for cancer
by Alyson M. Palmer, Staff Reporter
Judge Debra H. Bernes of the state Court of Appeals, who underwent two surgeries in the past week to treat cancer, “is going to be OK,” her husband Gary Bernes said Tuesday afternoon. The judge may not.... |
Firms hear from offshore account holders
by Tresa Baldas, National Law Journal
Lawyer up and fess up.That's what tax attorneys across the country are advising scores of wealthy Americans who, they say, fear they may be outed in the government's recent crackdown on offshore banking..... |
Business Matters
Low funds rate from the Fed does little to boost credit
by Gabrielle Coppola, Bloomberg News
Before credit markets from New York to London seized up a year ago, investment-grade companies could sell record amounts of debt in days. It took Tyco Electronics Ltd. Treasurer Mario Calastri 12 months to.... |
GC South
Fortune 500 sees growth in female GCs
by Katheryn Hayes Tucker, Staff Reporter
A new survey by the Minority Corporate Counsel Association shows that the number of female general counsel among the Fortune 500 has grown to 92, more than double the 44 female GCs when the association sta.... |
Top 10 highest-paid female GCs pass million-dollar mark
by Katheryn Hayes Tucker, Staff Reporter
Women have not only increased their numbers in the ranks of Fortune 500 general counsel, they have increased their paychecks.A dozen female names showed up in the 2008 GC Compensation Survey of the 100 h.... |
Wachovia's new GC is expert at putting out fires
by Sue Reisinger, Corporate Counsel
Wachovia Corp. has had just about every kind of legal trouble that a financial services giant could have. In recent months the company has been buffeted by various accounting problems, a telemarketing frau.... |
Microsoft gives to minority GC group
by Katheryn Hayes Tucker, Staff Reporter
Microsoft Corp. will contribute $500,000 to the Minority Corporate Counsel Association's campaign to increase diversity in the legal profession, the nonprofit organization announced.“Microsoft applauds M.... |
Corporate counsel group plans pro bono seminar
by Katheryn Hayes Tucker, Staff Reporter
Sutherland will host a program on pro bono work for in-house lawyers at a meeting of the Association of Corporate Counsel Georgia chapter from 11:45 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 12, at Maggiano's Little.... |
Viewpoint
China's inflation proves harder to control than the Web
by William Pesek, Bloomberg News
Suddenly, the new China is looking a lot like the old China. The most obvious sign is the security clampdown before the Olympics' opening ceremony on Aug. 8. The Beijing Games were meant to showcase the .... |
Tuesday, August 05, 2008 |
Conflict PD woes stall trial
by Greg Land, Staff Reporter
The case itself is not particularly complex or unusual, particularly these days: 10 co-defendants indicted on mortgage fraud charges related to the financing and sale of three houses.But Fulton County Su.... |
Appeals court hopefuls weigh abortion survey
by Alyson M. Palmer, Staff Reporter
It's unlikely the state Court of Appeals will ever issue a ruling on whether the state or federal Constitution contains a right to abortion. But a Georgia anti-abortion group still wants to know what the s.... |
Shot at the courtroom helps firms add talent
by Peter Page, National Law Journal
More law firms are giving associates a shot at courtroom action, a strategy that helps with the recruitment of top legal talent, as well as retention.“An associate might be seven or eight years out in a .... |
Canada firms ride the bull market
by The American Lawyer, Francesca Heintz
At least Brock Gibson didn't have to spend Christmas Day with the lawyers from Burnet, Duckworth & Palmer. Like many lawyers in oil-rich, deal-happy Calgary, Gibson—a partner at Blake, Cassels & Graydon—.... |
Finnegan is latest to shorten moniker
by Legal Times
Starting this week, Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner, which has a 26-lawyer office in Atlanta, becomes the latest firm to shorten its name. Officially, the name remains the same, but for mark.... |
Massager-maker denies infringement
by Bloomberg News
Wisefame International, a Chinese electronics products manufacturer based in China's DonGuan City, asked the federal court in Atlanta to declare that its back massager doesn't infringe a patent held by FKA.... |
Business Matters
Schlitz urges former customers to 'go for the gusto,' again
by Emily Fredrix, Associated Press writer
It's the beer that made Milwaukee famous. Now Schlitz is making the city nostalgic.That beer with the old-time mystique is back on shelves in bottles of its original formula in the city where it was firs.... |
In Recess
Charting a better course
by John Carroll, Special to the Daily Report
Atlanta lawyer Robert A. Crosby, 59, has played golf his entire life. The game has rewarded him in many ways. Crosby gives back to the game by volunteering his services to three golf-related organization.... |
Viewpoint
