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Former Sen. Stevens paid lawyers at least $1M
Law Firm News |
2009/05/15 10:04
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New financial disclosures show that former Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens spent at least $1 million on legal bills defending himself against charges that he failed to report gifts as required.
A report filed this week with the Senate shows that Stevens owes between $1 million and $5 million to the Washington law firm Williams and Connolly for defending him in his corruption trial last year.pA jury found the longtime Republican lawmaker guilty in October on seven counts of lying on financial disclosure forms about gifts, including renovations that doubled the size of his home in Girdwood, Alaska. A judge dismissed the case in April, saying prosecutors withheld evidence that might have been favorable to Stevens at trial./ppThe disclosures filed this week are the same type of annual reports used against Stevens in his corruption case. The forms, which cover 2008, show that Stevens also owes $50,000 to $100,000 to another Washington law firm, Utrecht and Phillips./p |
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Students who paid to attend inauguration sue
Legal News |
2009/05/14 10:04
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A lawsuit was filed in federal court Wednesday on behalf of more than 15,000 students who paid thousands to attend President Barack Obama's inauguration but reportedly were left out in the cold.
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The lawsuit filed in Washington says Vienna, Va.-based Envision EMI promised middle, high school and college students across the country special access to the inauguration, parade and a black tie inaugural ball on Jan. 20./ppBut the lawsuit, filed by attorneys of two students, says once the students got to Washington, they had no tickets for the inauguration or parade. And the balls they attended were not official events connected to the inauguration./ppEnvision, a for-profit company that reportedly brought in $40 million from the inaugural sales, has said it would refund students $1 million. But the lawsuit says that would only reimburse each attendee about $65. The students were charged $2,380 to $2,620 and also had to pay for travel to Washington, formal wear for the ball and in some cases extra meals not included in the base cost./ppThese kids took odd jobs and raised funds from family, friends and strangers in order to participate in the defendants' inaugural youth conference to eyewitness a truly historical event, said Bernard DiMuro of DiMuroGinsberg PC, which filed the lawsuit jointly with another law firm, Hausfeld LLP. Instead all they saw was the inside of a bus or were dropped off near the Washington Monument to fend for themselves./p |
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Study Predicts 5 Percent Growth in Legal Spending
Legal News |
2009/05/07 10:48
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pA decline in legal spending by large companies is about to be reversed, according to a new survey of Fortune 1000 companies.
/ppThe study by market research firm BTI Consulting says large companies will increase legal spending on outside counsel nearly 5 percent over the next six months, according to a press release. The top areas for growth in legal spending will be in the areas of regulatory compliance (up 5.8 percent), bankruptcy (up 2.6 percent), securities and finance (up 2.1 percent), and employment (up .7 percent), an executive summary says (PDF)./ppThe projected increase in spending follows a significant drop in legal spending last year and in the first six months of 2009. When the expected increase is taken into account, overall legal spending is expected to decline just 1.4 percent for the year./ppIn a press release, Michael Rynowecer, president of BTI Consulting, calls the findings “a big ray of sunshine in what has been a very stormy environment.” He cautions, however, that some law firms won’t benefit from the increase in spending./pp“Rather than a wholesale recovery, we are seeing a shift of resources to specific firms and practices that are well-positioned,” he said in the press release. “Large companies are sharing this renewed spending with a smaller group of law firms than just six months ago. Those firms caught unaware or unprepared for this shift will continue to face significant challenges and not reap the benefits of this increased spending.”/ppThe study is based on 370 interviews with corporate counsel at Fortune 1000 companies that average $19.4 million in outside counsel spending./p |
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Demjanjuk appeals German court decision
U.S. Court News |
2009/05/07 10:46
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Suspected Nazi guard John Demjanjuk's attorney says he has appealed a Berlin court ruling that stymied an attempt to stop his client's deportation from the United States.
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Lawyer Ulrich Busch told The Associated Press late Thursday he is asking for the German government to retract its agreement to take Demjanjuk on humanitarian grounds./ppHe says it might take two weeks for the appeal filed with a Berlin administrative court to be ruled upon. And he says even if the ruling is in Demjanjuk's favor, American authorities still could deport him./ppDemjanjuk (dem-YAHN'-yuk) is wanted in Germany on an arrest warrant accusing him of being an accessory to 29,000 murders at the Nazis' Sobibor death camp in occupied Poland. He denies the charges./p |
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