Law Admin

Federal prosecutors here have charged a retired Palm Springs, Calif., lawyer with taking kickbacks from a prominent New York law firm in exchange for serving as plaintiff in dozens of class-action and shareholder lawsuits that earned the firm $44 million over 20 years. The indictment against 78-year-old Seymour M. Lazar, unsealed Thursday, stems from a

A high court judge who is leaving the bench to join a firm of solicitors because he is bored with judging took fellow judges by surprise yesterday. Mr Justice Laddie has risked the disapproval of the legal establishment by breaking the unwritten convention that the bench is a life sentence ended only by retirement or

An Italian judge has formally charged the founder of dairy giant Parmalat and 15 other executives over their role in the financial scandal that resulted in the company’s insolvency. Three financial institutions are also facing charges in the trial, which opens Sept. 28 in Milan. CEO and founder Calisto Tanzi has been ordered to stand

U.S. District Judge Paul Cassell isn’t the sort of judge you would call a weak-kneed, bleeding-heart, soft-on-crime liberal. From his clerkship with then-Appeals Court Judge Antonin Scalia, to his provocative articles as a University of Utah law professor, to his (unsuccessful) U.S. Supreme Court argument that police shouldn’t have to warn suspects they can remain

The ruling, which hinged on jurisdiction issues, may not put an end to the case, which began working it way through the courts in 1991. There are more than 11,000 claims pending and attorneys at Miami-based Stearns Weaver Miller Weissler Alhadeff & Sitterson expect to spend years getting all of the claims paid. “We expect

The collapse of one of Britain’s most expensive criminal prosecutions has left taxpayers footing an estimated bill of £65m. A judge finally called a halt to the complex fraud hearing after defence lawyers accused the prosecution of withholding vital evidence which had denied the defendants the chance of a fair trial. It is believed to

Former N.C. Supreme Court Justice Robert Orr has filed, on behalf of seven plaintiffs from across the state, a lawsuit challenging state and local incentives given to Dell Inc. to convince the company to invest $100 million in a 1,500-employee computer manufacturing plant in southeast Winston-Salem. Orr, now executive director of the Raleigh-based N.C. Institute

Reed Smith is in merger talks with Chicago litigation and IP specialist Wildman Harrold in a deal that would create a 1,200-lawyer firm, Legal Week can reveal, in the latest merger bid to hit the consolidating US legal market. Sources at Reed Smith confirmed the talks, which are at an early stage. A successful tie-up

A federal appeals court said yesterday that the Securities and Exchange Commission must produce a cost-benefit analysis to justify a rule that boards of mutual funds must have an independent chairman and at least 75 percent of directors who are independent. The ruling, by the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia

A federal judge has declined to dismiss a civil suit brought by a husband and wife who claim that Sidley Austin Brown & Wood and Deutsche Bank Securities Inc., offered a tax shelter the firms knew would be challenged by the Internal Revenue Service. Southern District Judge Shira Scheindlin said William and Sharon Seippel’s complaint