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World Bank appoints law firm to probe internal leak

The World Bank seems to be in trouble again- the second time in a week. Shockingly, it is the Bank's internal matters which have rocked it again.

The root of the bank's trouble can be traced back to a web story released on Fox News website on January 30. The story contained confidential minutes of a board meeting of the Bank. The information displayed a confrontation between the World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz and the Bank's board of member countries.

Perturbed at the disclosure of confidential documents, the Bank is reported to have hired Williams & Connolly, a high profile Washington, DC, litigation firm to probe into the matter leading to the leak.

The Fox story, along with another write up uploaded on its site on March 27, has bewildered the board members.

The leak of internal communications is a second controversy to hit the Bank in a few days.

On Monday, Wolfowitz assured the board to cooperate fully with a probe into a pay increase given to a female staff member, Shaha Riza. According to the Bank staff association, Riza was given a preferential treatment by way of a raise that was twice as large as the Bank rules permit. Reportedly, Wolfowitz is having a personal relationship with Riza. The probe is to expose whether the raise violated staff rules.

04-12-2007

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Battle, tired of the ongoing battle!

Some people always make news. Michael A. Battle made news last month when he resigned from his post as Director of the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys at the Department of Justice. This Monday, when he joined law firm Fulbright & Jaworski as a partner, it is again interesting news.

Battle is in the limelight because of his association with the recent firing of several U.S. attorneys. Dubbed as "Attorneygate", the controversy surrounding the recent dismissals of the U.S. attorneys is refusing to die down. Some of the fired attorneys have reportedly joined private law firms, and now it seems to be the turn of the firing officers to explore options.

In December 2006, Battle notified seven U.S. attorneys that they were being fired.

Last month, when Battle resigned, congressional Democrats described it as an evidence of professional frustration over the controversy. Though it was Battle who, as Director, provided direct oversight and support activities to the 94 U.S. attorneys, the Justice Department officials have denied his role in the decision leading to the dismissals.

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales later agreed to make Battle, among others, available for testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee. It has not happened yet.

"I like trying cases, and I like representing clients. I just needed to find the right place to do that," announced Fulbright & Jaworski citing Battle.

Let us wait to see, if this is the right place for "Battle?"

04-11-2007

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Hunton hunts 93 attorneys of the fallen firm

Of the remaining 124 lawyers of the defunct law firm Jenkens & Gilchrist, 93 have joined the Hunton & Williams law firm.

Interestingly, the mass transition includes the former firm's managing partner and an 82-year old attorney associated with the firm since 1952.

It's been almost two weeks since one of Texas' most powerful law firms faded into oblivion. Though, the firm's struggle for survival went on for three long years, the end was unfortunate. A short message on the firm's website declared: "Effective midnight March 31, Jenkens & Gilchrist no longer offers legal services."

The 56-year-old firm once had 600 attorneys spread in its offices from New York to California. The firm's problems began in 2003 when the lawyers in its Chicago office were accused of developing and marketing abusive tax shelters and issuing deceitful legal opinion letters.

For three years the firm tried vainly to mend the damage. Finally, the firm had to shell out $76m to the Internal Revenue Service to evade criminal prosecution.

"This should be a lesson to all tax professionals that they must not aid or abet tax evasion by clients or promote potentially abusive or illegal tax shelters," remarked IRS Commissioner Mark W. Everson in a news release. According to the IRS estimates, the fraud affected 1,400 people.

U.S. attorney Michael Garcia is reported to have said, "These fraudulent cookie-cutter shelters purported to . . . eliminate hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes owed by wealthy clients. They sounded too good to be true and they were too good to be true." Garcia has been leading an investigation into fraudulent tax shelters.

Acknowledging the guilt, Jenkens & Gilchrist admitted in a statement that Chicago lawyers' wrongful act deprived the U.S. Treasury of significant revenue from 1999 to 2003.

Patrick Mitchell, who was managing partner of Jenkens, will be the office managing partner of Hunton's Dallas office.

Hunton & Williams doesn't seem to be having any inhibition in absorbing these attorneys. The transition will bring the total lawyer strength at Hunton to nearly 1,000 in its 19 offices.

04-11-2007

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Sonnenschein hires Orwig to head its new Dallas office

Chicago-based Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal hired Matthew D. Orwig, former U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Texas, as managing partner for its newly opened Dallas office. Orwig will assume office on June 1. He will also act as the national chair of Sonnenschein's Government Litigation and Investigations Group.

In the new capacity, Orwig will look after the growth of the Dallas office, and will focus on patent litigation, healthcare, and government enforcement action, among other areas. Orwig is confident that adding more lawyers to the 700-lawyer international firm is not an uphill task and hopes to make the firm the "fastest-growing firm in the region." Besides these duties, Orwig is also expecting to make rapid strides in his own practice in patent and healthcare law.

Besides Orwig, Matthew E. Yarbrough, a former assistant U.S. attorney and cyberlaw specialist and T. David Cowart, an expert in employee benefits and executive compensation, will join Sonnenschein's Dallas office as partners. Elliott I. Portnoy, the Sonnenschein chairman, remarked that the region's emerging market will offer significant opportunities for the firm in a number of core practices. Orwig is optimistic about the area's development in patent litigation, which has become the "second busiest judicial district in the country," he said.