Companies stuck in cycle of 'rinse, lather and repeat'
by Rachel Beck, Associated Press writer
How does it feel to be deceived, beaten down and disrespected? Just ask financial company shareholders.A year into this financial crisis, and they can't get a break. Bank CEOs keep telling them all is fi.... |
Rising prices beat down spending in June
by Associated Press writer
Consumer spending, after adjusting for inflation, fell in June as shoppers were hit with the biggest increase in prices in nearly three decades.The Commerce Department reported Monday that consumer spend.... |
Monday, August 04, 2008 |
A line in the water
by Andy Peters, Staff Reporter
In the winter and spring of 1818, a University of Georgia mathematician named James Camak was looking for a sextant and astronomical tables to use in determining where the border between Georgia and Tennes.... |
Chamber gets big backers to go after order spiking plant
by Alyson M. Palmer, Staff Reporter
More than 100 businesses, trade groups, local chambers of commerce and elected officials have joined the Georgia Chamber of Commerce in asking the state Court of Appeals to look at a Fulton County judge's .... |
Deans differ on U.S. News boycott
by Leigh Jones, National Law Journal
Law school deans say that a recent call to boycott a popular ranking survey is nice in theory but likely would do little to keep their institutions' names off the list.In response to a proposal by Dean G.... |
Business Matters
Market farmers start to feel fuel squeeze
by Eileen A.J. Connelly, Associated Press writer
Franca Tantillo puts rising fuel prices in the same category as the springtime hail storm that wiped out part of her strawberry crop. Both cut into the profit she can make at the farmers markets she sells .... |
In Recess
Up to the challenge
by Jason H. Harper, Bloomberg News
Strange coincidence that when I fire up the 2008 Dodge Challenger's snorting Hemi V-8, the 1971 Don McLean song ''American Pie'' blasts through the speakers. Like fashion and music, what's old in cars will.... |
The Snark
Married to the machine
by Special to the Daily Report
Big Firm lawyers are often described as being married to their jobs. Indeed, the journey through Big Law employment is very similar to a long-term romantic relationship—complete with infatuation, intrigue,.... |
Viewpoint
Investors are uncomfortably numb after Merrill zigzag
by Mark Gilbert, Bloomberg News
To be comfortable is to be “in a state of tranquil enjoyment and content; free from pain and trouble; at ease,” the Oxford English Dictionary says. It's hard to think of a less appropriate description of t.... |
Friday, August 01, 2008 |
Final pretrial motions filed in Nichols case
by Greg Land, Staff Reporter
While they grind through a jury-selection schedule of nine-hour days and six-day workweeks, the prosecutors trying to send accused Fulton County Courthouse shooter Brian Nichols to the death chamber and th.... |
One year after seizure, chief justice keeps mum on his health
by Legal Times
One year after he suffered a seizure near his summer home in Maine, Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. is not commenting on the current state of his health. In response to a series of written questions from Da.... |
IRS fights to see tax papers
by Marcia Coyle, National Law Journal
The business and legal communities, concerned about the erosion of the attorney-client privilege in corporate investigations by federal prosecutors, face another privilege battlefront, one with potentially.... |
Cadwalader faces its 'cataclysmic event'
by Anthony Lin, New York Law Journal
Just last year, Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft was riding high. Double-digit growth in profits per partner over the last five years had catapulted the firm to economic heights previously scaled only by the .... |
Peter Pan cases can't proceed as class action
by R. Robin McDonald, Staff Reporter
A federal judge in Atlanta has refused to allow multidistrict litigation arising from salmonella-tainted peanut butter to proceed as a class action. Certifying hundreds of product liability cases as a cl.... |
Growth weaker than hoped; economy shrinks in Q4
by Associated Press writer
The country didn't get the energetic rebound in economic growth hoped for from the government's tax rebates in the second quarter, and the economy jolted into reverse at the end of 2007, raising new recess.... |
Business Matters
Bear gets second chance, proves demise rumors wrong
by Elizabeth Hester, Bloomberg News
When Michael Nolan walked into his office on the 26th floor of the former Bear Stearns Cos. building on June 2, after the JPMorgan Chase & Co. takeover was completed, he found a packet on his desk. Inside:.... |
In Recess
A touch of art house
by Eleanor Ringel Cater, Film Critic
The prettily British “Brideshead Revisited” is getting most of the art-movie attention this week. It's an adaptation of Evelyn Waugh's famed novel about an aristocratic family as seen through the eyes off .... |
Law Inc.
