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US appeals court rejects California ship emission rules
Attorney Press Release |
2008/02/27 11:24
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| California must obtain approval from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency before enforcing new rules to require ships to burn cleaner diesel fuel as they enter and dock at the state's ports, a federal appeals court ruled on Wednesday.span id=midArticle_1/spanpThe California Air Resources Board had sought to implement stricter air pollution controls within 24 miles of the state's coastline. The rules would require ships to use fuel in their auxiliary engines that emits lower levels of sulphur oxide, nitrogen oxide and particulate matter./pspan id=midArticle_2/spanpBut the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeal reinstated a lower court's injunction barring the state from enforcing its Marine Vessel Rules, finding that the Clean Air Act preempts them./p |
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A Law Firm Puts Its Chefs on Trial
Current Legal Issues |
2008/02/25 13:58
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pBig-time lawyers are pros at waiting for judges' tough decisions, but yesterday afternoon at a href=http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/Nixon+Peabody+LLP?tid=informline target=font color=#0c4790Nixon Peabody/font/a in the District, some may have posted fewer billable hours until results of the firm's 19th annual cook-off were handed down. /pdiv id=body_after_content_columnpThe competition pits men against women, which could lead to actionable territory and dangerous stereotyping. Yet, it has helped build camaraderie among all departments, firm employees say, pointing to Nixon Peabody's ranking among a href=http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/FORTUNE+Magazine?tid=informline target=font color=#0c4790Fortune magazine/font/a Top 100 Best Companies to Work For, three years running. Still, the trash talk leading up to the cook-off can start two months in advance, when planning meetings and team captains are chosen. Attempts have been made in past years to choose sides differently -- by floor, say, instead of along gender lines. Those negotiations have failed. /ppSome companies set up tennis or golf tournaments, which can draw more male than female employees. Nixon Peabody's cook-off turns out to attract partners and paralegals alike and is even more popular than the bocce tournaments it has held in the summer.
/ppNot all the women in the firm, which has 216 employees in its Washington office and about 1,725 nationwide, agree on the event's attractions. Women's team co-captain and associate Emily Hargrove, 30, says that although more women than men participate, she still ran into plenty of resistance from women in the firm who said they don't cook; they just make reservations. /p/div |
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Former partner suing Dorsey Whitney law firm
Current Legal Issues |
2008/02/25 13:56
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| pA former partner in the New York office of Dorsey amp; Whitney is suing the Minneapolis-based law firm, claiming gender discrimination and violations of the whistleblower act, among other things./ppHennepin County District Court Judge Gary Larson heard an hour of arguments Tuesday on the Dorsey firm's motion to dismiss Kristan Peters' suit./ppPeters began working as a Dorsey partner in January 2007 and left on June 23. At the core of the case is her handling of a trade secrets dispute on behalf of Wolters Kluwer Financial Services in New York. The matter drew media attention in trade publications, largely because of U.S. District Court Judge Harold Baer Jr.'s 129-page opinion criticizing Peters' behavior./ppAccording to R. Scott Davies of Briggs and Morgan, who is representing Dorsey, Baier scolded Peters 22 times for her handling of the case. Davies said Peters played fast and loose with the litigation, lied to the court and misrepresented circumstances to the firm's partners./ppPeters' lawyer James Kaster countered that the judge's behavior, not Peters', was unusual. The behavior Baer disliked -- such as scheduling a 7-hour deposition over two days and refusing to give bathroom breaks -- is not unusual, Kaster said. /p |
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Supreme Court to hear car search, tribal land cases
Current Legal Issues |
2008/02/25 11:22
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The US Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear three cases, including Arizona v. Gant (07-542) where the Court will consider whether the Fourth Amendment requires law enforcement officers to demonstrate a threat to their safety or a need to preserve evidence related to the crime of arrest in order to justify a warrantless vehicular search incident to arrest conducted after the vehicle's recent occupants have been arrested and secured? Arizona is appealing an Arizona Supreme Court ruling that Rodney Joseph Gant's constitutional rights were violated when police searched his car after he was handcuffed and seated in a police car.
http://www.supremecourtus.gov |
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Four law firms dominate school district services
Lawyer News Press |
2008/02/25 11:21
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On Long Island, where public education is a multi-billion-dollar enterprise, four law firms control more than 60 percent of the estimated cost for legal services.
In 106 of the 124 school districts, $56.9 million was spent for legal fees from 2000 through 2004 -- $16.4 million alone during the 2003-2004 school year. Experts say legal costs have grown since then, with lawyers handling a wide range of issues from personnel and union issues to special education lawsuits.
The four law firms -- Guercio amp; Guercio in Farmingdale; Ingerman Smith in Hauppauge; Ehrlich, Frazer amp; Feldman, and Jaspan Schlesinger Hoffman, both of Garden City -- earned the majority of that total amount during that period, the most recent data available to Newsday.
Some experts say that consolidation of legal services is expected because educational law is highly specialized and few lawyers are experts at it.
In an unprecedented series of moves that have unfolded in rapid-fire fashion in the past week, three of these firms -- Guercio amp; Guercio being the exception -- that have attorneys whose arrangements with school dalso heard oral arguments in Warner-Lambert v. Kent, 06-1498, where the Court considered whether federal law preempts a Michigan law that allows personal injury lawsuits against prescription drug manufacturers only when the drug at issue was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration based on the fraudulent submission or withholding of information./p |
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