San Francisco, CA October 8, 2004 – LAWFUEL – Law firm news, law, legal, attorney newsIn Re New Regulatory Framework for Pacific Bell (SBC)
For the past two years, The Strange Law Firm, PC has been lead outside counsel for SBC in defending a regulatory accounting audit performed by the California Public Utilities Commission (“CPUC”). Paul Strange led the firm’s legal team that successfully protected SBC against over $1 billion in potential liability. The Strange Law Firm worked closely with SBC’s in-house counsel and regulatory accounting experts and with a team of experts from Deloitte & Touche. The substantial record created through the combined efforts of these groups provided the basis for the CPUC’s conclusion that although there were some accounting errors, they did not cumulatively raise SBC’s earnings to a level that would require customer refunds under the CPUC’s past regulatory earnings sharing mechanism. On October 1, 2004, the CPUC adopted its final decision in the second of two phases of the proceeding related to the audit of SBC California.
The audit involved allegations of some $2 billion in adjustments and was performed over a period of 22 months. The litigation of the disputed audit adjustments took over two and a half years from the initiation of the proceeding to the issuance of the final decision. The hearings were co-tried with Michael T. Thorsnes of Thorsnes, Bartolotta & McGuire in June and August of 2002. The Strange Law Firm remains lead outside counsel for SBC in several matters including an upcoming phase to determine prospective CPUC policy regarding SBC’s regulatory framework in California.
The firm’s legal team also included Erinn R.W. Putzi, Esq., James B. Drimmer, Esq. and paralegals Erik Thorsnes and Benjamin Lang.
Paul Strange, founder of The Strange Law Firm was born in Dallas, Texas, and was raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He received his Bachelor of Arts from the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque and his J.D. from California Western School of Law in San Diego.
Mr. Strange is a member of the Conference of California Public Utility Counsel, the Association of Trial Lawyers of America, The Lawyers’ Club of San Francisco, the 11-99 Foundation, the International Right of Way Association, the California Telephone Association, and the San Francisco Bar Association. After law school, he joined the preeminent San Diego trial lawyers at Thorsnes, Bartolotta & McGuire. In 2002, Mr. Strange departed Thorsnes, Bartolotta & McGuire to form The Strange Law Firm.
Mr. Strange has litigated multi-million dollar matters involving: condemnation; real estate disputes; securities class actions; environmental litigation; wrongful termination; representation of corporate entities with regard to administrative and legal matters before the California Public Utilities Commission; breach of fiduciary duties in a high-tech start-up company; and franchise litigation. Mr. Strange’s practice currently focuses on business litigation and representation of utilities in front of the California Public Utilities Commission.
For further information please contact:
The Strange Law Firm, PC
282 Second Street, Suite 201
San Francisco, California 94105
www.strangelaw.net