The Dallas office will cater to the firm's existing clients with their Texas-related matters, and also serve the companies that have their local head offices in the area. It will offer services to all clients, particularly the Texans on litigation and investigations in IP and government related matters; healthcare enforcement and compliance; and ERISA.

As the U.S. Attorney, Orwig handled some of the very successful prosecutions in the country including corruption, money laundering, securities fraud, and domestic terrorism, among others.

04-10-2007

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Charter sues Irell & Manella for $150 million

Prominent Los Angeles-based law firm Irell & Manella, LLP, was sued because of its "critical errors" while completing a 1999 cable TV acquisition. In the malpractice lawsuit of $150-million, filed by St. Louis-based Charter Communications Inc., the plaintiff leveled charges alleging the law firm of concealing mistakes it committed while documenting the acquisition. It also alleged that even after knowing about them, for many months, the firm was silent on the issue.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana, accused Irell of causing substantial financial loss to the company. It also said that a significant portion of its ownership position in CC VIII, LLC, was lost. The subsidiary, CC VIII, LLC, was created by Charter to hold the acquired cable systems.

Charter officials stated that Irell's faults cannot be solved by less than a lawsuit. On the other hand, the law firm accused the company of failing to honor its deal with the law firm which was even approved by Charter's board. The law firm has counseled the company and its controlling chairman, Paul G. Allen, "on a variety of deals, including recent refinancings."

Irell partner David Gindler said the law firm did not cause Charter to suffer any loss and is "confident that it will prevail as the whole story emerges in court." Charter Communications, Inc. is the nation's third largest publicly traded cable and broadband telecommunications company providing a full range of advanced broadband services.

04-10-2007

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Florida apex court streamlines erring lawyers

The Florida Supreme Court decided to whack the gavel on 26 erring lawyers whose conduct did not befit the legal profession. With disciplinary measures ranging from permanent disbarring to maximum three years suspension, the Court ensured that law does not spare even erring lawyers.

The Florida Bar and its Department of Lawyer Regulation, acting on behalf of the Florida Supreme Court, administer statewide disciplinary system on practicing lawyers. The move is an outcome of the need to enforce the Supreme Court rules of professional conduct on its 80,000-plus lawyers practicing law in the State of Florida.

Safeguarding the integrity of the legal profession, the Florida Court had to tighten reins owing to some attorneys' growing misdemeanor. Thus, a few among them were also awarded more than one form of punishment.

Among those disciplined, two belong to Tampa. One, Timothy Allen Patrick was ordered to pay $13,000 in restitution and also publicly reprimanded at the first Board of Governors. Patrick, who began his practice in 1993, allegedly failed to keep his clients updated on case status. He failed to show due diligence and promptness in representing a client, the Court release stated. While John Stanley Morse of Tampa was suspended for 90 days together with public reprimand, Michael Walter Gaines of Palm Harbor was suspended until further order of the Court. The fourth from Lakeland, Charles Daniel Akes, was put on three-year probation, besides public reprimand.

04-09-2007

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Top U.S. law firms which revolved the government doors most

Leading U.S. law firms reaped rich rewards from lobbying hard with other general lobbyists. This fact was revealed in a study conducted by the Centre for Responsive Politics (CRP), a Washington, DC-based non-partisan research group. The study included a survey to find out top lobbying earners among groups that work exclusively in government affairs and lobbying. The report projected a cache of $107.15m which was amassed by these law firms in 2006.

The $2.44bn lobbying industry had a bountiful year in 2006. This is despite the corruption charges faced by Jack Abramoff, a former Greenberg Traurig partner. Among these, mentionable are Patton Boggs, Akin Gump, DLA Piper, Hogan & Hartson, Williams & Jensen, Preston Gates, and Brownstein Hyatt which made it to the top 20 rankings.

Among the top five overall, Patton Boggs, fourth time in a row, earned itself the top position, with its $34.69m earning from lobbying. In 2005, however, with $36.33m, $1.64m more than 2006, it alone could earn 16 percent of the total overall revenue then. This year, confectioner Mars proved to be the biggest money-spinner among its clients with its $2.32m. Next to it was the American Association for Justice (formerly the Association of Trial Lawyers of America) which paid the firm $920,000. Akin Gump was placed third in the list with $25.82m. The firm's highest revenue earner was Mortgage Insurance Companies of America which paid $960,000 in 2006.

Hogan & Hartson was placed seventh in the list, with $17.28m followed by DLA Piper in the ninth position with $16.48m. Williams & Jensen took the 11^th spot overall, while Holland & Knight stood the 13^th, followed by Preston Gates in the 14^th, and Brownstein Hyatt in the 18^th position.

Established in 1983, the Center for Responsive Politics tracks money in U.S. politics and its effect on elections and public policy. It aims to create a more well-informed vote bank, an involved electorate, and a more receptive government.

04-09-2007

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