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23 Districts Improperly Report Attorneys
Legal News Feed |
2008/03/31 07:38
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pTwenty-three school districts - nearly one-fifth of all the school districts on Long Island - improperly reported private attorneys as employees, which helped the attorneys earn public pensions totaling more than $342,082 a year, plus health benefits worth thousands more, a Newsday review of records has found./ppIn some cases, a town, village, library, special district or county also reported the attorneys as employees, often as full time, even though records show they did not always work full time. By being reported as employees at these other agencies while also working in private practice, they were able to enhance the size of their state pensions./ppThe employment arrangements - some of which started in the early 1970s and continue to this day - enabled a select group of 10 attorneys to garner generous public benefits, even as they earned millions in legal fees as well, state and school district records show. Three of the 10 have not yet begun receiving their pension. /ppAmong the attorneys is one currently collecting a six-figure public pension; another is a Nassau County legislator. Although most of the attorneys declined to comment, those who did speak with a reporter said they were following previous practice when they got onto the public and school district payrolls. Two recently changed their status from employee to independent contractor./ppThe issue of independent contractors being treated as employees so they could obtain public benefits has been called into question after Newsday reported on the case of Centerport attorney Lawrence Reich. Five school districts falsely reported him as a full-time employee, enabling him to collect a pension of nearly $62,000 and health benefits for life./ppAbout three weeks ago, the state comptroller's office found that Reich did not meet the standards used by the Internal Revenue Service to determine whether someone is an employee. As a result, he must pay back the pension he has been collecting since September 2006./ppThe FBI, IRS and New York attorney general's office all have launched investigations of lawyers being carried as employees by school districts.
/p |
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DOJ to Continue Crackdown on Political Corruption
Legal Line News |
2008/03/28 08:53
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| pUS Attorney General Michael Mukasey said Thursday he would personally ensure that the US Department of Justice does not bow to political pressure as it prosecutes government officials for corruption. In a speech to the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco, Mukasey said:/ppPublic corruption can inflict damage that is not only costly but also profound. When a public servant at any level of government exploits his or her office for improper purposes, the damage is measured not just in dollars and cents but also in erosion of the public trust upon which depends the survival of our system of government./ppWe fight, investigate and prosecute public corruption to ensure that those who hold public office live up to the public's trust, and to build the public's confidence in the very idea of government, without which the government cannot function./ppThe investigation and prosecution of public corruption is therefore among the highest obligations of law enforcement, and it should come as no surprise that I consider it to be one of the top priorities of the Department of Justice. In recent years, the Department's career prosecutors and criminal investigators have been engaged in a renewed effort to pursue corruption at all levels and in all branches of government./ppMukasey emphasized that the joint efforts of the DOJ and US Attorney's offices had resulted in the convictions of 1,093 individuals for corruption in 2006, including former congressmen Randy Duke Cunningham and Bob Ney./ppMukasey's speech came only hours after a federal grand jury in San Juan, Puerto Rico charged Puerto Rican Governor Anibal Acevedo Vila and 12 associates with 27 counts of conspiracy, false statements, wire fraud, federal program fraud and tax crimes related to campaign financing./p |
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Herbies Promotes Record Number of Partners
Legal News Feed |
2008/03/28 08:45
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Herbert Smith has made up a record 18 associates to the partnership and a third of them are women.
The bulk of the promotions were made around the firm's international network with just eight of the 18 based in the London office. As last year, when the firm made up a total of 10, the corporate practice gained the highest number of new partners at seven. Litigation and arbitration has gained five new partners while finance and real estate will receive two new partners apiece and employment and competition each gain one. pSenior partner David Gold said the geographic and departmental splits had been very deliberate. This year's promotions will support two of our key strategic priorities, namely strengthening our international capability and further developing the distinctive breadth and balance of our practice, he added. Both are pivotal to our ability to support clients and maintain high activity levels across the range of economic cycles. pIn terms of offices, after London, Paris has gained four new partners while Hong Kong and Tokyo have each gained two and Beijing and Brussels have gained one each. This is a big shift in strategy from last year's promotions when Hong Kong received one internal promotion with the remaining nine going to the London office./p |
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Hollinger settles civil fraud lawsuit with SEC for $21.3M
Law Firm News |
2008/03/27 09:09
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| pHollinger Inc., the Canadian holding company with an interest in former newspaper publisher Hollinger International has agreed to pay the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) $21.3 million to settle claims that from 1999 to 2003 it violated securities law by failing to disclose to investors payments and other transactions that benefited the executives to the detriment of the company. The settlement stems from a lawsuit filed by the SEC in November 2004 against former Hollinger International chairman Conrad Black, former Hollinger president David Radler, and Hollinger Inc. Under the terms of the settlement, Hollinger Inc. has agreed to be permanently enjoined from committing future securities laws violations. The settlement must still be approved by US District Judge William T. Hart before it becomes final./ppRadler was sentenced in December to 29 months in prison for one count of mail fraud, after pleading guilty and agreeing to serve as a witness against Black. Black was convicted in July of mail fraud and obstruction of justice and sentenced to 78 months in prison; he began serving his sentence earlier this month after a federal appeals court rejected his request to remain free on bail while his appeal is pending. Radler, Black and other Hollinger executives were prosecuted in the United States in connection to allegations that they diverted more than $80 million from Hollinger International, now Sun-Times Media Group, and its shareholders during the company's $2.1 billion sale of several hundred Canadian newspapers. /p |
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