Keep them spellbound with stories
by Joey Asher, Special to the Daily Report
Of all the public speaking feats, few are more difficult than holding an audience spellbound for an hour. No PowerPoint. No flashy demonstrations. All you get is a lectern in the middle of an empty stage a.... |
Viewpoint
Oil price at $90 is enough to save global economy
by Matthew Lynn, Bloomberg News
There is nothing harder to distinguish than a bull market pause and a turning point. It is only in hindsight that you can tell one from the other. This month's decline in the price of oil—to $123 a barre.... |
Thursday, July 31, 2008 |
Alston seals Calif. deal, adds 94 lawyers
by Meredith Hobbs, Staff Reporter
Alston & Bird's partnership on Wednesday approved the firm's expansion into California by acquiring a Los Angeles firm and an intellectual property practice in Silicon Valley. The two acquisitions give A.... |
Deal Watch: Attorney guides Brightree investment
by Andy Peters, Staff Reporter
An Atlanta-area company that makes health care management software tapped technology attorney Michael R. Siavage for advice on a transaction.Siavage, of the three-lawyer Siavage Law Group, advised Bright.... |
$13M win against DaimlerChrysler to keep firm busy
by The American Lawyer, Zach Lowe
Lawyers at Butler, Wooten & Fryhofer find themselves in the middle of a nationally watched punitive damages case after a closely divided Tennessee Supreme Court reversed a lower court and upheld a $13.4 mi.... |
Justice Scalia teaches CLE course on persuading judges
by Legal Times
Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia looked right at home in the spotlight at the Kennedy Center's Concert Hall on July 25 as he co-taught what has to be one of the most unusual Continuing Legal Education .... |
New ITC patent rules criticized
by Sheri Qualters, National Law Journal
Lawyers filing patent cases at the U.S. International Trade Commission say new litigation rules for patent infringement cases create additional burdens and worries about case delays in the commission's pop.... |
Attorneys find you can go home again
by Leigh Jones, National Law Journal
When Tim Ryan joined Mayer Brown in July, it didn't take him long to learn his way around. He'd worked at the firm before. Three times before.“This time I was asked to sign my name in blood,” said Ryan.... |
Mortgage industry probes grow
by Pamela A. MacLean, National Law Journal
Allegations of shoddy accounting and padded bankruptcy claims have grown to such a pitch against the mortgage loan servicing industry and its lawyers that investigations have been launched by the Executive.... |
Fed extends emergency loan plan for Wall Street
by Associated Press writer
The Federal Reserve said Wednesday it is extending its emergency borrowing program to Wall Street firms and is taking other steps to ease a severe credit crunch that has hobbled the national economy.The .... |
Business Matters
Starbucks gambled and lost on rapid expansion
by Kevin Bell and Beth Jinks, Bloomberg News
The Starbucks index is pointing down in Las Vegas. The Nevada city's gambling-driven growth in the 1990s proved irresistible to Starbucks Corp., the world's largest coffee-shop chain. Las Vegas, which ha.... |
In Recess
Behind the wine
by John Mariani, Bloomberg News
You really believe wine is about God and nature, family sagas and romantic reveries of a year in Provence? Read Tyler Colman's new book, ''Wine Politics.'' The subtitle alerts you to the myths that Colma.... |
Viewpoint
Looking for the silver lining in the gloomy economy
by Rachel Beck, Associated Press writer
Just for a minute let's set aside all the bad things plaguing the financial world. Even in these gloomy times, there's some good news worth checking out.The economy is still growing, though slowly.Corp.... |
